Joseph Hobbs "was a blacksmith, an energetic businessman, was part owner of the iron works near the Mousam Landing, and obtained several grants of land on or near the Mousam. He was born in 1737, died 1816; he married Huldah Littlefield, November, 1774." - Remich, p.105 footnote

He was the enslaver of Zelph, and Phillis and her daughter. Phillis' five year old daughter was sold off in Saco.

"Joseph Hobbs had two [enslaved people], Zelph and Phillis. Phillis has a little daughter of the age of five years, to whom she was bound by all the ties which take hold of a mother's heart. But a distinguished Revolutionary officer, with the same heartlessness which we have been wont to attribute to those engaged in the slave trade, took this little child from its mother, and, as he would any article of produce, carried her to Saco, and there sold her. The agony of the poor mother in this cruel separation, was said to be indescribable. Yet there were no relentings and no remorse on the part of the trader, which led to any attempt to rescind the unholy contract. It does not seem that our own townsmen had any more doubt, in the judgment of conscience, as to the legitimacy of this traffic; and that a negro was a mere chattel, subject to be bought and sold at the will of the master, than they had that right of sale in the owner, was a condition of incident of any other property. There was no special callousness of heart in this transaction. The same feeling was general in relation to the slave; and all the odious features of the institution, of which so much has been said at the present day, were exhibited everywhere in New England." - Bourne, p. 407

Shelley (p. 153) states "Joseph Hobbs had Zelph and Phyllis baptized." However, this baptism record is not included in the - Records of the First Church of Wells, as transcribed in 6 issues of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol 75-76, 1921-22. Those Records do include baptisms for Joseph Hobbs as an adult on May 19, 1766 (pdf p. 192), and sons of Joseph and Huldah Hobbs: Jonathan Sayward on Aug 31, 1777 (pdf p. 53) and Sayward on Feb 15, 1780 (pdf p. 54).

"The manufacture of iron from the ore and of various implements made of iron was for several years an important and successful industry in our town. Several enterprising citizens formed in 1770 for this purpose a company, by which the work was prosecuted energetically. A dam was built at the lower falls, at the head of tide water, and a large one-story building , wherein were two forges, was erected before the close of the year 1771." - Remich, p. 178

The 1790 US Census for Wells lists Joseph Hobbs with one "other free person." This could have been Zelph or Phillis.

Bibliography:

The History of Wells and Kennebunk from the Earliest Settlement to the Year 1820 - by Edward Bourne (1875)

History of Kennebunk from its Earliest Settlement to 1890 – by Daniel Remich (1911)

My Name is Wells - by Hope M. Shelley (2002)

1790 US Census for Wells