Willis Marshall Green (1752 - 1813)

Born 1752 in Fauquier County, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Reed) Green — married 1783 in Danville, Kentucky

Descendants

Died 1813 at about age 61 in Danville, Boyle, Kentucky, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Sjana Lee Bauer [send private message]

Biography

Second Lieutenant Willis Green served with Grayson's Additional Continental Regiment (1777), Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Willis Green is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A047482.

Native Virginian

Willis was a Virginia native and came to Kentucky to secure land warrants for other people. He bought several thousand acres and built one of the first brick buildings in Kentucky around 1797. He named his home, Waveland.

Many records and biographies of Danville, Kentucky, show that Willis Green and Sarah Ann (Reed) Green were the first recorded marriage in Danville, Kentucky.

Military & Political Service

Green, Willis is DAR Patriot A047482

Service: Virginia Rank: 2nd Lieutenant

Birth: 1752 Fauquier County, Virginia

Death: 1813 Lincoln County, Kentucky

Service Source: Heitman, History Reg of Officers of the Continental Army during the Revolution 1775-1783, P 260

Service Description: 1) also Ensign, Grayson's Additional Cont. Reg`t.

Wife: Sarah Reed

Child/Child : Elisa m. Benjamin Franklin Edwards.

We know from an actual marriage certificate bond signed by Willis Green, that he was the Lincoln County Clerk in Kentucky. Willis also served on the First Kentucky Convention Dec. 27, 1784 – Jan. 5, 1785. [First Kentucky Convention]

Research Notes

It is believed that Willis also served in the Second Kentucky Convention, but no proofs can be found at this time. slb

Please note that the photograph in uploaded image of the Newspaper article entitled: Pioneer Willis Green Came To Kentucky in 1778, that has a picture listed of Willis Green, is NOT Willis Green. It is a very well documented picture of his son, Lewis Warner Green D.D. (1806-1863). slb

In addition, I have seen one unofficial biography that stated Willis Green had a first wife. However, I could not find any source or proof for this. Perhaps the confusion was with the Green family of Rough Ridge, Kentucky. Every source and official document I've located shows and verifies, due to Willis' date of birth and death and his wife/children's dates of birth's and deaths, that he was married only once. There are at 3 Green Families of Virginia that have merged different Green families together incorrectly without sources. (not sure who wrote this portion, but putting it under research notes.)

We know there are at least two (2) different families that existed close to the same time, and in the same vicinity, with similar names. One of the families lived in Danville, Kentucky and one lived in Rough River, Kentucky. They were not the same person, they were not father and son. If there was any relationship at all, it was very distant.

This family line is of the Greens of Danville, Kentucky.

Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Boyle and Lincoln counties.

I've included some information from a Newspaper I have discovered from The Advocate, Danville, Kentucky, 1903 (Kentucky Advocate Danville, Kentucky 06 Jul 1903, Mon • Page 4)

Some of the information is very interesting, and that is why I wanted it to be included, but other information is contradictory to other information which has since has been proven with sources. I felt that information had value and and that is why I whished to include it here.

Sources

• [Historical Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky, by Collins Volume 2 page 87]
• [The Memoir of the life and character of Rev. Lewis Warner Green]
• "Kentucky Explorer" Volume 32, Number 10, April 2018, page 66 "Colonial Families of the Southern States of America" by Stella Pickett Hardey.
• [Kentucky Kindred Genealogy]
• [Brief History of Danville]
• [The Advocate-Messenger 15 June 201Brenda S. Edwards]
• [Kentucky Convention]
• [House With A Story to Tell: The Willis Green House]
• [Willis Green Newspaper Article]
• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed Date the record was accessed 7 Jan 2023), "Record of Willis Green", Ancestor # A047482.
• Service Record of Willis Green