(Extract from April, 1963, Willard Family Association Newsletter. Author unknown).

Edited and revised by Ransom H. Curtis

On the warm, spring morning of May 3, 1802, at Sterling. Massachusetts, Jonathan Willard, age twenty-two, married Nancy Atkins, a buxom lass from Boston Town. They originally settled amongst Jonathan's relatives in Windsor County, Vermont.; and it is here where the birth records are found for their four children - Elijah Willard, Willis Willard, Anna Willard and William Willard.

When Elijah was about fourteen years old, Illinois was on the eve of statehood and government owned land, rich and easily cultivated, could be had for $1.25 per acre. So, in early 1818, Jonathan and Nancy packed all of their possessions into three horse drawn wagons. Elijah and Willis were each in charge of a wagon, with Anna and little William in the parents lead wagon. Plodding over country roads they finally reached Pittsburgh, where they obtained two flat-bottomed boats onto which they loaded wagons, horses and household goods.

When they had poled the boats nearly to the mouth of the Ohio River, happy that the journey was nearing its end, the boat loaded with the farm tools and household goods, as well as two teams of horses, caught fire and burned to the waters edge. Exhausted and almost penniless, they soon landed the remaining boat on the Missouri shore. They then struggled northward, probably by land, reaching Cape Girardeau. It is here where Jonathan, already ill with typhoid fever, died and was buried.

Leaving what was later described as 'that very unfriendly settlement', Nancy and her four children found their way to Jonesboro, Union County, in southern Illinois. It was a small settlement of just six cabins, and the kindly folks provided the family with a one-room log cabin, having a dirt floor and a fireplace. With a pitifully small assortment of household equipment remaining, they began a new life.

Elijah was now the man of the family, and got a job driving oxen to haul logs from the "Mississippi Bottoms" to the Jonesboro settlement. So destitute was the family that his first days pay of fifty cents went to buy corn meal which the hungry children ate before Nancy could cook it. Penny by penny, Elijah saved and eventually bought that small cabin and the surrounding two acres of land. Later, he became a helper in the village store and not many years passed before he had earned the respect of Union County as a young man who was capable, reliable and trustworthy.

It was of little surprise when Elijah and his two younger brothers, Willis and William, established the mercantile house of 'Willard & Co.", which remained an honored place of business for the next fifty years. But in June, 1843, William died of tuberculosis and it was but a few years before that pillar of strength, Elijah, succumbed to the same disease. This left Willis in full control of 'Willard & Co.', as well as the extensive real estate holdings that had been accumulated over the years. It made him one of the wealthiest men in Illinois.

About thirteen years before this, Willis Willard had married Frances Web, daughter of Col. Henry L. Webb of the famous Webb family of Weathersfield, Connecticut. They continued to live with Mother Nancy Willard in a somewhat enlarged cabin until their little daughter, Mary Ann Willard, was about two years old.

By that time Willis had finished across they way a larger and more comfortable house, with six rooms and six fireplaces. The very first cook stove in Jonesboro was shipped to him from Pittsburgh to Willard's Landing. Pure water for cooking and drinking came from one-mile away hauled by ox drawn drag sleds. Huge rain barrels, dug out from giant sections of trees, were set beneath roof edges - running water pioneer style. But even with all of these new, modern conveniences, Mother Willard clung on to the old log cabin where she so heroically had raised her family and from which she finally buried two sons.

When Mother Willard was about fifty years of age, only Anna was left at home. Then it was that this daughter, barely in her middle teens, became the bride of Winstead Davie, another young pioneer known for his integrity, energy and prudence. Having been born a cripple did not deter him from making the most of his abilities. His first venture had been teaching school in his hometown of Dover, Tennessee. By the time he was twenty, he found himself in the employ of a Dover firm. In 1820, he was sent by the firm with a stock of goods to Jonesboro, a journey of about two hundred miles by water along the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers. Once there, he proceeded to set up store in a log structure which became the site of a thriving business for the next thirty-seven years. In time he also became one of the wealthiest men in Illinois.

Fortuitously, his arrival in Jonesboro coincided with that of his future bride, Anna Willard. And so, on a Sunday afternoon, in Mother Willard's log cabin, September 19, 1824, Winstead Davie married Anna, the only sister of the well-known future businessmen of 'Willard & Co.'. One can only imagine the good-natured banter among the guests when someone remarked that the Clerk of Court who signed the marriage license for Winstead was Winstead Davie himself.

Winstead and Anna began housekeeping the next day in a nearby house. In this home they lived the rest of their lives and here were born ten children, only five of whom reached maturity. After almost thirty years of marriage, Winstead Davie granted to the Illinois Central Railroad a right of way through his land East of Jonesboro on the condition that a station be constructed on the land and be given the name of Anna. This was done and in 1853 Winstead Davie founded the town of Anna, Illinois, in honor of his wife, Anna Willard Davie.

Four years later Winstead transferred his place of business from Jonesboro to Anna. Then with the help of his son Daniel Davie, he built the first steam mill there. But Anna and Winstead continued to live in their original home in Jonesboro, enjoying their last years together after his retirement in 1874 in his 78^th year.

It was also in 1874 that Mother Nancy Willard died. She had continued to live with a helper in the old log cabin for which so many years ago her son Elijah, had saved his pennies. Though blind for twenty years, she could move about the place that she knew so well, and with her gentle fingertips, recognize her great grandchildren. And so, Mother Willard, aged ninety-nine years, ten months and five days, left behind in Jonesboro many who mourned her. And what about Willis Willard? He and Frances Webb Willard finished their days in the house they contructed near Mother Willards log cabin.

What a legacy these pioneers left. Willis Willard planted Locust trees along Jonesboro's streets to beautify the town, many of which bloom to this day. Willis and Winstead Davie used their wealth to finance a Female Seminary and hire teachers from the East so that pioneer women in the area could obtain an education. Winstead Davie gave land for pubic schools. Charles W. Willard gave buildings and lands for education in Anna, and left a large fund that is today still active.

Follow the link to view an ancestral chart of some of the heirs of Jonathan Willard:

Chart

Winstead Davie and Anna Willard are my GGG-Grandparents. Any questions or comments may be directed to:

Ransom H. Curtis . Thanks!

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