MySource:Quolla6/Will of Francis Willis

From: Waters, Henry F. 1901. Genealogical gleanings in England. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. http://books.

pp239-240

FRANCIS WILLIS of the parish of "Ware Hiver, in the County of Gloucester, in Virginia, but now resident in the parish of East Greenwich in the County of Kent, Gentleman, 6 July 1689, proved 25 April 1691. My body to be decently buried, my executor not exceeding one hundred pounds sterling at my funeral, in costs & charges. To my loving sister Grace Feilder one hundred & twenty pounds sterling tobe paid in manner & form following (that is to say) fifteen pounds per annum during her life, or until the sum of one hundred & twenty pounds be fully paid, which first shall happen. To Charles Feilder, the son of my sister Grace aforesaid, one hundred pounds sterling (in payments of twenty pounds per annum until the sum of one hundred pounds be fully paid).

To my cousin Elizabeth Butler and her daughter Sarah Butts ten pounds sterling apiece.

To my cousins Frances and Elizabeth Willis, sisters to Hugh Willis, clerk, deceased, the.sum of ten pounds sterling apiece.

To Francis & Christopher Willis, the sons of the said Hugh Willis, the sum of twenty pounds sterling apiece.

To the widow of Hugh Wiltis ten pounds sterling.

To Susanna Willis, the daughter of my brother Henry Willis, ten pounds sterling.

To my cousins John & Joane Lipton one hundred pounds sterling and to her two children. Henry & Mary, one hundred and thirty pounds sterling apiece. To my cousin Mary Herren, the daughter of my brother Henry Willis deceased, the sum of three hundred and fifty pounds sterling.

To Alice Willis, daughter of said brother Henry, three hundred & fifty pounds sterling. To my loving cousin Elizabeth Ironmonger one hundred pounds sterling and to her two sons Charles & Matthew Ironmonger one hundred pounds sterling apiece.

To William Willis, the son of my brother William Willis deceased one hundred & fifty pounds sterling.

To the poor of the parish of St Fowles als St Algate in the city of Oxford, the place of my birth, one hundred pounds sterling.

And all my legacies I desire may be paid within eighteen months after my decease. To my dear & loving wife Jane Willis, the sum of one thousand pounds sterling, to be paid her in the first place, within one year after my decease, and all the household vessels of plate, linen & bedding which she brought over with her from Virginia to England (& other personal estate). I give unto the said William Willis, the son of my brother William Willis deceased, all that land & plantation which his father formerly lived upon & held of me, with the appurtenances, situate on the South side of Crany Creek, containing one hundred acres or thereabouts, to him & the heirs of his body lawfully begotten or to be begotten, and for want of such heirs then to the right heirs of me the said Francis Willis. I give & devise unto the said Francis Willis, the son of my brother Hen ry Willis, all the rest & residue of all my other estate & estates whatso ever in lands, goods, moneye, cattle & chattells that I now at this time stand seized or possessed in Virginia and not herein already devised, also one thousand pounds, to be paid him within eighteen mouths after my decease.

I ordain & make William Willis, the son of brother Henry Willis deceased, sole executor of this my will & testament. I give unto Mr Edward Polter, of the Parish of St Peters in the East in Oxford city, milliner, and Mr George Richards of London, merchant, whom I desire & appoint to be overseers &c., the sum of ten pounds sterling apiece. Wit: Richard Jones, Margaret Nicholson, Joseph Busfield. Vere, 201.

Francis Willis, the progenitor of the worthy and prominent Virginia family of the name Willis, was granted, July 3,1642,450 acres of land in that portion of York County from which Gloucester County was formed by act of Assembly in the same year. ( Va. Land Registry, Book No. 2, p. 199.)

He represented Gloucester County in the House of Burgesses in 1652, and later. Francis (born 1685-90), son of Hugh Willis, the last presumably his brother, is said to have married "Lady" Ann Rich in England about the year 1716. She was interred near the chancel of Ware Church, Gloucester County. The fragments of the broken slab above her grave present the fallowing inscription:

Here lyeth the body of Mrs. Ann Willis the wife of Col. Francis Willis, who departed this life the 10th of June, 1727, in the 32nd year of her age ; Also the body of A** daughter of the above aged 7 days.

There are a number of extensive land grants of subsequent record, to Thomas, Coll° Francis, William, John, Richard, Robert, Major Henry, David, Francis, Augustine and Herod Willis, to the year 1772, inclusive, located in the counties of - York, Lancaster, Gloucester, Westmoreland, Middlesex, Henrico, Spotsylvania, Orange, Goochland, Albermarie, Brunswick and Pittsylvania counties. Major, subsequently Colonel Henry Willis, was one of the Trustees of the town of Freder- icksburgh, Va.j laid off in 1727. Col. William Byrd, visiting the town in 1732, says: "Col. Willis, who is the top sunn of the place .... walked me about his town of Fredericksburg." A Henry Willis was member of the House of Burgesses from Gloucester County in 1726, and Francis Willis in 1736. Lewis Burwell married between Oct. 22-29, 1736, Mary, presumably a daughter of the last; and Rebecca, daughter of this Lewis and Mary (Willis) Burwell, of " White Marsh," Gloucester County, married Jaquelin, seventh child of Richard and Elizabeth ( Jaquelin) Ambler (see Genealogical Gleanings, p. 140).

Lewis Willis was one of the signers of the articles of "Association," dated Feb. 27, 1766, composed chiefly of residents of Westmoreland County, and known as the "Westmoreland Association, " protesting against the stamp act, and binding themselves not to use any articles imported from Great Britain subject to such tax. Representatives of the Willis family have been allied with nearly every family of prominence in Virginia.—R. A. BROCK, Richmond, Va.]