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