Leonard Wills

1749 - 1852  (103 years)

• Name	Leonard Wills
  Birth	1749	Edgecombe Co/NC
  Gender	Male
  Death	21 Sep 1852	Paulding Co/GA
  Burial	22 Sep 1852	Paulding Co/GA
  Person ID	I314	Georgia Revolutionary War Graves
  Last Modified	26 Jan 2022

  
  

• Notes

  The earliest Settlers of the Wills family in Paulding County were Harry Wills and family along with his father Leonard and mother Sara. Leonard Wills was originally from Edgecombe County, North Carolina. He was a large landowner as shown in the county deed records and the wills of his father and grandfather. He was born in 1749. Leonard and his family lived in North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia. Before making it to Paulding County, he lived in Gwinnett County and Cobb County. Wills was a Revolutionary War soldier from Edgecombe County, North Carolina. He fought in the Battle of Widows Moor Bridge in 1776 under Colonel Irvin?s Regiment where the colonists defeated the Tory Generals McDaniel and McCloud. In 1781, he was drafted as a militiaman in Captain John Shipp?s Company from the same county for a three month term. He served a third stint in the service under Colonel Linton?s Regiment. Leonard moved from North Carolina after that to Tennessee and South Carolina and finally ended up in Georgia. On May 18, 1813, Harry John Wills was born to Leonard and Sara Wills. They were living in Greenville County, South Carolina at the time. He was the only known child of Leonard and Sara. Leonard was listed in the South Carolina census of 1820. In the 1832 Land Lottery of Georgia, Leonard drew property in Gwinnett County. Leonard and Sara were listed in Forsyth County, Georgia in the 1840 and 1850 census. Harry and his wife Elizabeth Tippins Wills were listed as next door in the 1850 census. Harry and Elizabeth already had eight children by 1850. Shortly after 1850, Leonard and Harry and their families moved to Cobb County, Georgia. That is where Leonard died on September 21, 1852. He was 101 years old. The age was documented in the federal pension records. His wife, Sara, drew a federal pension from the government because of the service of Leonard. While the location of where Leonard died was Cobb at the time that area of the county was later made part of Paulding County. This was done in the realignment of the counties in the early 1850s. The area that they lived in was between Burnt Hickory and Mt. Moriah Church. By the 1860 census, it was shown that Sara was living with her son Harry and Elizabeth Wills in Paulding County. Harry was listed as a farmer. Harry and Elizabeth had thirteen children that lived. The oldest was John Wesley Wills born 1834 and the youngest was Berry Franklin Wills born in 1861. Many of the children and their descendants stayed in Paulding County and still live there today. There were several brothers that moved to Alabama and started families. Patriot Leonard Wills entered the services of the United States under the following named officers & served as herein stated (to wit) That he entered the Service in Edgecombe County & State of North Carolina where he then resided as a volunteer under the command of Captain __ Horn for the term of three months & was afterwards discharged by said Horn. That from his present infirm ages he only recollects the names of his Captain Horn that the time he entered the service he thinks General Caswell commanded & he is pretty certain he was attached to Colonel Irvin Regiment & was in the battle, at the widow's Moore's Bridge, where we defeated McDaniel & McCloud which were Tories, the year he cannot recollect and was during this service in the State of North Carolina, and that he again entered the service as a drafted militia man in Captain John Shipp's Company in the same State & County for another term of three months ? marched, under General Green [sic, Nathanael Greene] & he thinks was attached to Colonel Linton's Regiment, ? into South Carolina but was not in the battle of the Eutaw Springs only on the march from there he marched to Deep River in North Carolina, taken sick and discharged at the hospital near Colonel Scurlock's in said State of North Carolina. Afterwards near the close of the war went out again a short time against Wallace [sic, Cornwallis] as he passed through North Carolina. That he recollects of no person living who can prove the services that he has no Documentary evidence by which he can prove his services nor does he know of any person now living who could establish the same. Grave marked 13 Nov 2021 by Captain John Collins Chapter GA SAR.