Willis,Daniel Hubbard and Julia Ann Graham Willis, Family of;
Rapides, Louisiana
Submitter of Org. File: Randy Willis
Submitter of Text File: Jo Branch
Date: 28 Jun 2004




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Can You Feed Her Son?
 
Soon after the Civil War, Daniel Hubbard Willis, Jr., became the first of  four Willis’ brothers to marry four Graham’ sisters.   He married Julia Ann Graham  on January 5, 1867.  (Daniel called her affectingly  Julieann).   When Daniel asked Julia  Ann's father, Robert Graham,  for her hand in marriage;  Robert asked  him if  he could feed her.  Daniel replied "that he had a horse, a milk cow, a barrel of corn and a barrel of molasses."  Robert responded "my goodness son you have enough to marry several of my daughters."  They were married at Robert Graham's home near Forest Hill.
 
Later, three of  Daniel's brothers would marry three of  Julia Ann's sisters. Calvin Willis married Demerius Graham , Robert Willis married Annie Graham and Dempsey Willis married  Maggie Graham.   A fifth brother, Matthew Willis, also asked a fifth sister, Lucy "Ruth" Graham,  to marry him.  She said no and later confided in her sisters,  "he was just too ugly."  Ruth Graham later found her true love,  James Moore, and married him.
 
Daniel made good his promise to  "feed" Julia Ann and on January 16, 1868 (just a year after their wedding) he sold his father-in-law, Robert Graham,  119 acres "in the fork of  Barber Creek,"  for $350.00. A sum that would have been a years wages for many at that time.  When Daniel died, in 1900, he left Julia Ann,  $35,000.00 in gold, a home, land, and the woods full of cows, on Barber Creek, near Longleaf.
 
 
The Law, Cattle, Barber Creek & Home
 
After the end of Civil War, in 1865,  Daniel H. Willis. Jr., was made Constable  of  Spring Hill, Rapides Parish.   Julia Ann often spoke of  the time Daniel captured an outlaw from Texas who was hid out in the piney woods of  Louisiana.  She said it was to late to make the horseback trip to the jail,  in Alexandria, therefore Daniel handcuffed the outlaw to the foot of  their bed for the overnight stay.  Daniel told the outlaw he better not make a sound.  She said Daniel slept soundly, but she did not  sleep a wink all night.
 
He later was a successful rancher. He and his sons would buy cattle in East Texas and then drive them to the railroad  at Lecompte, La. to be shipped north.  Once, on a cattle drive from Texas, in 1898,  the cattle stampeded in the woods. My grandfather,  Randall Lee Willis, who was only  12 at the time and riding drag, thought his dad, Daniel, had been killed;  but then he could see his father's huge white hat,  waving high in the air,  in front of the cattle.  
 
Julia Ann's grandchildren recalled that she would read her red-lettered New Testament Bible daily on the front porch of  the "Old Willis Place"  near Longleaf on Barber Creek.  She would then open her trunk and pull out Daniel's photo, who had preceded her in death,  and a tear would often be seen in her eye. 
 
Julia Ann also loved oranges. She would eat them, lay  the peals on the window seal  and later eat the peals.  When asked  what she was doing she replied  "I don't know for sure, but I think  these orange peals are good for you."  She once was bitten by a ground rattler, at age 75, and survived. 
 
Julia Ann swam  in Barber Creek, twice a day,  until age 90. There is a huge gravel pit where their  home, the "Old Willis Place"  once stood.  The gravel pit has destroyed the timber and Barber Creek.  It became overrun with sand and silt;  literally smothered to death.  The EPA finally made  them shut down,  but it was too late.