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Descendants of Durrett Wills

Generation No. 1

1. DURRETT² WILLS (FREDERICK WILLIAM¹) was born 5 Dec, 1792 in Clark Co Kentucky, and died 5 Feb, 1859 in Monroe Co Missouri. He married MARY/POLLY WEST Abt. 1812 in Kentucky, daughter of JAMES WEST and ELIZABETH SNELL.

Notes for DURRETT WILLS:
DURRETT WILLS was the youngest child of Frederick William and Frances WILLS and the only child born in Clark County, Kentucky. He was barely four when his father died. His mother, Frances, remarried four years later to Original 'Rig' YOUNG on 11 February 1800. (Original Young was one of the magistrate judges of Clark County, Kentucky.) This proved to be an ill-fated marriage and caused John D. WILLS to seek guardianship of his brother Durrett. Census records show that Durrett lived in Scott County with his brother John until he came of age.

According to bounty-land claims submitted by Durrett in 1850 and 1855, he served as a private in Captain Lynn West's Company, Scott County, Kentucky, in the War of 1812. He served a term of six months. Durrett did received 80 bounty-land acres in 1851 and again in 1856. In the 1855 application, Durrett stated he had disposed of the first 80 acres)

Durrett married a cousin of Lynn West, '"Polly" Mary WEST about 1812-1813. A fire destroyed many of the Scott County, Kentucky Records in 1835 and the marriage record for Durrett and Polly has not been found.

After the Economic Panic of 1819, the country suffered a depression from 1821-1822. In 1821, Missouri became a state; Monroe was elected to his second term as President of the United States; and, Daniel Tompkins was Vice President.

Whether it was the depression of 1821-1822, or a neighbor who moved too close, or just the hope of a rainbow seeker, Durrett was lured to Missouri. On 15 September 1823, Durrett and Polly sold their farm and home on Dry Run watershed to Bennett William for $600. (Recorded Scott County, Kentucky, Land Records Book F, p. 102.) Durrett and Polly were in Boone County, Missouri by the end of 1823. Cumberland and Elizabeth SNELL (uncle to Polly) and Marcus P. WILLS (nephew to Durrett) moved to Boone County, Missouri with or about the same time as Durrett and Polly. Together these families formed the first church in Boone County called Bear Creek Church. The church was located between sections 23 and 24 in Township 48, Range 12. (From The History of Boone County, p. 741)

On 29 November 1831, Durrett purchased 240 acres in Monroe County, Missouri in Section 7, Township 54, Range 9 West. In 1831, Monroe County was a wildness with abundant wildlife. Early settlers reported seeing deer daily in herds of 12-50. Wild turkeys and prairie chickens were too numerous to count. Wolves were plentiful. And there were elk, bears, and even an occasional panther. There were also mosquitoes, cholera and malaria.

With courageous souls and adventurous hearts, Durrett and Polly established their farm in Monroe County. The wooded areas of Monroe County were settled first for trees were needed to build the crude log cabins. Windows in the cabins were usually a hole cut into the logs and covered with a greased paper.

Close proximity to water was essential and the Middle Fork of the Salt River ran through the Wills farm. Durrett purchased an additional 80 acres on the north side of the Middle Fork of the Salt River on 27 December 1834.

Durrett and Polly started the Wills Family Cemetery on a small hill on the 240 acres. Their daughter Elizabeth Wills MCCONNELL was buried there in 1845. (The 1850 census shows that Elizabeth's children were living with Durrett and Polly. What became of Samuel is not known.) Isabelle Wills HAWKINS and her infant daughter were buried in 1851. Polly died in 1852 and Durrett died in 1859 at the age of 66. The last Wills known to be buried there was James W. Wills in 1869. It was the custom of the time to hold the funeral services outside under the shelter of a tree. The coffin, made by a local carpenter, was often lined with a bed sheet. The coffin was lowered into the grave by using a set of harness reins. Instead of flowers, oil lamps or glass objects were used to decorate the grave. Cemeteries were maintained by plowing and the mounds reshaped by hoeing. During the construction of the Clarence Cannon Dam, the Cannon Dam Engineers excavated the Wills Cemetery and moved the graves to the cemetery just north of Pairs, Missouri. Besides 7 marked graves, fifty unmarked graves were found and relocated.

Polly's father, James WEST, moved to Monroe County in 1831. He died in June of 1836 .

Durrett died without a will and his sons, James and Clifton E., were administrators of the estate. The farm was sold in 1864. The Monroe County records show that in 1861, James requested that the sheriff of Monroe County service notice that Joseph McConnell (child of Elizabeth Wills McConnell) must leave the Durrett Wills farm as it was being sold.

Children of DURRETT WILLS and MARY/POLLY WEST are:

2.	i.	ELIZABETH FRANCES³ WILLS, b. 19 Dec, 1813, Scott Co Kentucky; d. 28 May, 1845, Missouri.
3.	ii.	JAMES WILLIAM WILLS, b. 5 Nov, 1815, Ky; d. 14 Nov, 1869, Monroe Co Missouri.
4.	iii.	MARILDA EMELINE WILLS, b. Abt. 1818, Kentucky; d. Bef. May 1863, Missouri.
5.	iv.	RICHARD DURRETT WILLS, b. 20 Mar, 1820, Kentucky; d. 24 Jun, 1861, Monroe Co Missouri.
6.	v.	CLIFTON E. WILLS, b. 8 Feb, 1822, Scott Co, Kentucky; d. Unknown, ?.
7.	vi.	JOHN MARCUS WILLS, b. 2 Apr, 1824, Kentucky; d. 14 Mar, 1886, Buried at Cedar Grove, south of Paris, Missouri.
8.	vii.	MARY JANE WILLS, b. Abt. 1828, Boone Co MO; d. 14 Sep, 1849, Boone Co MO.
9.	viii.	SARAH ELIZABETH WILLS, b. Abt. 1829, Boone County, Missouri; d. Unknown.
10.	ix.	ISABELLE ANN WILLS, b. 1 May, 1830, Missouri; d. 11 May, 1851, Monroe Co Missouri.

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