James Richard Willis, Jr.

In father James' will:

"bequeath to my son James Willis, the plantation he now lives on with all the land I now own lying in Hills Neck with all my cattle he has now in possession to him and his heirs forever."

The younger James Willis (b. 4 Aug 1744, NC, d. bef. 4 Jan 1808) married Mary (last name unknown) and, like his father, became a prosperous farmer and family man. He served the cause of American independence in the Craven County Militia in 1781 and 1782. Around 1800, James Willis, his children, and his brother, Joel Willis, moved from North Carolina to Georgia. According to the deed and tax records of Warren County, Georgia, James and his family settled along the tributaries of the Ogeechee River in southern Warren County. James Willis and his sons took part in the 1805 land lottery but drew blanks; they were luckier in the 1807 lottery. Baptist preacher. James Willis, now noted as "Sr." in various county records, died intestate in late 1807.

From: https://archive.org/stream/Muscogiana192CSU/Muscogiana19-2_CSU_djvu...

A legal notice dated January 4, 1808, appeared in the Augusta Chronicle of January 23, 1808, announcing the appointment of James Willis (Jr.) and Norwell Robertson as administrators of the estate of the late James Willis, Sr. The "securities" in the amount of $1,600 on the estate were James Willis, Norwell Robertson and George Granberry. It took several years to complete the division of the estate among James Willis, Sr.'s legatees: James Willis, Jr., Zachariah Willis, Joshua Willis, Jacob Willis, Dempsey Willis, Reddin Willis, Mary (Willis) Tignor, and Hugh Henry. 9 Before 1820, the heirs of James Willis, Sr., of Warren County began to scatter across the region. Dempsey, Joshua, Reddin, and Zachariah moved to other Georgia counties; James Willis, Jr., relocated to Alabama; and Jacob Willis, along with the Reverend Norwell Robertson and members of the Granberry family, found their way to Mississippi. Some of the Warren County Willis family would make a connection to the original Muscogee County and the counties formed from it.