The first well-documented ancestor of the Wills family of Charles County MD is John B. Wills, Sr. who was born c. 1740 and to whom all of the local 19th century white descendants of this name can be traced.
Before him the name is scarcely attested in Southern Maryland and it seems hardly a coincidence that it those earlier attestations are mostly in the area around Port Tobacco where John B. Wills lived. There we find at least 2 earlier generations of people named William Wills that lived near Port Tobacco on or near the property of the Greens, Roziers, and Hansons. There are also a few earlier references to a Thomas Wills and a William Wills in St. Mary’s County in the 1600s, in documents concerning the Greens and Benjamin Rozier, and it is possible (but probably impossible to prove) that the Wills family of Charles County is descended from them.
Since John Baptist Wills, Sr. married an heiress of Green property, since the Wills name is not common, and since JBW and most of his children named children “William”, there is circumstantial reason to assume JBW was the son or grandson of one of these William Wills. Unfortunately, there also seems to have been at least one William Wells in Charles County and separating them in the records is not easy. The relative lack of mention in public documents, deeds, and testaments over the course of several generations suggests that these William Wills were not particularly prosperous or blessed with large families. In particular, it is strange that there is no testamentary record for the father of JBW. An explanation would be that his father was the Justinian Wills who moved to Caroline County, Virginia and died there in 1756/57 (see the Virginia Branch below).
Ongoing research on the maternal lines of John B. Wills is exploring the source of his given name “John Baptist”. This name is not common in the English world, and there is every reason to assume that it comes into Southern Maryland from a French immigrant or an Irish one. Unfortunately by the mid-1700’s there are several scattered families in the area using this given name and no clear track yet of an available daughter who might have married into the Wills family.
The religion of the Wills progenitors before John B. Wills, Sr. is not known, but his wife was Catholic and his given name “John Baptist” (rare in England) suggests at least one of his parents had French or Irish ancestry which would have been Catholic. Unfortunately the colonial Catholic parish records of Charles County are not extant.
VIRGINIA BRANCH: Justinian Wills (1735-c.1805) of Caroline County and then Bedford County, Virginia, had four sons, three of whom have names identical with the children of John B. Wills, Sr. of Port Tobacco: William, John B., Ignatius. In particular, Ignatius is a very rare name outside of the Jesuit missions. Likewise, it can hardly be a coincidence that Justinian (an unusual name in Southern Maryland) was the given name of two of John B. Wills, Sr.’s grandchildren. The age of Justinian Wills (b. 1735) makes it likely that he was the brother or cousin of John B. Wills (b. c. 1740) of Port Tobacco.
The loss of most Caroline County courthouse records makes Justinian hard to track, but it seems that there are two Justinian Wills mentioned in the 1756 to 1758 time frame. One of the two died in late 1756 or early 1757 according to Caroline County Order Books. We can assume that the elder Justinian Wills (d. 1756/57) was the father of Justinian Wills (1735-c.1805) and thus the father or uncle of John B. Wills, Sr. of Port Tobacco. But other than the identical names on both sides of the Potomac there is no documentary evidence yet to demonstrate a connection. Hopefully, DNA evidence will clarify the matter.
By the mid-1700s, numerous young men or even families moved westward from Tidewater Virginia and Maryland, seeking new and better land —Justinian was one of those settlers who went to Bedford County, and his numerous descendants can be found in Kentucky or West Virginia.
PLACE OF ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The evidence suggests the Wills family was already in Charles County or St. Mary’s County in the 1600’s. There is no evidence yet to connect these William Wills with any persons or places in England or any 17th century settlers by the name of Wills in Virginia.
UNRELATED: There is clearly no relationship between the Wills family of Southern Maryland and the benefactor of the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia—the benefactor’s father James Wills was born in England in 1760 and came to America many years after the ancestor of the Wills of Southern Maryland. Likewise there is no connection with the Scotch-Irish Wills families which settled in Chester and Cumberland Counties PA in the 1730’s and thereafter. Even those by the name of Wills in Baltimore or other parts of Maryland around 1800 generally have documented immigration patterns that make a connection to the Wills family of Charles County unlikely.
WELLS: The name Wills is often confused with Wells by transcribers and all mentions of otherwise unattached persons should be checked in the original documents and confirmed by another related document if possible.