The Name “Willis” Over Generations: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Popular Name”

Willis: A Name Carries on Over Four Generations

1.  1.      Willis Smith: 1811-1811
2.      Willis D Smith: 1853-1928—Nephew of #1
3.      Willis Eugene Smith: 1888-1973---Son of #2
4.      Willis Smith Sears: 1873-1963---Nephew of #2 by Willis D.’s sister Sarah Smith Sears
5.      Willis Weir Streets: 1892-1940---Nephew of #2 by Willis D.’s sister Cordelia Smith Streets
6.      Howard Willis Streets: 1917-1962---Son of #5, Willis Weir Streets
7.      James Willis Streets: 1934-2018—Son of #5, Willis Weir Streets
8.      Willis Joel Cox: 1906-2002---Grandson of #2, child of Willis D.’s daughter Alma Smith Cox
9.      James Willis Smith: 1928-1935---Grandson of #2, child of Willis D.’s son Eldred Paschal Smith

As I researched the Smith family line, I noticed that the first name Willis appeared in several different generations of the family. I was curious about the name, and decided to see if I could find the “original” Willis. I tracked back along four generations of the Smith family, and hit a brick wall with Willis P. Smith’s grandfather, Elias Guess Smith. Was the name originally one given to Elias Guess’ sibling? Or an uncle? Was it an old surname? Or was it just a name selected at random? At the moment I have hit a brick wall in my research—I can’t definitively identify Elias Guess Smith’s parents, so can’t look at any earlier generations for an earlier appearance of the name—but I have managed to locate an amazing nine individuals named Willis descended from Elias Guess Smith.

The earliest use of the name I have found so far was in 1811. Elias Guess Smith and his wife Hannah Vaught had a son, Willis Smith, supposedly born on February 3, 1811. Willis does not show up on any Ancestry records, but I discovered him on Family Search. Apparently, a family member in Kentucky inherited the Smith family Bible, which contained the birth dates of all of Elias Guess Smith’s children, including little Willis, and this information was entered in FamilySearch records. According to that Bible, Willis died before his first birthday.

Elias Guess Smith painting from Family Search--see citation below.

There is one small problem with this birthdate for little Willis. His brother, Elijah F. Smith (2^nd Great-Grandfather), was born a scant six months later, on August 4, 1811. I have been unable to find any official record of Elijah’s birth either, but he used that birth date throughout his life and it is even carved into his headstone. Was Willis actually born a year earlier in 1810?

However the conflicting birth dates are eventually resolved, Elijah decided to honor his lost brother by naming his third son Willis D. Smith (Great-grandfather), born February 1, 1853. Willis D. continued the tradition by naming his fourth son Willis Eugene Smith, born January 22, 1888.

While Willis Eugene had no sons to carry on the name, his sister Alma Smith Cox named her son, born in 1906, Willis Joel Cox. Willis Eugene's younger brother Eldred Paschal Smith also named one of his sons, born in 1928, James Willis Smith.

Two of Willis D. Smith’s siblings also named their sons Willis. Sarah Smith Sears named her eldest son, born in 1873, Willis Smith Sears. And the youngest of Elijah Smith’s daughters, Cornelia Smith Streets, named her eldest son, born February 21, 1892, Willis Weir Streets. In turn, Willis Weir used Willis as his eldest son’s middle name; Howard Willis Streets was born October 8, 1917.

Willis Weir Smith (first cousin twice-removed) had a tragic early death that is worth exploring. He married a young woman named Frankie Marguerite Shacklett and by age 25 was working as an assistant baker for the S. A. Sears Baking Co. 

Willis Weir and Frankie Marguerite Streets

However, by the 1920 census, Willis had become a coal miner. He continued to work in the coal mines over the next twenty years, eventually becoming a “shotfirer” by the time of the 1940 census. The job is described as follows by a website dealing with the history of Perryopolis, Pennsylvania.

“Shot Firers, the men who drilled holes in the coal face and inserted tubes filled with black powder, then set off explosions to loosen the coal. This was one of the most dangerous jobs in the mine. The mere proximity of the miner’s oil lamp to the black powder was sufficient to ensure that. Then there was the danger of a premature detonation.”

Shot Firer planting black powder tube

Willis Weir’s first wife Frankie died in 1930. The couple had three children, including Howard Willis. Their third child died in infancy. Willis remarried a couple years later to a woman named Della Mae Stewart. They had a child April 2, 1934, who Willis named James Willis Streets.

Given the hazards of Willis Weir Streets’ job, it is probably no surprise that he lost his life in a mining accident. His obituary reads as follows:

“Willis Weir Streets, 48 years of age, a former resident of the Drakesboro and Paradise section, was killed at the Edd White mines in West Virginia, September 21, (1940). Just as Mr. Streets and his partner were entering the mouth of a room with their timbers, tons of slate fell upon them crushing them both to death instantly. Mr. Streets' remains were brought back to Kentucky for burial. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Ollie Weir of Livermore, at the Mt. Carmel church, and interment was in the Weir Cemetery. Mr. Streets is survived by his wife and three children by a former marriage, Howard, Marguerite and James Willis; two brothers, John Streets, Drakesboro, and Owens Streets, Indianapolis, IN; and two sisters, Mrs. Nellie Buchanan, Paradise, and Mrs. Effie Lynn Soby, Seattle, WA; and his father, Pat Streets of Drakesboro.”

Coal mining photo which gives an idea of the amount of rock that fell on Willis

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Willis Wier Streets’ death is a reminder of the grim toll coal mining exacted in Kentucky, West Virginia and other coal-rich states. Mining accidents were far too common. I have been unable to find a single newspaper article about the collapse at the Edd White mine that killed Willis—I suspect the death toll was too small to be newsworthy.

Willis Weir Streets' headstone from Findagrave

While the name “Willis” may not be very common today, it was certainly popular among the descendants of Elias Guess Smith, and was passed down through four generations to nine individuals. Family names like this are a special treasure.

 

Sources:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L5BY-HC1   Birth and death dates are recorded in the “Old Smith Bible” in possession of Mrs. Hattie Brown, of Island, Kentucky (a great granddaughter of Elias and Hannah).

Painting of Elias Guess Smith, posted to Family Search by Garry Eugene Barnes. Provenance unknown. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/L5BY-HC1

Information on Shotfirers from “Coal Mining” article on the following website: http://www.perryopolis.com/coal.shtml

Coal mining photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.