Category: Willis Articles

My Willis ancestors came to the Province of Maryland by at least 1702 when a John Willis patented 50 acres of land in Dorchester County, Maryland. Following the custom at the time, he named this tract of land. The name he chose was “Wantage,” which is the name of a village and Anglican Parish in Berkshire County, England. That choice of name leads to the conclusion that John Willis may have immigrated from that location. Willis Articles posted here will usually deal wth this family, which is called “The Maryland Group” in the DNA project at www.willisdna.com. Some articles, however, will address other families to help contrast the John Willis Family from those not related.

Henry Willis d. 1794 – A Missing Child of Joshua Willis

I recently vowed (again) to get rid of paper by consolidating miscellaneous notes into my “county data tables.” That is where I keep records of pertinent genealogical documents and events.

Almost immediately, some notes from Sandra Willis’s website (here) related to Caroline County, Maryland caught my eye.[1] Her abstracts of estate inventories included the following:

Henry Willis – 1 Feb 1794[2]

John Willis – administrator

Kin listed – Joshua Lucas, Deborah Lucas

Total Inventory – £240/2/0

Further, Sandra’s abstracts of guardian bonds had this information:

9 Jun 1795 – Nancy Willis orphan daughter of Henry Willis – bound to Rhoda Willis. Rhoda Willis made guardian of Nancy Willis[3]

11 Aug 1795 – Rhoda Willis, widow of Henry Willis deceased, guardian to Nancy Willis daughter of Henry Willis – Valuation of lands called “Painter’s Range” containing 222 acres – deduct ¾ for other 3 children (not named).[4]

These cryptic entries show that a Henry Willis died intestate in early 1794, based on the date of the estate inventory.[5]Henry left a widow and one minor child, Nancy, who inherited a one-fourth interest in a tract of land called “Painter’s Range.”

The entries are intriguing. John Willis, administrator of the estate, and Deborah (Willis) Lucas, kindred, were both children of Joshua Willis, a successful planter in Caroline County, Maryland. Also, the land called “Painter’s Range” was connected to Joshua Willis. Henry Willis seems to have been a relative. Was he also Joshua Willis’s child? Initially, I did not think so. An earlier article on the heirs of Joshua Willis found  here established that Joshua had eleven children at the time he died. None of them were named Henry. This led to a series of questions. The answers established — spoiler alert here — that Henry was indeed a son of Joshua Willis. Here are the questions and answers.

How many children did Henry and Rhoda Willis have?

Answer – One.

The guardian bond abstract states there were four children. However, Henry had married “Rhody” Batchelor in Caroline County, Maryland on 12 June 1793.[6] They had only been married about six or seven months when he died. At his death, his wife Rhoda probably was pregnant with their only child, Nancy, who was born in the spring or summer of 1794. If there were other children in the household, they were not Rhoda’s.

Why did Nancy get only one-fourth of the real estate?

Answer – There are a couple of ways this could have happened.

As Henry’s child, Nancy was entitled to his property under the laws of intestate distribution. She would receive less that 100 percent of his property if there were other equal heirs at law — that is, siblings or half-siblings. She clearly was the only child of Henry and Rhoda. Moreover, the 1790 census shows Henry alone, without any children or an earlier wife. If Henry had any children born between 1970 and Nancy’s birth, there should be a record of a guardianship similar to Nancy’s. There is no such record. We can rule out half-siblings.

However, there is another possibility. Nancy would only get a fraction of the land if she were Henry’s sole heir AND he only owned or was entitled to that fraction. That begs the next question.

 Did Henry own “Painter’s Range?”

Answer – No.

There is no record that Henry Willis ever purchased any land, either alone or with partners, much less land called “Painter’s Range.” Instead, the record shows Joshua Willis Sr. purchased 393 acres of land by that name in 1778.[7] There is no record of Joshua selling it before he died in about 1795. Over his lifetime, Joshua acquired more than twelve hundred acres of land in Caroline and Dorchester Counties. He still possessed most of it at his death.

In about 1790, Joshua made a will, which unfortunately has been lost.[8] The earlier article on the heirs of Joshua Willis covered in detail the various documents proving that Joshua made a will devising specific tracts of land. That article also concluded that Joshua had a total of eleven children, none named Henry.

Was that earlier article wrong?

Answer – No and Yes.

No, because the earlier article correctly identifies eleven of Joshua’s children based on the documents underlying that analysis.

Yes, because it missed the documents related to Henry, his widow and daughter, plus land that Joshua clearly owned and almost certainly devised to someone in his will.

What gift of land in Joshua’s will could prove Henry was his son?

Answer – See Occam’s Razor.

The simplest answer is most likely correct. Joshua’s 1790 will most likely devised 222 acres of “Painter’s Range” jointly to his four eldest sons in fee simple, with the common proviso that should any die without heirs, their share would revert to the other devisees.[9] Those sons would include Joshua Jr., Charles, and Thomas, plus Henry Willis.[10] Henry died in early 1794, and his only heir – the afterborn child, Nancy, automatically became an heir under Joshua’s will under the law of intestate descent and distribution.

Joshua Willis Sr. probably died before 9 Jun 1795, when Rhoda Willis was appointed guardian of Nancy Willis. He definitely died before the 11 Aug 1795 land valuation, because by that time Nancy was clearly entitled to one-fourth of the Painter’s Range acreage.

Did Nancy ever get her share?

Answer – No.

In 1800, Joshua Jr. sold part of Painter’s Range without the participation of any of the other heirs.[11] One way that could legally happen was if the other three heirs sold their interests to Joshua Jr. However, there is no record of a sale to Joshua Jr. from any heir, including from Nancy or her guardian. The other way it could legally happen is if the other heirs all died without leaving an heir of their own. In fact, Charles Willis and Thomas Willis both died without issue before 1800.[12]We can conclude that Nancy had also died before reaching the age of six in 1800.

What have we done here?

Answer – A couple of things.

We have presented reasonably conclusive evidence of another son and a grandchild of Joshua Willis Sr. (which will have no bearing on anyone’s ancestry search because Nancy left no descendants).

And we have proven how easy it is to get led astray from good intentions like eliminating paper and consolidating notes. We did, in fact, get rid of three notes, but it took a week to do so! At the time, however, it was bitterly cold outside, so this was undoubtedly the right and fun thing to do.

One final question.

Was there any happy ending to this sad tale?

Answer – Yes.

In 1796, the widow Rhoda Willis married Allen Parker, who happened to be one of the securities on her guardianship bond in 1795.[13] The 1810 census shows Allen Parker in Caroline County. His household appears to include Rhoda and five children — four sons and one daughter, all under the age of ten.[14]

Good Hunting!

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[1] Sandra Willis was a fabulous researcher who abstracted many original documents from court houses and the Maryland State Archives. She took the time to share her research notes in a well-organized website. She also provided in her will that the site be maintained so others could benefit from the work she had done. Check it out.

[2] Caroline County Original Inventories, Box 9450 (1792-1799)

[3] Caroline County Guardian Bonds, Liber JR-B, Folio 243

[4] Caroline County Guardian Bonds, Liber JR-B, Folio 253

[5] If he had made a will, an executor rather than an administrator would have been named to handle the estate.

[6] Sandra’s “Index to Caroline County Marriage Licenses by Henry Downes Cranor” at mdwillis.nabiki.com.

[7] Carolina County Deed Book A:269 – Deed dated 24 Mar 1778, filed 23 Apr 1778 – Robert Lloyd Nicols of Talbot County, merchant, sold to Joshua Willis of Caroline County, planter, for sum of 412 pounds 18 shillings 3 pence all of a tract of land part of “Painter’s Range” lying lately in Dorchester County but now in Caroline County containing 393¼ acres more or less.

[8] Not only is the will lost, but there are no estate inventories, administration bonds, or other usual probate records for Joshua Willis. He owned significant real estate in both Caroline and Dorchester Counties. It is likely that his eldest son, Joshua Jr., was executor of the estate and, living in Dorchester at the time of his father’s death, filed the will for probate in Dorchester out of convenience. Unfortunately, those records were lost in the 1851 fire at the County Court House.

[9] Joshua’s will contained a similar provision regarding land devised to Charles, which descended to his brothers Peter and Thomas after Charles’s death in 1797.

[10] The earlier article lists eleven children in likely birth order.

[11] Carolina County Deed Book G:293

[12] Charles died in Dec 1797 based on an estate inventory dated 30 Dec 1797. A deposition of Captain William Haskins dated 5 Nov 1804 states that Charles and Thomas Willis died without issue before that date. There is no probate record for Thomas Willis, but he must have died prior to the 1800 sale of “Painter’s Range.”

[13] Caroline County Court Bonds, 1785-1892, 243 and 253.

[14] Had Nancy lived, she would have been 16 in that census.

The John Willis Family of Dorchester and Caroline Counties, Maryland

Note: Since posting an article years ago about the John Willis Family, several facts have come to light about his origin and descendants. This article replaces the original and incorporates those facts .

John Willis Sr. was born before 1668 in Wantage, (then) Berkshire, England. He grew up with fond memories of this village before emigrating as a young man to the Province of Maryland. There, John gained employment with the Dorchester County Court at Cambridge and married in about 1687. He and his wife initially lived on rented land, raising a family and working off the cost of his passage to the New World. He farmed the rented property as a primary livelihood since the part time nature of the work at court sessions did not provide steady or sufficient income. In 1702, John was able to patent his own property and acquired 50 acres, which he named ‘Wantage’ after his hometown.

By the time the family moved onto Wantage, John and his wife had six children: John Jr., Andrew, Thomas, William, Grace, and Elizabeth. With two teenage boys to help with the land, the Willises primarily raised cattle and hogs. There were plenty of chores for the younger children. The Willises formed a close friendship with the families of neighbour William and Jennet Jones and with John and Dorothy Stevens who resided at ‘Littleworth’.

As the years went by, John Jr. learned the carpentry trade and married Mary (last name unknown). They moved to rented land close by. Andrew married Jennet Jones, the neighbour’s daughter, and rented land near William Jones’ new property on Shoal Creek. Thomas became a cobbler. William, the youngest son, married Judith Seward, and they lived at Wantage with the elder Willises and Grace, Elizabeth, and Thomas. After Thomas married Grace Bexley, he and John Jr. acquired adjoining land in part of Dorchester County that would become Caroline County. William took over running Wantage, while Judith helped care for an ailing Mrs. Willis. Before long, Mrs. Willis passed away leaving William and Judith along with Grace and Elizabeth living at Wantage with John Sr.

 As the health of John Sr. began to fail in 1712, he made a will rewarding William (and his wife Judith), Grace and Elizabeth for their steadfast support. John Jr. contested the will, but it was allowed to stand. John Jr., Andrew, and William each had children. For the next three hundred years, descendants of these three brothers intermarried with families on the Eastern Shore. The family history is a rich and interesting story of women and men. A handful fought in the revolution. Some were instrumental in establishing the early Methodist church in the region. Most were farmers. Some became doctors and Court justices.

This narrative contains some speculative details about John Willis and his family. However, it is consistent with the provable facts. The following part of the article about the family’s humble beginnings in the New World presents that proof.

Birth and Birthplace

The best clue to John Sr.’s home of origin is the name he gave his land. If he followed the custom of some of his peers, the name Wantage likely came from his hometown. A town of that name is located then in Berkshire, now in Oxfordshire, England, about 50 miles west of London and 80 miles from the city of Cambridge. Internet research shows the town is currently home to several Willis families. The parish registers for St. Peter and St. Paul Church at Wantage list marriages and births/christenings from 1538 onwards. Among the marriages are three generations of men named John Willis, the last of whom might be the father of John Willis Sr. of Maryland1. The marriage record shows a John Willis married Elizabeth Chapman on 11 Apr 1664. Among the children baptised by this couple is a John Willis on 3 Jan 1668/9. This is strong circumstantial evidence that John Sr. in Maryland is the child of John and Elizabeth of Wantage.

John Willis Sr. was not the only person from Wantage, England, in the Province. A common labourer named Henry Willis came to Maryland in August 1684 at age 21 on the John & Elizabeth bound to John Moore of London for four years2. The ship’s record names Henry’s father as Leonard Willis3. Evidence that another person immigrated from Wantage supports the theory that John Sr. did as well.

Possible First Appearance – 1694

The possible first appearance in Dorchester County records of John Willis Sr. is in 1694 when a man by that name was an appraiser of the estate of William Pritchett4. A John Willis served as appraiser again in 1700 and 17035. It is logical to assume the appraiser in all three cases is the same John Willis. An appraiser had to be sworn to this duty and served only with the approval of the court. John Sr. served as the Court Crier at the Dorchester County Court and lived on land a few miles from Cambridge, the county capital6. Those connections at Court might have led to his appointment as an appraiser.

Land Acquisition – 1702

John Willis patented land from the provincial land office in 1702, acquiring 50 acres called Wantage on the Blackwater River7. As already discussed, John may have named this tract after his hometown. John Willis appeared on the 1704 rent rolls as a planter, indicating he was a landholder8. Wantage would remain in the family until 1734.

Death of John Willis Sr. – 1712

John Willis made a will on 18 September 1712 and died soon after. The will was presented for probate on 24 November 17129. John Sr. had six children surviving at the time he wrote his will. The will only names four of the six. Eldest son John contested the will in part because two children were not named.

In his will, John Sr. provided that:

    1. Son William and his heirs would inherit all land , a mare, a cow, and three yearlings;
    2. Daughter Grace would inherit a horse, two cows, three yearlings, and all the land if William died without issue;
    3. Daughter Elizabeth would inherit a horse, bed and furniture, and a great chest; and
    4. Son John would inherit 12 pence.
    5. The will named William Jones and Rice Levena as executors.

John Willis Jr., eldest son of the deceased, filed a will contest on 3 December 1712, asking that administration not be granted the executors because there were only two witnesses to the will, there were two more children not mentioned in the will and he did not believe his father to be of sound mind at the time of making the will. William Jones, one of the witnesses to the will and a named executor, appeared in support of John Jr10.

The Court ordered on 20 February 1712/3 that all parties appear in April to give evidence regarding John Sr.’s mental condition at the time he made his will11. I have found nothing resolving the dispute in the Dorchester County court records, nor any reference to the contest in the probate records of the Prerogative Court. However, apparently the Court ruled against the contest because probate continued under the named executors. Had the Court sustained the contest, the Court would have nullified the will and appointed an administrator. Instead, Inventories and Administration Accounts filed by the executors for the estate of John Willis in 1714 and 1715 indicate that probate moved forward12.

A few other comments regarding the terms of the will and its administration are in order. First, the will does not name a spouse of John Willis. We can logically assume that she predeceased John. Were she alive, he likely would have named her in the will with a life estate in the land or otherwise provided for her care by their adult children. Last, the will does not use a married surname for either daughter. We can conclude that they were unmarried in 1712.

Unnamed Children of John Willis

Andrew – Andrew is a proven son.

    1. An inventory of the estate of John Willis filed at the April 1714 Court Session names Andrew as a son13.
    2. Andrew continued to live reasonably close to Wantage and his father-in-law was a former neighbour. William Jones, one of the executors of John’s will, owned land adjacent to Wantage and is the father of Jennet Jones who married Andrew Willis. Also, Andrew Willis and William Jones are noted in the 1718 will of Thomas Ennals and in a 1722 land sale as having had land adjoining each other at the head of Shoal Creek14. The head of Shoal Creek is about three miles from Cambridge (near the current Cambridge-Dorchester Airport) and a mile or so from the headwaters of the Little Blackwater River.
    3. In a 1730 deposition, Andrew Willis, then aged about 40, gave a sworn statement about the location of a boundary marker for a tract of land called “Littleworth” or “Stevens”. Littleworth frequently appears in the land records as having been adjacent to Wantage. Andrew’s knowledge of the boundary would logically derive from having lived at Wantage as a youth15.

Thomas – Thomas is also a proven son.

    1. John Sharp sold a 50-acre tract of land on Marshy Creek Branch above Hunting Creek to John Willis Jr. on 10 March 171716. Less than five months later, Sharp sold an adjoining 50 acres to Thomas Wallis (Willis)17. Clerks frequently varied the spelling of the name Willis, sometimes within the same document. Those variants include Wallis, Wallace, Wallice, Willace, Willes and Willous. In fact, John Willis Sr. appears in early rent rolls as John “Wallis” in possession of “Wantige”18.
    2. Thomas Willis died intestate in 1722. Grace Wallis (Willis) administered his estate in 1722-172419. The 15 Nov 1722 inventory filed by Grace Willis was also signed by Andrew Willis and John Willis as kindred. Their relationship to Thomas is not stated, but certainly they were his brothers.
    3. Andrew Willis and William Willis each named a son Thomas, presumably after their brother.

In conclusion, the John Willis family of Dorchester and Caroline Counties included sons John, Andrew, Thomas and William, and daughters Grace and Elizabeth. Assigning accurate dates of birth to the children is problematic. Andrew was born in about 1690. John Jr. was the eldest son and therefore born at least by 1689. A deposition given sometime between 1746 and 1752 establishes that William was born between 1694 and 170021. Grace was named before Elizabeth in the 1712 will, indicating she was likely the elder of the two. The relative ages of Thomas and William are also uncertain, but I suspect William was the younger. It was not uncommon for the youngest son, the last to leave the household, to serve as a caregiver for ageing or ill parents. Such service would put him in good graces with regard to inheritance. The same could be said of a daughter who remained in the household and unmarried.

Establishing a birth order is not necessary to the analysis, but provides a theoretical picture of the family consistent with the known facts. A feasible order of birth satisfying that criterion is:

1688 – John Jr.                                               1694 – William

1690 – Andrew                                                1696 – Grace

1692 – Thomas                                                1698 – Elizabeth

Disposition of Wantage

William Willis and his wife Judith apparently lived at Wantage until 1734, when they sold it for six pounds to Richard Seward, likely Judith’s brother. However, two weeks prior to that sale, eldest son John Willis sold the same land to Henry Ennalls for 20 shillings.22 The two sales are a puzzle that is not solved by the deed or probate records.

By 1734, John Jr. lived many miles from Wantage in what later became Caroline County and had no apparent claim to his father’s former tract. However, John Jr.’s earlier will contest and the fact he was the eldest son may have created some cloud on the title in the eyes of Richard Seward, the prospective buyer. William or Seward may have asked John to relinquish any claim to the land prior to Seward buying it. John could comply by conveying his interest, if any, in the land to William (or Seward), clearing title so his brother’s transaction could proceed. Such a transaction would account for the very low price paid in John’s deed. The 20 shillings paid to John likely compensated him for his time and travel between his home and Cambridge to complete the transaction23.

However, the puzzle is that John Jr. deeded his interest to Ennalls and not to William or Seward. Something is missing in the record – a power of attorney under which Ennalls was acting on William’s or Seward’s behalf, or a subsequent transaction from Ennalls conveying John’s interest to either Seward or William. Regardless of this mystery, the record is clear that the Willises had no connection to Wantage after 1734 since Richard Seward still possessed the land twenty years later24. William and Judith Willis and their likely son Thomas Willis appeared in later land records of Dorchester County. Those records show them on land some twenty miles west of the Wantage farm. That land was adjacent land owned by Richard Seward’s parents, adding support to the idea that Richard and Judith were related and very possibly brother and sister.

DNA Project

 The Willis DNA Project (at https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/willis/about/news) has 542 members, 214 with paternal lines surnamed Willis. Of these, thirteen are in the “Maryland Group” believed to be descended from John Willis Sr. who came from Wantage. I invite anyone interested in testing to determine if they are related to one of these Maryland cousins to contact the administrator at the above link.

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  1. W.P.W. Phillimore, editor, Berkshire Parish Registers, Marriages, Volume 1, (London:Phillimore & Co., 1908), I:17, John Willis and Annis Robinson, 31 Mar 1600; I:30, John Willis and Alice Lindsey, 19 Aug 1639; and I:41, John Willis, Junr [?] and Elizabeth Chapman, 11 Apr 1664. Also, John and Elizabeth Willis registered the birth or christening of a son John on 3 Jan 1668/9.
  2. Peter Wilson Coldham, The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1661-1699, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1990), II:471.
  3. Id. at 471, and Phillimore, Berkshire Registers, I:34, Leonard Willis and Margaret Powell, 8 Sep 1652; I:39, Leonard Willis and Anne Bell, 10 Sep 1659. Henry, born in 1663, fits as a son of either marriage. There is no proven connection between John Willis Sr. and Leonard and Henry of Wantage. However, the names Leonard and Henry appear several times in the descendants of John Willis Sr.
  4. Skinner, Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court, VII:61. Court Session 1694 – In the probate of the estate of William Pritchett, John Haslewood of Dorchester County exhibited the bond of Hannah Charlescroft, administratrix of William Pritchett. Securities Richard Owen, Jarvis Cutler. Also inventory by appraisers John Frank and John Willis. Probate Book 15C:125.
  5. Skinner, Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court, VIII:180. Court Session May 1700 – In the probate of the estate of Patrick Donelly, attorneys exhibited the inventory of Patrick Donelly by appraisers David Jenkins and John Willis, Probate Book 18A:62, and XI:4. Court Session Oct 1703 – In the probate of the estate of Daniell Seare of Dorchester County, attorneys exhibited Inventories of the estate of Daniell Seare by appraisers John Willis & William Walker. Probate Book 20:4.
  6. McAllister, Abstracts from the Land Records of Dorchester County, Maryland, Volume 9 (Liber Old No. 13: Liber Old No. 14, folios 1-373),(Cambridge, MD, 1963), IX:36. 14 Old 130, 14 Mar 1746 – Deposition of Thomas Pierson, planter of Dorchester County, aged about 60 years, states that John Willis now living in St. Mary’s White Chappel Parish near Hunting Creek was to the best of deponent’s knowledge the eldest son of John Willis who lived on Blackwater River about 4-5 miles from Cambridge, and who was formerly Cryer of Dorchester County Court.
  7. FHL Film No. 13078, Maryland Land Office, 194. On 10 Sep 1702, John Taylor assigned to John Willis all right, title and interest in 50 acres of land, part of a warrant for 2,389 acres granted to Taylor on 15 Oct 1692, Book CD4/194, and Id. at 194. On 3 Mar 1702/3, the Maryland Land Office issued a survey certificate to John Willis for a tract of 50 acres called Wantage on the Blackwater River, beginning at lowermost bounder of Littleworth, then N 36 deg E 100 perches, N 36 deg W 80 perches, S 36 deg W 100 perches, then straight line to the beginning. Book CD4/194.
  8. Hunt, 1. John Willis is mentioned in the “Quit Rents” of 1704 as being a “planter” on file in the Library of Congress and the The National Archives, London, and Keddie, Leslie and Neil, Dorchester County, Maryland, Rent Rolls 1688-1707 Volume #3, (The Family Tree Bookshop, 2001), 75. Wantige was surveyed for John Wallis on 3 Mar 1702, lying on the Blackwater River beginning at the lowermost bounded tree of “Littleworth”. It encompassed 50 acres and the rental was 8 shillings.
  9. Cotton and Henry, Calendar of Wills, IV:23. Note that the date given in this source for the submission to probate is 24 Nov 1714. This date conflicts with the date John Willis, Jr., filed a protest to the will and the dates of activity in the Prerogative Court records. I conclude the correct date for submission to probate is 24 Nov 1712. Dorchester County Will Book 14:12.
  10. Id. at 23.
  11. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mdwillis/DCWillsWillis.htm#John1712, Sandra Willis who abstracted numerous documents from primary records in Dorchester, Caroline and Talbot Counties created this site.
  12. V.L. Skinner, Jr., Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court, Volume XIII, 1712-1716, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2008), 113, 124, 132, 153 and 157, Probate Book L22:256, 368, 378, 452 and 456.
  13. F. Edward Wright, Judgment Records of Dorchester, Queen Anne’s and Talbot Counties, (Lewes, DE: Delmarva Roots, 2001), 33. L36A:203, Inventory of John Willis, Dorchester County – £23.14.1 – Appraisers John Kirke, Arthur Smith. Next of Kin: Andrew Willis (son), William Willis (son). FHL 975.2 P28w
  14. Jane Baldwin Cotton, The Maryland Calendar of Wills, IV:167-9. Will Book 14:631, Will of Thomas Ennals dated 7 May 1718 – To Thomas Hayward and heirs, 50 acres part of “Ennalls Purchase” (plantation where Andrew Willis lived), at head of Shoal Creek, and on branch lying between Wm Jones and Andrew Willis’, proved 13 Au 1718, and, James A. McAllister, Jr., Abstracts from the Land Records of Dorchester County, Maryland, Volume 1 (Libers Old No. 1 – Old No. 2), (Cambridge, MD, 1960), I:71. 2 Old 161, 13 Mar 1722 – Land sale from Thomas Hayward to Henry Ennalls, land devised to grantor by Col. Thomas Ennalls, dec’d, at head of Shoal Creek where Andrew Willis lived adj land where William Jones lived, part of “Ennalls Purchase”, 50 acres more or less.
  15. James A. McAllister, Jr., Abstracts from the Land Records of Dorchester County, Maryland, Volume 5 (Libers Old No. 7 – Old No. 8), (Cambridge, MD, 1962), V:145. 8 Old 404, 13 Jun-30 Sep 1730 – Commission to John Hodson, Mark Fisher, Thomas Nevett & Henry Ennalls, Jr to perpetuate bounds of Patrick Brawhaun’s land at the head of Blackwater called “Hoggs Island.” Deposition of Andrew Willis, about age 40, regarding the first bounder of “Littleworth” or “Stevens.”
  16. Id. at 16. 7 Old 51, 10 Mar 1717 – John Sharp of Dorchester Co sold to John Willis, of the same county, carpenter, 50 acres, part of “Sharps Prosperity” on Marshy Creek Branch above Hunting Creek. Wits Thomas Noble, Jane Noble. John Nichols, attorney for John Sharp. (Note that Thomas Noble and John Nicols co-owned “Hampton” located on west side of Hunting Creek, bought from Richard Bennett 15 Jan 1713, 6 Old 230)
  17. Id. at 23. 7 Old 68, no day or month 1717 – John Sharp of Dorchester Co sold to Thomas Wallis, of the same county, 50 acres, part of “Sharps Prosperity” on the south side of the head of Marshy Creek branch out of Great Choptank River above Hunting Creek. Bounded on one side by land sold to John Willis. Wits Jerem? Thomas, J Lookerman. Acknowledged 19 Aug 1718
  18. Keddie, 75.
  19. Skinner, Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court, XVI:60, 61 and 151. Filings by John Pitts, gentleman, of Dorchester County, bond of Grace Wallis, administratrix of Thomas Wallis, and inventories of the estate of Thomas Wallis, and Skinner, Administration Accounts of the Prerogative Court, Libers 1-5, 1718-1724, (Westminster, MD:Family Line Publications, 1995), 138. L5:38, Account of Thomas Wallis of Dorchester dated 13 Mar 1723 – Account total £12.17.7, Payments totaled £18.5.2 made to Patrick Mackalister, Mr. Charles Ungle, John Sharp, John Pitt, Edward Billeter, William Edmondson. Administratrix Grace Willis.
  20. The land near Hunting Creek was located within St. Mary’s White Chapel Parish. Unfortunately, the church records for that locale that might prove the marital status of Thomas or Grace do not survive.
  21. James A. McAllister, Jr., Abstracts from the Land Records of Dorchester County, Maryland, Volume 10 (Liber Old No. 14, folios 374-741), (Cambridge, MD, 1963), X:74. 14 Old 658, 11 Nov 1746 to 27 May 1752, Commission to perpetuate the bounds of John Harrington’s land called “Rosses Range” and “David Ropies”, and Return. Nine men and women give depositions regarding this land on Hobson’s Creek. Among them are William Willis, age about 52; Judah (Judith) Willis, age about 50; and Mary Seward, age 68.
  22. Maryland Land Records, 9 Old 223, 30 Jul 1730 [or 1734], John Willis of Dorchester County, planter, for 20 shillings to Henry Ennalls, of same, gentleman, “Wantage,” 50 acres, originally taken up by John Willis, dec’d, on Blackwater Riv., adjoining “Littleworth.” Signed by his mark, John Willis. Witnesses: William Murray, Bw. Ennalls. Acknowledged 30 Jul 1734, and 9 Old 214, 15 Aug 1734, William Willis and wife Judith of Dorchester Co., planter, for 6 pounds to Richard Seward, of same, “Wantage,” 50 acres near head of Blackwater River adjoining “Littleworth.” Signed by marks, William Willis, Judith Willis. Witnesses: Henry Trippe, Cha. Lowndes. Dorchester County Court (Land Records) MSA CE46 10, http://mdlandrec.com
  23. I believe the date of John’s transaction to be 30 July 1734, not 1730. The extant deed book is a copy of the original. The recopied document states the date of the deed in words rather than numbers, “One thousand seven Hundred and thirty.” I believe the scribe who recopied it missed the last two words of the date, which under the style of the day should have been “and four”. If John intended his transaction just to clear title for William’s sale, the following logically occurred. John showed up at the Dorchester County Court when it was in quarterly session. Henry Ennalls drafted a deed that John signed (by mark, he could not read or write). The court justices, including Henry Ennall’s brother Bartholomew, witnessed the signing, and John acknowledged the deed in open court, verifying its validity. All this occurred on a single day, 30 Jul 1734, which limited the inconvenience to the citizen who travelled some distance from Hunting Creek to Cambridge. The payment in the deed was for time and expenses. Sixteen days later Richard Seward bought the land from William and Judith Willis with assurance that John would not be able to successfully protest the sale.
  24. 24. James A. McAllister, Jr., Abstracts from the Land Records of Dorchester County, Maryland, Volume 11 (Liber Old No. 15, folios 1 – 368), (Cambridge, MD, 1963), XI:52, 15 Old 247, 11 Aug 1754-15 Mar 1755, Commission to perpetuate the bounds of Richard Soward’s land called Wantage. A deposition of Thomas Soward, about 30 years old, mentions the widow Brawhawn; John Stevens grandfather of the present John Stevens; Richard Soward, brother of the deponent; and a bounded tree of Littleworth and Wantage between Roger Woolford’s plantation and Brawhawn’s, about 15-16 years ago.

Joseph (The Fifer) Willis: Nevertheless, He Persisted

I was minding my own business in early December, thinking only about the upcoming holiday season, when a nephew asked a genealogical question. He is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and is particularly interested in relatives’ military records. That led him to establish that Richard Willis of Caroline County, Maryland served in the Maryland Militia during the Revolutionary War. Richard was my great-great-great grandfather and the nephew’s 4th great. He enrolled us in the Sons of the Revolution based on “Rev War Richard’s” service .

The nephew then moved on to the War of 1812. He found a Joseph Willis who enlisted in Caroline County as a fifer in a Maryland Militia company commanded by Captain Peter Willis. In 1854 or 1855, “Joseph the Fifer” was granted 160 acres of bounty land for his service. He was about 64 years old and lived in Caroline County at the time of the grant.[1]My nephew wondered if Joseph the Fifer was the same man as the Joseph Willis who married Dorcas Willis in Caroline County in 1818.[2] “Caroline County Joseph” appears in census records from 1820 through 1850. The 1850 census shows him born in 1790, about the same year as Joseph the Fifer.[3]

I volunteered to check it out. It sounded like a classic “follow the land” inquiry. With the complete land records of Caroline County online at MDLANDREC.com, I figured I could simply find the sale of the bounty land at some point after 1855.[4] If the land were sold by Caroline County Joseph or one of his heirs, the sale would prove the fifer’s identity.

Not so fast there, Willis!

I began searching the Caroline County deed books between 1812 and 1860, the year Caroline County Joseph died.[5]There was no reference to a 160-acre tract. However, a Joseph Willis acquired more than 180 acres in smaller parcels between 1812 and 1836.[6] The deed records also show that no Joseph Willis sold any land before 1860 – neither the purchased land, nor the 160-acre bounty tract.

Then It Dawned on Me

After hours looking through grantor/grantee indexes and squinting online at faded, handwritten deeds, the big picture suddenly became clear. The lands mentioned in the records were all adjoining parcels, each part of two larger original tracts.[7] The Joseph Willises named in those records were surely the same person. There was clearly only one Joseph Willis in Caroline County during the period. The Joseph who married Dorcas in 1818 was certainly the same Joseph who in 1855 filed for bounty land. Caroline County Joseph was indeed Joseph the Fifer.

Nevertheless, He Persisted

Having identified Joseph, there was no need to search the land records further — except that I was curious, with an admitted touch of obsessiveness. I had not yet found the 160-acre grant. I persisted. Maybe Joseph’s 1859 will would provide clues.  It divided his land among three of his children for their lifetimes, with the land descending to his grandchildren, as follows:

    1. Joseph’s will devised the home farm and plantation to his widowed daughter Sarah Davis and spinster daughter Jane Willis until they married or died. Afterwards, the will gave the property to Sarah’s children and to the children of a third daughter, Susan Turner. Sarah had three children. Susan had six, including two born after Joseph’s death.
    1. The will gave a second parcel of land to Joseph’s son John R. Willis and after his death to his children. John had two children.

The will named the grandchildren alive at the time Joseph made the will.[8] It did not, however, identify the acreage in either of the two parcels. Was the 160-acre grant part of the total? To find out, I went back to the deed indexes looking for any grandchild’s sale of the land. The first to appear was Sarah’s eldest daughter Willomina Lane (Davis) Perry. Willomina and her husband William E. Perry sold a ten-acre tract in 1869 that she inherited from Joseph.[9]Joseph’s daughters Sarah and Susan had a total of nine children, so Willomina’s share  was one-ninth of the total. That proved the first parcel in Joseph’s will, described as the “farm and plantation,” totaled 90 acres. The second parcel in the will was sold in 1873 by the children of Joseph’s son John R. Willis. That deed states outright the tract amounted to 90½ acres.[10]

The two parcels that Joseph willed to his grandchildren thus totaled 180½ acres — a pretty close tally to the land he acquired between 1812 and 1836. Apparently, that was all the land he owned at the time of his death. Although Joseph had been granted another 160 acres for his war service, he evidently never took possession. Regardless, we can be sure that that Caroline County Joseph and Joseph the Fifer were one and the same.

—-

This abbreviated/modified tree indicates the relationship of the key players (shown in bold) in this article. All children are not shown, and the listing does not necessarily depict the children’s birth order.

1 John Willis (abt 1689 – 1764) m.1 Mary LNU

… 2 Richard Willis (1718 – 1763) m. Rebecca Granger

….. 3 Rev War Richard Willis (1759 – 1823) m. Britannia Gowty

…….. 4 Dorcas Willis (abt 1795 – bef 1840) m. Joseph (the Fifer) Willis

….. 3 Robert Willis (abt 1755 – 1789 ) m. Sarah Rumbold

…….. 4 Joseph (the Fifer) Willis (1790 – 1860) m. Dorcas Willis

………. 5 Jane Willis – Never Married

………. 5 Sarah Willis m. William A. Davis

…………… 6 Willomina Jane Davis  m. William E. Perry, Sr.

…………… 6 Sarah C. Davis

…………… 6 Franklin L. Davis m. Arabella R. Perry

………. 5 Susan Willis  m. William Turner

…………… 6 Celia Turner m. FNU Leigh

…………… 6 Sarah Elizabeth Turner m. William Henry Williams

…………… 6 Joseph Willis Turner m. Frances E. “Fanny” Connelly

…………… 6 William Merrill Turner

…………… 6 Susan J. Turner

……………. 6 Martha J. Turner

………. 5 John Rumbold Willis m.1 Celia Sparklin, m.2 Mary Todd

…………… 6 Thomas Foster Willis  m. Catherine LNU

…………… 6 Mary Todd Willis m. Joseph L. Griffith

… 2 Joshua Willis (1720 – 1797) m. 2) Deborah Greenhawk

……. 3 Captain Peter Willis (1777 – 1834) m. Elizabeth Holmes

[1] Maryland Militia in the War of 1812 – Volume 1 (Eastern Shore Counties) pg. 1-116, WILLIS, Joseph/Fifer, company of Capt Peter Willis, Aug 15 – 30(?) 1813. Mustered into service at Collins Cross Roads. Applied for bounty land May 13, 1854, age 64, residing in Lower Election District of Caroline County; wit: Willis Charles and James Stack, residing in Federalsburg. He applied for bounty land June 9, 1855, age 64, residing near New Hope, Caroline County. Received warrant for 160 acres.

(Captain Peter Willis, later a Colonel and a Caroline County Justice, was Rev War Richard’s first cousin. Peter was Joseph’s first cousin once removed. See abbreviated family tree at the end of the article).

[2] “Maryland Marriages, 1666-1970”, FamilySearch, this link  Joseph Willis, 1816.

[3] 1850 US Census, Caroline County, lists Joseph Willis, age 60.

[4] See this link for instructions on using MDLANDREC.com

[5] Caroline County Will Book B:108. Will made in 1859; probate began 1860.

[6] Caroline County Will Book JR Bi:213, Joseph’s mother Sarah Willis devised an undivided interest in 15½ acres of land to Joseph and his brothers Charles and Peter. Joseph subsequently bought his brothers’ interests, Caroline County Deed Books L:233 and M:582. Joseph acquired other adjoining parcels at Deed Books M:346 and M: 348, 58 acres; T:099, 39+ acres; T:100, 65+ acres; and T:102, about 4 acres.At his death, Joseph had inherited or acquired about 182 acres.

[7] Every record referred to tracts called either Hab Nab at a Venture or Littleton’s Friendship.

[8] Caroline County Will Book B:108. The grandchildren alive when he wrote his will were Willomina Lane Davis, Sarah C. Davis, and Franklin Davis, the children of daughter Sarah who married William A Davis; Sarah Elizabeth Turner, Joseph Turner, Celia Turner, and William H. Turner., the children of daughter Susan who married William Turner; and Thomas Foster Willis and Mary Todd Willis, children of son John R. Willis who married 1) Celia Sparklin, 2) Mary Todd, 3) Elizabeth Stevens,  and 4) Mrs. Ellen Moore.

[9] Caroline County Deed Book 33:301. William E. Perry and wife Willie M. [Willomina] sell 10 acres of land in the Third District to Joseph M. Noble for $133, it being all the land she inherited from her grandfather Joseph Willis, adjacent Zachariah Willis, John W. Covey, J. R. Willis.

[10] Caroline County Deed Book 35:428. John R. Willis and wife Elizabeth, Thomas F. Willis and wife Catherine, and Joseph L Griffith and wife Mary Todd sold 90½ acres of land to Peter Cook of Trenton, New Jersey for $700, it being land willed from Joseph Willis to John R. Willis for his lifetime with the remainder to John’s children Thomas F. Willis and Mary Todd Willis. Because John R. Willis had not yet died, he joined in the sale of the land. Presumably, the entire proceeds went to his children.

Dr. Henry F. Willis – When the Saints Go Marching In

Did you have a sibling a grade or two ahead of you who made straight “A’s” and was well-beloved by teachers? Not much fun following in her wake, was it?

That’s how I feel about my great-great grandfather, Dr. Henry Fisher Willis. I’ve researched him ad nauseam, looking for the inevitable hint of horse thievery, Civil War desertion, or other juicy story in his background. But no.  The man was apparently a saint, a devoted husband and father, a leader in the community, and a church trustee. All I have for him is just one sainted fact after another. No juicy stories, or really any story at all.

So be it. I’m writing an article about him anyway for my Willis family and any other Willis researchers who might find some helpful information here. It mostly will be a litany of facts, which is like what we call “Aggie counting” in Texas — one, and then another one, and then another one.

First, the Basics

Henry was born on 22 Apr 1831 near Friendship in Caroline County, Maryland, a settlement about ten miles north of Preston.[1] He was the eldest of seven sons of Zachariah Willis of Caroline County and Mary Broome Fisher of Marsh(y) Hope, Delaware. Zachariah farmed his father’s old homestead until he was almost 87. However, Henry got his fill of farming much earlier. He went to school during the winter months and worked on the farm the rest of the year until age fifteen. He then gave up school entirely to work on the farm, but continued self-study. In 1850, he quit farming, began teaching in a country school, and studied medicine as well.[2] Ultimately, Henry left to attend medical school and graduated from Philadelphia College of Medicine in 1854.

Henry’s medical degree has a good story. In the 1960s, my father inherited a large china cabinet. Rattling around in the bottom of the cabinet was a handcrafted metal tube about eighteen inches tall. Inside were a diploma and a license to practice medicine, each more than a century old. The diploma from the Philadelphia College of Medicine, written in Latin, named the recipient “Henricum F. Willis.” What a treasure![3]

Dr. Willis Opens his Practice in Delaware

Henry did not return to Maryland upon graduation. Instead, he became licensed in Delaware in July 1854[4] and began his practice in Millsboro, Sussex County, Delaware, some forty miles east of his childhood home.[5] Why, you might ask? The 1860 census provides an economic explanation.

In 1860,  almost 30,000 residents lived in Sussex County, nearly three times the population of Caroline County.[6] Further, with 2,475 residents, Millsboro was the largest town in its county and had only one doctor. In contrast, only 440 lived near Preston, but the town already had two doctors.[7] Clearly, Millsboro presented a greater opportunity for establishing a successful practice.

Henry’s choice is supported by an 1867 gazetteer, which describes other small towns in Caroline County as “post villages.” It tabulates the number of churches, stores, carpenters, and doctors followed by a list of businesses in the community. However, its entry for Preston is only six words – “A post office in Caroline County.”[8] No listing of businesses or churches. Preston was apparently little more than a crossroads.[9]

Dr. Henry Willis was undoubtedly busy in Millsboro, but he kept ties to his home county. He made the all-day, forty-mile trip to Maryland frequently enough to successfully court a young woman. On 19 Apr 1856, he married Emily Rumbold Patton,[10] the daughter of Zachariah’s neighbors Matthew and Martha Rumbold Patton.[11] Henry and Emily undoubtedly had known each other for years. John Isler’s 1875 map of Caroline County shows the proximity of lands owned by the Pattons and Willises.[12] Both families attended the Friendship Methodist Episcopal Church at the crossroads south of their homes.

Although living out of state, Henry invested both time and money in Caroline County. In late 1857, he and his wife Emily spent $1,000 to purchase eight acres of land in Preston. The land had been owned and was still occupied by Henry’s cousin Richard Willis.[13] The land had been sold in a sheriff’s auction to satisfy a judgment. The auction buyers were Richard’s wife Mary Jane Bailey Willis and John Rumbold. Rumbold was Emily Willis’s grandfather and the source of funds to buy the property. Henry and Emily bought the land from her grandfather and Mary Jane Willis,[14] and sold it less than a year later.[15]

After five years in practice, Dr. Willis was elected Vice President of the Medical Society of Delaware for the 1859-60.[16]Henry and Emily appear in the 1860 Census in Millsboro with two young daughters, Cora and Mary.[17] According to the census, their first child was born in Maryland, and the second in Delaware.[18]

A Return to Caroline County

The family’s good fortune in Millsboro did not continue. In about 1861, Henry contracted malaria and abandoned his practice, returning to Caroline County to regain his health.[19] In 1862, he took over the practice of Dr. Edwin E. Atkinson, who had joined the Union Army as a surgeon.[20] Henry became the only doctor in Preston when Dr. Andrew Stafford also left for the war.[21] As the lone doctor in Preston, Henry was successful. However, he was not immune to personal tragedy. About a year after taking up residency in Preston, Henry’s and Emily’s third child, an infant daughter, Emma Patton Willis, died.[22]

Henry and Emily Willis soon became prominent members of the Preston community. In 1867, they bought 33 acres of land adjoining the village of Preston.[23] Prior to the purchase, they probably rented a house on the property. They subsequently added a two story wing and a kitchen to the original structure.[24] In 1872, the Willises also purchased farm acreage southwest of town.[25] The land was part of a tract called Poplar Grove. It is located on Marsh Creek, where Willis ancestors once owned land.[26] The family gained more property in 1883 when Emily inherited from her father half the land called the “Rumbold Farm.”[27] By 1870, the Willis assets totaled $4,000 of real estate and $1,500 in personal property. In 1870, the family lived on Noble Avenue in Preston, Maryland with daughters Cora and Mary and a son, Henry.[28] They named their son after his father and gave him a middle name – Noble – borrowed from another Preston family.

The Noble Name

Usually, a borrowed surname pops up after a marriage between two families. However, that is not the case here. There was no marriage between a Willis and a Noble until well after the birth of Henry Noble Willis. The name seems to have been adopted out of respect and friendship. The most likely family with whom the Willises had such a relationship is that of Twiford S. Noble.[29] Mr. Noble was a decade older than Henry Willis and may have been a mentor. Both were trustees of Bethesda Methodist Episcopal (now United Methodist) Church in Preston and were possibly friends before that.[30] When Twiford’s son Jacob graduated from medical school in 1876, Dr. Willis took him into his practice for a while before Jacob moved to Dorchester County and established his own practice.[31] Whatever the reason for its adoption, the Willis family has used Noble as a first or middle name for five generations beginning with Henry Noble Willis.[32]

Another Family Tragedy

The year 1875 began with another tragedy for the Willis family. Henry’s and Emily’s eldest daughter Cora had just turned eighteen and had become a teacher at Castle Hall school in the town of Goldsboro north of Denton, Caroline County.  She was a boarder in the household of Dr. Alexander Hardcastle. She retired to her room the evening of February 3rd in apparent good health but was found the next morning dead of some unknown illness.[33] Speculation reported in the newspapers said she possibly died of heart disease.[34]

In 1875, Henry Willis was a member of the Building Committee of Bethesda Methodist that raised  funds to erect the current church building.[35] He also served for a time as a Judge in Caroline County’s Orphan Court, which has primary probate jurisdiction. That must have been a burden, since he resided in Preston but the court was in Denton, the county seat. During the 1880s, Willis was also a witness or executor for half a dozen wills made by people to whom he was not related, a sure indication of the community’s respect for him..

The Willis’s surviving daughter Mary wed Joshua B. Clark of Seaford, Delaware on 23 Jan 1878. A report of the wedding indicated J. B. Clark, of Seaford, Delaware, was Junior Editor of the Sussex County Index, presumably a local newspaper. By 1880, son Henry Noble had become the only child in the household.[36] Young Henry followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a doctor and establishing a practice outside Caroline County — but that is another story.

As Dr. Willis began to age and his health deteriorated, he invited Dr. Jacob Noble back to Preston to join and then take over his practice.[37] Dr. Henry F. Willis died 27 April 1890, five days after his 59th birthday. Bethesda United Methodist Church honors his life of contribution with a stained glass window dedicated to his memory.

Remarkably, despite his time on the Orphan’s Court, his being an executor or witness to numerous wills, his involvement with his father’s estate who died in December 1889, and knowing he was in bad enough health to invite Dr. Noble to take over his practice, Henry did not make a will. He died intestate.

Administration of his estate by his son Henry N. Willis and son-in-law Joshua B. Clark began in May 1890.[38] Disposal of his real estate provides more information about the family into the 1900’s. Again, a story for another time.

____

[1] Tombstone, Bethesda Methodist Cemetery, Preston, Caroline County, Maryland, Henry F. Willis, MD, 22 Apr 1831 – 27 Apr 1890

[2] Jensen, Dr. Christian E., MD, Lives of Caroline County Maryland Physicians, 1774 – 1984, Printed by Baker Printing Company, Denton, Maryland, 1986, 189. Dr. Jensen described at a  meeting of the Upper Shore Genealogical Society of Maryland the diligent research that went into his book. He accessed historical documents and interviewed people who had first-hand knowledge of the doctors. Having met Dr. Jensen (via Zoom) and listened to his presentation, I cite his work with a lot of confidence.

[3] Diploma from Philadelphia College of Medicine in possession of William Burke Willis of Travis County, Texas as of Nov 2023. Per the website of Philadelphia Architects and Builders, the Philadelphia College of Medicine occupied the Adelphi Building at 214-216 South 5th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The building was erected in 1829-30. It was home to the Philadelphia Club 1834-35 and the Odd Fellows Club in 1845. The Philadelphia College of Medicine used the building from 1846-59 The building was altered in 1847 to add a Surgical Amphitheater. The website notes that the building was demolished but does not give a date.

[4] Original License to Practice Medicine, in possession of the author.

[5] Jensen, 189.

[6] 1860 U S Census shows 29,615 total population of Sussex County, Delaware and 10,520 for Caroline County, Maryland.­­­

[7] Id, Dr. John Martin in Millsboro, Sussex County; Dr. Edwin E. Atkinson and Dr. Andrew Stafford in Preston, Caroline County per the 1860 census.

[8] Geo. W. Hawes’ Maryland State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1867-1868, Geo W. Hawes Publisher and Compiler, 45 West Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD, p 134, image 146 of 584, online at ancestry.com

[9] Such directories charged a fee to list a business. Possibly, the Gazetteer had not yet descended on Preston to sell its service. On the other hand, a sales rep might not have had much luck. The Preston region was highly rural with an agricultural economy. It would not make much  sense for a business ­to pay a listing fee if everyone already knew how to find the general store at the crossroads and the carpenter and two doctors who lived just down the road.

[10] “Maryland Marriages, 1666-1970”,  see link here : 16 January 2020, H. Fisher Willis, 1856.

[11] 1850 Census for Caroline County, MD, Mathew Patton, 43, M, Farmer, Martha, 35; Robert, 16; Emily, 14; James B., 10; Lydia, 8; Hugh Grimes, 26, Laborer; and Lydia Patton, 69.

[12] Isler, John B, “Map of Caroline County, Maryland – 1875,” see link here. The map also shows other families connected to the Willises  by marriage — Todd, Nichols, Cochran, Turner, and Covey – but those are stories for another article.

[13] Mitchell, 134. Richard was the son of Dorcas Willis and Joseph Willis, who were first cousins. Their grandfather was Richard Willis, Senior. Dorcas and Zachariah Willis, Henry’s father, were children of Richard Senior’s son Richard Junior.  Joseph was the son of Richard Senior’s son Robert.

[14] Caroline County, Maryland, Deed Book CC: 614. The eight acre property was directly across the road from the Bethesda Methodist Episcopal Church and included two dwellings, an office, a smokehouse, and other outbuildings. It was not uncommon for relatives to purchase property at such auctions in order to keep the property in the family.

[15] Caroline County, Maryland Deed Book RJ 29:112. Dr. Willis paid $1,000 for the property and sold it ten months later for $1,200.

[16] Jensen, 189.

[17] 1860 Federal Census, Sussex County, Delaware, Dagsboro Hundred, Millsboro Post Office, Household of  Henry F. Willis, 29, M, Physician $500 Personal Property, E.R. [Emily] Willis, 24, F, Cora F. Willis, 2, F, Mary Willis, four months, F, born in Delaware, Martha Burton, 15, F, a Black servant.

[18] That might be an error; both might have been born in Delaware.

[19] Jensen, 189. No citation is given for this information. I cannot find a reference to any malaria outbreak during this period in Millsboro, but it was a common disease in the region.

[20] Id, and US Civil War Pension Index, see link here. From 1862 – 1864, Atkinson served as Surgeon US Volunteers, Asst Surgeon 4th Maryland Infantry, and Surgeon 2nd Eastern Shore Maryland Infantry. Filed Invalid Pension 23 Jun 1881 and Widow Pension 22 Apr 1891..

[21] US Civil War Pension Index, see link here. Dr. Stafford, however, did not join the medical corps. He organized a company of infantry and served as its captain for three years. Company E, 1st Eastern Shore Maryland Infantry, and then as Provost Marshall.

[22] Tombstone in Bethesda Methodist Cemetery, Emma P, daughter of Henry F & Emily P Willis died 6 Nov 1863 aged 10y 10m [GNW Note: the stated age is in error. Her age should be 10m 10d]

[23] Caroline County, Maryland Deed Book 32:425. Purchased from James Douglass.

[24] Mitchell, Dora, A History of the Preston Area in Lower Caroline County, Maryland, (Caroline County Historical Society, Inc., 2005), 196.

[25] Caroline County, Maryland Deed Book 34:643. 19 Sep 1872 – James E Douglass and wife Annie E sell for $625 to Dr. Henry F. Willis a tract of 67 acres on the east side of Poplar Road.

[26] In 1879, Willis sold the land under a mortgage (Deed Book 41:172) and got it back in 1882 when the debt went unpaid (Deed Book 45:372). It remained in his name at his death in 1890.

[27] Caroline County, Maryland Will Book B:573.

[28] 1870 Federal Census, Caroline County, Maryland, 4th Enumeration District, Preston Post Office, Household of Henry F. Willis age 39 physician , Emely Willis age 34 Keeping House, Cora F. Willis age 12, Mary M. Willis age 10, Harry N. Willis age 4, Helen D Farguhason age 21 School Teacher, Caroline Chase age 45 Domestic Servant, Mathew Chase age 4, Abraham Camper age 14 Farm Laborer. The last three residents were Black. All residents were shown as born in Maryland.

[29] One Noble family was a Willis neighbor in the 1870 census, Isaac L. and his wife Mary E Noble. I have not found any relationship between the Willises and Isaac Noble.

[30] Email 13 Jun 2012 with Dr. Eric Cheezum, historian at Bethesda Methodist.

[31] Jensen, 118.

[32] These include Henry Noble Willis’s son Noble Sensor Willis, grandson Gary Noble Willis, great grandson Noble Sutherland Willis, and great-great grandson Christopher Noble Willis.

[33]  Mitchell, 196.

[34] “Wilmington Daily Commercial,” 8 Feb 1875, page 4, online at newspapers.com

[35] Bethesda United Methodist Newsletter, see link here.

[36] 1880 Federal Census, Caroline County, Maryland, 4th Enumeration District, Preston,  H.F. Willis 49 Physician, Emmily [sic] Willis 44 Keeping House, Henry N. Willis 14 At School, Bessie Farguharson 24 Milliner, Mary Lake 45 Servant.

[37] Mitchell, 197.

[38] Caroline County Administrations Key, online at Family Search, 169. Widow Emily P. Willis and daughter Mary W. Clark renounced their right of administration. Letters of Administration granted to son Henry N. Willis and son-in-law Joshua B. Clark with bond of $5,000 and securities Jeremiah B. Fletcher and Robert Patton [GNW Note: Robert Patton is Emily’s brother].

Keeping Up With the Joneses

The surname Willis is relatively common, which means I struggle to keep unrelated Willis families from infiltrating my research. Until now, I have never tried to research a Jones family – a surname that occurs ten times more frequently than Willis. However, a recent comment on this blog led me into the morass.

The comment arose because an article “The John Willis Family  of Dorchester and Caroline Counties, Maryland” mentioned Andrew Willis, son of the immigrant John Willis, and  Andrew’s wife Jennet Jones. She was the daughter of William Jones and his wife Jennet LNU. The commenter wondered if I had any information about the migration of the Jones descendants from Dorchester County, Maryland to Amherst County, Virginia. I did not, but offered to help — with some trepidation. As it turned out, a paper trail of deed and probate records identified the correct family, traceable through four men named William Jones. The record indicates, however, the Dorchester County Jones family went to North Carolina, not Virginia. For clarity in this article, I numbered these men the First through the Fourth. Here are the provable facts about this family.

William Jones the First was an early inhabitant of Dorchester County.

Dorchester County deed records show that a William Jones sold two 100-acre tracts of land in 1674, which establishes him aas one of the early settlers of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.[1] One tract was on the Hungar (now Honga) River; the other was in the same vicinity.[2] The Hungar River is in far western Dorchester County. Based on information in other deeds, Jones probably acquired the land via grants from the colonial proprietor.

William Jones the First’s wife was “Jone,” who married John Kimball after Jones died.

In 1676, William Jones and his wife “Jone” LNU sold a 50-acre tract called “Sealvas Choice” on Hungar River to Richard Kemball and John Early.[3] William Jones apparently died a year or so after that sale, and his widow Jone married John Kimball. In 1678, the same 50-acre tract, identified by its name, was the subject of a duplicate deed to the same two men. However, the sellers in the second deed were John Kimball and his wife Jone, identified as “formerly the wife of William Jones.”[4] This second deed confirmed that Jone did not claim or retain any dower interest in the land.

William Jones the First and wife Jone had two sons, John and William the Second.

In 1690, a John Jones gave his interest in 200 acres of land at the head of Hungar River to his brother William Jones the Second. The deed stated that the land had previously been owned by their now deceased father William Jones, who died without a will. It states further that the land was then in the possession of their mother and “their father-in-law” John Kemboll.[5]

William Jones the Second moved from the Hungar River region.

In 1691, John, William the Second, and his wife Jennet (LNU) sold their interests in several parcels of land in western Dorchester.[6] The deed states the sale excluded the tract and plantation house chosen by their mother Jone Kemball in lieu of dower during her life. The deed recites that all the tracts were originally laid out as land grants, one dating back to 1670.

This sale establishes that John and William the Second were the only surviving children of the first William Jones family. Having died intestate, William the First’s property would have been shared equally by all his children, with his widow entitled to a third during her life. Any sale of land inherited in this manner required the agreement of all the heirs. Since only sons John and William participated in this sale, we can conclude they were the only children.[7]

William Jones the Second lived on Shoal Creek adjacent Andrew Willis

There does not seem to be a deed in which William the Second acquired land on Shoal Creek, which flows into the Choptank River at a point several miles east of Cambridge, Dorchester’s county seat. However, a probate record proves he was there. A will written in 1722 involving parties not related to this search mentioned a 50-acre tract of land on Shoal Creek, describing it as a plantation where Andrew Willis lived on a branch lying between Andrew Willis and William Jones.[8] Apparently, Willis was or had been renting from the land owner. The Jones family may have lived on Shoal Creek for 28 years. Possibly, it was from about the time William and Jennet married – before mid 1691 – until they moved further east in the county. In any event, it was long enough to raise a daughter Jennet who wed their neighbor Andrew Willis, as we will see later.

William Jones the Second and his wife Jennet moved to Cabin Creek.

In 1718, William Jones bought 101 acres of land called “Goodriches Choice” on Cabin Creek, which flows into the Choptank River to the east of Shoal Creek.[9] About two years later, he bought an adjoining 150 acres.[10] The Cabin Creek property remained in the Jones family for more than 60 years.

William the Second and Jennet Jones had a son and a grandson named William Jones,  the Third and Fourth, respectively.

In 1729, William Jones the Second died. He left a will naming his wife Jennet, a son William the Third, and four daughters.[11] His daughters Sarah and Elizabeth were unmarried at the time; a married daughter was Rebecca Vearing. The fourth daughter was Jennet Willis, already deceased. Jones’s will divided his land among son William the Third and the two unmarried daughters. It left one shilling each to his four grandchildren, identified only as children of Jennet Willis.

Five years later, William’s widow Jennet Jones gave some livestock and home furnishings to four named grandsons: William Jones the Fourth, the son of her son William Jones the Third; and William, Thomas and Andrew Willis.[12] The Willis grandsons were three of the four children of her daughter Jennet, deceased, and Andrew Willis.[13]

William Jones (probably) the Fourth sold the land on Cabin Creek.

In 1780, a William Jones of Cabin Creek, Dorchester County, and wife Delitha sold 209 acres of “Goodriches Choice,” where they lived at the time.[14] This sale was most likely by William the Fourth. William the Third was possibly 25 years old at the time the widow Jennet Jones gave his child personal property in 1734. If so, he would have been 71 in 1780. That is pretty late in life to be pulling up stakes and moving to new territory.

On the other hand, William the Fourth may have been less than 50 years old in 1780 and more likely to move. The opportunity to cash out (the sale of “Goodriches Choice” netted 313 pounds in gold and silver) and move the family to better land would have been tempting. Further, the Cabin Creek land, if used for growing tobacco, may have been played out. That crop was notorious for rapidly depleting soil nutrients. The 1780 deed gives no clue as to the family’s destination, however, a lost deed helped track them to North Carolina.

William the Fourth and Delitha Jones moved to North Carolina.

In about 1790, the new owner of the Cabin Creek land decided to sell the property. At the time, apparently, a copy of the original deed could not be immediately located in the Dorchester County records. The owner got in touch with William Jones at his new residence and asked him to sign a duplicate, which William did. This was possible because William and Delitha had planned their move carefully.

Before selling the Cabin Creek land, William applied for a 150-acre land grant in Guilford County, North Carolina.[15]His application was entered in the record and a survey ordered on 3 May 1780. With this new acreage awaited their arrival, William and Delitha sold the Cabin Creek land six months later and left Maryland. They undoubtedly told friends and neighbors where they were going.

While the Joneses took up residence in North Carolina immediately, the land grant took time to be formally completed, a normal occurrence. The county surveyor did not conduct the survey until 1787. By that time, the land was located in Rockingham County, which was created from part of Guilford in 1785. The grant was fully executed and filed in Rockingham in 1788.

When the new owner of the Cabin Creek property decided to sell and could not locate the original deed, he knew where to find Jones. Their destination had been no secret. The buyer contacted Jones and asked for a duplicate deed. William and Delitha complied, and appointed two Dorchester County attorneys to represent them in acknowledging the sale. That replacement deed recites that William Jones was then of Rockingham County.[16]

And here is where we got really lucky …

In a final twist to the story, during the slow, long distance communication between Maryland and North Carolina, the original Dorchester deed apparently turned up. The original and the new deeds are recorded sequentially in the Dorchester land records. It is just lucky for our research that the original deed had been lost or misfiled and not quickly located. Had it not been lost or had it been found sooner, we would not have the replacement that identified Jones’s new location.

The Jones family appears in Rockingham in the 1790 and later censuses and in the deed and marriage records into the 1800s. However, I did not review those later records. Having kept up with the Joneses thus far, I did not want to press my luck.

Good Hunting,

Gary N. Willis

____

[1] All deed records cited here are available for review at MDLANDREC.net. See Maryland Land Records Online for a discussion about using this valuable resource.

[2] Deed Book 3 Old 98 and 3 Old 100 – 10 July 1674 – William Jones, planter of Dorchester County, sold a 100-acre tract called “Keenes Rest” and a 100-acre tract called “All Three of Us” to Raymond Staplefort.

[3] Deed Book 1 Old 187 – 16 April 1676 – William Jones and wife Jone of Dorchester County sold 50 acres called “Sealvas Choice” on Hungar River to Richard Kendall and John Early.

[4] Deed Book 1 Old 187 – 1 April 1678 –A sale to Richard Kimball by John Kimball and his wife Jone, formerly the wife of William Jones, deceased, of Jone’s dower interest in the 50 acres called “Sealvas Choice” on Hungar River.

[5] Deed Book 4 Old 69 – 27 February 1689/90 – John Jones of Dorchester County, carpenter, grants for love and affection to his brother William Jones of Dorchester County, Planter, John’s interest in two tracts of land adjoining one another at the head of Hungar River, containing about 200 acres. The land belonged to their father the late William Jones, deceased who died without a will. It is now in the possession of grantor’s mother and father-in-law John Kembell.

[6] Deed Book 4 ½ Old 29, also at Deed Book 1 Old 135 – 1 June 1791 – John Jones, William Jones and Jennett his wife of Dorchester County, Planters, to Richard Tubman, Planter, for 3,000 pounds of tobacco: “Georges Point” 100 acres on the head of Slaughters Creek 100 acres, formerly granted to Thomas Newton, deceased, by patent dated 31 Aug 1670; “Jones Orchard” 50 acres on Hungar River; “Jones Chance” 4 adjoining acres on Hungar River; and “Matthews Vineyard” 46 acres on Hungar River. The last three parcels were formerly granted, surveyed and laid out for William Jones late of Dorchester County, deceased. The sale excludes the tract and plantation house taken by “our loving mother Jone Kemball in lieu of dower during her natural life.”

[7] Further, the two sons were probably minors at the time of their father’s death. Thirteen years elapsed after the father’s death before the sons’ land transactions began in 1690, which they could not have done without a guardian or “next friend” until they reached maturity. It is reasonable to assume they were no older than about ten when he died.

[8] Baldwin, Jane, The Maryland Calendar of Wills, Vol IV, (Baltimore: Koln & Pollock, Publishers, 1904, reprinted Westminster, Maryland: Family Line Publications, 1988), 167-9 (Will Book 14:631) – 7 May 1718 –Will of Thomas Ennalls – to Thomas Hayward, 50 acres, part  of “Ennalls Purchase,” a plantation where Andrew  Willis lived, at head of Shoal Creek, and on a branch lying between William Jones and the said Andrew  Willis. Filed for probate 13 August 1718.

[9] Deed Book 2 Old 16 – 2 February 1718 – Thomas Gray and his wife Mary sold to William Jones 101 acres part of a tract called “Goodriches Choice.”

[10] Deed Book 2 Old 27 – 15 November 1719 –Jacob Gray and his wife Isabell sold 150 acres on Cabin Creek, part of “Guttridg Choice” to William Jones. Philadelphia Williams assigned to Jones her “third part of ye within mentioned lands.”

[11] Baldwin, 127 (Will Book 19:765) – 10 May 1729 – Will of William Jones

[12] Deed Book 9 Old 257 – 18 February 1734 – Deed of personal property for love and affection from Janet Jones to her grandson William Jones, son of William Jones and to her three grandsons William Willis, Thomas Willis, and Andrew Willis.

[13] William’s will and Jennet’s gift deed establish even without a marriage record that their daughter Jennet married their earlier neighbor Andrew Willis and had four children with him before her death. Andrew remarried (Rebecca Goostree) and moved from Shoal Creek to land his second wife inherited from her father 1728.

[14] Deed Book HD 3:425 – 16 October 1780 – William Jones of Cabin Creek, Dorchester County, Maryland Planter sold to Benjamin Collison of Dorchester County for 313 pounds and 10 shillings in gold and silver a tract on Cabin Creek called “Goodridges Choice” where William Jones now lives containing 209 acres with all the houses, etc. Signed 16 Oct 1780 William X Jones. Wit: Jos Richardson, Thos Jones. Acknowledged in court 16 Oct 1780 with William Jones’s wife Delitha being questioned privately as to her agreement to the sale

[15] At Ancestry.com – North Carolina, US, Land Grant Files, 1693-1960, Image 225 of 1506 – Entry No 1990, entered for William Jones for 150 acres of land in Guilford County, NC, on Brush Fork of Great Rock House Creek. Entered 3 May 1780 at Guilford County Court House by Will Dent, entry officer. Survey of 150 acres adjoining Aaron Allen and Adam Baker dated 21 April 1787 by A. Philips, County Surveyor, Chain bearers: Robert Brown and Aaron Allen. Grant executed 11 July 1788

[16] Deed Book HD 3:428 – 22 Oct 1790 – Deed – Whereas William Jones of Rockingham County, North Carolina Planter sold to Benjamin Collison of Dorchester County, Maryland for 313 pounds and 10 shillings in gold and silver a tract on Cabin Creek called “Goodridges Choice” where William Jones formerly lived containing 209 acres with all the houses, etc, being all of the lands William Jones owned on Cabin Creek, Jones now authorizes trusty friends Henry Waggaman and Nicholas Hammond Esquires attorneys of the County Court to appear for him and acknowledge this deed. Signed 22 Oct 1790 William X Jones. Wit: Timothy X Corkran, Edwr Collison, Jonathan Bird. Acknowledged in court by two witnesses and by Waggaman and Hammond 22 March 1792.

A Willis Christmas Thank You Note

Some time ago, I found a ninety-eight year old letter from my grandfather, Doctor Henry Noble Willis of Wilmington, Delaware, to his older sister Mary Clark in Preston, Maryland. The 31 December 1924 letter thanked her for a check, presumably a Christmas gift or a birthday present.[1]

Items like this are a treasure. They reveal our ancestors as real people. The brief note shows Doctor Willis was in poor health but retained a sense of humor. The letter mentions his daughter Mary Willis, his cousin Cora Willis Noble, his wife Jessie (“Boss”), and his son Noble, who was eight years old at the time.

The transcribed letter below is followed by some explanatory comments. A couple of words were unclear. I indicated them with a question mark in brackets:

Envelope Addressed:     Mrs. M. W. Clark        Preston, Md

Postmarked:               Dec 31, 1924, 7 PM         Wilmington, Del.

Dear Sister,

            Your check arrived ok and waited to find out if you were in Preston before thanking you for same.

            Mary leaves us tomorrow for supper in Phila. then on to Yonkers next morning.

            She certainly looks fine … weighs 148 almost as much as her Dad. I think she enjoyed her stay very much.

           We have had quite a cold snap. The weather man has predicted sun but has not arrived yet.

            Don’t kill yourself eating this Xmas with all the fine dinners.

            Cora stopped over between trains[?], think she’s looking better.

            Well, I am doing fine no change in my blood pressure for 6 weeks. Dr. T told me on Monday A M more[?] drainage and he thought I would be good for 5 or 6 years. Sounds good to me, I shall open the office with the New Year starting in slow – avoiding exceptional strain.

            Wishing you a Happy New Year and many of them. Noble had more Xmas in his bones than the rest of us.

           Boss says she will write later.

                                                Your Brother

                                                   H.N.W.

Henry Noble Willis

Henry Noble Willis was 59 years old at the time he wrote this letter. He was born and raised in Preston, Maryland. He graduated from Williamsport College, Pennsylvania in about 1885. After graduating from  the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1888, he became a doctor like his father, Henry Fisher Willis. The younger Doctor Willis established his practice in Pocomoke City, Worcester County, Maryland. In  1890, he married Mary E. McMaster, daughter of a local physician. Mary died in 1898, leaving two children: Mary Catherine Willis, born in 1891 and Harry McMaster Willis, born in 1893.

In 1899, the widowed Doctor Willis married Jessie Sensor in Pocomoke City. She was a daughter of the Methodist minister who served several communities in the region. The couple had a daughter Grace in 1905. She died of meningitis at age five. Shortly thereafter, they adopted a daughter Kathryn, who had also been born in 1905. In 1908, Henry and Jessie moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where they resided until their deaths. In Wilmington, they had a son, Noble Sensor Willis who was born 1916.

Mary Willis Clark

The recipient of the letter was Doctor Willis’s 64-year old sister Mary.[2] She was born in Sussex County, Delaware, where their father then practiced medicine. About 1863, the elder Doctor Willis family moved Preston, Caroline County, Maryland. In Preston, he took over the practice of a doctor who had joined the Union Army. Mary grew up in Preston and married Joshua Bascom Clark there in 1878.[3] A report of the marriage indicated he was of Seaford, Delaware where he served as junior editor of “The Sussex County Index,” a local newspaper. The childless couple subsequently moved to Georgetown, Sussex County, Delaware where he became publisher and editor of the “Sussan Journal.”

Joshua Clark died in 1892, and Mary managed and edited the newspaper until 1894. She continued to live at her home in Georgetown until her death in 1941.[4] However, Doctor Willis mailed the 1924 thank you letter to Preston, Maryland rather than to her home in Georgetown. He must have known she was traveling, probably visiting relatives during the holidays, and somehow got word that she was in Preston. Mary or her relatives must have been well known in Preston, a town of about 300 people in the early 1900s, because Henry did not include a street address, just her name and the town.

Cora Fisher Willis Noble

Mary Willis Clark and Henry Noble Willis were the surviving children of Doctor Henry Fisher Willis and his wife Emily Rumbold Patton. Their other two children, Cora Fisher Willis and Emma Patton Willis died young … Cora died as a young school teacher in 1875 at age 18, and Emma died in 1863 before her first birthday.

The Cora referred to in the letter is a second Cora Fisher Willis, born in 1879. She was Mary’s and Henry’s first cousin, the daughter of Henry Fisher Willis’s brother James Spry Willis and his wife Mary E. Shufelt. About 1900, Cora married Charles Fulton Noble, son of Isaac Noble. The Nobles were close to the Willis family although this is the first record I have found of a marriage between the two families.

Isaac Noble was a successful carpenter and a neighbor of Henry Fisher Willis in Preston, Maryland. Doctor Jacob L. Noble joined Henry Fisher Willis’s medical practice in Preston. The elder Doctor Willis so admired the Noble family that he adopted their surname as the middle name for his son. It has been used now as a given name in the Willis family through five generations – the doctor’s son, Henry Noble Willis, grandson Noble Sensor Willis, great grandson Gary Noble Willis, great-great grandson Noble Sutherland Willis, and great-great-great grandson Christopher Noble Willis.

Doctor T

I cannot identify the “Doctor T” mentioned in the letter. However, he was overly optimistic about Henry Noble Willis’s expected life span. Henry died 11 April 1926, a little more than two years after this letter, rather than being “good for 5 or 6 years”. I haven’t found a death certificate, so don’t know the official cause of death. I suspect some sort of heart disease based on Henry’s mention of high blood pressure and “drainage.” Maybe some reader can speculate intelligently as to the cause.

Mary Catherine Willis

The Mary referred to in the second sentence of the letter is Mary Catherine Willis, daughter of Henry Noble Willis and his first wife, Mary McMaster. Mary Catherine was working at the time as a secretary at the YWCA in Philadelphia and had obviously come to Wilmington for the Christmas holiday and her father’s birthday. In 1925, Mary applied for a passport to visit Hong Kong, China and Japan. She later served in China as a secretary for a missionary group sponsored by the YWCA, returning to the United States before war broke out. After her years of employment, she retired in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Our family had the pleasure of Mary’s company when she visited Shreveport, Louisiana in the late 1940s. I remember her as an imposing woman. Doctor Willis’s estimate of her weight was far too low by that time. My mother frequently told a story about Mary, who never married or had children, instructing Mom on how to diaper my younger sister, Mom’s third child. Mary complained, “Charlotte, that diaper is too tight. That child is not going to be comfortable.” Mom backed off and said, “Here. You do it.” Mary did so and with a self-satisfied smile placed Barbara in the playpen. Five minutes later, the naked baby was standing in the playpen swinging the not-too-tight diaper over her head!

Noble and “Boss”

Henry’s and Jessie’s son Noble Sensor Willis referred to near the end of the letter was at the age when children are really excited about the magic of Christmas. With his half-siblings half a generation older than he, I can imagine Noble was an exuberant center of attention. Reading Henry’s letter reminded me that later in life Noble adopted some of his father’s habits. As an adult, Noble opened letters with “Dear Sister” and closed with “Your Brother” as did his father. Also, Doctor Willis called his wife Jessie “Boss” in the last line of the letter. Noble referred throughout his married life to his wife Charlotte as “Boss,” when he wasn’t calling her “Imp.” Noble also usually signed notes and messages with three initials rather than a full name. Interesting to note that those patterns all arose with his father.

The letter does not mention adopted daughter Kathryn who was nineteen by 1924 and possibly no longer in the household. She married William New in 1926. In the 1930 census, however, the two resided with the widow Jessie S. Willis and young Noble at Jessie’s home in Wilmington. The couple continued living in New Castle County, Delaware, but had no children.

That is about all I can glean from this letter right now. I have enjoyed re-discovering  more about these people and sharing it. Here’s hoping you can find such treasures among your family memorabilia.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

—–

[1] Henry Noble Willis was born 23 December 1865.

[2] Mary Willis was born 21 January 1860.

[3] Mary Willis and Joshua Bascom Clark married 23 January 1868.

[4] From Newspapers.com – The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, 31 Jan 1941, page 20.

Trust, but Verify

“Trust, but Verify” was an oxymoronic slogan from the era of nuclear weapons treaties during the Cold War. Diligent researchers understand the value of that approach. Restated and applied to genealogy, the rule is, “Never dismiss out of hand any documentary evidence, including census data, but don’t assume census data is always 100% accurate.”

There is clear rationale for that caution. First, census data is subject to error multiple times. The person supplying information to the census taker can be mistaken as to any number of things such as ages or places of birth of people in the household. The census taker can record the data incorrectly. Further, the data collected was organized and rewritten into a final document. Each reproduction of the census information presented an opportunity to introduce errors, including misreading another person’s handwriting.

In addition, census data was not subject to the same checks and balances as other official documents. For example, original deeds and wills copied into court records benefitted from court oversight of the process. Witnesses attested to the accuracy of those document, heirs could question a misstatement that affected their interests, and neighbors could request resurveys of land boundaries they thought to be in error. No such process accompanied the tabulation and publication of a census. As a result, that data is far more prone to error than other records.

I recently ran across two illustrative errors in the same census entry. Searching for Henry Willis, carpenter of Maryland and Philadelphia (1829-1906), I found the family of John and Rebecca Kilgore Willis of Cecil County, Maryland. They had six sons and four daughters. By 1850, three sons were of age and no longer listed in John’s household. Hoping one of the three might be Henry, I looked for them in the 1850 census. I did not find Henry, but found James Willis and “David” T. Willis living next door to each other. The census entry showed the following:[1]

Family #

     123             Sarah H. Shivery        27 M

James Willis               21 F

Mary                           3  M

Joseph                         1  F

Sarah A.                      27 M

     124             David T. Willis           22 F

Hannah A.                  3  M

George A.                    1  F

Margaret R.                5/12 F

Mary E.                       40  F

     125             Hannah Terry            9  M

The problem with this data is obvious: the genders and ages do not match the named people. Whoever completed the census form moved that information up one line from its proper position. James Willis’s proper age and gender are 27 and M. That data is shown on the form one line above his name. It is incorrectly associated with a child named Sarah H. Shivery who is the youngest daughter of George Shivery in the adjacent family #122.

No problem. To get the correct information, just mentally move the data down one name.

However, that is not the only error. James Willis’s neighbor is supposedly David T. Willis with a wife Hannah A. Willis and several children. However, Daniel Willis, not David, married Hannah Ann Sutton on 15 April 1847.[2] In fact, there was no David Willis in that location in 1850. Whoever entered the data in the census form apparently misread someone else’s handwriting and thought the name Daniel was David. That is not hard to do. A script “n” can easily be mistaken for a “v” and the “el” as a “d.” Try it in your own handwriting to see how easy it is to make the two names look the same.

Of course, the opposite could be true, Maybe it was David Willis who married Hannah Sutton, and there is no Daniel Willis. This is where the “Verify” part of the slogan becomes important. The proof is found in subsequent records. Daniel Willis registered for the civil war draft in 1863[3] and appeared in the 1870,[4] 1900,[5] and 1910[6] censuses. David did not – – because, of course, he did not exist.

So, the message is to confirm the data found in censuses with other sources. Many people on Ancestry.com have not done so. As a result, there is a fictitious David T. Willis running amok on many trees. We all make mistakes. They come with the territory. This is a zillion piece puzzle, and we only have a few thousand pieces available to make sense of the picture. However, diligence can easily eliminate some errors. It is worth the effort.

[1] 1850 Census, Cecil County, Maryland https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-XCHQ-7X5?i=109&cc=1401638&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMD46-PD2

[2] Cecil County Marriage Licenses 1840-1863, Genealogical Society of Cecil County, August 1990, 20 at https://web.archive.org/web/20150214151843/http://www.cecilhistory.org/virtuallibrary/marriage3.pdf

[3] Civil War Draft Registration 1863-1865. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/3912656:1666?tid=&pid=&queryId=66dc11368cf6a04f330078b4413841ae&_phsrc=Uwh1&_phstart=successSource

[4] 1870 Census, Cecil County, Maryland. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-D15S-Y4W?i=4&cc=1438024&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMN38-D3L

[5] 1900 Census, Cecil County, Maryland. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/20341258:7602?tid=&pid=&queryId=66dc11368cf6a04f330078b4413841ae&_phsrc=Uwh3&_phstart=successSource

[6] 1910 Census, Cecil County, Maryland. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/10469167:7884?tid=&pid=&queryId=66dc11368cf6a04f330078b4413841ae&_phsrc=Uwh2&_phstart=successSource

Henry Willis, Carpenter of Maryland and Philadelphia (1829-1906), Part 2

Introduction

In Part 1 we established that Henry Willis, a carpenter born in Maryland in 1829, married Martha Anne (Annie) Stewart in about 1880. They appeared in the 1900 census in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with their children Lola and Harry.[1] The couple lived in Philadelphia during the 1880s. They appeared in a city directory and in records showing the deaths of two children and the baptism of a surviving child. Henry died and was buried in Philadelphia in 1906.

Beyond those few facts, Henry does not exist in records where we would expect to find him. He does not appear in the 1850 through 1880 censuses. There is no record of his marriage. Henry bought no land either in Maryland where he was born or in Philadelphia where he lived.

 Search for a Family of Origin

Finding little record evidence of Henry Willis, I stopped looking for him and searched instead for people who could have been his parents. Since Henry was born in Maryland and family legend says he married in Cecil County, I focused the search there. Because he was a carpenter, I looked for a Willis family that included others of that trade. With those criteria in mind, I went to the usual sources:

    • The standard people-search features of Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
    • The Maryland land records at MDLANDREC.net
    • The Cecil County Historical Society at cecilcountyhistory.com with its links to Maryland and Delaware records, and
    • The separate birth, death, marriage, and probate records for Cecil County and neighboring counties in Maryland and Delaware at FamilySearch

Results

The search involved many records, lots of note taking and analyzing, and an interesting but frustrating twist at the end. One family in Cecil County fit the search criteria – the family of John and Rebecca Kilgore Willis who married in Cecil County in 1817.[2] According to the 1830, 1840 and 1850 censuses, they had at least ten children – six sons and four daughters. John Willis and several of his sons were carpenters.

So far, so good. To see if his could be Henry’s family, we dug deeper into the censuses and other records.

 1820 Census

Although married in 1817, John Willis does not appear as a head of household in the 1820 census for Cecil County. He should have been listed with a wife and a daughter under five years of age. He and Rebecca were also not listed with her parents, James and Isabella Kilgore.[3]

1830 Census

John does appear in the 1830 census. It shows John Willis and a female between 30 and 40 years old with six minors — three females and three males. The two youngest males, under five years of age, fit Henry’s later-proved birth year of 1829.[4] This is promising.

1840 Census

The 1840 census shows even more promise. John’s eldest daughter is gone from the household, possibly married. Five earlier listed children remain, and three younger children are added to the family.[5] Henry, at age 11 in 1840, fits the age 10 to 15 reported for one male in that census. The census states one person in the household is engaged in agriculture. Four people are engaged in “manufacturing or the trades,” which includes carpentry.

1850 Census

The 1850 census reveals that John is 53 and Rebecca is 54. The older children, including our possible Henry, are all of age and out of the house. The remaining children are George, 19; Amos, 15; Andrew J., 13; and Rachel R., 10. Those ages track perfectly from the previous census data.[6]  The census lists John, George, and Amos as farmers, not carpenters. However, later records show George as a carpenter and Amos and Andrew as iron mill workers.[7] Separate records prove two adult sons to be James Kilgore Willis and John Thomas Willis. Both are carpenters.[8]

 Deed Records

Deed records reveal more about these families. John Willis’s wife Rebecca Kilgore had an older sister Rachel who married Samuel Burnite in 1810. Gift deeds prove the sisters to be daughters of  James and Isabella Kilgore. In 1826, James and Isabella sold 20 acres of land north of Elkton in Cecil County to John Willis for one dollar.[9] Kilgore had inherited the land from his mother in 1788.[10] In 1827, the Kilgore’s sold about 50 acres to Samuel Burnite for three dollars.[11] Prior to those sales, Willis and Burnite owned no land. We can reasonably conclude they already lived on the lands, probably since the date of their marriages to the Kilgore sisters.

The timing of the gifts seems apparent in retrospect. James was obviously in ill health. The couple liquidated all their assets in 1827. They sold the  8-acre lot that contained their house for $100 and much of their personal property for $86. James died shortly afterwards.

 John and Rebecca Willis lived on their piece the Kilgore land for another 29 years as they raised their family. They sold the place in 1856 for $2,500.[12]

Probate Records

John Willis made a will in December 1857 and died before the end of the year. Probate records do not include the names of any of his children, except the eldest son James. John left his entire estate to his wife Rebecca for her lifetime. The will stated that at or before her death she could dispose of the estate among the heirs as she saw fit.[13]

The estate, all personal property, amounted to $1,456 after debts and expenses. Rebecca loaned $500 to her eldest son James Kilgore Willis, secured by a mortgage on his property, 20 acres located near the former Kilgore place.[14]

On behalf of himself and all the heirs at law, i.e., “the children of John Willis,” James K. Willis sued his mother and Benjamin C. Cowan the co-executor of John’s estate in 1870. James asked that the estate funds be invested under the court’s supervision to protect the money for the benefit of the heirs at law. James claimed the heirs feared the estate would be squandered without the court’s intervention. Rebecca did not object but responded that $500 was already committed to a secure investment – her son’s property. The court agreed and in June 1870 ordered the co-executor to arrange for secure interest bearing mortgage investments of the remaining $956. The court also ordered interest from all investments go to Rebecca for her use.

Unfortunately, the probate files for John’s estate do not include a final distribution of funds identifying the heirs. There is no will or probate file for Rebecca. She died in 1886 at the home of her daughter Isabella and John T. Steele.[15]

Identity of the Six Sons

Our review of census, deed, and probate records to this point revealed six sons and proved the identities of five. The 1850 census proves the three youngest: George, Amos, and Andrew J. Willis. Probate records prove the eldest son James K. Willis. James and John T. Willis appear often in the deed records of Cecil County from 1850 through 1861 – James nine times and John four. Several of those transactions, including short term loans, are between the two of them. That activity is good circumstantial evidence that James K. and John T. are related and likely brothers.

That accounts for five of the six sons. Who is the sixth? Could it be our Henry?

Well, heck no.

The remaining son is Daniel Willis. He appears in several Cecil County records in the 1880s that do not definitively connect him to the family.[16]  However, the 1900 and 1910 censuses do the trick. In 1900, he is in the household of John T. Steele, the husband of John and Rebecca’s daughter Isabella Willis. Daniel is listed as a brother-in-law at age 77. This is the same place Rebecca Willis died in 1886. In 1910, Daniel is listed at age 87 as an uncle in the household of Annetta S. Crossan. She is a Steele daughter who married Samuel Crossan in 1869 and who had no children. Daniel died in 1911. Clearly, Daniel is a son of John and Rebecca Willis.

Conclusion

Our search for Henry Willis turned up a perfectly interesting Willis family of carpenters in Cecil County, Maryland. It just does not include Henry Willis. Below is a table setting out the data from the 1830, 1840 and 1850 censuses for John Willis’s household. The column of names and the information in the last two columns are proved by the census or other sources.

Name 1830 1840 1850 Born Comment
John Willis 30-40 40-50 53 Dec 1796 Carpenter/Farmer
Rebecca Willis 30-40 40-50 54 1796 Married 1817
Female 10-15 – 1815-20
James K. Willis 5-10 15-20 – 1821 Carpenter
Daniel Willis <5 15-20 – 1823 Carpenter
Female <5 15-20 – 1820-1825
John T. Willis <5 10-15 – 1827 Carpenter
Isabella Willis <5 10-15 – 1830 m. John T. Steele ~1849
George Willis – 5-10 19 May 1831 Farmer/Carpenter
Amos Willis – 5-10 15 1835 Farmer/Iron Mill
Andrew J. Willis – <5 13 1837 Iron Mill Worker
Rachel R. Willis – <5 10 1840 m. Dennis Dwyer~1858

The table highlights in bold the age range in the 1830 and 1840 censuses that I had mentally reserved for our Henry Willis. Cleary, that slot is occupied by John T. Willis. After this effort, I am convinced that Henry is not a native of Cecil County. So, the search for the will-o-the-wisp Henry goes on …

In any event, I hope that some descendants of John and Rebecca Willis will take DNA tests and join the Willis DNA Project (https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/willis/about) to see where they fit in the broader scheme.

 

Post Script – Part I of the search for Henry Willis was also published in the Spring 2022 edition of Chesapeake Cousins, the semiannual journal of the Upper Shore Genealogical Society of Maryland (USGSMD). I will also submit this Part 2 to them for publication. I recommend USGSMD, now in its 49th year, as a worthwhile organization for any researcher with ties to the Eastern Shore.

[1] 1900 Census Philadelphia, Ward 26, District 0628 at FamilySearch.org

1335 Kick [sic South Hicks] Street

Henry Willis head May 1829 71 M20  MD MD MD Carpenter Rent House

Annie Willis wife Jun 1846     53 M20  4/2 DE DE DE

Lola Willis son [sic Dau] Apr 1882 18  S  PA MD DE

Harry Willis son  Oct 1885 14  S  PA MD DE

[2] Married 28 Jul 1817 per Maryland Compiled Marriages, 1655 – 1850, at Ancestry.com

[3] James Kilgore appears in Cecil County in the 1820 Census at age 45+ with two women. One age 45+ is obviously his wife Isabella. The other woman is age 16-26, the correct age for Rebecca. However, there is no entry for people who could be her husband and/or her child. The indicated woman is likely Rebecca’s younger sister.

[4] 1830 Census Cecil County, Maryland, District 2, John Willis (2 1 – – – 1 – – – – – – –  – 1 – – 1 – – – – – -) https://www.ancestry.com. The household also contains a second female age 30 to 40. We can reasonably assume she is an adult relative of John or Rebecca. She may have been the single female aged 16-26 listed with James Kilgore in 1820, possibly a younger sister of Rebecca.

[5] 1840 Census Cecil County, Maryland, District 2, John Willis (1 2 1 2 – – 1 – – – – – – 1 – 1 1 – 1 – – – – – – ) https://www.ancestry.com. The ages in the census fit a perfect progression from the 1830 census, that is: John and Rebecca are 40-50; two elder sons are 15-20; a remaining elder daughter is 15-20; the third son and a younger daughter are 10-15; two new sons are 5-10; and the youngest daughter is under 5. The household includes four enslaved persons.

[6] 1850 Census Cecil County, Maryland, District 3, https://www.ancestry.com

John Willis M 53 Farmer  DE $1,200 real property

Rebecca       F 54                    MD

George        M 19 Farmer   MD

Amos           M 15 Farmer  MD

Andrew J.   M 13                   MD

Rachel R.    F  10                    MD”

[7] No enslaved persons are associated with the household in 1850. The separate Slave Schedule for 1850 shows no Willis as an owner of an enslaved person. Deed records do not record any manumissions.

[8] 1860 Census Cecil County, Maryland, District 4, https://www.ancestry.com

James Willis M 40 Carpenter MD $,1500 real property $800 personal

Mary               F  30                 MD

Joseph            M  13                MD

Sarah              F  11                 MD

Kate                F   9                  MD

Clara               F    7                  MD

Georgeanna F   4                   MD

Mary               F   1                   MD

1860 Census Cecil County, Maryland, District 4, https://www.ancestry.com 

John T. Wiles (Willis) M 33 MD Carpenter $500 real property, $100 personal

Catherine               F 28         MD

Mary                         F 7            MD

Louisa                      F 4            MD

[9] Cecil County, Maryland Deed Book JS 23:357, “James Kilgore, Esq., of North Milford Hundred, Cecil County, Maryland” sold to “John Willis, Carpenter, of the same hundred, county, and state.” The deed is signed by James Kilgore and his wife Isabella is named as having been privately questioned regarding her approval of the sale. The land was part of a 378-acre tract called Wallace’s Scrawl originally patented in 1737 to Matthew Wallace It was resurveyed and patented again in 1791 at 496 acres to Andrew Wallace. MSA S1194-1063 and S1194-1062, respectively.

[10] Cecil County, Maryland Will Book 5:213, Will signed by Rebekah Kilgore dated 3 Jun 1785, probated 25 Oct 1788, gave 5 shillings each to five sons and three daughters. Daughter Elizabeth Alexander received all Rebekah’s wearing apparel. Son James Kilgore received the family plantation and the remainder of the personal estate.

[11] Cecil County, Maryland Deed Book JS 25:39, on 31 Mar 1827 Kilgore sold 50+ acres to Samuel Burnite for $3.00

[12] Cecil County, Maryland Deed Book HHM 7:304, The deed recites that the 20 acres descended to James Kilgore by will and that Kilgore sold it to Willis, and that the land is part of a tract called “Wallace’s Scrawl.”

[13] Maryland Probate and Guardianship Files, 1796-1940, https://www.familysearch.org

[14] James later sold the land, subject to the existing mortgage, for a tidy profit.

[15] The Midland Journal, Rising Sun, Maryland, 5 Feb 1886, Friday, p. 5. At www.newspapers.com. Mrs. Rebecca Willis widow of the late John Willis died at the residence of he son-in-law John T. Steele on Saturday, the 9th instant (9 Jan 1886) in the 91st year of her age. Her remains were interred at Head of Christiana Cemetery on the Tuesday following (12 Jan 1886).

[16] Daniel Willis married Hannah Ann Sutton on 15 Apr 1847 in Cecil County. They appear in the 1850 census living next door to James Willis. Hannah likely predeceased Daniel because he registered in 1863 for the Civil War draft as a single man at age 41, occupation carpenter. Daniel appears in the 1970 census in a boarding house as a single man, age 45, occupation carpenter. If he had children, he likely would have resided with one of them.

Henry Willis, Carpenter of Maryland and Philadelphia (1829-1906) Part 1

Who the heck is Henry Willis who died in Philadelphia in 1906? And, is he part of the “Maryland Group” in the Willis DNA Project? Most of the Maryland Group descend from John Willis of Dorchester County, Maryland who was born about 1650-1670 probably in Berkshire County, England. (See https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/willis/about)

Spoiler alert — I am not sure about Henry, although I have an opinion. This post consists of two parts. Part 1 below sets out the facts, factoids, and gaps in the records that have frustrated the search for Henry. Part 2 will offer a theory identifying his parents based on circumstantial evidence.

Here goes …

Henry is the brick wall in the Willis line of Erin Daniels who descends from Henry’s daughter Lola. Erin has searched for years for Henry’s parents and for a male descendant of Henry’s son Harry. Her story about Henry, much of which is confirmed in the 1900 census for Philadelphia:[1]

    • He was born about 1829 in Maryland. Both his parents were born in Maryland.
    • In about 1880, he married Martha Anne (Annie) Stewart born about 1846. She and her parents were born in Delaware.
    • Family legend says the couple ran off from her home near Glasgow, New Castle County, Delaware to be married in Elkton, Cecil County, Maryland near the Delaware border.
    • Henry and Annie lived in Philadelphia in 1900. She had four children between 1880 and 1885, two of whom died in infancy.[2]
    • Henry was a carpenter.

Beyond the 1900 Census and the records relating to daughters who did not survive, there are only a few pieces of record evidence about this family:  a few entries in the City Directory of Philadelphia; a baptism of their youngest son; a death certificate for Henry; the 1910 census after Henry’s death; and the 1920 censuses after the death of Annie. Here is what we learn from those data …

Philadelphia City Directories                

Henry Willis, carpenter, appears in the 1901 and 1904 city directories of Philadelphia with his home address of 1335 South Hicks . However, he does not appear in 1873, 1881, 1894, 1897, or 1898.[3] It is reasonable to conclude that he did not take up residence in Philadelphia until shortly before the 1900 Census. This obviously raises the question, “Where the heck was he?”

 Harry Willis 1888 Baptism  

Henry and Annie may have almost lost a third child. On 17 October 1888, they arranged for the minister of Eleventh Street Methodist Episcopal Church to come to their home  and baptize their youngest child, Harry. The entry in the church record indicates the child was sick.[4] Often, a couple arranged for a home baptism if they feared their child was about to die. Thankfully, Harry lived to have children of his own.

Henry Willis 1906 Death Certificate

Carpenter Henry Willis died on 18 Sep 1906 and was buried at Hillside Cemetery in Philadelphia. His death certificate states he was born in Maryland and lived at 1335 So. Hicks Street. His death certificate does not name his parents or their place of birth. It states he died of kidney failure,[5]

1910 and 1920 Censuses

The widow Annie appears as Anna Willis in the 1910 census for Philadelphia as head of household with daughter Lola, son Harry, and five-year old granddaughter “Elsa.” [6] That census shows Lola working as a candy maker and Harry as a street car conductor. Both Lola and Harry are listed as single. Elsa apparently is Lola’s child. She appears with Lola Stevenson (neé Willis) in the next census as “Elva” Stevenson, age 14, along with four other children.[7] Harry appears in the 1920 Census with his wife Emma and four children ages eight through five. [8]

Missing Records

Here the frustration begins. There appear to be no other records that might help explain this family. For example, Henry Willis does not appear in certain census records, vital records, or probate records :

Census Records

Annie appears as Martha Anne/Annie Stewart in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses for Pencader Hundred, Glasgow Post Office, New Castle County, Delaware. She is in the household of her father James, a farmer in that community. However, Henry Willis does not appear in the 1850 through 1870 censuses for Maryland or any adjoining state. He should be named somewhere, but is not. Furthermore, Annie and Henry do not appear in the 1880 census. It is not all that uncommon for a person to be missed or a name misspelled in one census. However, it is highly unlikely for that to occur three or four times in a row, unless of course, that person wants to be missed. Erin Daniels also told me that Henry may have been a bit of a rascal or a troublemaker. It makes one guess that Henry might have used an alias.

Vital Records

There is no marriage record for the couple, nor are there birth records for any of their children except Harry’s twin Julia. There are no baptism records for any of their children except Harry, who was sick. There is no death record for Annie or for young Harry’s twin Julia. Again, some of this may be due to incomplete or lost records, or perhaps they are just not available online. However, given Henry’s absence in the census record, one has to ask, “Was the couple actually married? Did they use an alias?”

Probate Records

There are no probate records for Henry or Annie, which is not surprising. The couple apparently did not have significant assets. They did not own real estate; they always rented the place they lived. However, Annie Stewart was not from a poor family. She and her sister Mary were the only children of James Stewart and his wife Eliza. After her mother’s death between 1850 and 1860,  Annie continued living with her father. Her sister Mary married Henry Kendall in 1864,[9] and the couple lived on her father’s farm in 1870. Annie was also there in 1870. James Stewart died in 1874[10] owning real estate worth about $2,000 and $400 of personal property.[11]

There is no online probate information for New Castle County, Delaware beyond 1800. Therefore, we do not know whether Annie inherited anything. James Stewart’s probate file may not reveal anything about Henry Willis, but you never know. I will just have to make a trip to Wilmington or Dover when Covid abates, and check the original paper records.

This ends Part 1 and the litany of missing information. In Part 2 we will see if we can find Henry hiding in plain sight.

—

[1] 1900 Census Philadelphia, Ward 26, District 0628

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DTG3-6M1?i=18&cc=1325221&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AM3W8-DKX

1335 Kick [sic South Hicks] Street

Henry Willis head May 1829 71 M20  MD MD MD Carpenter Rent House

Annie Willis wife Jun 1846     53 M20  4/2 DE DE DE

Lola Willis son [sic Dau] Apr 1882 18  S  PA MD DE

Harry Willis son  Oct 1885 14  S  PA MD DE

[2] A Philadelphia Death Certificate proves a daughter born in 1884 who died that same year: Elinar Jessie Willis, born 1884, died 22 Sep 1884 in Philadelphia, PA, age one month, female, father Henry Willis, mother Annie Willis, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2233393:2535?tid=&pid=&queryId=c55646857b4faa216b36bf1856d9b842&_phsrc=DgH3&_phstart=successSource

And, a Philadelphia Birth Record proves a daughter born in 1885 who did not survive. She was a twin of Harry: Julia E. Willis, female, born 16 Oct 1885 in Philadelphia, father Harry Willis, mother Anna Willis

“Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2NV-K9B : 15 February 2020), Julia E. Willis, 1885.

[3] Philadelphia City Directories by various publishers as found on Fold 3.

[4] Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church Records, Eleventh Street Methodist Episcopal Church,https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2451/images/40355_267328-00065?usePUB=true&_phsrc=tQw4&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=7976645

[5] Philadelphia Death Certificate:

Henry Willis, male, white, married, date of birth unknown, date of death 18 Sep 1906, age 75 years, resided at 1335 So. Hicks Street, was ill for 10 days, chief cause of death Uraemia [kidney failure], contributing causes Nephritis [kidney disease] and myocarditis [inflammation of the heart], Dr. J. Moon Campbell/Camphill?, Philadelphia Hospital, date of burial 21 Sep 1906, place Hillside Cemetery, Undertaker Robert P. Martin, 1444 So. Broad St

“Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JK37-W2X : 18 February 2021), Henry Willis, 18 Sep 1906; citing cn 23553, Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; FHL microfilm 1,319,466.

[6] 1910 Census Philadelphia Ward 40, District 1033, “United States Census, 1910,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGHQ-XJ2 : accessed 5 January 2022), Anna Willis, Philadelphia Ward 40, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1033, sheet 7B, family 143, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1410; FHL microfilm 1,375,423.

1826 South Allison Street

Anna Willis F 63 Wid 4/2 DE DE DE Rents Home

Lola dau F27 Sing PA MD DE  Candy Maker in Candy Store

Harry son M 24 Sing PA MD DE Street Car Conductor

Elsa granddau F Sing PA PA PA

[7] 1920 Census, Philadelphia Ward 40, District 1453, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/77217633:6061?tid=&pid=&queryId=19c95d4c019145aa9bda5fa51a2c83eb&_phsrc=Vvv1&_phstart=successSource

5532 Paschall Avenue

James Stevenson M 37 PA PA PA Auto Mechanic Rents Home

Lola wife F 37                 PA DE MD

Elva Dau F 14  School  PA PA PA

James Son M 8 School  PA PA PA

Harry Son M 7 School  PA PA PA

Reba Dau F 5                   PA PA PA

Mildred Dau F 2 10/12 PA PA PA

[8] 1920 Census, Philadelphia, Ward 40, District 1461, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/77226506:6061?tid=&pid=&queryId=ccccee670eed5c7a101f6852bb057775&_phsrc=Vvv4&_phstart=successSource

6332 Theoadore Ave.

Harry Willis 34 M Phil MD DE Driver in Coal Yard Rents Home

Emma wife 28 F Phil PA PA

Harry son 8 M Phil Phil Phil in School

Ethel dau 7 F Phil Phil Phil in School

Helen dau 6 F Phil Phil Phil

Effie dau 5 F Phil Phil Phil

[9] Marriage date 28 Apr 1864 per Delaware Marriage Records, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1508&h=78789&tid=&pid=&queryId=dabeb42f303b1ebacf9892713f541bf5&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Vvv14&_phstart=successSource

[10] James Stewart (of Seth) death date 7 Dec 1874 per Presbyterian Church Records, 1701- 1970, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=61048&h=1500507877&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=7163

[11] 1850 Census Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/18428343:8054

James Stewart 44 M DE Farmer

Eliza                    44 F  MD

Mary E                     7 F DE

Martha A                5 F DE

John Stewart    46 M DE Farmer

David Willey    14 M DE

1860 Census Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, Glasgow Post Office, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/10383554:7667

James Stewart    53 M DE Farmer $2,800 real prop, $750 personal prop

Mary                         17 F DE

Martha                     14 F DE attends school

1870 Census Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, Glasgow Post Office, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1897649:7163

James Stewart    64 M DE Farmer $2,000 real prop, $400 personal prop

Martha                     24 F DE Keeps House

Henry Kendall      35 M DE Farm Hand [second family in same dwelling]

Mary E                     27 F DE Keeps House

Mary E                     5   F DE at Home

Ella May                  3  F DE at Home

Harry                        1 M DE at Home

Vietnam War Story – Medevac Meadow

Introduction to Revised Article

In January 2022, I published the following article which is a chapter from my book Red Markers: The Rest of the Story, available now at Lulu Publishing. The book recounts the history of the forward air controller unit — the Red Markers — I served with in Vietnam. This unit worked exclusively to support the Vietnamese Airborne and the American advisors — known as Red Hats — who served with the Airborne on the ground. The article describes one of the more memorable engagements that occurred in 1970 during the incursion into the Fishhook region of Cambodia to destroy enemy base camps and supplies. An original version lacked an important detail – the identity of a helicopter pilot who swooped in to pick up the occupants of a downed helicopter during the massive rescue operation. A reader who was there, former Captain Ron Wood, identified the missing hero as Major Jolly, commander of B Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment. Ron was a Cobra pilot, the Blue Max maintenance officer, and later a Blue Max platoon leader. Ron and Major (FNU) Jolly are included in this revised article.

Medevac Meadow

The Vietnamese 6th Airborne Infantry Battalion moved with the rest of the 1st Brigade from Song Be during early May to reinforce the three battalions of the 3rd Brigade engaged in the Fishhook.[1] The battalion headquartered at Fire Support Base (FSB) Oklahoma while its troopers maneuvered in the region. FSB Oklahoma was about ten miles inside Cambodia off Highway 7 on the eastern edge of the Memot Rubber Plantation.[2] The fire base was the operational home of the 1st Brigade’s Artillery Battalion of 105 mm howitzers and the long range 8-inch howitzers of A Battery, 2ndBattalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment, the “Proud Americans.”

On 23 May, a task force of the 61st and 63rd Companies of the 6th Battalion encountered NVA troops during a ground sweep about eight miles southeast of FSB Oklahoma. After a brief fight, the NVA withdrew to the west side of a clearing oriented southeast to northwest. The Airborne retired to the east side. The battalion senior advisor, Red Hat Captain Jesse Myers, was overhead in a command-and-control helicopter. He called for artillery fire from FSB Oklahoma and asked Red Marker Control to divert some airstrikes to the enemy’s possible routes of withdrawal.

The artillery fire mission required extra caution. Only eighty meters separated the NVA on the west side of the clearing from the Airborne troopers on the east. The standard safe distance from an 8-inch round was 100 meters for unsheltered personnel. A miscalculation could be fatal. The howitzers’ alignment, elevation, and propellant charge had to be just right. The fire control center made its calculations and double checked them. Then, the battery commander Captain Lee Hayden double checked the “double check” by hand.[3] Myers watched the first shots land on target and gave the okay to fire for effect.

A Red Marker FAC arrived on scene and orbited his Bird Dog to the east, waiting for a set of fighters scrambled from Bien Hoa. Myers briefed the FAC and shut down the artillery when the fighters arrived. They bombed and napalmed the western tree line as darkness fell. The Airborne dug in for the night. FSB Oklahoma stood ready if needed, but only sporadic small arms fire came from the opposite side of the clearing.

At dawn on the 24th, the NVA attacked in strength. The Airborne drove them back, suffering several killed and eight seriously wounded. Myers again called on the artillery at FSB Oklahoma and requested that Red Markers direct some airstrikes on the NVA positions. Red Marker 16, Lieutenant David G. Blair was already in the air. He diverted to the site to control immediate airstrikes aimed at possible routes of retreat. After the two Airborne companies secured the area, Red Hat Staff Sergeants Louis Clason and Michael Philhower requested Medevac. Myers relayed the request to brigade headquarters and asked for gunship cover. The request went out to the 1st Air Cavalry helicopter units at about 1100 hours.[4] The Cav called on a Medevac Huey already in the air and scrambled two Blue Max Cobra gunships standing alert to cover the mission.

A Medevac helicopter piloted by First Lieutenant Stephen F. Modica, “The Wild Deuce” (official call sign Medevac 2), received the request for the evacuation.  Modica was en route from Phuoc Vinh to Katum when he got the call. Red Hat Sergeant First Class Louis Richard Rocco happened to be hitching a ride with Modica. Rocco, a qualified medic and advisor to the Airborne’s Medical Bat-talion, sometimes volunteered to fly on Medevac missions. When Rocco heard Medevac 2 was going to pick up wounded paratroopers, he asked to stay on board and help. Modica landed at Katum, off-loaded some supplies, and picked up a ceramic chest protector for Rocco. The Wild Deuce departed Katum toward the task force location.

Meanwhile, two Blue Max Cobra gunships scrambled from Hot Alert at Quan Loi. The aircraft commanders First Lieutenant George Alexander Jr., call sign Precise Sword 12, and Chief Warrant Officer–2 (CW2) Paul Garrity, Precise Sword 12A, were airborne within the requisite two minutes from the time the alert horn sounded.[5] Quan Loi Tower cleared the flight of two to take off to the south. As Alexander and Garrity smoothly nosed over and headed down the runway, CW2 James “Bugs” Moran manning the front seat of the lead ship radioed Blue Max operations for mission information.

“Blue Max ops, this is Precise Sword One Two airborne on scramble. Mission brief. Over.”

“Roger, Precise Sword Twelve. Mission is Medevac escort for pickup at XU5101 in a hot LZ. Depart Quan Loi heading 290 degrees, about seventeen klicks. Ren-dezvous with Medevac Two coming out of Katum.”

“Roger, Blue Max. Copy all. Heading 290.”

Precise Sword flight tuned in Medevac’s standard frequency 33.00 FM and met The Wild Deuce on the way to the LZ. Meanwhile, Blair flew his Bird Dog back to Quan Loi for fuel and rockets.  Another Red Marker FAC arrived on scene with a flight of diverted fighter aircraft.[6] Myers again shut down the artillery while the Red Marker directed more bombs into the western tree line. A few minutes after the airstrike finished, the trio of helicopters was several miles from the clearing.

The Red Hats monitored the Medevac frequency awaiting contact. When Mede-vac 2 called in, Myers briefed them on the situation and suggested a run in from the south. Precise Sword 12 and the Wild Deuce descended to treetop level two miles out. Precise Sword 12A remained high to cover them both and give direc-tions to the LZ.

“Medevac Two, hold this heading. I’ve got the clearing in sight about one klick. I’ve got green smoke on the eastern tree line.”

“Roger, Twelve Alpha. Got it.”

All Hell Broke Loose

The Wild Deuce and Precise Sword 12 came in low and fast just above the treetops. Modica wanted to give any North Vietnamese gunners only the briefest glimpse of the helicopter before setting down, loading wounded, and speeding away.

Red Hat Clason, advisor to the Vietnamese 63rd Airborne Infantry Company com-mander Lieutenant Thái Kim Hwang, stood in the clearing and watched green smoke spew from the grenade he had popped. Behind the tree line, Philhower, advisor to 61st Company commander Captain Nguyễn Văn Nghiêm, manned the FM radio. They all heard the distinctive whup-whup-whup of the Huey’s blades well before it entered the clearing.

Lieutenant Hwang had stretcher bearers waiting outside the tree line with the seriously wounded troopers. Hwang and Clason waited tensely, hoping they could load the men without any trouble. Modica brought the ship into the clearing, lined up on Clason, and expertly flared for touchdown.

Then, all hell broke loose. AK-47 and .51 caliber machine gun fire ripped into the cabin from the western tree line. The Cobra gunships responded immediately. They returned fire with 2.75-inch high explosive and flechette[7] rockets, mini-guns, and 40 mm grenade launchers, hoping to suppress the enemy fire long enough for Medevac 2 to complete its mission. The low bird turned hard to the left in front of The Wild Deuce to get lined up on the source of the fire. The high bird dove straight at the NVA positions and un-leashed a salvo of rockets. The Medevac’s door gunners opened up with M-60 machine guns. Rocco fired his M-16 out the left door into the trees. Modica felt two enemy slugs glance off his “chicken plate” chest protector. At the same time, a third round shattered his left knee. The Medevac pancaked into the clearing. Copilot Lieutenant Leroy “Lee” G. Caubarreaux swiveled his head to give Modica some shit for such a bad landing, then realized Steve was hit. Lee immediately grabbed the controls. “I’ve got the ship!” he shouted over the intercom. As he pulled pitch and poured on full power, Caubarreaux jabbed the FM key, shouting now to the two Cobra gunships,

“Precise Swords One Two and One Two Alpha, we are outta here! Cover us!”

Sergeant Clason hot-footed it out of the clearing as Medevac 2 spooled up and started to climb. But safety was a long way off. Coming in hot and low to the clearing had made the bird harder to hit. Liftoff was a different matter. The UH-1H heli-copter took time to get back up to speed and out of the clearing. The NVA gunners got a clear view of the slow-moving Huey and unleashed everything they had. The entire western tree line lit up. From the left seat, Modica saw the RPM sliding past normal minimum and knew they were in trouble. He switched to VHF Guard channel and broadcast,

“The Wild Deuce is going down! XU5101! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! XU5101!”[8]

At about fifty feet in the air, gunfire and aerodynamic stress ripped the tail boom from the ship.[9] The Huey spun out of control, crashing to the ground on its right side. Smoke billowed from the chopper as the fuel tanks burst into flame. In his C&C chopper, Myers “watched in horror as the Medevac seemed to land, then shot almost straight up and fell to the ground on its side thrashing, briefly like a wounded quail.” He thought at first it had fallen on Clason.

In fact, Clason was not hurt. The Medevac crew was another story. Sergeant Gary L. Taylor, right side door gunner, died on impact, crushed by the aircraft. Medic Specialist 5 (SP5) Terry T. Burdette was badly burned and suffered multiple fractures. Crew chief and left door gunner, Sergeant Patrick Martin, was thrown clear and knocked unconscious. Rocco was also thrown clear, breaking a wrist and hip. Modica’s leg was shattered, and Caubar-reaux suffered a crushed right shoulder, broken arm, and back injuries. He was trapped beneath Modica as the ship caught fire.

Precise Sword 12 lined up at low level to attack the tree line point blank with flechette rockets. Even before Alexander got lined up, Bugs Moran in the front seat swiveled the minigun under the Cobra’s chin, spraying the tree line. Meanwhile, Garrity and his copilot Warrant Officer (WO) James Nabours rolled in from above and plastered the tree line with rockets, minigun fire, and 40 mm grenades.[10] Both ships took numerous hits, but the Cobras pressed the attack. At one point, Moran asked George on the intercom, “Are we gonna die here?” Ignoring the tracers flying past, they made repeated head on passes into the NVA positions.[11]

 When Medevac 2 smashed into the ground the ground, Sergeant Philhower dropped the radio handset and sprinted toward the clearing, leaving Captain Myers overhead in the dark. However, Myers knew the paratroopers and Red Hats would try to get any survivors out of the downed Huey. Lieutenant Hwang immediately sent a skirmish line of 63rdCompany troopers forward to provide covering fire. Clason and Philhower approached the wreck while the Vietnamese moved their wounded troopers away from the landing area. The Blue Max gunships kept attac-king the NVA positions while the Red Hats pulled survivors from the burning wreckage and helped them to the friendly tree line. Lieutenant Alexander noticed that one person getting people out of the burning Medevac “was not wearing Nomex — very odd for an aircrew.”[12]

Myers radioed FSB Oklahoma about the crisis in the clearing and asked for more artillery fire. The 8-inchers stepped up the fire on the western tree line, keeping the NVA’s head down. At one point, each weapon at FSB Oklahoma had several rounds in the air at the same time. The enemy did not venture into the clearing in force.

 Failed Rescue Attempts[13]

Modica’s Mayday call attracted numerous helicopters wanting to pick up the injured crew and the wounded troopers. Precise Sword 12 escorted the first ship, call sign Killer Spade, as it approached the field. Intense ground fire erupted, repeatedly hitting the Huey, and Killer Spade aborted the attempt.[14] Meanwhile, back at Quan Loi, Captain Henry “Hank” O. Tuell, III, aircraft commander of Medevac 1, learned that the Wild Deuce was down. He shouted to his pilot Lieutenant Howard Elliott, who was in the shower,

“Get your butt in gear! We gotta go get Modica and his crew!”

Elliott scrambled into his Nomex flight suit and boots. Tuell had the Huey cranked when Elliott arrived at the revetment still dripping soapy water.  Medevac 1 ap-proached the clearing from the south, also escorted by Precise Sword 12, and took ground fire that wounded Tuell. Elliott took control and flew back to Quan Loi to get medical attention for Tuell. Mean-while, Garrity alerted Quan Loi they needed to launch the Cobra section sitting Blue Alert. This situation was not going to be resolved quickly.

Lieutenant Thomas Read, Medevac 12, and his copilot Lieutenant Monty Halcomb were in the air forty miles away northwest of Song Be when they heard the Mayday call. They sped toward the Fishhook and soon spotted the smoke rising from Medevac Meadow. They arrived just as Medevac 1 was taking hits and struggling to get out of the clearing.[15] At this point, Precise Swords 12 and 12A were low on fuel and out of ammo. The relief section of gunships led by CW2 Maurice A. “Mac” Cookson came on station to support subsequent rescue attempts. Cookson asked Alexander to mark the enemy position for him. Alexander replied,

“No can do. I’m Winchester.[16] Just lower your nose toward that western tree line. The enemy will mark his position for you.”

Mac did as suggested, and a stream of tracers erupted toward his ship, precisely identifying the NVA locations.[17] Mac responded with flechette rockets trailing their telltale red smoke. The Precise Sword flight limped their damaged Cobras to Quan Loi. Maintenance grounded Alexander’s bird until they could install a new set of blades. Alexander pulled a slug from Garrity’s seat and presented it to him some years later, preserved in an epoxy pyramid.

Cookson  and his wingman continued the attack on the NVA tree line while Medevac 12 assessed their options. Read and Halcomb decided to approach over the friendlies in the eastern tree line rather than coming in from the south.[18] They came in just over the trees, made a right hand U-turn, and started down fast with their tail pointed at the NVA tree line. The NVA opened fire from the west and the north as Medevac 12 reached about 100 feet. The crew heard and felt the ship taking hits. The Huey began a severe vertical vibration at about fifty feet from the ground. Read aborted the descent, slowly climbed above the trees, and called, “Mayday.” He set the wounded bird down in a clearing to the east and shut down the engine as CWO Raymond Zepp, Medevac 21, arrived on scene. Monty Halcomb jumped out of the Huey to assess the damage as Zepp landed close by to pick up the crew if needed. Although there were numerous bullet holes in their ship and major damage to one rotor blade, Read and Halcomb decided to try to get it back to Quan Loi. They just barely made it. The ship went to the scrap heap a few days later, slung out under a CH-47 Chinook.[19]

Medevac 21 took off from the clearing and flew back to the Meadow to make a fourth rescue attempt. However, Lieutenant Caubarreaux ordered him not to try. He said the LZ was too hot and there was no sense possibly losing another ship and another crew.[20] As the day ended, Medevac had lost three ships, one still smoldering in the Meadow and two heavily damaged – including one that had to be scrapped. The crews of the two damaged birds made it back to safety. But the injured crew of Medevac 2 and the wounded paratroopers would spend the night on the ground with no medical care except first aid.

Clason and Philhower were awarded the Silver Star for their actions. Vice President Agnew presented the awards at a ceremony shortly afterwards. Sergeant First Class Rocco was recognized several years later for rescuing survivors from the chopper and administering first aid before he became immobilized from his injuries.[21] He was awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented by President Gerald Ford in February 1974. The Medevac pilot and crew also received awards for bravery. Modica received a Silver Star and Caubarreaux, Taylor (posthumously), Burdette, and Martin were each awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross. Those were not the only awards conferred, for this engagement was far from over. Unbelievably, despite braving intense enemy fire in repeated head-on attacks, the gunship crews received no such awards.[22]

Jesse Myers knew what needed to happen next. The two Airborne companies had run into a buzz saw. But they had given better than they had gotten in return. They had a good defensive position and overwhelming artillery and air support. The only thing they lacked was mobility. Ideally, they would pull back and bring in a B-52 Arc Light mission to pound the enemy. However, the paratroopers could not withdraw because of the number of injured on hand. They would not abandon their wounded, and they could not easily move them. They had to hold their position until after a successful evacuation of casualties. Some of the enemy fire now came from the north and south sides of the clearing. The NVA may have been attempting to flank the two companies, or at least be in position to score more hits on helicopters they knew would be coming. Myers adjusted the artillery to com-pensate.

 Airstrikes

That afternoon, the Red Markers diverted more strike aircraft to Medevac Meadow. Myers informed them of the expanded targets. For several hours, fighter aircraft bombed and strafed the enemy-held tree lines on the north, south, and west sides of the clearing. Red Marker 26, Lieutenant Lloyd L. Prevett, flew his longest mission of the war – 4.8 hours. His twin engine Oscar Deuce carried seven white phosphorus rockets under each wing. During his mission, Prevett expended all fourteen of them, one at a time, marking different strike locations with smoke around the perimeter. After running out of Willie Pete, he marked targets with smoke grenades tossed out of the pilot-side window. Prevett controlled mostly F-100s, with at least one flight of  A-37s and Vietnamese A-1Es.  Prevett recalled:

“One interesting note is I requested a flight with wall-to-wall nape and 20 mm, figuring it would be a standard load of snake and nape. I was shocked when a flight of two F -100s showed up with just nape and 20mm.[23] When I put them in, the nape uncovered a fortified bunker and of course, no snake to employ. Took care of that on the next flight. My hat is off to all the fighter pilots that showed up that day. They put their asses on the line to ensure each and every drop was right where it was needed. Gives me shivers today thinking about what everyone did to try and protect the guys on the ground.”[24]

Lloyd did not record the number of strikes he directed, but was amazed on his way back to Phuoc Vinh at the amount of grease pencil writing on the side window. He had scribbled on the plexiglass the standard info for each flight — mission number, call sign, number of fighters in the flight, ordnance load, and expected time of arrival on scene. Given the number of strikes Prevett controlled, it is a wonder he saw anything through that window.

The Skymaster could fly for more than six hours when conserving fuel with a lean mixture at cruise power setting. After directing airstrikes with the mixture rich and power often at max for almost five hours, Prevett’s O-2A was near minimum fuel when he landed at Phuoc Vinh. The crew chief refueled and rearmed the Skymaster, cleaned the inside of the window, and the detailed record of those strike missions was lost to history.

Radio operator Sergeant Jim Yeonopolus manned Red Marker Control outside the Airborne Tactical Operations Center at Quan Loi. The firefight and his job became more hectic about 1500, when the FACs called for additional airstrikes. As daylight faded, the fighting became more intense. Earlier, Red Hat Sergeants John A. Brubaker and James H. Collier asked Yeonopolus if he would accompany them to the Meadow and stay on the ground overnight to call in air support if needed. Jim told them he would be more effective with his full set of radios at Quan Loi. In any event, Brubaker and Collier could not catch a ride into Medevac Meadow that afternoon.

Red Markers continued to direct airstrikes into the enemy positions until nightfall. Lieutenant Gary Willis, Red Marker 18, controlled two more F-100 flights just before dark. According to Captain Myers, the Red Markers directed thirty-six tactical air sorties during two days at Medevac Meadow.[25]  Myers saw one FAC make low passes to drop canisters of water to the Red Beret troopers who had not been resupplied for two days. Most of the containers missed the mark or burst upon landing, but some made it into the perimeter intact.[26] Early the next morning, the Medevac crew chief and copilot retrieved from the destroyed Huey a few glass bottles of saline solution that survived the wreck and fire. It was all they had to drink that day.[27]

Overnight, artillery support from Oklahoma became even more important. The NVA attacked the Airborne position three times during the night and were repulsed each time. Oklahoma responded with precise artillery fire, sometimes extremely close to the eastern tree line. Many of the gunners had not slept much during the prior forty-eight hours. The Red Hats also called on flare ships and Air Force gun-ships to help defend the Airborne posi-tion.

A Rescue Plan

Myers returned to 6th Battalion’s com-mand post at FSB Oklahoma, monitoring the situation on the ground via the radio net. At the firebase, he received a surprise visit from Lieutenant General Michael S. Davison, II Field Force Commander, who asked simply, “What do you need, Captain?” Myers replied, “Sir, I need a B-52 strike.” Davison said, “You’ve got it.” The general ordered an Arc Light mission for 1500 hours the next day.

Brigadier General Robert M. Shoemaker flew in later to be briefed on the situation. Shoemaker was a principal architect of airmobile warfare concepts and an experienced helicopter pilot. He flew his own command and control (C&C) chopper throughout his tour.[28] Shoemaker listened to all the information about the condition of the wounded (there were now about forty casualties), the resupply situation, and the ability of the troopers to hold on. He vowed to round up additional resources and return in the morning with a plan.

Overnight at Quan Loi, Shoemaker ordered the local Medevac, Blue Max, and Headhunter commanders to design a rescue operation.[29] Blue Max committed six gunships to the mission, half the entire C Battery fleet. Headhunters provides two Cobras and a Huey as a C&C bird. The Medevac platoon had lost so many aircraft the first day that it borrowed several Hueys for non-combat missions.[30] That freed up enough Medevac birds to send four on the rescue. Three flew as primary and one as backup.

Early the next day, Shoemaker flew into FSB Oklahoma to brief the Airborne and the artillery commanders on the plan. Major Jolly of B Troop also arrived with his  C&C helicopter. After a fifteen minute briefing, everyone left to rendezvous at Medevac Meadow with the Hueys and Cobras coming from Quan Loi. An additional C&C helicopter carried the 6thAirborne Battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Trương Vĩnh Phước, Battalion Senior Advisor Captain Myers, the battery commander at FSB Oklahoma Captain Hayden, and the Vietnamese artillery commander. General Shoemaker flew his own Huey in overall control.[31]

Beginning at 0930, Red Markers directed a series of strikes into the perimeter of Medevac Meadow controlled by the well-bunkered NVA. When the airstrikes ended at 1100, the fleet of sixteen helicopters arrived on station – eight Cobras, four Medevac Hueys, and four command and control birds. According to Myers’s description:[32]

“The plan was for the landing zone to be ringed by artillery fire, friendly troops, and gunship suppressive fire. After we were airborne, we first adjusted the artillery. There were two Vietnamese 105mm batteries, a 155 mm battery, and the American 8-inch battery.[33] The artillery prep was fired and the wood line was smoked[34] and then the extraction was started. Arty fires were not shut down, but shifted to form a corridor through which the Medevac ships were to fly. The gunships formed a continuous ‘daisy chain’ whereby suppressive fire was kept on the area of greatest enemy concentration.”

After the artillery adjustment, Shoemaker flew his chopper at low level the length of the field to check the safety of the corridor before clearing the gunships and Medevac birds to proceed.[35] CW2 Mac Cookson led the flight of Cobras with Captain Ron Wood in the front seat. The Blue Max birds to flew a south to north pattern con-centrating their fire on the western tree line. The two Headhunter gunships flew east to west at the north end of the field firing into the northern tree line being careful not overlap the Blue Max pattern. Mac ordered everyone to save some ammo “just in case something went wrong.” His caution was justified.

The plan worked almost to perfection. The three primary Medevacs came in one at a time, loaded up, and took off in sequence. The first two made it out of the clearing without significant damage. CW2 Richard Tanner, Medevac 24, came in first and picked up the surviving crew of Medevac 2 at about 1115. Captain Jack Roden, Medevac 7, landed second and took off with most of the wounded paratroopers. The third ship, Medevac 25 commanded by CW2 William Salinger picked up the remaining seriously wounded. His ship was hit heavily as it took off. It sank back to the ground and caught fire. Before the backup bird flown by CW2 Denny Schmidt, Medevac 23, and his copilot Monty Halcomb could react, Major Jolly radioed from his C&C ship, “Saber Six is inbound! Cover me!” Before the blades on Medevac 25 had stopped turning, Jolly dropped his Huey into Medevac Meadow beside the burning ship. Salinger and his crew shuttled the wounded Vietnamese aboard the rescue bird. Jolly exited the hot LZ with Blue Max providing cover with their remaining ammo.[36] However, Jolly’s ship was badly damaged. He barely made it to a nearby cold LZ and safely landed, to be picked up later by another Huey.

Several days later, General Shoemaker presented “impact” awards to some of the rescue participants in a ceremony at Bien Hoa Air Base.[37] One recipient was Cobra aircraft commander CW2 Mac Cookson. Mac received a Silver Star for his contribution to the rescue. Captain Hank Tuell, aircraft commander of Medevac 1, stood beside Mac in the award formation and received a Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart for the first day’s combat. Nineteen days later, General Shoemaker received a Silver Star. At FSB Oklahoma, commander of the Vietnamese Airborne Division General Dư Quốc Đông presented a Cross of Gallantry to Captain Hayden and Lieutenant Granberg for the excellent work by their 8-inch battery. Red Marker Radio Operator Jim Yeonopolus was awarded a Cross of Gallantry recognizing his work coor-dinating strike aircraft for the Red Marker FACs during the engagement.[38]

 Back in the Fight

Relieved of their serious casualties, the Airborne companies withdrew a couple of klicks to the southeast. Resupply choppers soon arrived with food, water, ammo, and medical supplies. At 1500 hours, the promised Arc Light mission hit Medevac Meadow. A light helicopter flew over later to assess the damage. Surviving NVA drove it off with ground fire but not before the pilot saw numerous dead and a lot of destroyed concrete bunkers.

There is no official estimate of enemy casualties, but the NVA must have suffered tremendous losses.[39] They made four frontal assaults across the open meadow into the dug-in Airborne position. The artillery units at FSB Oklahoma poured extremely accurate fire into the NVA tree line. Air Force fighters bombed and strafed the NVA bunkers with thirty-six sorties during the two days. Blue Max Cobras flew at least thirty sorties expending rockets, minigun, and 40 mm grenades into the NVA position. The B-52 Arc Light mission dropped eighty-one tons of explosives. That totaled a signi-ficant amount of ordnance in a relatively small area.

The 61st and 63rd Airborne Companies swept the area the next day. They captured weapons, signal equipment, and some wounded combatants. Some of those were in a hospital complex. Clearly, this was part of a major base camp area. The two companies continued to battle in the Fishhook until withdrawn with the rest of 6th Battalion on 25 June. At that point, each company had about forty effective troopers remaining of their original hundred.

The engagement at Medevac Meadow impressed Myers in a number of ways, as he wrote in his letter to U.S. Army Aviation Digest:

“I saw time and again the courage and concern of one pilot on behalf of another. I saw outstanding teamwork between Vietnamese and American forces, be-tween air and ground forces, and between combat and combat support forces. I saw magnificent employment of air/ground coordination to provide massed fires.

“I saw commanders all the way up to the three-star level who were vitally interested and concerned for the welfare of their men and who were willing to get personally involved to remedy a bad situation. And finally, I saw raw courage and heroism displayed time and time again by U.S. and ARVN soldiers alike.”[40]

——

[1] The description of the following event is based on numerous sources, some of which contain conflicting detail: Dust Off: Army Aeromedical Evacuation in Vietnam by Peter Dorland and James Nanney; magazine article by then Captain Stephen F. Modica, U.S. Army Aviation Digest, June 1975; letter written by former Red Hat Major Jesse W. Myers in response to that article; emails among various surviving participants, including former Lieutenant Jerry Granberg and Ralph Jones (artillerymen), former Sergeant Patrick Martin (Medevac crew chief), Major (R) Jesse Myers (Red Hat), Colonel (R) Hank Tuell and former Captain Monty Halcomb (Medevac pilots), Major (R) George Alexander, former Captain Ron Wood, CW3 (R) Mac Cookson, and former CW2 Paul Garrity (Cobra pilots); Oral History and other statements by Warrant Officer Rocco; mission statements by Alexander, Garrity, and Tuell; various reports of related awards and citations/orders; and other sources as individually footnoted.

[2] Grid Coordinates XU425098, per the History of the “Proud Americans” at ­­­­ https://proudamericans. homestead.com/VIETNAM_1963-1971-1.pdf

[3] Emails July 2021, former Lieutenant Jerry Granberg, second in command, A Battery, 2nd of the 32nd Field Artillery.

[4] Medevac Platoon, 15th Medical Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), and C Battery, 2nd Battalion Aerial Rocket Artillery, 20th Artillery Regiment, 1stCavalry Division (Airmobile), known as Blue Max.

[5] See Glossary for explanation of Hot Alert.

[6] Unidentified but likely Lieutenant Mayberry, Red Marker 19.

[7] Flechette warheads contained hundreds of steel nail-like projectiles.

[8] The grid coordinates Modica screamed into the mike designated a one-kilometer square of territory about five miles inside the Fishhook north of Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam. In an article Modica wrote for the magazine U.S. Army Aviation Digest, he incorrectly stated the coordinates as XU5606, which is right on the border of Cambodia and Vietnam rather than five miles inside. Chalk that up to the “Fog of War” and frailty of human memory. Interestingly, “5606” is the designation of the hydraulic fluid used in the Huey, which might explain why the number came to Modica’s mind while writing from memory about five years later. According to the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots’ Association, XU507010 is the six digit grid coordinate for the downed Medevac, tail number 69-15121.

[9] Lt Alexander, Precise Sword 12, did not see the tail boom break away, but did notice that the tail rotor was not operating as the Wild Deuce tried to climb. Both Vietnamese company commanders stated that the tail boom hit a tree and broke off, which could have been caused by the rotor being inoperative.

[10] Another Cobra pilot, WO Brian Russ, claims to have been flying Precise Sword 12 with Alexander in the front seat. Aircraft commander Alexander disputes that claim. Cobra commanders Garrity and Cookson also believe that Russ was not involved in the mission.

[11] Rocco’s oral history recorded in 1987 testifies to the volume of fire. The crew does not believe they would have gotten safely to the tree line without the protection of the Blue Max Cobras. The damage inflicted on the helicopters speaks for itself.

[12] Statement by George Alexander in possession of the author. Note: That person could have been Red Hat Rocco, Clason, or Philhower, who all wore camouflage fatigues. Modica and Caubarreaux wrote that Rocco pulled them from the wreckage. Both Vietnamese company commanders credited Clason and Philhower and stated they did not see any other American.

[13] Details of the failed rescue attempts are primarily from several sources:

[14] Killer Spade was the unit call sign used by B Company, 229th Aviation Battalion (Assault Helicopter), part of the 1st Cavalry Division.

[15] Emails and telecon, Jan 2022, with Cecil M. (Monty) Halcomb, former Captain, USA pilot on Medevac 12, later aircraft commander of Medevac 8.

[16] Winchester – flyers slang for “out of ammo.”

[17] A basic rule of modern warfare – “Tracers work both ways.” Tracers help a gunner see how close the gunfire is to the target, but they reveal the gunner’s exact position.

[18] Jesse Myers recalls advising Medevac 12 to make such an approach. Monty Halcomb does not remember that communication.

[19] Halcomb telecom. Also, Joe Baugher’s Serial Number website lists UH-1H tail number 69-15139 as written off on 26 May 1970. That may have been Medevac 12. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1969.html

[20] From Halcomb. Lee used Modica’s survival radio to communicate with Zepp.

[21] From the Citation to accompany the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to Warrant Officer (then Sergeant First Class) Louis Richard Rocco.

[22] The Blue Max aircraft commanders, Lt. Alexander and CW2 Garrity were recommended for the Silver Star, but that paperwork was lost. To date, each has been awarded an Air Medal with V device for Valor. Attempts to upgrade the awards to Silver Stars have been denied.

[23] Snake and Nape – Air Force slang for High-drag bombs (“Snake”) and Napalm (Nape”). This was a standard ordinance load for situations with troops in contact.

[24] Colonel Lloyd L. Prevett, USAF (Ret), emails Dec 2020.

[25] Most of those strikes were controlled by Red Markers Dave Blair and Byron Mayberry (both now deceased) and Lloyd Prevett.

[26] The FAC who made these drops is unknown. None of the surviving Red Markers or crew chiefs remember such a mission. Medevac pilot Monty Halcomb recalls a sector FAC, call sign Rod 15, who flew from Quan Loi as being the one involved. The Rod FACs supported the 5th Vietnamese Infantry Division, a unit not involved in the Fishhook operation. However, if Rod 15 were in the air, he would have heard the Mayday call and could have learned of the plight of the men on the ground. The author continues to search for Rod 15.

[27] Emails, Jan-Jul 2021, former Sergeant Patrick Martin, crew chief on Medevac 2, Medevac Platoon, 15th Medical Battalion.

[28] Lieutenant General (R ) H.G. “Pete” Taylor, telephone interviews, January 2021.

[29] Local commanders were Majors Mike Haggerty, Donald E. “Gene” Wilson, and Jolly, respectively. “Headhunter” was the nickname of the 1st Squadron, 9thCavalry Regiment of the 1st Air Cav. B Troop was located at Quan Loi.

[30] The borrowed helicopters were from “Dust Off,” the 45th Medical Company, Air Ambulance, out of Long Binh.

[31] Shoemaker logged 14.3 hours flying time on 25 May 1970 per Individual Flight Record, DA Form 759-1, Archives Texas A & M University – Central Texas

[32] From Myers’s letter to U.S. Army Aviation Digest, undated but shortly after June 1975.

[33] Myers does not know the location of the Vietnamese batteries engaged in this effort. The Vietnamese had their own forward observers and controlled their own batteries.

[34] With white phosphorus shells to screen the evacuation flight path.

[35] Per General Order Number 2605, Award of the Silver Star Medal (First Oak Leaf Cluster) to Brigadier General Robert M. Shoemaker, 13 June 1970. The first award of the Silver Star and of a Distinguished Flying Cross to then Colonel Shoemaker came in 1965 as a Battalion Commander with the 12th Cavalry Regiment.

[36] In an earlier description of this engagement, the identity of the helicopter that picked up the Medevac 25 personnel was unknown. Subsequently, Ron Wood Identified Major Jolly and the participation of two Cobras from Jolly’s unit. Telecon and emails with Wood, December 2022.

[37] A so-called impact award did not go through the normal steps requiring recommendation, review and approval. An appropriate authority could grant such an award to give immediate recognition for actions that had a significant impact on a battle or mission.

[38] Peter Dorland and James Nanney wrote at page 106 in Dust Off: Army Aeromedical Evacuation in Vietnam that nine Silver stars were awarded to pilots and crewmembers involved in the rescue. I have not been able to confirm that number. Dorland and Nanney did not cite to a record. Unfortunately, both those men are now deceased.

[39] A newspaper article on 26 May reported very few casualties on both sides. It was obviously incomplete. “Fort Lauderdale News”

[40] Myers letter.