REV. JOSEPH WILLIS The Apostle to the Opelousas The First Baptist Preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ West of the Mississippi River By Randy Willis http://www.randywillis.org/ randywillis@ev1.net Joseph Willis’ tombstone reads: "First Baptist Preacher of the Word West of the Mississippi River." This historical fact placed him in the history books but is only a footnote in this remarkable man’s life. His life reads as a dramatic play performed on the stage of history. He was born an Indian slave to his own father. His family took him to court to deprive him of his inheritance, a battle that involved the governor of the state. He fought in the Revolutionary War under the most colorful of all the American generals, Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox." He placed his own life in harms way by crossing the most hostile country and entered a land under a foreign government while the dreaded "Black Code" was in effect. He preached a message there that put him in constant danger. He fought racial and religious prejudice of the most dangerous kind. He lost three wives and several children in the wilderness but never wavered in his belief in God. Joseph Willis’ American roots do not begin in Louisiana but in Southeast Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay area, the same area that the Pilgrims first settled. There in the 1740’s, in Isle of Wight and Nansemond Counties (now the city of Suffolk) was the place that Joseph Willis’ father, three uncles and one aunt called home. The family came to America from Devonshire, England (although there is some evidence that the family immigrated from Wales). I believe, but I cannot prove it, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the English father of these five children was Benjamin Willis, Jr. (born circa 1690) and the grandfather was Benjamin Willis, Sr. (born circa 1670). These four Willis brothers were Joseph’s father, Agerton Willis (born circa 1727; died 1777), and his brothers Daniel Willis (born circa 1716; died 1785), Benjamin Willis III (born circa 1725; died 1785), and George Willis (born circa 1730). The one known sister of these four brothers was Joanna Willis (born circa 1730; died 1791). Joanna married James Council (born circa 1716) of Isle of Wight County, Virginia in about 1751. James was the son of John Council and Benjamin Willis Jr.’s sister Josie Willis (born circa 1681), and grandson of Hodges Council. Hodges’ family had also immigrated from Devonshire, England to America. In the early 1750’s, the four brothers along with James and Joanna moved south. Between 1740 and 1770, hundreds of Virginians moved to North Carolina as a result of the Virginia legislature passing a law requiring all non-residents to acquire ten acres of land for each head of stock ranging in the colony or to become citizens. The family left Virginia, probably by sea, and landed down the coast at New Hanover (now named Wilmington), North Carolina. New Hanover had North Carolina’s most navigable seaport and even though it was not used much for transatlantic trade, this meant the area of the state was easily accessible from all other English settlements along the coast. Well-to-do North Carolina Planters It was here that Joseph’s father, Agerton, would first buy land in North Carolina. On December 13, 1754, he purchased 300 acres in New Hanover in what is now southeastern Pender County "on the East Side of a Branch of Long Creek." Pender was not established until 1874. New Hanover included what is now Pender and parts of Brunswick County. Agerton was taxed on this property the next year, 1755. There were only 362 white people taxed in New Hanover that year. About twenty families owned a great number of slaves there during that time. These families and others like them in southeastern North Carolina controlled the affairs of the counties, in which they lived and set the standards of morals and religion. Between 1755 and 1758, Agerton moved to Bladen County, just to the northeast. Daniel, Benjamin and Joanna and her husband James Council, had been living there since 1753. It was there between 1755 and 1758, that Agerton’s only son, Joseph, was born. Joseph would someday play a major roll in early Louisiana Baptist history. Most of the early Bladen County deeds, before 1784, were lost due to a series of fires; thus we are unable to find Agerton’s first purchase of land in Bladen County. Nevertheless a description of the bulk of his lands can be gleaned from later deeds. He purchased 640 acres from his brother Daniel on May 21, 1762, on the West Side of the Northwest Cape Fear River. He then purchased an additional 2,560 acres between October 1766 and May 1773, which was located on both sides of the Northwest Cape Fear River near Goodman’s Swamp. Altogether, Agerton’s holdings formed a very large and nearly contiguous extent of land on both sides of the Northwest Cape Fear River near the current Cumberland County line in present-day northwest Bladen County. Agerton, Daniel, Benjamin, James, and Joanna were all neighbors on the Northwest Cape Fear River. The other brother, George Willis, came first to New Hanover, obtaining a land grant on Widow Creek in 1761 and selling out in 1767. He then moved to Robeson County (formerly part of Bladen County) not very far west from the rest of the family. The four brothers were all well-to-do planters with large land holdings. As a large planter, Agerton would have owned slaves. Continued at: http://www.randywillis.org/