SAMUEL WELLES, third child and eldest son of Captain Samuel Welles, Jr., and his wife Ruth, daughter of Edmund and Mercy Rice, was born in that part of the ancient town of Wethersfield, Connecticut, lying east of the Connecticut River, on the 24th of December, 1689. Two days later, the inhabitants voted their consent for this portion to become a separate township; an act of incorporation was obtained in 1690, and the new settlement received the name of Glastonbury two years later.
He studied theology, and was ordained, on the 5th of December, 1711, the second pastor of the Church in Lebanon, Connecticut. The pulpit had been vacant for upwards of three years, and it is probable that he had preached there for some time before ordination.
On the 15th of September, 1719, he married Hannah Arnold, born December 20, 1695, the only child of Barachiah Arnold, of Boston. Her father had died in 1703, and her mother (Abigail, daughter of Deacon Theophilus Frary), who survived until 1725, seems to have accumulated a considerable property by shop-keeping; the Boylston Market (corner of Washington and Boylston Streets, Boston) was built on land brought by Hannah Welles to her husband. In consequence of this marriage, and the need of looking after his wife's property, he was dismissed in 1722 from his pastoral charge, –the vote of the church to this effect being confirmed by the council which met (December 4, 1722) to ordain his successor. He removed to Boston, where he accumulated more wealth, becoming one of the richest men of the town, and highly respected. First Church in Lebanon, April 23, 1728. He was from 1727 to 1734 a member of the House of Representatives, and in that capacity was the author of many of the later papers in the memorable controversy with Governor Burnet regarding his salary. (Hutchinson's Hist, of Mass., ii, 348.)
As early as 1729 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace. He was a member of the Governor's Council, in 1735–38, 1740, 1747, and 1748,” and from January 8, 1755, until his death, was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County. It will further serve to show the position which he held, to mention some of the special duties entrusted to him. In June, 1733, he was one of a committee of five, to express the thanks of the House to General Oglethorpe; in September, 1765, he was one of a committee of seven (including James Otis and Samuel Adams) to convey similar sentiments to General Conway and Colonel Barré, for their speeches in Parliament in favor of the Colonies. In 1754 he was at the head of the Massachusetts delegation (though Governor Hutchinson was also of the number) to the memorable Congress at Albany of Commissioners from the Colonies, before which Franklin brought his plan of union.
This convention, Governor Hutchinson wrote in his History (iii, 20), “was the most deserving of respect of any which had ever been convened in America, whether we consider the Colonies which were represented, the rank and characters of the delegates, or the purposes for which it was convened.” Three of the five Massachusetts delegates were Yale graduates.
In 1756, he was on a commission, with Hutchinson and Sir William Pepperrell, to meet Lord Loudon (Commander in Chief of the British Forces in America) in Albany, to devise means for relieving Massachusetts from her war debt; and in 1757 he was a Commissioner of the Province at a conference in Boston between Lord Loudon and the delegates of the New England Colonies, respecting the prosecution of the war against the French.
He died in Boston, May 20, 1770, in his 81st year, having reached a greater age than any preceding graduate of the College, and having been for seven years the senior surviving graduate.
His wife died in Boston, “after a long indisposition,” October 14, 1765, in her 70th year. His two sons, Samuel and Arnold, graduated at Harvard College, in 1744 and 1745, respectively, standing at the head of their classes in the order of family rank, and leaving families who have maintained a distinguished position in society. His only daughter died without issue.
* He was also chosen in 1734, but declined to serve.
AUTHORITIES.
Chapin, Glastenbury, 164,217.
Drake, Hist. of Boston, 595, 631,643, 703.
Goodwin, Genealogical Notes, 258.
L. Hebard, MS. Letter, December 23, 1876.
Joseph Palmer, MS. Letter, October 22, 1856.
Savage, Genealogical Dictionary, iv, 477.
Sewall, Diary, ii, 23; iii, 160,349.
R. D. Smyth, College Courant, August 8, 1868, 83.
Trumbull Hist. of Conn., ii, 532.
Washburn, Judicial Hist. of Mass., 332.
Welles Genealogy, 114.
Whitmore, Mass. Civil List, 1630–1774, passim.
Winsor, Memorial Hist. of Boston, ii, xxxvii, 445, 448.
