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m. - Samuel Levi Wells1764 - 1815
Facts and Events
No birth record for Samuel Levi Wells as the first-born child of Samuel Wells & Dorcas Huie is known to exist today. However, with his mother, he was the administrator for the succession of his father in 1800.S2 He was generally referred to as "Levi Wells" to distinguish him from his father. His signature is found on numerous surveys, conducted in his capacity as a surveyor, and on other documents as S. L. Wells, or Samuel L. Wells, or Samuel Levi Wells.S1
References
- ↑ Stafford, George M. G. The Wells Family of Louisiana and Allied Families. (Alexandria, Louisiana: Standard Printing Company, 1941)
pp. 11, 13, & 17.
Stafford reported in 1942 that the names and birth dates of the ten children of Samuel Wells & dorcas Huie were conclusively established by several family documents which he personally reviewed, including the papers of Gen. Montfort Wells and the Benjamin Cuny Family Bible. (pp. 11 & 13)
"Departed this life on the 10th of June, 1816 at Prospect Hill on Bayou boeuf, Parish of Rapides, Louisiana, Samuel Levi Wells, the husband of Elizabeth Wells deceased, and father of the above named children. (p. 17) [regarding the date, see Source #3, below]
- ↑ St. Landry, Louisiana, United States. Louisiana Colonial Documents, Opelousas Post 1766-1803. (St. Landry, Louisiana, United States|Opelousas Post, Louisiana).
Opel:1800, February 13, Louisiana State Archives Accession No. P-1985-4, Microfilm Reel #8, Succession of Samuel Wells (French & Spanish), Baton Rouge.
The succession record indicates that he was a resident of "Rapide" at the time of his death. His widow appears as "Dorcas Hugh." With her son, "Levy Wells," she applied for administration of the estate of Samuel Wells, 22 Sep 1800. During inventory of the Opelousas Post records at the Louisiana State Archives, the date 13 Feb 1800 was ascribed to this succession record, perhaps indicating the actual date of his death.
- ↑ Samuel Levi Wells, Last Will & Testament, 28 May 1815.
Samuel signed his will 28 May 1815 and it was recorded 19 June 1815. His executors took their legal oath 8 July 1815, indicating that he had died before that date. The statement of death recorded in Source #2 is therefore presumed to be in error by one year, either in Stafford's transcription or in the original family Bible. Note that, due to the destruction of the original records in the Rapides Courthouse, the original court copy no longer exists; Samuel's will was recorded (from the family's copy?) in 1867.
- McBee, May Wilson. The Natchez Court Records: Abstracts of Early Records, 1767-1805. (Greenwood, Mississippi: The Author, 1953).
Numerous entries in McBee's Natchez Court Records provide evidence of Samuel's presence in the area during the 1790s, and of his wife's family, the Calvits. According to Land Claim No. 288 (Book A, p. 518), samuel levi Wells obtained a Spanish land grant on Bayou Sara in the Natchez District in 1789. (Bayou Sara is on the edge of the town of St. Francisville, seat of what is now East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.) A record on 14 Apr 1795 (Book C, p. 262) refers to him as "Samuel Levi Wells, of Opelousas, now at this Post of Natchez." In 1799, the Natchez land records refer to him as "Wells of the District of Rapides." Land Claim No. 353 (Book B, p. 173) was a 1788 Spanish land grant to Frederick Calvet [sic], Samuel's father-in-law; two of the claimants in 1804 were Elizabeth Wells and Levi Wells
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