Jim White‘s Homepage

The Earliest Members of the Wills Family of Warwick County

Text of http://thefamilywills.blogspot.com/2010/08/earliest-members-of-wills-family-of.html

The Earliest Members of the Wills Family of Warwick County

This is a "Working Draft" written in September 1982 by Mr. Fred Eggleston of Silver Spring, MD. The Draft was revised in 1992. Mr. Eggleston also produced an excellent Chart of the likely connection of various Wills families to the immigrant Emanuel Wills and his wife Elizabeth Cole

Our immigrant ancestor, Emanuel WILLS (WELLS) came to Virginia from England. We are descendants from his son John, then William, then Matthew, etc. Among the 17th century settlers of Mulberry Isiand Parish in Warwick County, Virginia were members of the Wills family, whose descendants later spread to isle of Wight, Southampton, Surry, Amelia, Fluvanna, and other counties in the colony and state, and to North Carolina. The nearly complete destruction of Warwick County records during the Civil War and earlier has hampered efforts over the years to put together the early history of the family.(l) Sufficient pieces of the puzzle survive, nevertheless, to construct at least the begirining of an outline of the first three generations of the family in Virginia. The Virginia family can be traced with reasonable assurance to an Emanuel Wills who was living in London by the 1630's (.2) "Emanuell Willes" married Elizabeth Cole at London's St. Gregory by St. Paul's Parish on 13 October 1635.(3) in the poll tax of 1641, Emanuel was listed as a freeman of the cooper's company, residing in the east-side parish of St. Olave, Hart Street.(4) The baptism of seven children of Emanuell and Elizabeth Wills, and the burial (5) one, are recorded in the register of St. Olave, Hart Street for the following dates:

WiIliam Wills....baptized 5 August 1636
John Wills.... baptized 24 August 1638
Elias Wills......baptized 11 September 1640
Hanna Wills......baptized 15 September 1642 / buried 26 September 1643
Emanuell Wills...baptized 21 February 1644/5
Elizabeth Wills..baptized 4 January 1646/7
Richard Wills....baptized 1 March 1648/9.(6)

Not five years after the last of these entries, an "Eman. Wille, Elizabeth his wife, and six children" had arrived in Virginia as shown by the list of headrights for a land patent for 1,850 acres on the Potomac River, granted to Peter Knight and Baker Cutt(s) on 13 October 1653.s Emanuel died very soon after his arrival, most likely before the patent, for Captain Baker Cutts had married Elizabeth and then left her a widow for the second time by 26 February 1656/7, when she and Peter Knight split the acreage and renewed the patent.(7) Elizabeth very shortly took a third husband, Captain Henry Jackson of Mulberry Island Parish in Warwick County. Captain Jackson and Elizabeth sold her portion of the Potomac River patent to Capt. Thomas Fowke, whose son hat the patent renewed in 1665 after his father's death.(8)

By the middle of 1659, the rigors of early colonial lifes had cost Elizabeth her third husband and half the children she had brought to Virginia perhaps nine years or so before. The will of Captain Henry Jackson of Mulberry island Parish was dated 7 May and proved 20 July 1659.(10) He left a brick house with land on Mulberry island held in right of his wife Elizabeth to her eldest son John Wills then living there, with remainder for want of issue to his younger brother Emanuel Wills and then their sister Elizabeth Wills. A personal property bequest was to be divided equally at his wife's death among the three Wills children and Henry's own minor children Sarah and Robert Jackson, which may tend to suggest that these latter two were also children of Elizabeth. Henry also left property to two adult children, evidently by an earlier wife: Henry Jacksonll and Dorothy Dennet, together with grandchildren Mary and Ann, Dorothy's daughters. The will also gave property to Henry's "loving friends" and executors Miles Cary and Robert Pyland,(12 )with Miles Cary designated to care for the minor children.

By 18 June 1661, the widow Elizabeth had married a fourth time, to Major Edward(13) Griffith of Mulberry Island, who assumed charge of the minor Jackson children's estate.(i3) Major Griffith had been appointed a surveyor by the Council of the colony on 15 December 1656, and had moved to Warwick by 20 January 1659 from Westmoreland County, where he had been a commissioner (justice) on 4 August 1658.(14) He represented Warwick in the General Assembly along with Miles Cary for the sessions of March and October 1660, and alone for the next session beginning in 1662.(15)

Major Griffith had died by 4 May 1669, when Mr. Thomas Iken obtained a patent for 1,350 acres in Mulberry island Parish, including 400 acres for headrights in right of his wife Elizabeth, widow of Major Edward Griffith, deceased.is On 21 April 1670, iken was appointed sheriff of Warwick County. (17 )He was still living on 23 September 1671, when the Council appointed him to audit an account.is Mrs. Elizabeth iken was living on 12 January 1671/2, when she prosecuted a lawsuit in York County.(19)

Thomas Iken had died without issue and apparently without will before 6 January 1674/5, when a jury found that his 400-acre tract on Mulberry island had escheated to the Crown. The rights were granted to John and Emanuel Wills.(20) The two brothers together and singlv recorded patents totaling 667 acres mostly from escheated Iken land, with additions for headrights, in 1676, 1682, and 1694." Little is known of the life of the elder brother John Wills. What may be his autograph survives along with the autograph of his stepfather Edward Griffith in witness to an original assignment from Henry Filmer to Robert Filmer dated 27 August 1664.22 Johnls last patent was dated 22 November 1682. (23) He was dead before 15 December 1685 when Jeremiah Peirce returned in Warwick court an account of horse and mare "outlyers" belonging to the estate of Mr John Wills, deceased.(24)

Emanuel Wills, brother of John, married Elizabeth, a daughter of Lt. Col. Miles Cary and Ann Taylor, after her father's will and before 11 April 1670, when they sold her bequest under the will. (25) Emanuel evidently served as captain of a company of Warwick militia, for a surviving court entry made shortly after his death referred to him by that title. 26 He and Robert Hubbard, (27) as churchwardens of Mulberry Island Parish, went to England in'April 1683 to secure a legacy to the parish under the will of Henry Filmer. Emanuel's autograph is on the original document acknowledging receipt of the legacy. (28) Fragments of county court minutes show Emanuel serving as justice of the county court in January 1690/1 and April 1691. (29) He died after 18 November 1695, when he executed a deed to Thomas Rogers, and before 2 August 1697, when Miles Wills waived the widow Elizabeth's dower rights in connection with the deed in accordance with her power of attorney. (30)

The Warwick quit rent roll of 1704 shows entries in the names of William "Wells," 615 acres, Elizabeth Wells, widow, 155 acres; Capt. "Mills" Wells, 425 acres; Emanuel Wells, 325 acres; and Elias Wells, 50 acres. (31)

The widowed Elizabeth Wills was presumably Elizabeth (Cary) Wills, widow of Emanuel II. She held 160 acres at the rent roll of 1713. (32) Wiiliam Wills filed suit in Warwick court as "son and heir of John Wills, dec'd" in December 1698, to collect a debt from the executors of Thomas Rogers. (33) William was dead before 2 April 1713, as the court orders surviving from that date do not record qualification of his administrators up to 1 April 1714, when Cuthbert Hubbard and Elizabeth his wife, perhaps William's widow, filed suit as William's administrators against Thomas Marshall on a debt. (34) The rent roll of 1713 listed seven acres for the orphans of William Wills and 200 acres for Cuthbert Hubbard. (35)

Miles Wills married Hannah, a daughter of Lt. Col. John Scasbrook (Scarisbricke) of York County by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Elizabeth (Mrs. Thomas) Bushrod by her unidentified former husband. (36) They married after 24 March 1691/2. (37) Miles was appointed militia captain in Warwick by 1698 and major by 1713. (38) He served the county as justice at least from 1699, (39 )sheriff in 1701 and 1722-1723, (40) burgess to the General Assembly for 1713 and 1714, (41) tobacco inspector in 1713-1714 and 1732, (42) trustee of Warwick Town in 1713, (43) and coroner in 1726. (44) Miles was the senior justice serving during the period 1713-1714/5, for which original drafts of the court orders survive with multiple examples of his autograph.. (45) He had 369 acres listed in the rent roll of 1713. (46) Hannah Wills was living at least to November 1702, when she participated, as a daughter of John Scasbrook, in litigation against Elias and Mary (Condon) Wills. (47) Miles was living on 4 September 1734 when he petitioned for a ferry from his landing on Mulberry island to Isle of Wight County, but probably had died before 2 September 1736, when Emanuel Wills petitioned for a ferry between the two counties. (48)

Emanuel Wills, the third generation in Virginia to bear the name, appears in the surviving court minute fragments from January 1700, when he helped to appraise an estate (49) He was a militia officer in 1701/2 (50) Emanuei listed 282 acres in the rent roll of 1713. (51) He or a younger Emanuel married Martha, possibly widow of Samuel Wallace, before 21 December 1719, as on that date they proceeded in York court as Samuel's executors. (52) From 1706 to 1721, Emanuel and Miles together owned Lot No. 77 in Yorktown, where they are said to have begun what has more recently been restored as "West House " (53) in 1729 an "Emanuel Wills Jr." appeared among the defendants in a Warwick chancery suit brought by Elizabeth Cary, widow. (54) An Emanuel Wills petitioned for a ferry from Old Point in Warwick to isle of Wight in 1736. (55) Whether this was still Emanuel III or whether he was then dead and this was another Emanuel who had dropped the "Jr." is not certain. (56)

Elias Wills married Mary, a daughter of David and Elizabeth (Scasbrook) Condon of York County, by the time she administered her father's estate in January 1701. (57) Elias took an oath to serve as undersheriff to Miles Wills on 25 April 1701 (58) and was a militia officer in 1701/2. (59) He died before 7 May 1713, when his executrix Mary presented an inventory of his estate. (60 ) In the rent roll of 1713, the orphans of Elias Wills were charged with 50 acres. (61) A fragment of a guardian's bond survives dated 1 August 1728, for a minor named Pate Wills, apparently as orphan of Elias Wiils, deceased, although only the final two letters and what appears to be part of an "h" survive from the word "orphan." (62) A settlement of Elias Wills's estate was recorded in 1729, which could suggest that one or more heirs had married or come of age at that time. (63)

A fifth member of the third generation was John Wills, who listed 750 acres in York and none in Warwick in the 1704 quit rent rolls. (64) John Wills had married, shortly after 25 January 1699/1700, Elizabeth, a daughter of Thomas and Rose (Forgusson?) Roberts of York County and widow of Thomas Harwood of that county. (65) John acquired Lot No. 38 in Yorktown in 1707 and one-half acre and rights to a watermill there in 1711. (66) He was a merchant in York and Warwick, acquiring ordinary and ferry licenses in York in 1707/8 and engaging in much commercial litigation there. (67) He was a churchwarden of Charles Parish in York in 1708 (68) and road surveyor in 1710. (69 ) The Charles Parish register lists the births of sons Thomas, John, Pate, and John Pate Wills and daughter Ann, and the deaths of Pate and Ann all during the period 1702-1712, in some cases identifying John as "of Warwick." (70) The 1713 rent roll listed John Wills for 100 acres in Warwick. (71) John Wills and Miles Wills in partnership maintained an ordinary kept by William Chancey in Yorktown in 1715. (72 ) On 15 August 1715, John Wills patented 130 acres in King and Queen County adjoining a tract devised to him by the will of John Pate. (73 )By 14 November 1718, when he sold the Yorktown mill, and on 29 March 1721/2, when he sold 200 acres in York, he was living in Mulberry lsland. (74 ) Elizabeth Wills, who had deeded several slaves in York County in 1713 to her sons John and Thomas, carpenters, (75) was a widow in January 1738, when she gave 200 acres in York, left by her first husband Harwood, to her son and prospective heir "Thomas Wills, Jr." (76)

By the time the surviving Warwick court minute book of 1748/9-1762 began, three members of the Wills family were serving on the county court. (77) The proliferation of the surname in the fourth and fifth generations, together with the loss of will (78) and deed records, has made it difficult to tie individual members to their exact place in the family line with full confidence, with a few exceptions.

1 In addition to the sources listed in the bibliographical Swem's Index, Stewart's Index, and Virainia Genealoaies, v. 1 and 2, see the numerous queries in the Virainia Genealogist, v. 2, 5, 23, 24, and in Virginia Tidewater Genealogv,
2 Points of identity between the London and Virginia families, which seem too numerous for accidental parallel, may be summarized as follows: (l) surname Wills, (2) father Emanuel, (3) mother Elizabeth, (4) son John, (5) son Emanuel, (6) daughter Elizabeth, (7) son Elias versus grandson Elias, (8) son John older than son Emanuel, (9) six children living in 1648 versus 1653 or earlier, (10) sons John and Emanuel not yet 21 in May 1659, and (11) disappearance from London parish register in 1648/9 versus appearance in Virginia headrights used in 1653.
3 William Harold Challen, A Transcription of All the Marriaaes at St. Gregory by St. Paul, London, 1559 to 1754 (Parish Reaister Transcripts v. 11 p..,nd.) p. 118.
4 Thomas C. Dale, The Members of the Citv Companies in 1641 as Set Forth in the Return for the Poll Tax (London, 1934), p. 290.
5 W. Bruce Bannerman, ed., The Registers of St. Olave. Hart Street Parish. London. 1563-1700 (Harleian Society, Publications. Register Series, v. 46; London, 1916), pp. 46-57, 177
6 Nell Marion Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers, (3 v. Richmond, 1934-1979), v. 1, p. 282. Since headrights often were exercised months or years after they were earned, the family arrival in Virginia may have occurred before 1653. See Edmund S. Morgan, "Headrights and Head Counts: A Review Article," Virginia Magazine of Historv & BioaraDhv, v. 80 (1972), pp. 361-372.
7 Nugent, op. cit., v. 1, p. 340. Baker Cutts appeared in Northampton County records by 1645, in York County records by 1646, and in an undated Warwick fragment. Susie M. Ames, ed., Countv Court Records of Accomack NorthamDton, Virainia. 1640-1645 (Virginia Historical Society, Documents, v. 10; Charlottesville, 1973), p. 455; Beverley Fleet, York Countv 1633-1646 (Virainia Colonial Abstracts, v. 24; Richmond, 1945), p. 83; Warwiick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Items, Virginia State Library, CM [recheck; note unclear. He probably owned a house and land in Warwick County, given the reference in Henry Jackson's will, cited in the text, to holding these properties in right of Elizabeth. He was probably the merchant Baker Cutts, eldest son of a mercantile family of Burnett, England, whose brother John was the first President of the Provincial Court of New Hampshire. See Sybil Noyes, Genealoaical Dictionarv of Maine and New HamDshire (1929-1939, repr. 1976), pp. ?77-178.
8 Nugent, op. cit., v. 1, p. 533. Henry Jackson appeared in the York County records as early as 9 February 1646/7. Beverley Fleet, York Countv 1646-1648 (Virainia Colonial Abstracts, v. 25; Richmond, 1945), p. 53; Lindsay O. Duvall, York Countv, Book 3. Wilis, Deeds. and Orders, 1657-1659 (Virainia Colonial Abstracts. 2nd Series, v. 5; 1961), pp. 26, 59.
9 Elizabeth's experience provides a pronounced example of a early colonial pattern noted by historians, that women tended to withstand disease-ridden early Virginia life better than men did, and that widows and their property were quickly claimed by ambitious men. See Edmund S. Morgan, American Slaverv. American Freedom (1975), pp. 158-184, 408-410.
10 Warwick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Items, Virginia State Library, CM 46.
11 This second Henry Jackson ieft a will in York County in 1673. York County, Va., Deeds, Wills, Orders, Etc. No. 5, 1672-1676, p. 53 (transcript, p. 106).
12 Robert Pyland was clerk of court for Wan•vick County in 1647, captain of militia by 1649, and deceased by 1672. Virainia Genealoaist, v. 1 (1974), pp. 55, 60; Nugent, op. cit., v. 2, p. 71; Henry Read Mcllwaine, ed., Minutes of the Council and General Court of Virainia (Richmond, 1924), p. 307.
13 Warwick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Papers, Virginia State Library, CM 47, 47a; see also William & Marv Colleae Quarterlv Historical Maaazine, 2nd Ser., v. 5 (1924), p. 259.
14 Mcllwaine, Minutes of the Council, op. cit., p. 505; Virginia Maaazine of History & Biography, v. 8 (1900), p. 164; John Frederick Dorman, Westmoreland Countv, Virainia Records. 1658-1661 (Washington, 1970), pp. 21, 65.
15 Cynthia M. Leonard, comp., The General Assemblv of Virainia. Julv 30. 1619-Januarv 11. 1978 (Richmond, 1978), pp. 36, 40.
16 Nugent, op. cit., v. 2, p. 56. Iken had previously married Grace Harwood, by October 1663. Virainia Genealoaist, v. 18(1974), p. 286.
17 Mcllwaine, Minutes of the Council, op. cit., p. 213; William & Mary Quarterly, Ist Series, v. 1 (1892), p. 93.
18 Mcllwaine, Minutes of the Council, op. cit., p. 268.
19 York County, Va., Deeds, Wills, and Orders No. 5, 1672-1676, p. 76 (transcript, p. 152). 20 Virainia Genealoaist, v. 21 (1977), p. 30.
21 Nugent, op. cit., v. 2, pp. 177, 251, 348.
22 Filmer Papers (microfilm), Virginia State Library, Miscellaneous Reel 428 (original in Filmer Archives, Kent Manuscript Office, England), transcribed in Peter Walne, "Henry Filmer ...," Va. Mag. of Hist. & Biog., v 63 (1960), p. 424. Mr. Walne read this as John "Miles.'
23 Nugent, op. cit., v. 2, p. 251.
24 Louis des Cognets, Jr., English Duplicates of Lost Virainia Records (Princeton, N.J., 1958), p. 185.
25 Mcllwaine, Minutes of the Council, op. cit., p. 514.
26 Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1698, p. 213.
27 Robert Hubbard was burgess for Warwick in 1692, 1697, and 1703, and sheriff in 1704. Leonard, op. cit., pp. 51, 57, 63; des Cognets, op. cit., p. 187.
28 Filmer Papers, loc. cit.; transcribed as "Wells" by Mr. Walne, Va. Mag. of Hist. & Biog., v. 58, p. 426.
29 Warwick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Papers, Virginia State Library Accession Nos. 21,071, 22,057; Annie Lash Jester, Newport News, Virainia. 1607-1960 (1961), p. 28.
30 Warwick County, Va., Court Minutes, 1698, p. 213.
31 Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 185.
32 Virginia H. Rollings, "Warwick County, Va. 1713 Rent Roll" (from the Blathwayt Papers, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library), Newport News Dailv Press Times Herald, 26 August and 16 September 1990.
33 Warwick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Papers, Virginia State Library, CM 70; Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1699-1701, p. 300.
34 Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1713-1714/5, p. 53.
35 Rollings, loc. cit.
36 Warwick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Papers, Virginia State Library, CM 83; John Frederick Dorman, ed., Adventurers of Purse and Person. Virainia. 1607-1624/5 (3rd ed.; Richmond, 1987), pp. 420-421. See also the 1699 will of Thomas Harwood in York County, Va., Deeds & Wills No. 11, p. 345, and Wiliiam & Mary Quarterly, 1 st Ser., v. 1 (1892), p. 96, which is notable for showing that Hannah's older sister Mary, untraced in standard accounts, evidently had married Rev. James Slater of Charles Parish, since Sclater and wife Mary appear in a group of legatees consisting of Elizabeth Scasbrook's children, nieces and nephew (with spouses) of Harwood's former wife Lydia, the other daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Bushrod. This identification draws further support from Mary Sclater's will, mentioning cousin Martha Cary, and from some of the. records of the probate of John Scasbrook's estate, in which Rev. Sclater participated with other sons-in-law. See York County, Va., Wills No. 19, 1740-1746, p. 342; John Frederick Dorman, York County, Virginia, Deeds. Orders. Wills. Etc.. No. 8. 1687-1691. Part l(Washington, 1974), pp. 91-92; No. 10. Part 2 (Washington, 1980), p. 70; Part 3 (Washington, 1980), pp. 10-11.
37 John Frederick Dorman, York Countv, Virginia Deeds. Wills. & Orders No. 9. 1691-1694. Part I (Washington, 1975), p. 82.
38 Va. Mag. of Hist. 8 Biog., v. 49 (1941), p. 307; Rollings, loc. cit.
39 Warwick County, Va., Minute Bk. 1699-1701, p. 303; Va. Mag. of Hist. & Biog., v. 1(1894), p. 232.
40 Henry Read Mcllwaine, ed., Executive Journals of the Council of Virainia (6 v., Richmond, 1927-1930), v. 2, p. 135; v. 4, pp. 12, 34
41 Leonard, op. cit., p. 67.
42 Mcllwaine, Executive Journals, op. cit., v. 3, p. 380; v. 4, p. 285.
43 Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1713-1714/5, p. 42.
44 Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 40; Va. Mag. of Hist. & Biog., v. 47 (1940), p. 151
45 Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1713-1714/5, p. 67.
46 Rollings, loc. cit.
47 Warwiick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Papers, Virginia State Library, CM 83. 48 Henry Read Mcllwaine, ed., Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia (13 v.; Richmond, 1905-1915), 1727-1734. 1736-1740, pp. 189, 285.
49 Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1699-1701, p. 328.
50 Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, Virginia's Colonial Soldiers (Baltimore, 1 988), p. 223.
51 Rollings, loc. cit.
52 York County, Va., Deeds & Wills No. 15, p. 519.
53 York County, Va., Deeds & Bonds No. 2, 1701-1713, p. 178; No. 3, 17151729, pp. 368-370; Clyde F. Trudell, Colonial Yorktown (Richmond, 1 938), pp. 85 (illustration), 87. John Wills witnessed the 1721 deed selling the property.
54 Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1728-1729, p. 366
55 Mcllwaine, Journals of the House of Burgesses. 1727-1734. ..., op. cit., p. 285.
56 The Emanuel Wills of the 1736 ferry application may have been the one who unsuccessfully opposed Matthew Wills's ferry application in 1742. Ibid., 1742-1749, pp. 17, 24, 31-32. The latter Emanuel was likely the one who had died before 6 April 1749, when his widow and administratrix (previously qualified) sued in court. Warwick County, Va., Court Minutes, 1747/8-1762, P. 20. One son, Lemuel, was still a minor in 1759, with Thomas Wills, Jr. acting as his guardian. Ibid., pp. 325, 406, 590, 606. (This was not the Thomas Wills, Jr. who was a son of John and Elizabeth (Roberts) Harwood Wills, as that Thomas Jr. had left a will in Warwiick proved in 1752. Ibid., p. 150.) The widow Angelica was still living on 6 November 1755. Ibid., p. 357. Her longevity and the age of the orphan could tend to argue that the Emanuel who died about 1748 may have been younger than Emanuel III, well established before the rent roll of 1704, would have been.
57 Warwick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Papers, Virginia State Library, CMX 4; Dorman, Adventurers, op. cit., pp. 427-428.
58 Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1699-1701, p. 342
59 Bockstruck, op. cit., p. 223.
60 Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1713-1714/5, p. 16
61 Rollings, loc. cit.
62 Warwick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Papers, Virginia State Library, CMX 13.
63 Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1728-1729, p. 349.
64 Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 180.
65 William & Mary Quarterly, lst Ser., v. 1 (1892), pp. 90-96; Landon C. Bell, Charles Parish, York Countv, Virginia. Historv and Registers (Richmond, 1 932), pp. 163, 241; Va. Mag. of Hist. & Biog., v. ? (1894), pp. 233, 373; des Cognets, •L•i•, p. 5; York County, Va., Deeds, Wills, & Orders No. 15, 1716-1720, p. 432.
66 York County, Va., Deeds, Orders, Etc. No. 13, 1706-1710, p. 125; No. 14 1709-1716, p. 108.
67 Ibid., No. 13, pp. 106, 107, 109, 200; No. 14, pp. 273, 480; Warwick County, Va., Court Orders, 1713-1714/5, pp. 17, 57.
68 Calendar of Virainia State Papers, v. 1 (Richmond, 1875), p. 120.
69 York County, Va., Orders, Wills, Etc. No. 14, 1709-1716, p. 16 . 70 Bell, op. cit., pp. 193-195.
71 Rollings, loc. cit 72 Warwick County, Va., Miscellaneous Court Papers, Virginia State Library, CMX 13.
73 Virginia Land Patent Bk. 10, p. 253.
74 York County, Va., Deeds & Bonds No. 3, 1715-1729, pp. 252-253, 381-383.
75 York County, Va., Deeds, Orders, Etc. No. 14, p. 270.
76 York County, Va., Deeds & Bonds No. 4, 1729-1740, p. 539.
77 The Warwick justices in order of listing were Thomas Wills the Elder, Matthew Wills, and Thomas Wills, Jr. Warwick County, Va., Court Minutes, 1747/8-1762, p. 35. A fourth, John Wills, then served in the same capacity in Isle of Wight County. McIlwaine, Executive Journals, op. cit., v. 5, pp. 92, 293.
78 One will from the fourth generation in Warvick, that of Thomas Wills the Elder, has survived in the form of a copy among the papers from a York County chancery suit between the administrators of his son and son-in-law, John Wills and William Wills. Wills' administrator vs. Wills' administrator, York County Common Law Papers and Chancery Papers, 1794, Virginia State Library.