Bios:  John W. Willis; Claiborne, then Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Submitted for the LAGenWeb Archives by Mike Miller, Sep. 2001


**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************

 

John W. Willis, one of the younger business men and native sons of Northwest
Louisiana, since his service as a soldier during the World war has been a
lumberman at Shreveport, where he is president of Shreveport Long Leaf Lumber
Company.

He was born at Homer, Louisiana, May 18, 1893, son of Dr. J. C. and Mattie
(Taylor) Willis, both likewise natives of this state.  Dr. J. C. Willis has bug
enjoyed an enviable distinction as a citizen and surgeon, and since 1904 has
lived at Shreveport, moving his family from Homer that year.  At Shreveport he
is associated in practice with his son, Dr. J. C. Willis, Jr.

John W. Willis had excellent advantages for education, attending the Military
Academy at Sewanee, Tennessee, and the Georgia Institute of Technology at
Atlanta.  Since early manhood he has been identified with the lumber industry in
some way, although for a short period he was in the oil business in Homer and
other fields in North Louisiana.

Early in 1917 he volunteered and was commissioned a lieutenant at Fort Logan H.
Roots, in Arkansas.  His service was that of instructor in infantry, and he was
detailed for duty at Camp Pike, assigned to the officers' training camp, prior
to his discharge in December, 1918.

Mr. Willis since 1919 has been president of the Shreveport Long Leaf Lumber
Company, Inc., one of the largest concerns of its kind in North Louisiana,
manufacturing and dealing wholesale and retail in lumber and building supplies.
It operates a plant of large capacity for turning out mill work, the yards and
factory being located on Texas Avenue at Van Loan Street, in Shreveport.

Mr. Willis is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and a member of the Chamber of
Commerce.  He married Miss Mary Frost. Her father, Mr. E. A. Frost, of
Shreveport, is president of the Frost-Johnson Lumber Company, and of a large
number of other lumber and railroad organizations, and as one of the largest
lumbermen of the South is president of the Southern Pine Association. Mr. and
Mrs. Willis have one daughter, Mary Virginia.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE:  The referenced source contains a black and white photograph of the
subject with his/her autograph.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 261-262, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published
by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.

#  #  #