Category: Documents, Images and Information

Willises, Garnetts moving to Saline in 1852 and before…

I have discovered that Benjamin Franklin Willis, one of the sons of Isaac Willis, went to Marshall Missouri on a wagon train in 1852 with apparently a great number of Willis, Gordon and Garnett cousins. “Anna Garnett Willis, who came to Saline County with a wagon train of people from Culpeper County, Va., around 1852.” Apparently 1852 was one of the busiest years for westward expansion. 

I found a page with a few bios, and there is some information of others that are listed on this site– these apparently from a book titled “History of Saline County, Missouri 1881“. This is about one half generation before John Milton Willis headed west.

In the book, Owen Thomas Willis is credited as being one of the first settlers in the area of Marshall Township.

Owen Thomas Willis, P. O., Slater. Was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, February 20, 1821, where he was raised and educated, and assisted on his father’s farm until his sixteenth year, then lived with his grandfather, Isaac Willis, and managed his business for twelve years. His father, Joshua Willis, and his mother Ava Willis, formerly Garnett were both natives of Culpepper county, Virginia. He was married December 10, 1844, to Miss Sarah Ann Garnett, daughter of Larkin and Elizabeth Garnett, of Culpepper county, Virginia. He continued farming in Virginia until 1850, when he came to this county, and bought 120 acres of land, two and one-half miles south of the present site of Slater. After building and moving to his farm, he lost his dwelling house by fire, which, with its contents were valued at $1,000. After this, he sold out to his uncle, Bobert Willis, and bought the farm now owned by Reuben Eubank. Selling this to Mr. Eubank, he purchased the farm he now lives on, adjoining the town of Norton on the east, containing 160 acres of land. From 1853 to 1866, he ran a saw mill, six miles east of Miami. Mr. Willis’ children are as follows: Evelyn P., now Mrs. David C. Morrison, of Saline county; Alice, now Mrs. Theodore Haynes, of Slater; Oswald T., Ida B., now Mrs. E. H. Head of Quincy, Illinois; Harry C., William P., Melbourne, E., Price, Owen Shelby, and Sarah E., all living. Mr. Willis has been a member of the Baptist Church since his eighteenth year, and has been connected with Bethel Church [This being one of the two churches where Russel Holman Preached] for over twenty years.

I was especially excited to read the below, as R H Willis has turned up in many of the documents and maps I’ve been looking through over the years. I’m glad to get a bio on him, as well as understand that he is definitely, in fact, one of the Culpeper Willises.

Robert H. Willis, P. O., Marshall. Was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, on the 15th of December, 1837, where he was reared and educated. In 1860, he came to Missouri, and settled in Saline county. In 1861, he joined Capt. Ed. Browns’ company, in the M. S. G. and served six months, the time of enlistment. In December, 1861, he started south with Robinson’s body of recruits, and was captured with them December 19, 1861, on Blackwater, taken to St. Louis, and then to Alton, Illinois, where he remained three months; was then released, on taking the oath, and returned home. In 1864, as Gen. Price’s army passed through Saline, Mr. Willis again enlisted in the Confederate service, in Gen. Marmaduke’s escort company; remained in the service to the end of the war, and surrendered in 1865, at Shreveport. He participated in the battles of Wilson’s Creek, Booneville, Dry Wood, and Lexington. After the war, he settled down on the farm, northeast of Marshall, which he soon after purchased, and resided there until 1875. In 1874, he was elected sheriff of Saline county, and in 1875, moved into Marshall, the county seat, to assume his official duties. Mr. Willis is a democrat, and was again elected sheriff, in 1876. In 1879, Mr. Willis engaged in the grocery business, in Marshall, with Mr. Ben Naylor, until 1881, when Naylor sold out to Wm. Nordyke, and the firm is now Willis & Nordyke. They do a leading business in their line. In 1861, Mr. Willis married Miss Mary E. Cox, daughter of Jesse Cox, a lawyer and an old settler of this county. They have had ten children, eight of whom—two sons and six daughters—are living. Mr. Willis came to Saline poor, but by his industry and management is now in easy circumstances.

This is a bio of E P Garnett’s brother in law. This couple is mentioned in the article linked above. The home that Anna Garnett build with her husband at the age of 26 is still standing. 

WILLIAM PHILIP CASEBOLT, P, O,, Slater. Mr. W. P. Case-
bolt, postmaster of Slater, was born Februar}- 1.5, 1842, in Pocahontas
count}-, Virginia. His father, William Casebolt, was a native of Poca-
hontas county, Virginia, and his mother, Mrs. Ellen Casebolt, formerl}-
Lowe, a native of Braxton county, Virginia. He came to Saline county,
Missouri, with his parents, in 1844, and settled near Miami, where he was
educated. At the age ot’ seventeen years, he engaged as clerk in a
general store in Carrollton, Missouri. In the year 1865, he moved to
Vienna, Maries county, Missouri, and engaged in business. March 4, 1868,
he married Miss Roberta Anderson, daughter of Thomas and Mira
Anderson, of Tennessee. Two children were born to them, and both died
very young. Mrs. Casebolt died on the 13th of February, 1873. In March,
1875, he opened a general store at Petra postoflice. Saline county, and in
1876, was appointed postmaster. In September, 1878, he removed to
Slater, continuing as postmaster, and his business, and building the first
store-house, southwest corner of Main and Front streets, which was
burnt in January, 1881. In the summer of 1879, he disposed of his mer-
cantile stock, and has since given his entire attention to the duties of the
postoffice. In 1879, he built a two-story brick building, with metal roof,
on the east side of Main street. Mr. Casebolt was one of the first citizens
of the present city of Slater, and has aided not a little, by his energy and
enterprise, in its rapid growth, Mr. Casebolt was married, December
25, 1.S79, to Miss Celia Helen Graves, daughter of the late Edward
D. Graves and Martha Ann Graves, formerly Garnett, of this county.

THOMAS GARNETT, deceased. Was born in Culpepper county,
Virginia, in 1810. His early life was spent on a farm and in acquiring an
education in the public schools of his native county. While in Virginia, after
becoming of age, he was engaged in farming, on a grand scale. Was married to
Miss Lucy H. Gordon, of same county, by whom he had nine chil-
dren, seven of whom are living: Anna M., Lucy H., wife of Jas, A.Jordan*
A. C, Laura V., wife of Giles R. McDaniels; T. T., Edmonia J., Joseph
H. In 1852 Mr.Garnett moved to this state and count}-, locating where
his son, A. C, and widow, now reside, on a splendid farm, well adapted to
the raising of all kinds of produce, or stock. Mr. A. C, who now man-
ages the farm, makes a specialt}^ of handling fine stock. The subject of
this sketch died in 1880, having been an active and consistent member of
the Missionary Baptist Church for forty-five years, acting in the capacity
of deacon for several years previous to his death. He died at the ripe age
of seventy years, living the full time allotted to man, leaving behind him a
record of which his descendants may well be proud.

GEORGE WILLIS, P. O., Orearville. Was born in Orange county,
Virginia, June 14, 1834, where he was reared and educated. His father,
Joshua Willis, was a native of Madison county, Virginia, and a farmer.
He was married to Ara Willis, a native of Culpepper county, Virginia,
and daughter of Isaac Willis. They had seven children, five of which
are living: Owen T., Benj. F., George, Mrs. Betty T. Lewis and Mrs.
Mary Ish. Joshua Willis died and was buried in Culpepper county, Vir-
ginia; his wife survived him, died and was buried at Mt. Horeb, in Saline
county, in 1865. George, the fourth son, after stopping school, devoted
his time to the management of his mother’s business on the farm. In the
fall of 1857, he, wath his mother and family, moved west, settling in Saline
county, Missouri, where two of his brothers had already located some
years previous. They traveled by land in wagons, and brought some
twenty or thirty slaves with them. They first settled on what is now
known as the Richard Durrett farm, two miles south of the present city
of Slater, where he farmed until 1859. In April, 1859, he was married to
Miss Margia Ish, of Saline county, a daughter of W. L. Ish. They have
two children: Ortha L. and Etha G.; and in the same year he moved to
the farm on which he now resides, five and one-half miles south of Slater,
where he owns eighty-eight acres of first-class land. In the fall of 1864,
he enlisted in company G, Williams’ regiment, Shelby’s division, as a pri-
vate, and was in the battles of Independence, Big and Little Blue, West-
port and near Ft. Scott. He was discharged in 1865, and returned to his
farm.
In the same book, there is a history of the Rehoboth Church, which was moved, and is now the current Slater Baptist Church:

CHURCHES IN SLATER.
BAPTIST CHURCH.

This church was formerly called Rehoboth Church, and the house of
worship was located half a mile north of town, but on the building of the
town the old structure was taken down and the material worked into the
new church at Slater. Rehoboth Church was organized September 1,
1850. The original members were Daniel Hickerson, W. W. Field, W.
E. Thomson, R. Y. Thompson, R. Johnson, Willis Holloway, B. Hamp-
ton, I. N. Graves, Claiborne Hill, Maria Hickerson, Francis Hickerson,
Francis Hampton, Lucy T. Thompson, Anna L. Hampton, Lucy A.
Thompson, Lucy A. Field, Martha Johnson, Rachel Hufi. The old
Rehoboth church was built in 1850; the new (Baptist Church of Slater)
in 1880. The old church building cost $2,000. Noah Flood dedicated it
on the fifth Sabbath of July, 1853; Rev. W. Pope Yeaman dedicated the
new one August 29, 1880. Rev. Thos. Fristoe was called as first preacher
of the old organization, November 1, 1851. Jos. S. Conners was first pastor
of the new. The present membership is about one hundred. During the
war an association was being held at Rehoboth. The militia arrested all
of the ministers present and put them under bonds.

The question remains: Why did some of the Garnetts arrive in Saline in 1840, and many Garnetts, Gordons and Willises show up together, on a wagon train, in 1852?!

Russell Holman: Updates Coming

Lewis Walker And The Creeks/Cherokees

I have finally gotten my hands on the audio recording of Lewis Walker recanting his knowledge of Willis family stories and oral histories. From his recollections he seemed to have done quite a bit of historical research as well.

I think it is important to note that discrepancies in oral histories in no way belittle or disrespect those that pass them down- on the contrary, it is extraordinary that so much information can be remembered and passed on from generation to generation. Lewis Walker’s passion for history and love of the people that cared for him are the only reason that we have a place to start documentable research. He was in the twilight of his light recanting tales from his childhood-from people in the twilight of their lives recanting tales of their childhoods! on top of that, far from the convenience of the internet, he had to write a letter and wait for a response every time he needed information he could not find in a library. My goal is to create a documentable, factual historical timeline to establish the truth to the best of our ability… I’d like to think that if Lewis could have made it through a few more decades he’d be using Google to do the same thing now!

In the recording Lewis does say that Russell Holman graduated from Brown Medical School and went as a medical missionary to the indians, however he referred to not the Creek Indians specifically but to what he calls the “Creek Nations” and states the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Seminole and Creeks- what are actually referred commonly to as the Five Civilized Tribes- they had no formal alliance between them.

Lewis then goes on to saw that in the Creek Nations, Holman was particularly fond of the Cherokee, and states clearly that the Cherokee had a written language that Holman translated. He does not mention a bible, and states that he does not know where he heard this piece of information. He recants a tale of Mary Holman (Willis), explaining that she came downstairs one night at their home in Alabama and saw teepees in the yard, and heard Russell Holman talking with indians all night long. She said that she was a young girl, about 6 or 7 years old when this happened.

Russell Holman’s first tenure as the corresponding secretary for the mission board was from 1845-51, then he spent five years in New Orleans supporting the First Baptist Church there. his second tenure as the corresponding secretary began in 1856, and his letters and records show that the primary concern of the mission board was supporting the Pottawatomie mission that had been established in Oaklahoma. There were, however, many other tribes including the Cherokees and the Creeks that had missions supported by the board, whom Holman was actively corresponding with at the time. One must address also that though none of the afore mentioned tribes utilized teepees before they were forced west, they did adapt the teepee once on the plains. All this being considered, it may never be known specifically what tribe was visiting or why, but it was almost certainly either Cherokees paying a friendly visit to an old friend, or Pottawatomies or another tribe coming to discuss matters relating to missions in the field.

Russell Holman’s Childhood

There is almost no recorded history or oral tradition around Holman’s childhood, but I have been able to uncover a few more nuggets. There were a few major events going on in Warwick MA as he was growing up, and they likely would have had a major effect on his childhood.

A group of Utopian Unitarians attempted to start a community revolving around a glass factory around the time Holman was born. They were so zealous to pay great wages to improve the lives of the people they brought in that the whole thing was bankrupt by the time Holman was a toddler.

When Holman was 11 years old, a major tornado came through the area and a few young girls, one Holman’s age, were killed. It did major damage to several farms and homes, and the community had to make significant adjustments and take up a collection to assist those affected. It was a small community, and this likely had a major impact on Holman’s worldview as a child.

I have found record via the census and the Warwick Historical Society that Holman was actually the oldest of several siblings, but was 5 years older than the next youngest. By the 1830 census, at 18 years of age, he was no longer living with his family, and from what I can gather, never returned home.

The record at Brown University records that he was actually from Grafton MA, which is a suburb of Worcester. It is likely that Holman was sent to live with relatives there to attend a school in an urban setting of more prominence, but unfortunately at this time only the names of heads of households were recorded on the census, so it may never be possible to establish if this is the case.

Unless we can find a school record…

Location of Law Office of RH Willis and H Willis Robertson

From The National Register of Historic Places 

 

“128 West 21st Street. Peoples Bank of Buena Vista. 1907. 103-5055-0001. CB. The Classical Revival two-story brick building with parapet shed roof has recently (2008) had a modern façade removed to reveal the original front. The front features blond brick on the first story, red brick in the second story, and a blond brick parapet with decorative lozenge panels outlined in red brick. The first story has three elliptical archways, each with cast stone voussoirs. Originally the left and right archways were large windows with the center archway containing recessed entries to the building’s various commercial and office spaces. The center arch has traces of the painted words “The Peoples Bank.” Behind the arches are a partly recessed and angled aluminum and glass wall (almost flush in the west archway) and a raised flagstone pavement.

At the northeast corner, facing the alley, is a baskethandle archway created in the 1960s. In the second story front are three tripartite windows with cast stone lintels with keystone motifs. There are traces above the first and second stories and at the top of the parapet of former pressed metal cornices. Other features include painted brick on the side and rear elevations, 1/1 sashes, a brick-veneered cinder block rear addition for a bank vault, and parging on the west side where the former Lehman Building once adjoined. The Peoples Bank of Buena Vista, Inc., was chartered in February 1906 and soon opened at a temporary location.

The bank purchased the site in early 1907. When its bank building was completed later in the year it also housed the post office, which had been deprived of its location in the Colonnade Building across the street when that building burned in March 1907. Advertisements in a 1909 newspaper noted that the building also housed the offices of dentist Dr. R. W. Williams and lawyers R. H. Willis and A. W. Robertson. After the post office moved out a millinery shop occupied the vacated space on the east side of the building. Later occupants were a doctor office and Mildred’s Beauty Shop (both on the second floor) and Central Fidelity Bank (after 1974). The façade was first altered before 1955. In the 1960s the building’s first story was given a modernistic arcaded treatment and a windowless tile façade was added above. The building flooded in the mid-1980s and has stood vacant since that time. It is currently (March 2009) in the process of rehabilitation as the Buena Vista branch of Community Bank. ”

Isaac Willis Letter

1830 Letter 

     In or about 1805, Isaac’s father William Willis moved along with, at one time or another, members of the Waggener family and Robert Garnett, Isaac’s wife’s father, to Kentucky to take up land granted to him from his service in the Revolutionary war.

    Robert Garnett’s son Captain William Garnett had served and died during the revolutionary war, and Robert received a large tract (2002 acres it is said)  for his service. Another son Oliver had already departed for Kentucky in 1815, and Robert Garnett left Orange and traveled to Kentucky in 1824 to join him; lore has it the whole trip was made on horseback at the age of 88 years.

    Isaac purchased all of the Garnett’s land in Orange (the Horseshoe Farm). Robert Garnett died December 30, 1830, and this letter was written to Oliver Garnett, Isaac’s brother-in-law and Robert Garnett’s son, in August of that year.

FRONT:

Pg_2_web

LETTER:

pg1-1-2

1830 Letter to his father in law, Oliver Garnett (click for hi res); contrast has been added for easier reading.

Transcription:

Orange Ct House 19 Aug 1830

Oliver,
Inclosed you will find a check on
the MS Bank at Lexington [KY] for $600, which
you will place to my credit, on the week
of this, you will wright to me, acknowledging
the receipt of the [draft], and [inclose] me
my obligation which I gave you, to the
post office Orange Ct House VA and very
much obliged [& very] very respectfully

Isaac Willis

Special thanks to Oliver’s descendant and their ancestors
for preserving and contributing this family history for all of us to enjoy.