To all: I've been attempting some internet searching on the Wells family - after discovering a part of my wife's family history Ancestry.com made this seem 'easy'... but it turns out that none of this really is that easy. I've been searching through the mailing list archives as well, but my problem is apparently one that has been a matter of some debate. I'm writing to see if any 'progress' has been made on the debate or if there is some real documentation behind the published resources. My wife's family contains a Wells connection from her grandmother Irene (Wells) Gardiner and her great-grandfather Fred Albert Wells. (The family is/was largely from the Milo, IA area.) From what we know 'firmly', Fred Albert is the son of Thomas Jefferson Wells, a Civil War veteran (with service in the 5th Wisconsin Battalion, TJ Wells was also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic in the Milo, IA post according to records I have found) This family tree appears in the "Merged DNA" website/family tree under the W010 family branch. (Here's the link I found: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hillmer/DNA/ui21.htm#a810) According to this tree, TJ Wells is the son of Phillip Wells and Nancy Tanner; Phillip is in turn the son of Caleb Wells and Rosanna Peterson, Caleb is in turn the son of Lt. James Wells and Freelove Aylesworth. Some Ancestry.com members have also agreed with this line, others have not. There is a problem on relying on Ancestry.com for information: there are many claims, but often not much in the way of documented evidence. Searching through the list archives here, it seems that there has been some debate on the ancestry of the Phillip->Caleb->James line. In some of the posts I've found here there was a bit of a debate about the ancestry (or even identity) of the "Caleb" that was both the son of Lt. James as well as the father of Phillip. Does anyone have some insight beyond what I've found online, or some proof of the Phillip->Caleb->James ancestry? Thank you in advance for any insight anyone can provide. -- Chad Thompson chad.o.thompson@gmail.com