My Genealogy Hound

W. L. Mills, a prominent farmer in Jefferson Township, was born February 15, 1816, in Wayne County, Ky., moved to Monroe County, Mo., in 1827, and to what is now Scotland County in May, 1836, settling six miles northeast of Memphis. He began life a poor boy of sixteen years, and is a self-made man. He owns a nicely improved farm two miles south of Memphis, where he resides. This farm contains 195 acres, and he also has 160 acres in another tract. He was married, August 7, 1851, to Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Smith, formerly Johnson. To them eight children have been born: Joseph H., Benjamen F., Ada and James A. (deceased), Caleb F. (deceased), Doci M. (deceased), Charles S. (deceased) and Alice Josephine (deceased). Mr. and Mrs. Mills are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Mills is a Democrat, although in early life he was a Whig. He is an Odd Fellow, and served in the Missouri State Militia, Company I, during the late war. He was the fifth of seven children of Caleb W. and Erzilla (East) Mills, natives of Virginia, and Wayne County, Ky., respectively. Caleb W. was justice of the peace for several years, and served some time as constable, and was also a soldier in the War of 1812. He was one of the best medical practitioners of his day, a graduate of a medical college, and otherwise well qualified to practice that profession. He was killed at the “Mountain Meadow Massacre,” Utah. He was born about 1788, and was a son of John Mills. His wife was a daughter of the Rev. Finus Ewing, who was one of the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Erzella Mills was a daughter of North East.