The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Author: Jerry Lee Venable
Lewis Wills was born in 1744 in Strasburg on the river Rhine in the Alsace Province of France. He came to America in 1748. His father died on the Atlantic crossing and this step-mother gave him up to raise him. He stayed with that family in Lancaster, PA, until he was twenty-one years old. In 1770 he married Catherine Dick, daughter of Peter and Mary Elizabeth (Linton) Dick. Lewis and Catherine had seven children: John, Peter, Elizabeth, Mary, Barbara, Lewis and Sarah. The first four children were probably born in Pennsylvania while the last three were born in Virginia or Tennessee.
Lewis served for twice in the Revolutionary War. First for eighteen months in Virginia in Capt. Lamb's Company, Col Carlin's Regiment and was discharged at the Winchester Barracks, Frederick County, Virginia. He also later served in under General Wain in the battle of Jamestown and then in the taking of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He applied for an American Revolution Pension on 1 September 1827 in Greene County, Tennessee.
Lewis and Catherine had moved to Frederick County, Virginia in 1780, bought land and were farming. In 1795 they bought 402 acres in Washington County, Virginia. Wills entered into a contract with the state of North Carolina to build a forge in what is now Johnson County, Tennessee (across a mountain). Wills build and operated the forge on Little Doe Creek until Catherine's death in 1802. Wills remarried and with his second wife Ellen M. King moved to Greene County, Tennessee. Wills died in Greene County in 1832 at the age of 88 while swimming in the Nolichucky River.
The Wills Johnson County farm has remained in the hands of Wills descendants and is recognized as a Tennessee Century Farm. The Wills Family is also recognized as a First Family of Tennessee and descendants of Lewis Wills are eligible for recognition as a member of a First Family of Tennessee (this program conducted by the East Tennessee Historical Society).
My descendancy from Lewis Wills is:
GGGG Grand Parents - Lewis Wills and Catherine Dick GGG Grand Parents - Barbara Wills and Thomas McQueen GG Grand Parents - Rachael McQueen and Leroy Venable Sr. G Grand Parents- Leroy Venable Jr. and Permilia Isaacs Grand Parents- James M. Venable and Verlie Reynolds Parents - William Lee Venable and Opal Adams
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Additional Information:
Two Find a Grave Memorials for same patriot. Other memorial number is:108054345