David Willis
B: 1844 BLAIRSVILLE, UNION COUNTY, GEORGIA
D: JUNE 15, 1881 LA SALLE MOUNTAINS, UTAH
Great Grandfather (Father of Ray David Willis)
David and America Willis were the first in my (Patty) ancestral journey and they have never ceased to intrigue and delight me. They led the lives that we saw in the old Westerns in the weekend movies that cost us a quarter. John Wayne, Audie Murphy and Matt Dillon and High Noon and The Big Country were never far from my thoughts when I was finding the stories of David Willis. This was also when I became a voracious reader of everything I could get my hands on about the American Civil War and the Westward expansion. Strange how much I had missed in my history classes in school “Ya gotta have context!” “Duh!” All of these people gave me my love for all things History when before it had been an incredibly boring classroom experience.
“History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely or even principally, to the past. On the constrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.”
-James Baldwin-
David was the last child born to James Willis and Easter Wilson Willis in 1844 in Union County, Georgia. We surmise that they had come to Union County from Rutherford County, North Carolina, to take part in one of several government land lotteries of Cherokee Indian lands. Union County, according to Wikipedia and their own county history, was a county with poor land for farming but had a gold discovery and cheap land. It was contained by the Blue Ridge Mountains, named for the union and voted against secession before the Civil War, but sent most of its men to fight for the Confederacy.
David was the 12th child and I feel the need to list these children from oldest to youngest if for no other reason than you all feel extreme sympathy for Easter. Also you can google some of these names and get a story beyond what we will tell you here. This is, after all, David’s story.
Martin 1824 NC
Alexander 1828 NC
Jane 1829 NC (Connie is going to give you Jane’s story)
Abel (Aval) January 1833 NC(Google “How Willis Street got its name” in “Around Acworth GA”) (Connie found this while googling the Willis name and general locations. When things pop up Connie pays attention. You should try it!)
James Wilson December 1833 NC (Same year as Abel— Abel in January and James Wilson in December
Phillip 1836 NC
Andrew Jackson — January 1837 NC
Caroline Camilla- December 1837 GA (Yes, 2 in the same year — 1 January and 1 December)
Susan 1840 GA
John 1841 Died 1850 GA
Barbara 1842 GA
David 1844 GA
When David was born his father, James, was 40 and his mother, Easter, was 39. In the 1850 Census of Union County Georgia, the family was listed without Martin, Alexander and Jane, who had probably moved on to establish lives and families of their own. David was 6.
This family portrait was taken in Chattanooga, Tennessee , which was approx. 70 miles from Union County and would be therefore an attainable trip, in 1850 according to all sources that we have. Connie and I have deduced that the little boy would have to be 6 year old David sitting between his parents James and Easter. The standing male on the left looks like photos we have of Andrew Jackson but it is probably one of the older boys as is the male to the right. The standing female looks like photos we have seen of Jane Willis Jones. The younger females would be Barbara or Susan or Caroline? We are not sure but based on what we have researched that is the best we can do. (We are so grateful to have these photos from Elmer Jones of Salina KS, who has passed on but who loved the story of David Willis.)
In 1860 we find a split in the family and have not been able to discover the reason. . We find David and his mother in the1860 Flint, Benton County, Arkansas federal census, on their own without James, who has remained in Union County. Susan, Barbara and Jane were also in Arkansas with families. Easter was listed as a midwife by occupation and David was 16 years old. Easter seems to have stayed in Arkansas through the war with Barbara nearby while David joined the Confederacy as a member of the 7th Cavalry, Company B.
The Confederate Cavalry fought mostly under General Nathan Bedford Forest and we do have an account written by Harold Willis, the oldest son of Andrew Jackson Willis, that David did indeed ride with Forest. I am going to quote verbatim the passage as written by Harold about David Willis and/or whomever transcribed his words.:
“David Willis was born at Blue Ridge, Georgia, in 1845; served three years in Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Cavalry on his own small bay stallion -Major- with his lifetime companions — Hardin and Wiley Tarter, late in 1863 David, then 18 years old, could see the end of the Confederacy — on January 16, 1864, the birthday of his favorite brother, A. J. Willis — was then 28 years old; David, overworked, with the Tartar brothers, just rode off for Fort Smith, Arkansas, at night via Dyersburg, across the great Mississippi, across Arkansas to Fort Smith, on to Fort Worth. By God Almighty’s Divine providence, David Willis, Tartar Brothers, A.J. Willis and William Harrison Willis, all met in Fort Worth. W.H.Willis had the money resources of his world renowned Cotton Factor father, P.J. Willis, to use — it was decided to send the Tartar Brothers to the Yegua Prairies, where Pete Willis had a large established horse herd tended by Chickasaw Indian horsemen, for them to return with fresh horses; two days out of Fort Worth they ran into a King Ranch herd of 2000 Fawn colored aged Longhorn Spanish steers — the hope and joy of all overland freighters from Majors-Waddell & Russell’s immense Athison-Leavenworth yard to Santa Fe or the Oregon trail. Wiley Tartar returned with the King Ranch herd which W.H. Willis immediately bought for four hard money dollars per head. Wiley Tartar was hurried back to the Yegua to help Hardin Tartar get back with the Fresh horses. A.J. WIllis, Dave Willis, W.H. Willis located some stock salt and moved the steers with more help to the Waxahachie bottoms southeast of Fort Worth Wiley Tartar with his Chickasaws in charge until they could start northeast for the Shawnee trail to Fort Scott, Kansas, where W.H. Willis sold the steers for $100.00 per head in gold to the United States Government. David Willis was killed on June 15, 1881, by Pah-Ute Indians at Pin-Hook, Utah, where he and his followers from his ranch on the Mancos river in Colorado had followed the Indians to recover a horse herd they had stolen “
I couldn’t resist this picture of the so coveted “Fawn colored aged Longhorn Spanish steer”. We have several sources that have the Willis boys engaged in the cattle business specifically chasing the likes of these steers used for trail oxen. The afore quoted Harold specifically mentions Alexander as engaged in this endeavor with Tige Coleman, husband of Barbara Willis, just before joining the Confederacy. According to Harold, Tige Coleman, “ riding his famous steel blue Spanish Stallion, Devil, was killed in the street fighting in Atlanta, Georgia.”Harold also tells us that James Wilson was killed at Lookout Mountain in November of 1863 which, in my mind, gives credence to David riding away from the war the following January.
Google is great for following this trail of forts and prairies and trails. We have no reason to believe that the story told by Harold is untrue. There is incidental corroboration throughout our documentation of the life of David Willis. We know he ran cattle herds after his war experience ended. Wiley and Hardin Tartar died with him at Pinhook. Peter Willis can be Googled. Didn’t find William Harrison Willis (Cousin maybe?) but did not put lots of effort into that. We will leave that to some of you. Or maybe when we are totally stuck and can’t find something we will start looking for some fun facts on people we have ignored and — — -.
Back to David Willis. We next find him in 1870 in Osborne County, Kansas, listed as living in the household of James and Emmaline Weston. James was listed as a farmer with a personal estate of $400, along with their daughter America 15, Leroy 9, Minnie 6, Hugo 2. David Willis ,24, was also living in theWeston household listed as a farmer with a personal estate of $530. Five more people also lived in that household. Osborne County, Kansas was truly the frontier with Emmaline being touted as the first white woman to live in Osborne County.
The few people and families in the area constructed several forts and fought documented battles with the local Indian tribes.(You can actually visit the site of the Weston stockade which has a marker with names of the Westons and David Willis listed if you want to drive off I-70 around Salina, Kansas. The fort was located 9 miles southwest of Osborn, in Independence township, Kansas.) David filed on land and proceeded to develop a homestead while still participating in running cattle herds for a Texas cattleman named George West. (I refer you back to the Ray David Willis story).
We have land deeds registered to David Willis that are puzzling and open to interpretation. We have a copy of a land grant signed by President Andrew Johnson granting 160 acres to certain soldiers serving in the military of the United States. This land grant of bounty lands, as they were called, had originally been given to a Sergeant Martin Shea,who had fought in the “Indian War”,and was now being assigned to David Willis. There was not a monetary exchange mentioned. The Presidential signature was afixed May 5, 1868. (History aside for continuity — and in case you had also zoned out in your history classes like me. Andrew Johnson became President after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination). We also have a deed signed by David Willis, May 20, 1868, assigning the same 160 acre tract to his brother-in-law, John M Jones (sister Jane’s husband) for $400. Yet, he had not yet married and it would be at least 4 more years before he headed for Colorado. It is probable he owned other parcels of land. We will continue to research land records for David Willis acquisitions.
On August 20, 1871, in Mitchell County, Kansas, David Willis married America Josephine Weston. He was 27 and she was 16. If you are discerning, you will discover a discrepancy in the reported ages on their Certificate of Marriage-they reported their ages as 24 and 18 respectively. We tried to come up with reasons for that but — -I think I will leave it up to —“interesting, but we have no idea?”
Their first child, Everett, was born the following year in Kansas. Jane Jones, sister of David, who was a midwife, could have assisted in this birth but we have no coroboration of this. They were still in Kansas for an 1875 census and began their trek to Colorado probably that year, stopping to give birth to Ray David in 1876 in Pueblo, Colorado.
We can only speculate about what brought the small family to Mancos, Colorado, but as we have chronicalled in the Ray David story, many of those Texas cattle herds were run through Pueblo and somehow ended up going through the Mancos Valley on the way to Wyoming. (Connie has spent a great deal of time trying to figure out that seemingly ridiculous route and Patty just threw in the towel. Seems like the Old Spanish trail may have run close? ) Connie found a You Tube video: “The True Story of Lonesome Dove” and it seems that Charles Goodnight of Lonesome Dove fame had a huge connection with the Pueblo, Colordo cattle business. Connie says that she can see David Willis and friends working with Goodnight and cohorts. Check it out. It is well done. We do know for sure that many of those first Mancos Valley settlers were the returning cowboys from those huge cattle herds who fell in love with the valley on their trips through to deliver the herds to whatever market was paying the most.
We think that David and America with new baby Ray David probably showed up in the Mancos,Colorado valley in late 1876 but probably spring of 1877 and have only a tertiary idea of where the Willis’s located their homestead from Fern Ellis’s book, Come Back to my Valley. “The Willis farm was known as the Jensen ranch for many years, situated up on the high rise to the south of the river about a half mile from town.” We are still endeavoring to acquire land records but there seems to be a question of where they would be, because Mancos was initially part of LaPlata County but is now part of Montezuma County.
David and America’s third son, Elmer, was born in Mancos; again, in a place and under circumstances that could only be described as frontier.There was a constant fear of disputes with the Ute Indians in the area. We do recommend that you all try to get the story of the Ute Indians and the conflicts with the white people encroaching on their ancestral homelands. The Utes played a huge part in the early Silverton history. The San Juans were the mountains they called their own for hundreds of years before the miners discovered the mineral deposits. A particularly good article pertaining to the David Willis story was written in a periodical entitled: “Blue Mountain Shadows: The Magazine of San Juan County (Utah)History. Article is entitled: “Cowboys, Indians and Conflict: The Pinhook Draw Fight, 1881”, by Robert McPherson and Rusty Salmon. ( I would have loved to put it in but — — way too long for this format. There is a memorial at the battleground with a dedication; again off I-70 going toward Moab and Monticello, Utah.)
After many skirmishes over stolen horses, a battle plan involving the Army and settlers from several communities was formulated and set in motion. David Willis rode with one of the groups and that group rode into a U-shaped canyon known as Pinhook Draw in the LaSalle Mountains in Utah. It was a perfect trap and all but two of that group were killed.( Google Jordan Bean and Pinhook Battle and you will get his account of the battle and survival.) All accounts agree that David Willis was the first killed, as he stood in the open after his horse had been killed, and blasted at targets in the scrub oak. Mancos Jim, a Ute participant, later recalled, “Dave Willis never took shelter but stood out in bold relief and fought till he fell dead. The other boys tried to protect themselves by getting into a shallow arroyo or washout, but they were surrounded and when the Indians charged from one side, hanging onto the ponies, yelling and shooting, the white boys would raise to fire. The Indians in ambush in another direction would shoot them down. The white boys were extravagant with their ammunition, which they exhausted about dusk after fighting all day, and the Indians then rode around the washout in a circle, shooting into the living and lifeless bodies till there was no sign of life in the bloody pit.”
This same Mancos Jim picked up and carried David Willis’s rifle for some years following the battle. David’s lifelong companions Harden and Wiley Tarter were also killed during the bloody battle.
Finally, I am retyping the letter that America wrote to David’s brother, Andrew Jackson and family back in Kansas. It was published in several newspapers in the west.
Mancos, Colorado Jan. 28,1882
Dear Brother:
I presume you think I am a very slow correspondent, as I have not answered your last letter which I received in July. Since then I have had a great deal to attend to. Daves sudden death so soon after my visit home left things in a very unsettled condition. He was so busy and excitement so high over the (illegible)question that (illegible) but little about his business, and he was not able to keep accounts, it has made me a great deal of trouble. I am at last getting things into a satisfactory shape, at least so I will know how everything stands. I was appointed administrix of the estate. Owing to the unsettled condition of things was not able to make a final settlement at the last term of court, but will make it in March and be appointed Guardian of our children.
We will have left after the settlement six head of horses, our farm and a third interest in about five hundred head of cattle. The cattle business is flourishing and beef is high. We have ninety head of three year olds to sell this spring and they are selling now at twenty seven to forty dollars. Roy(America’s younger brother Leroy) is in charge of ours now, and is learning the cattle business as managed in Colorado very fast and likes it very well. We pay him forty dollars a month and furnish him board, horse and outfit and pay all the expenses. He was in a few days ago and reported stock in good condition and no sign of Indians in the country. I had an offer of two thousand dollars for my (illegible) as I intend to make this my home in the future. I have filed on the land and shall preempt it.
I went with a party of men in October (the battle took place in June. PS) to LaSal where the battle was fought in which Dave was killed. I couldn’t rest until we got started. Were gone sixteen days and brought him home and buried him here. It was all we could do for him and it seemed so little when he deserved so much, but still there is some comfort in that. Part of the road was so bad we were obliged to leave the wagon and take pack horses. The battle was fought in a valley, near the top of the Sierra La Sal, near the Grand River in Utah. We left the wagons at the foot of La Sal and with saddle horses and pack animals made our way over fifteen miles of rough and dangerous mountain trail. Our boys took up and reburied seven of the brave fellows who died there. We brought Dave home and some of our party brought one of their friends home to Dolores to bury him. I rode the entire trip — over three hundred miles — on horseback. Roy (brother) went with us. He has been a great deal of help to me and has been very kind.
Mother and Pa (James and Emmaline Weston ) are living with us this winter and are a great deal of company to me. Pa has a place about four miles from here and will probably move sometime during the summer. They do not expect ever to go to Kansas to live. Everett is going to school and he is improving fast. We have a good school having secured an excellent teacher. Ray and Elmer are strong and hearty. I shall start Ray to school in the spring.
We are having a splendid winter here; have had no snow yet and no disagreeable weather; though our little valley is surrounded by snow covered mountains.
The surveyors finished the survey of the D.&R.G. RR a short time ago from Durango to Rico and the road runs through the Mancos Valley about one mile from our house. Work will begin as soon as the frost goes out of the ground.
Mrs. America J. Willis
Even in death David Willis was restless. He was removed from his shallow grave at the Pinhook battle site by his widow and brought back to Mancos for burial at a small cemetery far from town.( I hope you really thought about that particular trip. Truly a trip vested in love.) Then when America’s sister, Minnie Weston Reid, died shortly after giving birth to a daughter, her dear friend, Mrs. David L Lemmon could not bear to have her so far from town and persuaded her husband to donate land for a cemetery, a beautiful select spot, about a quarter mile from town and David, along with six other souls, was moved again.(From Fern Ellis book).He was 37 years old at his death. He is finally at rest in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Mancos, Colorado, beside his wife, America Josephine Weston Willis Barber and their son Elmer who died during his teens.
David Willis was one of those quintessential frontiersmen. He lived a life always pushing the American boundaries. He spent all his life fighting to attain that freedom and prosperity that the American frontier promised to those willing to give it all. He was greatly respected for his Indian fighting acumen and it seemed he lived in the middle of that fight. Indeed, he seems to have constantly sought it out by always moving westward following that ideal — that American dream. I wonder what our lives would be if he had lived to fulfill that dream. I wonder what part of his DNA resides in me? In you?
