William Wills Cemetery


The information on this page was provided by Edith Suttle

The William Wills Cemetery is about a mile east of the Village of Means in Menifee County, and a quarter mile north of US 460. It sits on the site of the Old Traveller's Rest Stage Stop, which was owned and operated by James Wills(1801-1879). While there are several other families represented, there are more Willses than any other surname in the cemetery.

The cemetery is 100 by 130 feet and fronts on an abandoned country road. The cemetery stones were read and recorded by Julian Wills and Landon Wills on 15 October 1986. This followed a comprehensive cleaning on the same day, which uncovered some stone not previously recorded.

Readable inscriptions yielded 49 names. There were 37 fieldstones which appeared to indicate graves. Judging from appearances, there may be 30 to 50 unmarked graves. Thus there may be 100 or more persons buried there.

The William Wills Cemetery was read and recorded again on 19 August 1995 by Edith Suttle and Linda Waldron.


The following are the headstones located in the William Wills Graveyard:
Text on Stone Location / Notes
WILLIAM WILLS
Contenintal Line
Revolutionary War
4-16-1765 8-10-1834
MOLLIE WILLS died March 8, 1837
5th Great Grandfather of Edith Suttle - Mollie Wills, wife of William Wills is Mary Ballard, daughter of Thomas Ballard
D.C. Next to William
DIRRETT WILLS
Born March 08, 1825
Died December 26, 1848
Foot Stone DW
WILLIAM L. ROTHWELL
Born October 04, 1829
Died July 19, 1899
AGNIS ROTHWELL
Born October 17, 1831
Agnis Rothwell and her husband William are on the same stone
ALICE
wife of J.C. WILLS
Born May 28, 1856
Died August 13, 1901
J.C.WILLS
JOHN S. STEPHENS
Born October 07, 1845
Died March 27, 1878
JEHU S. STEPHENS
Born March 27, 1819
Died September 30, 1863
The innocent murdered, Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sorely vexed, Let them return and be ashamed suddenly
POLLY A
Wife of JEHU S. STEPHENS
January 25,1823
January 02,1906
Polly A. Stephens was the daughter of James and Aletha (Anderson) Wills who are also buried in this cemetery. The headstone of Polly A is carved with ivy on the sides and a lily is carved on the top. (A beautiful headstone.) Next to the unmarked grave on the right of Polly A are two graves with no markers.
JULIE ANN
Wife of Martin Stone and daughter of James Alexander
Born November 25, 1821
Died March 17, 1892
MARTHA ALEXANDER
Born 1794
Died November 29, 1883
ALICE DAY
Born July 05, 1826
Died July 29, 1883
JOHN HAMILTON
Born September 09, 1885
Died May 30, 1902
ALICE SAMPLE
Born August 1879
Died May 26, 1904
LILLIAM HAMILTON
Born June 05, 1901
Died October 23, 1906
WILL CORNWELL
Born July 12, 1834
Died January 30, 1897
The faithful are certian of their reward Foot Stone WC
JANE CORNWELL
Born December 22, 1841
Died August 06, 1919
Resting in hope of a glorious resurection
SAMUEL M. AMYX
Born October 31, 1867
Died March 24, 1903
NANNIE MCILVANE
Wife of R.L. McIlvane
Eternal Life
ANDREW WILLS
Born 08-04-1829
Died 04-21-1863
3rd Great Grandfather of Edith Suttle. The wife of Andrew Wills was Mahala (Howard) Wills she is buried at Battle Grove Cemetery, Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky
R.M.W. next to William
J.H.W.
Born 08-28-1818
Died 05-19-1863
in front of William -- This stone is hard to read and over half of it had sunk into the ground, most of it was cleared away to read the dates. The dates were hand carved into this creek stone.
AMERICA CUNNING
Born 01-14-1872
Died 08-14-1900
This stone was lying face down in the ground and was covered by ivy, the stone was righted and laid against its base. There was an unmarked stone next to it.
GEORGE WILLS
SON OF NIMROD AND LETTA
Age 2 years
This stone had no dates listed.
MARY B
Wife of J.F. Osborne
Born September 17, 1861
Died October 12, 1884
Foot Stone MBO
NIMROD WILLS
Home made stone
NIMROD A WILLS
Born December 10, 1820
Died June 9, 1909
Ex-Confederate "In my Father's house are many mansions" Nimrod's first wife Lettie Stephens is buried at The Old Cemetery in Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky
CATHARINE WILLS
Born May 22, 1845
Nimrod and Catharine are on the same stone. Foot Stone NAW
RETTA MAY WILLS
Born August 03, 1886
Died February 26, 1887
Daughter of Nimrod A. and Catherine Wills
ED WILLS
January 24, 1881
RINA, his wife
Born October 18, 1881
Died August 07, 1912
VERLA G or C WILLS
Wife of James Tabor
Born September 02, 1892
Died September 13, 1922
The grave site of James Tabor is located in the Morris or Morrison Cemetery approx. one mile down on Rt.460 on the left hand side past the Cromwell Church.
W.C. This is a single stone next to America Cunning.
MATTIE R
Wife of Charles W Helwig
Born 05-04-1868
Died 07-04-1907
JOHN ROTHWELL
Born November 26, 1878
Died September 21, 1958
JAMES W. ROTHWELL
Born June 17, 1854
Died August 15, 1879
JOHN W. ROTHWELL
Born January 13, 1857
Died January 28, 1859
WILLIAM WILLS
Born 07-08-1827
Died 08-30-1829
On two stones in front of this William Wills there is a larger stone that says: Infant Twins of James and Aleatha Wills, Died 05-07-1836

The following headstone is a four-sided stone in the shape of the Washington Monument and listed on each side are the following people:

JAMES WILLS (4th Great Grandfather of Edith Suttle)
Born 02-15-1801
Was married to Aleatha Anderson 12-08-1819
Died 02-12-1879
JAMES THORNTON WILLS
Born 08-28-1846
Died 05-18-1863
ALEATHA WILLS
Born 04-10-1808 or 03
Died 09-28-1884
AMANDA JANE WILLS
Born 03-08-1849
Died 09-05-1854

This page was updated on 22 February 2005 by Edith Suttle

Return to: Menifee County

Copyright (c) 1998 -2000Jennifer Gross / MenifeeKY@aol.com