Richard Wells (b. circa 1824 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-047802
Enlisted with the Union Army, Prince George's County, Maryland,
1864
Biography:
Born around 1824, Richard Wells was the slave of Mrs. Catherine Beall, the wife of John B. Beall, Jr. In 1864, at the age of forty, Wells left his place of enslavement to join the Union army.1 The statewide loss of slaves, like Richard, to the Army resulted in the recording of Slave Statistics for each county, an unsuccessful attempt to solicit reimbursement from the federal government. John Beall, acting as Catherine's agent, reported Richard as “commuted by owner,” with no compensation received.
Although Richard had belonged to Catherine Beall, his wife and children were enslaved by Miss Sophia M. Duckett of the Queen Anne District.2 In 1864, his wife Ann Wells had four children: Gertrude, age nine, Alice, age seven, Isabella, age four, and Ruth, age two. A fifth child, Harriet, was born around 1865.3
Ann Wells and her children received their freedom following the Maryland
Constitution of 1864, which emancipated all slaves in the state. By 1870,
the family had reunited, living either near or on the farm of John and
Catherine Beall in the Bladensburg District. Richard Wells worked as a
farm laborer, while his daughter, Alice Wells, worked as a servant.4
1. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS, (Slave Statistics), 1867-1869, [MSA CE157]. Richard Wells, page 22.
2. MARYLAND INDEXES, (Freedom Records, PG, Index), 1806-1869, S1411-23.
3. U.S. Census Bureau (Census
Record, MD) for Richard Wells, 1870, Prince George's County, Bladensburg
District, Page 60, Line 9.
U.S. Census
Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Richard Wells, 1880, Prince George's County,
Queen Anne, District 127, Page 27, Line 25.
4. Ibid.
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