Verdal Wills

Quick Facts

Significance:

Mississippi Homesteader

Place of Birth:

Mississippi

Date of Birth:

November, 1841

Verdal (pronounced verDELL) Wills was born in Mississippi in November of 1841. As an enslaved person in the deep south, the hope of living as a free man who could provide for his own family must have been a remote dream. Although Verdal was born into slavery, he was part of the very unique generation of people who began their life enslaved, and found themselves navigating a new landscape after the Civil War – life as a freedman. Some freedmen stayed on with their enslaver as sharecroppers, but many took their chances trying to make it on their own. They persevered and successfully worked together to establish neighborhoods, communities, businesses, and small towns.

Verdal’s wife, Missouri, was born in Texas around 1841. Together they raised several children that were born in Mississippi. Through a combination of the 1870 and 1880 census records and oral family tradition, their household consisted of Ophelia Brantley (born around 1859), Freeman Deen (born around 1862), Langard Deen (born in 1863 and died in 1953), Harriett Columbia “Cloma” Wills (born around 1864), John “Wesley” Wills (born around 1868 and died around 1920), Nathan Wills (born around 1869), Y. Wills (born around 1876) and Tempie Cecelia Wills (born in 1879). 

By 1880, Verdal’s two oldest sons both changed their last name from Deen to Wills, and Langard changed his first name to Lincoln. Then around 1882, both Lincoln and Freeman relocated from Choctaw County, Mississippi to Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas. Lincoln Wills learned the importance land ownership from his father, Verdal. According to Caldwell County, Texas Court Records, Lincoln became a land owner on December 12, 1890, by purchasing Lot 6, Block 25 of the Byrd Lockhart League in Lockhart, Texas, for $100.00 from L.J. Storey. Lincoln passed his father’s value of land ownership on to his children, as evidenced by the fact that the Wills family has owned Lincoln’s property for more than 130 years, and continuously resided on it for over a hundred. Six of Lincoln’s nine children were long time property holders. His son, Freeman, built a home in Lockhart, Texas, which so far, has housed six generations of the Wills family. Even Lincoln’s daughters inherited their grandfather’s value of property ownership. Four out of five of them were able to purchase their own homes on a maid’s salary. Clearly, Verdal’s actions impacted future generations. 

Verdal’s determination to acquire land is consistent with the family motto, “Where There’s a Wills, There’s a Way”. The first documentation of Verdal’s lengthy homestead journey appears in homestead application #17025 dated November 30, 1886. Since 1873, Verdal and his family lived on his original 80-acre farm at the S ½ of the SE ¼ of Section 26, Township 18N, Range 9E which was adjacent to his future homestead.

Two witnesses, a 39-year-old Alex Beverly, and a 36-year-old neighbor, Andrew Miller, attested that Verdal had cleared twelve acres of timberland and cultivated it for three seasons. They valued the structures that Verdal built on the land - a dwelling, a stable, and a crib – at $100.00. An 1833 survey by Burwell T. Edrington, Deputy Surveyor, refers to the land as hilly, and timberland consisting of Pine and Oak. The soil on the southside of the property is referred to as “Sandy”, while the east property line is described as having an undergrowth of Black Jack (a type of small oak) brush.

In 1894, S.B Dobbs, Clerk of the Choctaw County Circuit Court, added a hand written note to the Homestead Application File stating that Verdal was “Ignorant of the law not knowing that it required six weeks publication” referring to the requirement to publish his intent to make final proof in support of his claim to the land for six successive weeks. Lem Seawright, Editor of the “Plain Dealer”, a weekly newspaper out of Ackerman, Mississippi, personally appeared at the courthouse with a copy of Verdal’s “Notice for Publication”. By proving that Verdal published his intent to claim the homestead in the Ackerman Plain Dealer for six successive weeks from November 24, 1893 – December 29, 1893, Verdal’s quest to obtain the homestead was back on track.   

On May, 11, 1895, Verdal Wills marked a legal document with the letter “X” and acquired a homestead (Homestead Certificate # 8948). The property was described as the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 26, Township 18 North, Range 9 East of the Choctaw Meridian in Mississippi. Verdal faced numerous challenges in meeting the requirements of the Homestead Act of 1862.  One example is cited in Verdal’s 1886 Adjoining Farm Homestead Application which states that he was unable to appear in the Jackson Land Office in person due to the “Distance and the want of money”. 

Verdal Wills lived to see a dream come true.  He became the owner of thirty-nine and ninety-three one hundredth of an acre homestead, which was adjacent to land he owned in or around the historical town of Kenago in Choctaw County, Mississippi. In one generation, Verdal successfully lead his family from slavery to freedom, establishing 120-acre farm and a new way of life for future generations of the Wills Family.

Patent Details - BLM GLO Records

~ Contributed by Luanne Wills-Merrell

Luanne Wills-Merrell
Photo Credit: L. Wills Merrell

More about the contributor:  Luanne Wills-Merrell is the great-great-granddaughter of Verdal Wills. As a young girl, Luanne was captivated by a Family Artifact in her father’s possession - Verdal’s Homestead Certificate. Her fascination with a piece of paper grew into a curiosity that could not be satisfied. After researching her family’s story for 50 years, Luanne was introduced to land records. The number of details that could be gleaned from the land patent application was amazing. For the first time, the Wills Family gained insight into the challenges that their ancestor had to overcome in his quest to obtain land. The biggest surprise in the application package was that Verdal had 80 acres in addition to, and adjacent to his homestead. The number of previously unknown details revealed in the application package motivated Luanne to make her first trip to Choctaw County, where she gained additional understanding from courthouse and library records. It is hoped that sharing Verdal’s story will encourage and inspire readers to persevere when faced with challenges.