Captain Thomas, second son of Hon. Samuel and Elizabeth (Hollister) Welles, was born at Wethersfield, Connecticut, July 29, 1662, died there December 7, 1711.
His days were passed in the midst of events that threatened the life of the colony his grandfather had governed. Governor Andros, harsh and tyrannical, was the royal governor of New England. He it was who demanded of the colonial assembly of Connecticut that they surrender their charter, and at the moment of taking it, all lights went out and the charter disappeared, this incident giving name to the famous "Charter Oak," in which it was concealed.
Afterward the oak was carefully guarded and preserved until 1856. Thomas Welles was a soldier of the colonial army, and is designated in the records as-"Captain Thomas Welles." In 1708 he was admitted to practice as an attorney by the Hartford county bar, the fourth person thus qualified for legal business in the county.
He married (first) January 7, 1697, Thankful Root, died 1703, daughter of John Root, of Wethersfield, Connecticut. He married (second) May 17, 1705, Jerusha Treat, born 1678, died January 15, 1754, daughter of Lieutenant James and Rebecca (Lattimer) Treat, and granddaughter of Richard and Joan Treat, the emigrants. She survived her husband, and married (second) Captain Ephraim Goodrich.
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