Much of this information was provided to me by Stephanie C.. Please send her an e-mail if you have any additions/ corrections/ questions regarding this page.



John Wills was the father of:

1. George Wills (see below)
2. Moses Wills (b. 1815)
3. William S. Wills (b. 1816). He was the father of
   • Phoebe Ann Wills, married a member of the McCambridge family

Mary Dillet was born Aug 28 1809 somewhere in New Jersey. She died Feb 19, 1895. She married George Wills. George was born Aug 2, 1808 in NJ, and died 21 Jul 1884. They were married around 1832. George was the innkeeper at the Buttonwood Hill Tavern, which is supposed to have been in the village of Crowleytown, according to the book Heart of the Pines. Mary may be related to the Dellett family buried in St. Mary's Cemetery. That was a Catholic family, and it may be that George fell from grace with his family when he married Mary, as his was probably a Quaker family.

The children of George Wills and Mary Dillet were:

1. William Hy Wills, born October 1833. As of 1880, his occupation was that of a "peddler of tinware". He was married to a woman named Phoebe about 1860. Phoebe was born about 1841. Their children were:
   • Mary Wills, b.abt 1861
   • James Wills, b. abt 1863
   • Eliza J. Wills, b. abt 1865
   • Ella Wills, b. abt 1866
   • William H. Wills II, b. abt 1874
2. Aaron Wills, born in 1834. He appears last on the 1850 census, at the age of 16; just when he died or where he went is not certain.
3. George C. Wills, born about June 1836. As of 1880, he was employed as a farm laborer and married to a woman named Margaret, whom he married about 1837. She died sometime after 1907. Their children were:
   • Anna Wills, b. abt 1868
   • Mary Wills, b. abt 1871
   • Theodore Wills, b. abt 1872.
   • Margaret L. Wills, b. abt 1874.
   • Rena Wills, b. abt 1876
   • James Wills, b. abt 1878.
4. James Wills, born Sep 1838. He was married to a Mary E., who was born about 1848. They were married around 1865. Their children were:
   • Alfred Wills, b. July 1866 in Shamong Township. Died sometime after 1900, when he still appeared on the Shamong Township census.
   • James Wills, jr. born Mar 1868. He too was still in Shamong in 1900.
5. Moses Wills, born about June 1840. He died sometime after 1880, when he listed his occupation as 'farmer' on the Federal census. His wife was a woman named Ellen N., whom he married about 1876. She was born probably in 1853. They were the parents of:
   • Harry Wills, b. 1877.
6. Mary Ann Wills, born Jan 1842. AS of her last entry on the Federal census in 1900, she was still single.
7. Amos Wills, born about September 1843. His 1880 census entry says he was a farmer. His wife, Mary, was born about 1848. They were married around 1867. It is possible his wife's family name was 'Pepper.' Their children were:
   • Rosanna Wills, b. abt 1868
   • Amos Wills, b. abt 1871
   • Martha J. Wills, b. abt 1873
   • Susan A. Wills, b. abt 1875
   • John L. Wills, b. abt 1877
   • Mary Wills, b. abt 1878
8. John Wills, born July 1848, died sometime after 1880. In 1880 he was employed as a farm laborer. His wife was named Hannah; she was born in August 1845 and married around 1875. Their children were:
   • Ella V. Wills, b. abt 1874
   • John Wills, b. abt 1878
9. Martha Jane Wills, born about 1846 in Shamong Township, Burlington Co. She died 13 Jul 1887 in Lakeland, FL. Martha was married to Malcolm Laurence McMullen, who was born in Brooks Co., Georgia on 20 Jun 1840. They were married in Shamong Township in 1866. Malcolm died on 20 Aug 1909 in Hillsborough, FL. He is buried in the McMullen Cemetery in Clearwater, FL. Malcolm served in the Civil War. He was wounded and captured at Gettysburg and subsequently released from Fort Delaware at the end of the war. He made his way across the Pine Barrens to the ocean to "get rid of the prison lice" as he put it. He probably met and married Mary Jane on that trip. Their eldest child was born in Shamong in Sep 1867. Malcolm was the youngest of seven brothers, all of whom came to Central Florida from Georgia between 1840 and 1870; by 1880 he had brought Martha Jane and their three daughters to the Tampa area (Hillsborough). By 1885 they were in Lakeland, in Polk County, where they had two sons. Their last child, Harry, was born in Dec 1886; Martha died in July of the following year. Their children were as follows:
   • Mary Rebecca McMullen, b. 4 Sep 1867, Shamong Township, d. 27 Nov 1960, Lakeland, FL. She married John Quincy Adams. He was born 7 Dec 1861 in S.C., and died in 1919 in Lakeland, FL. He received a land grant from President Benjamin Harrison for 160 acres on the North side of Lakeland. In 1890 he ran a livery stable on Pine Street in Lakeland.
   • James Laurence McMullen (1869-1875).
   • Martha Larome McMullen, b. 13 Jan 1872? (Her death certificate reads 1878). She died Mar 18, 1931 in Lakeland, FL. She wa a hotel proprietress or manager and was married to Robert W. Hardaker (b. Oct 1872 in England, immigrated about 1885, d. 1915).
   • Wills McMullen, b. 1875, died in infancy.
   • Eva Jane McMullen b. 1878. She died sometime between Nov 1899 and Jun 1900, in either FL or GA. She was married to Charles Wesley Fox, b. Sep 1875 in NY.
   • Clifford McMullen, b. Apr 1881 in FL and died about 1947, in Texas? He was married to Leatha Curry (1875-1951).
   • James Malcolm McMullen, b. Mar 1833, d. aft 1900.
   • Harry McMullen, b. Dec 1886, FL, d. about 1957. He was married to Bessie Graves (1893-1925).

1. Zebedee Wills deeded the Mount Tavern site to Jonathan Cramer on 27 Mar 1839 for $900. (Cramer is the one who built the Tavern). The site was on the Tuckerton Road between Washington and Quaker Bridge.
2. There is a single grave near the site of the Eagle Hotel with the name of Charles Wills, who died as a child in 1850. There used to a cemetery nearby, but a fire destroyed the headstones, which the state replaced with wooden markers which subsequently rotted away. This was somewhere near Lowerbank. (several photos can be seen below)
3. A Robbie Wills lived in the Tavern building; he was born in 1891.
4. In the village of Friendship lived Joseph Evans and Lydia E. Wills, daughter of Henry and Lydia Wills. Henry owned 1200 acres in partnership with his brothers, Joseph and John. Joseph Evans and his wife's brother, Joshua Wills, started cultivating the cranberries that grew wild in the area. They built several bogs, a packing house, school and a store. Joseph died in 1909, and Joshua continued to produce cranberries and died in 1934. (according to "Heart of the Pines").

Below are several photographs of the grave of Charles Wills, mentioned above. He is the son of George Wills and Mary Dellet, mentioned above. (The stone clearly says that those are his parents; why Tabernacle Township erected a sign beside it implying his parents were unknown is somewhat unclear to me).
Thanks to Eugene for providing the pics.