WILLS FAMILY HOME PAGE
Henry Lewis Wills 1866-1947 - Generation 5
Lottie (Schrewsbury) and Henry Lewis Wills
Henry Lewis Wills son of Leland Wills was born December 20, 1866 in Monroe (now Summers) County West Virginia. He was a farmer all of his life residing on the family farm on Suck Creek in Summers County West Virginia. He married Charlotte Frances Shrewsbury who was called "Lottie". It is interesting to note that the family name Shrewsbury was originally Solesbury.
Henry and Lottie lived in a three-room log cabin close to the North Fork of Suck Creek, West Virginia. It is very likely the same home and land was occupied by Leland Wills. The old home place was built on a small flat area of an otherwise steep hillside. The family raised cows, sheep and hogs. They planted crops and hunted for food. Cash was hard to come by and they were poor. My father says only a few items on the table that were store bought were salt, sugar and coffee. Sometime in the 1930s, the cabin was torn down and a wooden frame home with tin roof was built in its place. All that remains today of the old home place is the stone chimney.
Henry died January 15, 1947 and is buried in the Wills family cemetery on Suck Creek in Summers County, WV. The Wills family cemetery lies about ¼ mile West of the old home on the ridge of a hill. It contains a number of graves with only flat fieldstones (unmarked) as grave markers.
Henry and Lottie (Schrewsbury) Wills, charcoal drawing
Click here to learn more about life on the Henry Wills farm
This photo shows the chimney, the only thing that remains, of the Henry L. Wills home.
The
following conversation was recorded by me at my Aunt Marilyn (Wills) Biggs' home
in June 1997.
Me: Do
remember your grandmother and grandfather Wills?
Aunt
Marilyn: I remember my grandmother Wills better than my grandfather Wills. He
died in 1947 so I was only 10 years old, I don't remember him real well.
My grandmother, she died in 1959.
Me: I
would've been nine years old at the time. I should remember, but I don't.
Aunt
Marilyn: I don't guess you ever saw her, she had Alzheimer's or something and
Aunt Alice kept for a long time and finally they put her nursing home and she
died there.
Descendants of Henry Lewis Wills
1 Henry Lewis Wills Born: December 20, 1866 in Suck Creek, Summers Co., W. Va.
Died: January 18, 1947 in Suck Creek, Summers Co., W. Va. Age at death: 80
. +Charlotte Francis "Lottie" Shrewsbury Born: September 26, 1876 in Wyoming
Co., Va. Married: Abt. 1896 Father: Mr. John Burl or Birl Shrewsbury
Mother: Ms. Louisa Elizabeth "Elizabeth or Lizzie" Basham Died: April 07,
1959 in Suck Creek, Summers Co., W. Va. Age at death: 82
. 2 Clifton Ford Wills Born: March 06, 1896 in Suck Creek, W. Va. Died:
January 27, 1988 Age at death: 91
.... +Josa Florence Cadle Born: January 13, 1896 Father: Mr. William Cadle
Mother: Ms. Emma Bolen Died: January 14, 1984 Age at death: 88
. 2 William Lacy "Lacy" Wills Born: June 23, 1897 in Suck Creek, W. Va.
Died: January 16, 1995 Age at death: 97
.... +Lillie Margaret McKinney Born: November 15, 1900 in Summers Co., W. Va.
Married: January 10, 1917 in Summers Co., W. Va. Father: Mr. Allen M.
McKinney, Rev. Mother: Ms. Margaret L. Basham Died: August 11, 1980 in
Summers Co., W. Va. Age at death: 79
. 2 Nancy Elizabeth "Lizzy" Wills Born: March 12, 1899 Died: December 23,
1979 Age at death: 80
.... +Clarence Earl Okes Born: June 19, 1896 Father: Mr. William L. Okes
Mother: Ms. Nancy Jane Hatcher
. 2 Lonnie Ray Wills Born: June 29, 1901 in Suck Creek, W. Va. Died:
January 06, 1996 in Raleigh Co., W.V. Age at death: 94
.... +Grace Ellen Lilly Born: February 09, 1902 Married: February 14, 1923
in Raleigh Co., W.V. Father: Mr. Luis Larkin Lilly Mother: Ms. Martha
Alice Meadows Died: November 06, 1975 in Raleigh Co., W.V. Age at
death: 73
. 2 Joseph Basil Wills Born: May 04, 1903 in Suck Creek, Summers County,
W. Va. Died: March 11, 1984 in Summers County, West Virginia Age at death: 80
.... +Lena J. Lilly Born: July 27, 1907 in Summers County, West Virginia
Married: September 20, 1927 in Summers County, West Virginia Father: Mr.
Albert Lilly Mother: Ms. Christina Died: July 30, 1993 in Summers County,
West Virginia Age at death: 86
. 2 Theodore Roosevelt Wills Born: March 09, 1905 in Suck Creek, W. Va.
Died: March 11, 1988 in Hinton, W. Va. Age at death: 83
.... +Estelle Ney Charlton Born: February 28, 1905 in Cleveland, Oh. Father:
Mr. Thomas Edgar Charlton Mother: Ms. Edna Grey Meador Died: September
09, 1994 in Hinton, W. Va. Age at death: 89
. 2 [1] Fred Franklin Wills Born: August 13, 1909 in Suck Creek, W. Va.
Died: May 22, 1993 Age at death: 83
.... +Opal Rinda Garretson Born: June 26, 1913 Father: Mr. Abram Eri
Garrstson Mother: Ms. Louzina Ann Bolen Died: May 04, 1994 Age at
death: 80
. *2nd Wife of [1] Fred Franklin Wills:
.... +Mildred Cadle Born: Unknown Father: Mother:
. 2 [2] Bertha Alice "Alice" Wills Born: February 28, 1911 in Suck Creek,
W. Va.
.... +Caley Cecil Bragg Born: October 30, 1908 Father: Mr. James Jackson
"Jack" Bragg Mother: Ms. Rhoda Emaline Cox Died: 1982 Age at death: 73
est.
. *2nd Husband of [2] Bertha Alice "Alice" Wills:
.... +Paris Ferguson Father: Mother:
. 2 Baby Unnamed Wills Born: May 02, 1913 in Suck Creek, W. Va. Died: May
02, 1913 in Suck Creek, W. Va. Age at death: 0
. 2 Burl Lee Wills Born: April 11, 1915
.... +Florence Elizabeth Moore Born: Unknown Father: Mr. Grover Moore
Mother: Ms. Charlote Johnson
. 2 Nellie Blanch Wills Born: March 04, 1920 in Suck Creek, W. Va. Died:
July 27, 1920 in Suck Creek, W. Va. Age at death: 0