William Jasper Willis, Sr.

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=65002354

For more information see Two Centuries With A Willis Family And Their Kin by Douglas M. Willis, published in 1963:

CHAPTER II FAMILY OF WILLIAM WILLIS

William Willis is sometimes referred to in old records as William Willis, Sr. to distinguish him from his son William Jasper Willis who is sometimes referred to as William Willis, Jr. Dates of birth and death in the immediate family of William Willis were furnished by Mrs. Nanne Shelby (Willis) Waldrop, a great-granddaughter of William Willis.

These dates are from the family Bible of William Willis. These records say that William Willis, son of Joel Willis and Amy his wife, was born Nov. 5, 1782 in North Carolina. He was married to Nancy Middlebrooks Mar. 26, 1812. She was born June 2, 1797 in Hancock County, Ga., the daughter of Thomas Middlebrooks and his wife Ann Selman.

William Willis seems to have moved his family from Jones Co., Ga., to Upson CO., Ga., between 1820 and 1824. The records of the New Hope Primitive Baptist Church near Yatesville, Ga., show that the church was constituted Mar. 31, 1824 with William Willis being one of the eight original members. On Nov. 21, 1824 he was appointed trustee to superintend the building of a meeting house. On April 23, 1825, he was made a deacon of the church. He is recorded as leading a prayer on Oct. 25, 1829. He served as a Road Commissioner in Upson County in 1825. In 1833 Union Hill Academy was founded in Upson County. William Willis was one of seven trustees of the new school.

William Willis was born the year after Revolutionary War ended. He was thirty years of age when the War of 1812 started. He may have served in this war although the records are not clear on this. In the latter years of his life occurred the Mexican War, and the California gold rush. When he passed from this life on Aug. 11, 1851, Millard Fillmore was President of the United States and the storm clouds of thCivil War to come were gathering. He was buried across the road from his plantation in the Willis family cemetery in Upson County, Georgia.