MySource:Quolla6/Biography of Francis Willis

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MySource Biography of Francis Willis
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Biography of Francis Willis.

From: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner. 1915. Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, under the editorial supervision of Lyon Gardiner Tyler. New York: Lewis historical Pub. Co.


Willis, Francis, was born in the city of Oxford, England, and was a near relative of several persons of his name, members and fellows of the colleges in the university there. He emigrated to Virginia when a young man and was soon appointed clerk of Charles River county. He appears to have been a friend of Sir John Harvey, and when that governor was succeeded by Sir Francis Wyatt, Willis severely denounced the new governor, the council and the house of burgesses for their hostility to Harvey. For this he was condemned in 1640 to lose his offices, to be disbarred from practicing as an attorney, to be fined and imprisoned during the governor's pleasure. His period of misfortune was brief, however, for in two years Wyatt was succeeded by Berkeley, and it is probable that Willis's disabilities were removed. Certain it is that in 1648 he was a justice of York county and in 1652 was one of the first representatives of Gloucester county. He was appointed to a committee for the review of the laws of Virginia in March, 1658-59, and a year later, ht also became a councillor and held that office for many years, and even after he had returned to England in 1676. He never returned to Virginia, but died in Kent sometime between 1689 and 1691. He left all his large estates in Virginia to his nephew Francis Willis, son of Henry Willis, and from him descend our Virginia Willises.