2015.07.31 Note to a Willis family member in Tennessee

My Willis line does go back to the 1760 - 1810 Willis' of Rutherford Co., modern day Cleveland Co. In fact, we still own a family farm in Cleveland Co, NC that has been passed down through 5 generations of Willis. While I started researching only a few months ago, I have made significant progress as a result of living very near the State of North Carolina Archives and Genealogy Library. It's afforded me access to a number of records that are not well distributed.

There is significant confusion about the Willis families living in Rutherford Co in the 1760 - 1810 time frame. The primary reason for the confusion is the repetitive nature of the names passed down the family line. Within this short period there are 3 Williams, 2 Henrys and 2 Jacobs. It's made even more confusing by the fact that there are also 3 Elizabeths.

One of the Williams left a very detailed WILL when he died in 1782. Do you have a copy of that WILL? Reading it is key to knowing and understanding the relationship of the men in this one Willis line.

An outline of what I can decipher thus far ....

Henry ... Died 1770. His Estate papers are on file in the NC Archives. His wife Margaret appears in court 3 times to settle his estate. You may not have caught this because at the time of his death, the county was called Tryon and its records are stored in modern day Lincoln county. Rutherford Co. was not officially formed until 1779. Tryon only existed for 10 years, then was dissolved. I have not been able to determine where Henry came from. I did suspect Goochland, also Culpeper, possibly Northampton, Va. I also think he stopped in Granville Co, NC for a few years before finally settling in Rutherford Co.

William Sr. ... Died 1782. He left a very detailed WILL. I suspect him to be the son of Henry. After Henry's death, this William Sr posts bond for Margaret in settlement of Henry's Estate. In addition Margaret receives a land grant of 250 acres just shortly after Henry's death. I think this was to go to Henry. Since women could not own land alone, I believe that William Sr, her son, then appears on the deed with her. Authors of various court and deed abstracts then mistakenly referred to Margaret as the wife of William Sr. They got the grant, sold the land within two years. Margaret then just disappears. I can find nothing on her after. When William Sr. does die in 1782, the people and relationships spelled out in his WILL:

Elizabeth Hill .... William Sr's wife. She receives the farm for the remainder of her life (pieces of this farm were later traded for a farm that remains in my family today). It passes to William's grandchildren after her death. I can find no information on where she came from, what happened to her after William Sr's death.

William Jr. (oldest son) and William Sr's grandson Henry (son of William Jr). Grandson Henry gets part of the farm upon Elizabeth Hill's death. I can not find any information on who William Jr married. I lose track of both William Jr and Henry from here. Although, there is a Henry that appears in the 1790 and 1800 Rutherford census. I suspect this is grandson Henry,  and he dies in 1810.

Elizabeth Willis Buchanan and William Sr's grandson Arthur Buchanan. Elizabeth Willis marries James Buchanan. James appears in a number of court records, serving on juries, and as a witness on deeds in conjunction with William Willis (not clear if William Sr. or William Jr) and also Jacob Sr. James and Elizabeth own property near William Sr. James assists Elizabeth Hill in a court case after William Sr's death, involving a dispute over work done by William Sr. before his death. Thru the WILL, part of William Sr's farm went to grandson Arthur Buchanan after Elizabeth Hill's death. James and Elizabeth Willis Buchanan leave Rutherford Co in the late 1780s, early 1790s. Elizabeth Willis Buchanan dies in 1797. I am in touch with descendants of Elizabeth Willis Buchanan and James Buchanan and we are coordinating DNA testing to try to figure out if we can DNA tie back to William Sr.

Jacob Sr and William Sr's grandson William (3rd William, oldest son of Jacob Sr.). William Sr. refers in his WILL to his deceased son Jacob, leaves Jacob's son, William,  a part of the farm after Elizabeth Hill's death. William Sr also refers to Jacob's wife as Elizabeth Willis and later refers to children (as in plural) of Elizabeth Willis.  So we know there are more children than just oldest son William. Some think this Elizabeth to be Elizabeth Nancy Eaves. The Eaves family are from Granville Co, which is why I suspect that Henry, William Sr. may have stopped in Granville Co for a few years before coming down to Rutherford Co. I am in touch with members of the Eaves family and we hope to use DNA to see if our families tie. There are many other issues with this immediate group of Jacob, William and Elizabeth Willis (Nancy Eaves) that I and others are trying to understand, too many to detail here. Finally, I think there was a second son born to Jacob and Elizabeth .... Jacob, Jr ... I descend from Jacob, Jr.

Early Rutherford Co Census.  This is just 3 generations of one line of Willis that is in Rutherford County in the 1760 - 1810 time frame. In the first census 1790, there are six Willis households:

Living very near each other:

1. William - Must be either William Jr or William son of Jacob from above.
2. Henry - I believe to be the son of William Jr.
3. Jon. - Usually used as an abbreviation for Jonathon, John. I am trying to figure out where he came from, if and how he ties into the group above.
4. Joseph - Ditto.

I believe the four above to be related somehow given that they live near each other. However, while there is significant interaction between William/Jacob/James Buchanan (husband of William Sr's daughter) .... I don't see much activity or interaction from John or Joseph.

Living on the other side of the county, thus assuming not closely related to the 4 above:

1. Stephen - Well documented. I also have a detailed article about him and his family (let me know if you want me to send it to you).
2. Peter - There is a descendant of Peter in the FTDNA WILLIS y-DNA project. Is that you? Peter's origins are uncertain. He moves to Tennessee in 1816.

That's an outline of what I have thus far. There is much detail underlying this. I probably have 400+ pictures of various deeds, court records, articles, et al that I have taken within the last couple months from library visits.

Kentucky/Illinois Branch.  There is great confusion over this single line of Willis because there is a William Willis who moves to Kentucky in the late 1700s, supposedly from Rutherford Co. That William moves to Crab Orchard, Kentucky with his mother Elizabeth Nancy Eaves. She supposedly marries a James Philips. He marries an Elizabeth Steele, has a massive family from which there are many Willis descendants in Ky, Ill, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. There was a extensive piece of research that is widely circulated with these details. This research piece has been out there so long that it is taken as gospel. There are 3 problems:

1. A letter within the Eaves family indicates that Elizabeth Nancy Eaves died in NC, of a snake bite,  which had to have happened shortly after William Willis Sr passed in 1782.

2. There is a Y-DNA participant who traces back to William Willis and Elizabeth Steele in Kentucky. BUT, his y-DNA ties him to Willis originating in Maryland.

3. In my auDNA testing results thus far at both Ancestry and FTDNA, I have no ties to any Willis descendant from the Ky/Ill. branch.

Georgia Branch.  In addition, there is a William Willis born supposedly in 1775 in Rutherford Co that moves to Ga, has a massive family. Descendants from that family migrate to Alabama and Mississippi. In my auDNA testing, I have multiple ties to people with Willis in their family tree from Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. But, I have no clue as to which of the two Williams moved to Georgia. Was it William Jr, or William son of Jacob Sr/Elizabeth? Since I descend from a Jacob Jr, brother of William,  sons of Jacob Sr/Elizabeth,  I would have stronger auDNA ties to that William, than to William Jr., thus more easily enabling me to auDNA tie to Willis in Ga, Ala, and MS.  So,  I think it William, son of Jacob Sr/Elizabeth who moved to Georgia.

From Jacob Sr. to Jacob Jr.  Finally, while I know for certain that I descend from Jacob Jr, I have yet to find a concrete tie that shows Jacob Jr was a son of Jacob Sr/Elizabeth, brother to William, grandson to William Sr. It is simply family lore that I rely upon at this point. And, it makes sense given the location of land grants to William Sr, versus where our modern day farm is located in Cleveland Co (Cleveland Co was formed in 1849 from parts of Rutherford Co).  I hope late August y-DNA results will help confirm.