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Elijah Willis

Birth
USA
Death
May 1855 (aged 57–58)
USA
Burial
Madisonville, Hamilton County, Ohio, USA Add to Map
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Elijah was a wealthy, white, plantation owner from what became Williston, S.C. who fell in love with his slave, Amy. He was an attentive father to their children and 3 children she had by a previous lover/slave. When Elijah knew he was not long for this world due to a bad heart he moved his little family, including Amy's mother, to Ohio to free them and also rewrote his will leaving Amy and all her children equal beneficiaries. Unfortunately Elijah died 15 minutes after stepping off the steamship leaving Amy alone to fight his relatives for her inheritance, which was, ironically, mostly the value of the slaves left behind, including a brother. The book, Fathers of Conscience, by Bernie Jones is one of several sources for more detail.
Elijah was buried in a "Negro" cemetery per newspaper articles written at the time and a S.C. Court of Equity case deposition. This cemetery, while there is no currently existing headstone nor written record of him being buried here, was the only "Negro" cemetery around at that time. It was founded in 1844.
Elijah was a wealthy, white, plantation owner from what became Williston, S.C. who fell in love with his slave, Amy. He was an attentive father to their children and 3 children she had by a previous lover/slave. When Elijah knew he was not long for this world due to a bad heart he moved his little family, including Amy's mother, to Ohio to free them and also rewrote his will leaving Amy and all her children equal beneficiaries. Unfortunately Elijah died 15 minutes after stepping off the steamship leaving Amy alone to fight his relatives for her inheritance, which was, ironically, mostly the value of the slaves left behind, including a brother. The book, Fathers of Conscience, by Bernie Jones is one of several sources for more detail.
Elijah was buried in a "Negro" cemetery per newspaper articles written at the time and a S.C. Court of Equity case deposition. This cemetery, while there is no currently existing headstone nor written record of him being buried here, was the only "Negro" cemetery around at that time. It was founded in 1844.

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