Seeking information on Rev. Joseph Willis' Children of Rapides Parish, Louisiana Randy Willis [email protected] Web Site: http://www.randywillis.org/ Rev. Joseph Willis, Sr. (1758-1854) and his first wife Rachel Bradford (1762) had the following children: (1) Agerton Willis (1785), (2) Mary Willis (1787), (3) Joseph Willis, Jr., (1792) and (4) Rachel Willis (1794). Rev. Joseph Willis, Sr. and Rachel Bradford lived in Bladen County, North Carolina near the Cape Fear River. Rachel, may well have died giving birth (or soon thereafter) to her daughter Rachel. Perhaps this is the reason Joseph named his second daughter Rachel and not the first. Rev. Joseph Willis, Sr. married a second wife Sarah, (an Irish women) Rev. Joseph Willis, Sr. and his second wife Sarah had the following children: (5) Jemima Willis (1796) and (6) Sarah Willis (1798). By 1794 Joseph had moved to Greenville County (the Washington Circuit Court District), South Carolina. Sarah is called Joseph’s wife in a deed dated August 8, 1799, but died soon thereafter. She died between 1799 – 1802. Rev. Joseph Willis, Sr. married a third wife Sarah(?) Johnson. Joseph settled at Bayou Chicot, Louisiana in 1805. It was at Bayou Chicot that most of his children were born. Rev. Joseph Willis, Sr. and Sarah Johnson had the following children: (7) Sally Willis (1802) [Although she could be the same as Sarah Willis (1798) above], (8) William Willis (1804), (9) Lemuel Willis (1812), (10) John Willis (1814), and (11) Martha Willis(?) (1825). (12-15) Four females were listed in the 1830 census between the ages of five and twenty. It is interesting to note that Rev. Joseph Willis, Sr.'s sons Joseph Willis, Jr., William Willis and Lemuel Willis all had daughters named Sarah. Rev. Joseph Willis' fourth and last wife was Elvy Sweat. Joseph moved to Spring Creek, east of Calcasieu River near Glenmora, Louisiana around 1828-1829. By 1833 he was living near Tenmile Creek. According to family tradition, Elvy was not good to him. As a result of this and Joseph’s failing health, his son Lemuel went and got him and took him to his home in Oakdale, where he lived the remainder of his life. Rev. Joseph Willis Sr. and Elvy Sweat had the following children: (16) Samuel Willis (1836) and (17) Aimuwell Willis (1837-1937). Rev. Joseph Willis' Other Possible Children There were four females listed in the 1830 census between the ages of 5-20 for Rev. Joseph & household. The 1850 Rapides Parish Census also lists an additional four males for Joseph Willis & household: James Willis (1841), William Willis (1845), Timothy Willis (1847) and Bernard Willis (1848). It would be unlikely that Rev. Joseph Willis would have a second son named William. Aimuwell Willis (1837-1937) always said he was Joseph Willis’ youngest son. Perhaps these last four males were grandchildren of Rev. Joseph Willis. Historian Ivan Wise wrote in Footsteps of the Flock: or Origins of Louisiana Baptist (1910) that two sons (18-19) of Joseph died "poisoned on honey and were buried a half mile from the present town of Oakdale, Louisiana." I have not been able to find their graves. Ivan Wise also said, in 1910, that Rev. Joseph Willis had 19 children.