Vital Records of Wells, Maine (Joshua Hubbard)

These records were abstracted from the town books of records by Joshua Hubbard in 1860. The Reverend John Wheelwright was responsible for the founding of the town of Wells. According to Wells: The Frontier Town of Maine, by Esselyn Gilman Perkins, Wheelwright, a Puritan, was persecuted while in his native England and migrated to Boston, where his brother-in-law William Hutchinson and his notable wife Anne were living.

At the time Anne Hutchinson was preaching doctrines inspired by the Reverend John Cotton, who strongly advocated opportunities for religious freedom in America and denounced the continuing Catholic influence in the Church of England. Rev. Wheelwright shared these views and began preaching similar doctrines. The clergy of Massachusetts thought that Anne Hutchinson was a strong - and dangerous - influence on the people that she preached to and banished her, Wheelwright, and other like-minded individuals from the colony.

Wheelwright and several of his followers moved to Exeter, New Hampshire, for a short time before moving north to "Mayne." In 1641 Wheelwright was given a grant of land in the area now known as Wells. Massachusetts claimed jurisdiction over the territory a decade later, and in 1653, Wells became a town of Massachusetts.

The call number for this typescript is Mss C 4926 a-b .

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