An Orphaned Child in the Wells Family
Have you ever tried to connect an orphaned child to their parents? Today’s Friday Find from my Wells folder presents exactly that kind of challenge. The record in question documents the 1892 death of Maude Wells in Calhoun County, Michigan, and it plainly states that Maude was an orphan—a single word that opens the door to many unanswered questions.
Although I had a photocopy of this death record in my paper files, I did not have a Maude Wells in my RootsMagic database. That absence prompted a deeper dive to determine how Maude might fit into my Michigan Wells family. A likely match surfaced on FamilySearch: Maude B. Wells (1876–1892), identified there as the daughter of James Eugene Snelgrove and Sarah A. Wells.
The FamilySearch profile included only two sources, one of which pointed to Find a Grave. The memorial site provided a crucial clue by including an obituary excerpt that described Maude as an adopted child:
“Miss Maud Wells, age 20, adopted daughter of Mrs. Eugene Snelgrove of S. Albion, died at the home of her mother, June 6, after being an invalid a long time.”
That single sentence helped bridge an important gap. The Snelgrove connection allowed me to identify Sadie Wells in my RootsMagic file as Sarah A. Wells, wife of James Eugene Snelgrove and daughter of William Wallace Wells. An 1880 census check places Sadie in her father’s household alongside her younger siblings, Harry and Kate. Notably absent from that household is four-year-old Maude Wells. Nor has Maude been located in any other Wells family households in Michigan during that period.
While the obituary and Find a Grave memorial clearly identify Sarah Wells as Maude’s adoptive mother, the question of Maude’s biological parents remains unanswered. For now, this Friday Find stands as both a discovery and a reminder: records sometimes solve one mystery while revealing another—and further research is needed to tell Maude Wells’s full story.