D. W. Wills, clerk and master in chancery, was born in this county March 11, 1835, the son of John D. and Mary D. (Neel) Wills, the former born in this county December 28, 1808, the son of Peter, a native of Virginia, who came to this county about 1799. He was a large land owner and farmer. The father, a successful farmer also, died December 17, 1856. The mother was born near Abingdon, Va., about 1811, the daughter of Bartholomew Neel, and was a Methodist, as was her father. Our subject grew up with rural advantages, and farmed up to the war. In 1865 he became deputy sheriff for eight years and in August, 1882, became magistrate, and in September, 1885, was appointed to his present position by Chancellor St. John. In October, 1853, he married Mary, a daughter of Samuel Cress, who died in January, 1873, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had six children. Nancy, a daughter of Moore Robinson, became his wife October 17, 17, 1875. One of their three children is deceased. His wife is a Baptist.

Transcribed from Godspeed’s History of TN (1896)