In trying to help a fellow researcher with their Wells family, I’ve been going back thru my Wells line to make sure that I have the census records on the descendants of Ozias Wells from 1850 to about 1900. In the process, I have finally found Thurston Kennedy Wells in 1860 — AND — he is in Kansas! This supports family legend but I hadn’t been able to prove it before.
Tonight, I did a search for William Wells born in 1857 and lo and behold there is a William Wells born in 1857 and a Franklin Wells born in 1854 and a K T Wells born about 1830 living in KANSAS TERRITORY! They are living in a household with James Londers age 60 who was born in Pennsylvania and his daughters, Martha age 15 and Sarah age 17. Also in the household is Benj. M. White age 42 who was born in Indiana. My initial reaction is that James Londers and Benj White are not relatives but I will have to do more digging to verify that.
The census verifies that William Wells, age 3, was born in Kansas. It also indicates that Franklin was born in Michigan. Since many other members of the Wells family migrated to Michigan from New York, it makes sense that this family also was in Michigan.