by Randy Willis
250 years ago, my 4th Great-grandfather, Joseph Willis, became a Patriot. Today, his descendants, which include three of my grandchildren, celebrated that anniversary!
On July 4, 1776, he was 18. He had a choice. Side with those loyal to England and take an oath of allegiance to the motherland, Great Britain. He declared himself a Patriot loyal to a new country, named the United States of America.
His name was Joseph Willis; he was my 4th Great-grandfather.
Born as a slave to his own father, Agerton Willis, because he was half-Cherokee, these words in “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America” read “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
“All men are created equal,” young Joseph dreamed of such a day when his swarthy skin would not restrict his pursuit of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
As a group, the Patriots represented various social, economic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. They included college students like Alexander Hamilton, planters like Thomas Jefferson, and lawyers like John Adams.
And Joseph Willis and his father, uncles, and cousins, all North Carolina huge plantation owners, who owned slaves, except young Joseph.
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In 1795, Governor Samuel Ashe commissioned Joseph Willis’s first cousin, John Willis, as a Brigadier General in the 4th Brigade of the Continental Militia Army.
The land on which the county seat of Robeson County, North Carolina (Lumberton), is located today was a donation from John Willis’s Red Bluff Plantation. A plaque remembering General John Willis stands there today. John Willis moved to Natchez, Mississippi, in about 1800 and died there on April 3, 1802. He is buried behind the Natchez Cathedral. His son, Thomas Willis, later ran for and was almost elected Attorney General of Louisiana.
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Joseph Willis from Bladen County, North Carolina, left for South Carolina to join up with General Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox.” Marion operated out of the swampy forest of the Pedee region in the lower part of South Carolina. His strategy was to surprise the enemy, cut their supply lines, kill their men, and release any American prisoners found. He and his men then retreated swiftly to the thick recesses of the deep swamps. They were very effective, and their fame was widespread.
Mel Gibson’s 2000 film The Patriot is heavily inspired by the exploits of real-life Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, commonly known as “The Swamp Fox”.
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Joseph Willis’s wife, Rachel Bradford, and her Pilgrim Ancestors
Soon after the Revolutionary War, Joseph would marry Rachel Bradford. Rachel was born in about 1762. Their first child, Agerton, named after Joseph’s father, was born in about 1785. I’m a descendant of this son of Joseph Willis and Rachel Bradford Willis.
Mary Willis was born in about 1787. Both of these children were born in North Carolina. Later, the Louisiana census records confirm North Carolina as their place of birth.
The last mention of Joseph in North Carolina was in the 1788 tax list of Bladen County. He was listed with 320 acres.
Taxed in the same district in 1784 was William Bradford, Rachel Bradford Willis’ father. Rachel and her father descended from William Bradford (1590–1657). William Bradford had arrived in Plymouth in 1621 aboard the Mayflower.
Upon the death of the first governor of Plymouth, John Carver, William Bradford was chosen as the Pilgrims’ leader that same year. He served as governor for over 30 years.
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In 1620, a small group of Separatists fled England via Plymouth Sound, situated between the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, in Devonshire. Besides fleeing religious persecution and searching for a place to worship, they wanted greater opportunities.
The Mayflower was the aging ship that transported them. They sailed from Plymouth, on the southern coast of England, bound for the New World, seeking their new Plymouth. There were only 102 passengers and a crew of about 30 aboard the tiny 110’ ship. They found their new home and named it Plymouth Colony. They became known as the Pilgrims. Five died during the voyage, and another forty-five of the 102 immigrants died in the first winter. There, they signed the Mayflower Compact, establishing a rudimentary form of democracy.
Nathaniel later moved to London, where his son, John
John Willis was born in 1606, only fourteen years before the historic Mayflower voyage. Fifteen years after that voyage, at age 29, John may have sailed for St. Christopher (a.k.a. St. Kitts) in the West Indies on April 3, 1635, on the ship Paul from Gravesend. But there is no record of the vessel stopping in New England.
Gravesend is an ancient town in northwest Kent situated on the south bank of the River Thames near London. Paul was the ship John sailed on en route to the New World, carrying the dreams that would be passed on to subsequent generations, including me, and he may have barely escaped death. The Great Colonial Hurricane was in August of 1635. It was the most intense hurricane to hit New England since European colonization. If John had sailed a month or two later, he might not have made it to America, and this story, along with his dreams, would have ended at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Nevertheless, John Willis first appeared in America in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, in 1635, when his son John Willis, Jr. was born. He appeared again in Duxbury in 1637, when he married Elizabeth Hodgkins Palmer on January 2, 1637. She was the widow of William Palmer, Jr. Duxbury was first settled in 1632 by people from Plymouth Colony and set off from that town in 1637.
John Willis (a.k.a. Deacon John Willis) was later the first deacon in Plymouth Church. Reverend James Keith was the first settled minister in the area. The church parsonage was built for him, sometimes called the Keith House. It is preserved and maintained by the Old Bridgewater Historical Society (OBHS) in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. It is the oldest parsonage in America.
John also had brothers who were immigrants to the Plymouth Colony area. They were Nathaniel Willis, Lawrence Willis, Jonathan Willis, and Francis Willis.
The population was about 400 in the 1630s. John Willis would have known everyone in the Plymouth Colony area, especially its Governor, William Bradford, the English Separatist leader of the settlers. William was the Governor of Plymouth Colony when John arrived in 1635. John Willis held offices in Duxbury in 1637 and at Bridgewater in the 1650s. Bridgewater was created on June 3, 1656, from Duxbury, in Plymouth Colony. In 1648, John was a juror at the murder trial of Alice Bishope, who was hanged for killing her daughter, Martha Clarke.
In 1623, Governor William Bradford proclaimed November 29 as a time for pilgrims, along with their Native American friends, to gather and give thanks. His proclamation contained these words:
“Thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.” It would later be known as Thanksgiving.
A century later, John Willis’s direct descendant, Joseph Willis, would marry a direct descendant of William Bradford, Rachel Bradford.
I’m the 4th great-grandson of Joseph Willis and Rachel Bradford Willis.
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Who is Joseph Willis
The son of a white man and a Cherokee slave, Joseph Willis gained his freedom and swam the mighty Mississippi in 1798, riding only a mule.
In the Louisiana Territory, he preaches the first Gospel sermon by an Evangelical west of the Mississippi River.
Joseph Willis’s life is a story of triumph over tragedy and victory over adversity!
He was born into slavery. His mother was Cherokee, and his father a wealthy English plantation owner.
His family took him to court to deprive him of his inheritance.
He fought as a Patriot in the Revolutionary War under General Francis Marion, The Swamp Fox.
He entered hostile Spanish-controlled Louisiana Territory when the dreaded Code Noir.
His life was threatened because of the message he brought to Spanish-controlled Louisiana!
After overcoming insurmountable obstacles, he blazed a trail for others for another half-century that changed American history.
His accomplishments are still felt today.
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Everything I write is dedicated to nine people: my three sons and six grandchildren. And throw in two daughters-in-law for good measure. They are the joy of my life.
Anyone else who would care to listen in is welcome.
Everything I write is dedicated to ten people: my three sons and seven grandchildren. Throw in my daughters-in-law for good measure. They are the joy of my life. Three of my grandchildren were not yet born when this photo was taken
“Many today have just enough religion to inoculate them from knowing Christ.” —Randy Willis
Vaya con Dios —Randy Willis