Greenbrier County, West Virginia    Biography: John R. WILLS

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Transcribed and submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook @earthlink.net>, 1998.
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JOHN R. WILLS - born in Nelson County, Virginia, August 24, 1833, was a son of 
John W. and Mary (SAUNDERS) WILLS, who were born in Nelson County, the former 
in about 1801, and the latter about 1810, and who are now residents in Botetourt 
County, Virginia. In the war between the States, John R. WILLS enlisted in the 
Confederate ranks, in Company H, 28th Virginia Infantry, and was transferred to 
Company A. He served one year as a private and then received a captain's 
commission, and acted as regimental commissary until the office was abolished, 
August, 1863. He then reported at Buchanan, Botetourt County, and was employed 
in shipping supplies, having general supervision of the same until the close 
of the war. He is now farming in Blue Sulphur district, Greenbrier County, 
where he settled October 15, 1879, and he was in charge 2,665 acres of grazing 
land, for a Philadelphia owner, and is largely engaged in stock-raising. In 
Buchanan, Botetourt County, Virginia, May 28, 1857, John R. WILLS and Julia 
FARISS were united in marriage, and of their union were born: John J., 
June, 1858, died same month; Mollie F. and Clara M., September 27, 1859; 
Nora P., March 2, 1865 - all living are in Botetourt County. Julia, wife of 
Mr. WILLS, was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, in June, 1835, a daughter 
of James and Frances T. (DRUMMOND) FARISS. Her father was born in Cumberland 
County, Virginia, and died in 1859, and her mother was born in Nelson County,
Virginia, and died in January, 1852. She had two brothers in the army: James J., 
member of the "Hickory Rifles," 154th Tennessee, died at Macon, Mississippi, 
May 14, 1862, from exposure; Edwin, who was killed at Atlanta, Georgia. 
John R. WILLS' port office address is Salem, Greenbrier County, West Virginia.

Source:  Hardesty, Henry H.  Hardesty's Historical and Geographical
Encyclopedia.  New York: H.H. Hardesty and Company, 1884.
Rpt. in West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia.  Ed. Jim Comstock.
Richwood: Comstock, 1974.