Starfire's Digging up the Past

 

Welcome to Starfire's Genealogy Site!

LINKS LITTLE WELLS BIG WELLS OWINGS NORTH

PHOTO GALLERY

Digging up the Past. . . . .
We are Elizabeth and Sarah Schmidt of California, amateur genealogists. We have had our share of major mistakes in learning genealogy, like not properly documenting some of our earlier research and sources. Well we know better now. Thanks to the people at the Wells Research Society, and Little Wells list.

I, (Elizabeth), got interested in family history when my dad showed me some family group sheets that one of his cousins who was doing family research had sent him. I have been hooked ever since and well Sarah is my daughter and so she has always been exposed to it, and has been hooked as well for many a year. .

This site is a beginning, but will grow over time as our search expands. It contains some of the research we have gathered, some of it documented (the more recent stuff) and some of it not (the older stuff) for our family tree. We have some lines going back to the 1600's and on some lines to the original immigrant ancestor, and their country of origin. We have not gone back beyond (or dug deeper :-) ) the original immigrant ancestors . . . sigh, maybe some day! We even have some photographs that go back to the nineteenth century on various lines, so be sure to check out our photo gallery.

We put this information out here to share with all. Most of the information that we have is second hand, meaning that it is research done by others and we are making no claims as to its accuracy or trying to take credit for the research. Please, if you find a mistake, have a question, or have some information to share please email us at [email protected].

One of the more major lines we are currently researching is the Wells line. Well it is kind of two separate families with the same last name that intermarried over several generations, the Little Wells and the Big Wells. It is said that the members of the "Big Wells" family, both men and women, were very tall and very heavy people. The members of the "Little Wells Family" were smaller in stature - probably more what we might term "normal". These two families did intermarry and some moved together to areas such as Brooke County, West Virginia; Licking County and Ross County, Ohio. Apparently it was not uncommon for a group of family members to travel together on social visits. The story goes that when a group of the "Big Wells" family were seen it was not uncommon to hear the remark "Here come the Big Wells". This is how they are supposed to have gotten their nickname. The "Little Wells" have probably been given their nickname by recent genealogists just to differentiate them from the "Big Wells". The original immigrant ancestor is thought to be James Wells who arrived in Maryland on the Nightingale of York in 1669 and he married a lady by the name of Ann. Only circumstantial evidence connects him as father of James Wells born 1676 but that is the cuurenly believed theory, being that records that far back did not always survive. the progenitor of the Big Wells family first shows up on the scene about 1675, and his name was John Wells and he married a Margaret Mac Clain.

Richard Owen/Owens/Owings is said to be from either England or Wales and imigated to Maryland after 18 May 1683. His first appearance was as a debtor to Christopher Randall Ann Arundell Co MD. the Owings who married into the Little Wells clan. The Owings seem also to be a really well documented family. (unlike some others we have been trying to research).

We are also researching or should I say attempting to research the ever-elusive Schmidts. I have talked to others looking to dig up Schmidt connections, the one thing we all have in common is questions, and the one thing we are lacking is answers! Then there are the equally elusive North family.

The following is a breif list of some of the other sur names we are currently researching;  Stalcup, English, Bowls/Bowles, Brown, Cooper,  Foran,  Cockey, Dearing, Durbin, Draper, Gist, Fones, Kerr, Howard, Norrwood, Pedigo, Sellman, Stansbury, Stevenson, Shipley, Stinchcomb,Tallman, Wilbur and many more.  We have over 6000 names in our database and it is still growing!

This page was last updated on: 05/10/99.

  Back To Top

Little Wells Index Big Wells Index Owings Index
Little Wells Report (long) Big Wells Report Owings Report
Photo gallery Useful Links North report