[stevenseeks]

Could someone please tell me where the 'Wills" in Wills Valley came from was it a Family by that name ?
Thanks

[Charles]

Originally Posted by stevenseeks

Could someone please tell me where the 'Wills" in Wills Valley came from was it a Family by that name ?
Thanks

"Wills Valley is associated with some of the earliest historical events in northern Alabama
Will's Town a famous Indian trading post named for Red Headed Will a half breed Cherokee chief was founded about 1770 on Big Wills Creek just above the present village of Lebanon and was a place of importance in Cherokee history"

from

History of Alabama and Dictionary of ... - Google Book Search

WILLS VALLEY The double valley separating Raccoon Mountain on the northwest from Lookout and Chandler Mountains on the southeast It consists of two parts one called Big Wills Valley which is much the larger and includes all the valley drained by Big Wills Creek the other called Little Wills Valley being that part between East Red Mountain and Lookout Mountain drained by Little Wills Creek Together the valleys extend from the Georgia line southwestward through Dels il l and Etowah Counties for a distance of about 70 miles and have an average width of nearly 5 miles making their combined area approximately 350 square miles The central portion of Wills Valley is composed of a broken belt of cherty hills and ridges Its geological formations are the lower Silurian Pelham Trenton limestones and siliceous Knox dolomite and chert the Devonian black shale the lower Subcar boniferous Fort Payne chert and the upper Subcarboniferous Bangor limestones ana Hartselle sandstones The principal farm lands of the valley are along Big and Little Wills Creeks Besides red iron ore there are pottery and fire brick clays building stones both limestone and sandstone and numerous mineral springs Alabama White Sulphur Springs a popular summer resort is in the valley situated in a gap of West Red Mountain

Wills Valley is associated with some of the earliest historical events in northern Alabama Will's Town a famous Indian trading post named for Red Headed Will a half breed Cherokee chief was founded about 1770 on Big Wills Creek just above the present village of Lebanon and was a place of importance in Cherokee history Here Col Alexander Campbell British Agent for the Cherokees resided before and during the Revolution One of the earliest railroads projected in the State traversed practically the entire length of the valley It was called the North east & South west Railroad and was the nucleus of the Alabama & Chattanooga Railway now a part of the Alabama Great Southern

REFERENCES McCalley Valley regions of Alabama pt 1 Coosa Valley Geol Survey of Ala Special report 9 1897 pp 9 10 29 115 Alabama History Commission Report 1901 vol 1 p 420 Pickett History of Alabama Owen's ed 1900 pp 146 415 436 <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=r0kUAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA1407&ots=FvHsOzSplt&dq =%22Wills%20Valley%22%20named%20history&pg=PA1407& ci=64,360,360,789&source=bookclip">History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen</a>

[stevenseeks]

Originally Posted by Charles

"Wills Valley is associated with some of the earliest historical events in northern Alabama
Will's Town a famous Indian trading post named for Red Headed Will a half breed Cherokee chief was founded about 1770 on Big Wills Creek just above the present village of Lebanon and was a place of importance in Cherokee history"

from

History of Alabama and Dictionary of ... - Google Book Search

WILLS VALLEY The double valley separating Raccoon Mountain on the northwest from Lookout and Chandler Mountains on the southeast It consists of two parts one called Big Wills Valley which is much the larger and includes all the valley drained by Big Wills Creek the other called Little Wills Valley being that part between East Red Mountain and Lookout Mountain drained by Little Wills Creek Together the valleys extend from the Georgia line southwestward through Dels il l and Etowah Counties for a distance of about 70 miles and have an average width of nearly 5 miles making their combined area approximately 350 square miles The central portion of Wills Valley is composed of a broken belt of cherty hills and ridges Its geological formations are the lower Silurian Pelham Trenton limestones and siliceous Knox dolomite and chert the Devonian black shale the lower Subcar boniferous Fort Payne chert and the upper Subcarboniferous Bangor limestones ana Hartselle sandstones The principal farm lands of the valley are along Big and Little Wills Creeks Besides red iron ore there are pottery and fire brick clays building stones both limestone and sandstone and numerous mineral springs Alabama White Sulphur Springs a popular summer resort is in the valley situated in a gap of West Red Mountain

Wills Valley is associated with some of the earliest historical events in northern Alabama Will's Town a famous Indian trading post named for Red Headed Will a half breed Cherokee chief was founded about 1770 on Big Wills Creek just above the present village of Lebanon and was a place of importance in Cherokee history Here Col Alexander Campbell British Agent for the Cherokees resided before and during the Revolution One of the earliest railroads projected in the State traversed practically the entire length of the valley It was called the North east & South west Railroad and was the nucleus of the Alabama & Chattanooga Railway now a part of the Alabama Great Southern

REFERENCES McCalley Valley regions of Alabama pt 1 Coosa Valley Geol Survey of Ala Special report 9 1897 pp 9 10 29 115 Alabama History Commission Report 1901 vol 1 p 420 Pickett History of Alabama Owen's ed 1900 pp 146 415 436 <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=r0kUAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA1407&ots=FvHsOzSplt&dq =%22Wills%20Valley%22%20named%20history&pg=PA1407& ci=64,360,360,789&source=bookclip">History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen</a>

So youre saying a man half Cherokee had red hair,and though know one seems to know where he is buried or whom his relatives in this neck of the woods were ,and perhaps still are is the reason for creeks,bridges,valleys,churches,etc getting to be called "Wills"?

Hmmm

[Charles]

Originally Posted by stevenseeks

So youre saying a man half Cherokee had red hair,and though know one seems to know where he is buried or whom his relatives in this neck of the woods were ,and perhaps still are is the reason for creeks,bridges,valleys,churches,etc getting to be called "Wills"?

Hmmm

Yes, And all I did was plug in Wills Valley history into google.

Did you try that?

[stevenseeks]

Originally Posted by Charles

Yes, And all I did was plug in Wills Valley history into google.

Did you try that?

Have you ever noticed the many people in that area a few still alive,and others in the old cemetaries by the name 'Wills' and wondered hmmmm?