Location of William Willis Sr 1717-1782 Land Grants

The first evidence of the appearance of Willis from Dorchester County, Maryland in North Carolina was a 1764 land grant to William Willis Sr in Mecklenburg County.  This land became located in Tryon County in 1769 and then Rutherford County in 1779.   

The Survey indicates:

North Carolina.  Mecklenburgh County.  Survery for Wm. Willis.  ? ? Plan of 300 acres of Land in said County on both sides of Little Broad River,  below Peter Duncan's Land,  Beg. at White Oak and Running S.17.8.60 poles to a Post then S.73.W.300 Poles to a stake, then N.17.W.160 poles to Post and thence N.73.8.300 poles to the beginning.  By Hugh Beatey & ?

The chain bearers indicated on this grant were Jacob Willis and Wm. Huddlestone. 

In researching this grant,  I came across a rough drawing of the various farms located off Ward's Creek,  a branch off of The Little Broad River.  And there was a list of the land owners and details of their grants.  The first farm was that of Peter Duncan,  the farm referenced in the land grant of William Willis.  So,  the drawing and descriptions were of the neighboring farms and neighbors of William Willis.   The 300 acre William Willis farm is located just south of farm 1,2 in this drawing (click on it to enlarge to screen):

And the description of the neighboring families and the details of their grants:

Of note is the farm of Benjamin Brackett,  #6 in the drawing.  Benjamin Brackett was a witness on the 1782 WILL of William Willis Sr.

Also of note is the chain bearer,  Henry Willis,  on farm #2,  for the Thomas Black land grant.  We have not yet determined their relationship,  but we believe Henry and William were related somehow.  Gary N Willis has done detailed research of the early roots of The Dorchester Co,  Willis family.  Henry was a common name used in the family,  but there is no evidence yet of him being a brother to William.  More likely,  Henry was a first cousin.   Both Henry and William serve on a Road Committee in 1769 Tryon County court records.  Then in 1770,  Henry's widow appears in court to settle his estate.  At the time of his death,  Henry was in the process of filing for a land grant for 200 acres of land neighboring the land of William Willis Sr.   William stepped in and appears on the deed of this 200 acres,  along with Henry's widow,  Margaret.   The land clearly belongs to Margaret though.  She is listed first on the deed.   There is reference in the deed description to "her improvements there on",  and future,  neighboring land transactions indicate neighboring the land of Margaret Willis.   William's appearance on this deed lends credence to his close family relationship to this Henry.

Also of interest is Thomas Black,  the neighbor.  Jacob Willis 1780-1828, one of William Sr's grandsons, marries Lydia Black.  Its logical to assume that Lydia is somehow related to Thomas.   In addition,  we see an Ephrim Black referenced in a number of future land transactions involving various Willis family members.  In one transaction,  Ephrim is selling land indicated to have been received through heirship.  We then assume we was a son of Thomas and received a portion,  if not all of the land of Thomas Black,  an immediate neighbor of William Willis Sr. 

Also of interest are the Goins family.  One early grant of farm #7,  refers to this owner as McGowing,  which later transitions to Goins.  And, in farm #9,  we see that a chain bearer is William Goins.  In a number of affidavits in the early 1900s by great grand children of William Sr,  we learn that the Goins and Booth families came together from Pennsylvania to settle in Rutherford County.   We also learn that the mother of Lydia Black was Rachel Booth,  born about 1750 in Pennsylvania,  of the family closely connected to this Goins family.