Thomas Welborn was born in Maryland in about 1735 and was a resident of Sandy Creek in Orange County, North Carolina by about 1756. A prominent Regulator, Welborn signed the Insurgents' Letter to Governor Tryon on 19 August 1768. In August 1771 several powerful Orange and Guilford County citizens petitioned for Welborn to be pardoned for his role as a leader in the Regulator Rebellion. The petitioners garnered sympathy by referring to Thomas Welborn's wife, Esther Welborn, as a, "pooer morning Wife With a Learg family of Small Childeren and very Littel to Suport." While Welborn's pardon has not been located, documents mentioning him after 1771 indicate he was pardoned. He died in Guilford County in about 1778.