Gov. Thomas Welles came to New England in 1635, settling in Hartford in 1636 and moving to Wethersfield in 1646. An entailed property case involving the sale of land in Old England connects both Gov. Thomas Welles and his wife Alice (Tomes) Welles unequivocally to their origins and families in England. Volume 1 covers the Welles and Tomes ancestries in England and the first four generations to live in New England. The third edition shares newly discovered information on the couple's marriage in England. Welles and his descendants played parts in two wars with Native American tribes, received a new colonial charter in 1662 from King Charles II and then protected it from an English governor in 1682, engaged in lively trade with England and the Caribbean, and fought in the French and Indian War. A few participated in the Revolutionary War. Among the surnames included here are Wells, Welles, Clark, Thompson, Hawkins, Chester, Botsford, Gridley, Hart, Hawley, Tomlinson, Nichols, Judson, Shelton and Curtiss.