Saguache County CO Archives Biographies.....Willis, John William July 31, 1839 - ?
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Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 8, 2006, 8:20 am

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     The clarion call of duty to a man of high aim and the insurance of a just

employment is like the bugle sound of a charge in battle, awakening his highest

powers and nerving him for any contest.  It puts everything else out of his mind

except the work immediately before him, and stimulates him to bend every energy

to the accomplishment of that.  Such a call was heard and obeyed by John William

Willis, of Saguache county, this state, when, in 1888, the voice of southern

Colorado proclaimed the merits of the section to him and invoked him to come

forward and take a share in the benefits here awaiting for men of enterprise and

endurance, who were willing to work and wait.  He came hither armed with his

physical health and determined spirit, and taking his place in the ranks of the

developing army, fought against nature’s opposing forces and all the hardships,

dangers and privations of frontier life until the region began to grow docile

and obedient and yield its rewards to honest and continued effort.  And although

he afterward abandoned his enterprise temporarily, he never lost interest in the

section and soon returned to engage once more in the good work of building up a

healthy portion of a mighty commonwealth which was rich in material advantages

and worthy of man’s best energies in their use and improvement.  Mr. Willis is a

native of Macoupin county, Illinois, born near the town of Palmyra on July 31,

1839.  His parents, Elijah and Lucilla (Solomon) Willis, were natives of North

Carolina though reared in Kentucky. Soon after their marriage they located in

Morgan county, Illinois, near Jacksonville.  There they were farmers until 1829,

when they moved to Macoupin county, in which they lived until 1850, taking up

wild land and improving it to value.  In the year last named the family moved to

Texas, where the father bought a farm, but after a residence of three months on

it, he sold it and changed his residence to Barton county, Missouri, where he

purchased a farm on which he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. 

The father was an earnest working Democrat in political faith, and served his

county as constable and justice of the peace many years in his early days.  John

W. and his brother Josiah are the only living members of the family.  The former

was educated in the common schools and remained at home until he reached the age

of nineteen.  He then learned the carpenter trade and after working at it some

years farmed in Macoupin county, Illinois, for a period.  In the years 1873 and

1874 he served as treasurer of that county and also was at one time assessor and

tax collector of his township.  In 1883 he came to Barton county, Missouri, and

there he was engaged in farming five years, holding the office of township

assessor a portion of the time.  In 1888 he came to Colorado, and locating in

Saguache county, homesteaded on a tract of land in the “Forty-one Country,” on

which he remained two years, then returned to Illinois and during the next two

years conducted a hotel at Chesterfield in his native county.  In 1892 he came

again to this state and took up his residence at Center, Saguache county, buying

a ranch there and settling down to its permanent improvement and occupancy.  He

was made county assessor soon after his arrival, and his previous work in this

line enabled him to give the people excellent and satisfactory service in the

office.  His ranch comprises one hundred and sixty acres, all fenced and well

supplied with water.  Good crops of hay and grain are raised, and the ranch is

provided with buildings suitable to its needs, making it one of the comfortable

and productive rural homes in this prolific region.  The dwelling is a modern

house of ample dimensions, and all the appointments of the place are in keeping

with it.  The town of Center, five and one-half miles from the ranch, affords a

good market easily attainable for its productions, and the surroundings are all

favorable to a high state of advancement and a steadily increasing value in the

property.  Mr. Willis is a third-degree Freemason and in politics an ardent and

active Democrat.  On November 25, 1868, hew as married, but his wife died on

March 6, 1901, leaving four children. One of these, a daughter Mary, died on

March 6, 1903, and the others are living. They are Arthur, Merida and Robert. 

When Mr. Willis settled in this neighborhood there were but five settlers in the

“Forty-one Country,” but the work of improving it, although for a time left to a

few hands, and trying them to their utmost capacity, has gone steadily forwards,

and the results of their labors are a sufficient proof of their enterprise,

breadth of view and skill.  No citizen of the region is more worthy of public

esteem, and none enjoys it more generally or more considerably.   

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

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