Jonathan Wells (1656-1739) was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, the fifth of 14 children born to Thomas and Mary (Beardsley) Wells. When Jonathan was about three years old the family were among the early settlers of Hadley. He was only 16 when he took part in the attack at Peskeompskut (present-day Gill, Massachusetts), during King Philip's (Metacom's) War (1675-1776) in which hundreds of Native noncombatants were killed. Jonathan barely survived a harrowing ordeal in the disorganized retreat. He and his older brother Thomas Wells were among those who resettled Deerfield after the end of the war. He married Hepzibah Colton in 1682 and they had one child, Jonathan, Jr. in 1684. When Hepzibah died in 1686, Jonathan married Sarah Barnard the following year; they had no surviving children. He served for many years as a Deerfield selectman, was a justice of the peace, and commanded the town militia. Jonathan, his second wife Sarah, and their family and home survived unscathed in a 1704 raid on Deerfield by French soldiers with their Indigenous allies that devastated the town. Jonathan Wells died in 1739, aged 80.
Jonathan Wells enslaved at least two people. In 1734, Wells had his enslaved man, Pompey, baptized and Deerfield Church records recorded Pompey's marriage to Rebecca in 1736. Jonathan's son Jonathan Jr. (1684-1735) predeceased his father by four years and his widow Mary moved into her father-in-law's home next door with her younger children. Jonathan Jr.'s probate inventory listed a "Negro Boy" valued at £100 and "Negro woman Cloathing." The woman's clothing might have been worn by Rebecca.
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