When the Right Surname Leads to the Wrong Family

Genealogists accumulate interesting things in their files.

Sometimes those treasures are exactly what we need.

And sometimes… they are not.

While digging through one of my Wells folders recently, I found a photocopy from Genealogy of the Wells Family and Families Related by Gertrude W. Wells-Cushing. The copied pages focus on Thomas Wells of England and Ipswich, Massachusetts, beginning with a discussion of the Wells family’s English origins and continuing with descendants of Deacon Thomas Wells and his wife Abigail Warner.

At some point in the past, I clearly thought this might relate to my Wells line. Why else would I have spent money making photocopies?

Today, of course, the original book is readily available online, but when this photocopy was made, access to genealogy books often required a trip to a library, correspondence with another researcher, or time at a Family History Center feeding coins into a copier.

So why did I copy it?

Probably because I was chasing a Wells ancestor named Thomas.

That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The Problem with Common Names

My Wells line also goes back to a Thomas Wells—or more accurately, Thomas Welles Sr.

According to my current research, my line is:

Thomas Welles Sr. (1626–before 1700), husband of Naomi Marshall
→ Thomas Wells Jr.
→ Thomas Wells
→ Nathaniel Wells
→ Green Wells
…and onward.

At first glance, that makes the Wells-Cushing book seem promising.

But a closer look quickly shows that this is not my family.

The photocopied pages identify their Thomas Wells as:

• Thomas Wells of Ipswich, Massachusetts
• married Abigail Warner
• children including Nathaniel, John, Sarah, Abigail, Thomas, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Lydia
• probable origins in Colchester, Essex, England

My Thomas, however:

• married Naomi Marshall
• died in Westerly, Rhode Island
• had son Thomas Wells Jr. (born 1661 in Ipswich, died Westerly)

Same surname.

Same general time period.

Even some overlapping geography.

But not the same family.

What This Photocopy Taught Me

Years ago, I might have tossed this aside as irrelevant.

Now I see it differently.

Negative evidence matters.

Knowing that this isn’t my Wells family helps prevent me from going down the wrong path in the future.

It also serves as a reminder of how easy it is to attach ourselves to the wrong ancestor when dealing with:

• common surnames
• recurring given names
• colonial New England families
• incomplete early records

And honestly?

It reminds me how my genealogy methods have changed.

Once upon a time, I copied anything that might be useful.

Now I try to document why something belongs—or doesn’t belong—to my family.

A Future Research Question

One detail still catches my eye.

My Thomas Welles Sr. is said to have been born in Colchester, Essex, England, the same general area mentioned in the Wells-Cushing book.

Coincidence?

Possibly.

Evidence of a broader Wells/Welles connection?

Maybe.

But “maybe” is not proof.

For now, this photocopy remains in my files—not as proof of ancestry, but as a reminder to keep asking better questions.

Have you ever rediscovered something in your files that turned out to belong to an entirely different family?