Ebenezer Wells, a wealthy farmer, was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, September 13, 1691. In 1717, he bought a home lot, including a house and barn on the corner of Main and Memorial Streets, from his brother Thomas. At some point the original house, which had survived the 1704 attack, burned, and he rebuilt what is now the ell. In 1720, he married Abigail Barnard. The couple had no children. They owned two slaves, Lucy Terry and Cesar. Ebenezer had a license to keep a tavern in the house from 1747 to 1749. He owned other real estate which he left to relatives, and a “good silver tankard” to the Church of Christ in Deerfield. He may have built the front portion of the Wells-Thorn House, but it is possible that his nephew Ebenezer built that part.