Barbour County AlArchives Biographies.....J. J. S. Willis March 25 1847 - 
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 12, 2004, 11:31 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   J. J. S. WILLIS, prominent stock dealer and merchant of Barbour county, is a
native of Mississippi, born near the town of Columbus, that state, on the 25th
of March, 1847. His father, Asa Willis, son of Joel Willis, was born in Upshur
county, Ga., in 1818, and shortly after birth was brought to what is now Barbour
county, Ala., the family settling in the wilderness, several years before the
Indians were removed from the state. Asa Willis took part in the Indian troubles
of 1836, and was a resident of Barobur county until 1872, at which time he
changed his residence to Dale county, where he died the following year. His
wife, whom he married about the year 1839, was Mary Stafford, whose parents
moved to what is now the county of Barbour as early, perhaps, as 1819 or 1820.
Her father, James Stafford, built one of the first mills in the county on
Stafford creek, named for the family, and is remembered as a very energetic and
intelligent pioneer. Asa and Mary Stafford spent the greater part of their
married life in Barbour county, and became the parents of six children, as
follows: Samantha E., wife of L. B. Pickett; Sarah J., wife of J. W. Channell;
Seymour E., wife of W. L. Draper; J. J. S., and Robert S. The mother, after a
long and useful life, was laid to rest in Mt. Vernon, Tex., in December, 1890.
The subject of this sketch has been a resident of Barbour county since early
boyhood and has borne no inconsiderable part toward advancing the material
interests of the country. Like hundreds of his fellow-citizens, in the gloomy
war period it was his lot to assist in the defense of the southern cause, and
from October, 1863, till May, 1865, he was a member of Terrell's light
artillery, which did effective service in the Georgia campaign. This company was
stationed at Savannah until Sherman's advance caused the evacuation of that
city, at which time it joined the retreat through the Carolinas and surrendered
at the city of Greensboro, N. C. Leaving the army, Mr. Willis returned home in
May, 1865, and at once engaged in agriculture, in which he has ever since been
interested, the greater part of the time in Barbour county, but for seven years
in middle Arkansas, to which state he removed in 1870. Since that year he has
been largely engaged in farming and stock-raising, and for a number of years has
been proprietor of a dry goods house at Mt. Andrew, where he carries a general
stock of merchandise valued at $3,500. His farming lands, which are very fine,
aggregate about 809 acres, and his stock business at this time a capital of
$2,500. Mr. Willis has been prominent in the political affairs of the county,
and for a number of years served as justice of the peace. In 1880, he was
elected to the office of tax collector, a position he now holds. September 3,
1868, he was united in marriage to Frances A. J. Smith,of Warren county, Ga.,
daughter of Jeremiah and Lucinda Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Willis are the parents of
six children, namely: Augusta E., wife of Chalmers Gaclet; Laura M., wife of
Jonathan L. Brown; Alice E.; Seymour, deceased; Robert, Asa and Stafford Smith.
Mr. Willis is prominent in Masonic circles, being a royal arch Mason. He also
belongs to the K. of H fraternity, and for some years has been a deacon in the
Baptist church.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama" Vol I, p. 474-475

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