Claim: Helena Wells was an 18th century American novelist, writer and daughter of Robert Wells, a Loyalist, bookbinder, bookseller, and then a printer
Evidence: Helena Wells, later Whitford (1761?–1824) was an Americans novelist and writer at the end of the eighteenth century. Helena Wells was born in South Carolina between 1758 and 1765, the daughter of the printer and bookseller Robert (1727/8-1824) and Mary Wells, who had emigrated from Scotland in 1753. Robert was considered an outspoken and inflexible Loyalist, he and his family moved to London in 1777. Robert became a successful bookbinder, bookseller, and then a printer for The South-Carolina and American General Gazette in 1758.