Thomas Wells (1672-1737) purchased a "negro boy named Jeffy" in 1718 for £55. He left Jeff in his will to his wife Lydia, and Jeff remained enslaved by three or four generations of the Wells family. Please refer to the "Research Articles & Highlights" entry entitled "A Negro Man Jeff" for additional information.

Thomas, the second son of John Wells and younger brother of John Wells, was born in 1672. He came from Newbury, Mass. to Wells around 1700. "At the commencement of the next war (August 10, 1703), and on the day it began, the Indians burnt the dwelling-house of Mr. Thomas Wells, killed his wife and all his children, he being absent from home. At the same time the Indians killed Mr. Sayer and his family, who lived in the next house ... Soon after the murder of his family by the Indians, Thomas Wells returned to Newbury, and made that his residence for some years." - Charles K. Wells, pp. 13-14

"Thomas, with his [second] wife Lydia and children, returned to Wells the second time probably about 1713, though perhaps not till 1717. He was chosen Deacon of the church at Wells, March 3, 1718. He carried on a tannery in company with his son Nathaniel ... He died in Wells, Aug. 26, 1737 ... He mentions in his will his wife Lydia, his sons Nathaniel and Joshua, and his daughter Lydia Clark. One clause in his will reads thus: 'I give and bequeath unto my dearly beloved wife Lydia my negro man Jeff.' This 'negro man' was bought of Nathan Hale October 21, 1718, for £55. The original deed or bill of sale of that date, from Nathan Hale to Thomas Wells, of a "negro boy named Jeffy," for £55, was in the possession of Abigail Wells, daughter of Judge Wells, at the time of her death a few years ago. [Note that 'a few years ago' was written by Charles K. Wells in 1874.] That deed, with other ancient deeds and documents, had been handed down for several generations, and had been carefully kept by her after her father's death. After her death, these papers fell into the hands of those who felt little interest in 'ancient documents,' and unfortunately they were consigned to the 'rag-bag." The 'negro man Jeff' continued in the family for four generations. I have often heard my father, Daniel, relate the sayings and doings of 'Old Jeff.'" - Charles K. Wells, pp. 16

Note: the Nathan Hale from whom Jeff was purchased in 1718 is clearly not the famous patriot Nathan Hale who lived from 1755-1776, but may have been his ancestor.

"Deacon Thomas Wells owned one [an enslaved person] by the name of Jeff, who came down as an heir-loom to several successive generations." In his 1737 will, he stated "I give & bequeath unto my Dearly beloved Wife Lydia Wells all my Household stuff of every sort & kind, [and] my Negro man Jeff." - Bourne, p. 408

"I find no evidence that the Town of Wells received its name from the [this] family. On the contrary, it was called Wells in Thomas Gorges' deed to the Rev. John Wheelwright, made in 1643, which was long before any person of that name had his residence there. It probably received its name from the old town of Wells, in Norfolk County, England." - Charles K. Wells, pp. 10

Then in a correction, he added "I am of the opinion that the town of Wells, Me., took its name from the city of Wells, in Somerset County, England, instead of the town of Wells, in Norfolk County; as in the neighborhood of that city Sir Ferdinand Gorges and his associates resided, under whose government the town of Wells, Me., first organized about 1642. Gorges gave the county the name of Somersetshire, without doubt from the county of Somerset, in England, in which he resided." - Charles K. Wells, p.38

Bibliography:

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

Genealogy of the Wells Family of Wells, Maine - Charles K. Wells (1874)