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