BRANCHES OF THE WILLEY FAMILY
First Generation
SAMUEL WILLEY born ca 1750, probably England, occupation Farmer, married Mrs. MANNING, born ca 1750, probably in the Colonies. SAMUEL died after 1830, in Indiana.
SAMUEL was a British soldier, sent to America to fight the Colonists in the Revolutionary War. He was wounded in battle, taken prisoner, and nursed by a widow of a Colonial soldier. At the close of the War, Samuel chose to remain in America, and married the widow who had cared for his injuries. Samuel, the former Mrs. Manning (the only name known for her), and her small son, walked 300 miles across Pennsylvania and settled on the western border with Ohio, where they reared the boy and 12 children of their own. The youngest child was JOSEPH.
Second Generation
JOSEPH WILLEY born 1804, Pennsylvania, occupation Farmer, married ca 1830, in probably Ohio, MERENA McFARLIN born 1811, New York, (daughter of JAMES McFARLIN AND {---} {---}) JOSEPH died before 1860, Porter County, Union Township, Indiana.
Third Generation
JOHN WILLEY born 1834, Ohio, occupation Farmer, married ca 1855, in Porter County, Indiana, DELPHINE OREM.
JOHN was a Union soldier in the Civil War. He died of pneumonia, near the end of the war, after taking a leave to attend the New Years Day double wedding of his sisters, Carolina and Sara Jane. He walked through sleet and freezing rain to get back to his army camp, and died a week later. A widowed DELPHINE moved to Missouri with her three small children, and eventually remarried.
Fourth Generation
JOSEPH MALVUREN WILLEY born February, 1862, Porter County, Indiana, occupation Farmer, married HARRIET PHILLIPS, born April 1863, Missouri.
Fifth Generation
IDA MYRTLE WILLEY born February 1, 1886, Black Oak, Caldwell County, Missouri, married April 11, 1905, in Clinton, Custer County, Oklahoma, JOSEPH HORN HALSEY, born November 21, 1881, Viola, Sedgwick County, Kansas, (son of ANDREW McMILLAN HALSEY and SUSAN FRANCES WYATT). JOSEPH died December 14, 1957, Los Angeles, California, buried December 17, 1957, San Pedro, L.A. Co., California.
GRANDPA JOE lived with his son, JOE, and his family in Costa Mesa, California, in his later years, and enjoyed spending the weekends with his brother, BURD (Burgess), who lived in a very large house with a full width front porch, on St. Andrews Place, in the Wilshire District of Los Angeles. They loved to play checkers and Chinese checkers for hours at a time on the veranda. They had just finished a spirited game -- Grandpa Joe won, and he leaned back in his chair in laughter. That moment, he had a massive heart attack and died before help arrived. He was 76 years old. MYRTLE died December 13, 1954, Torrance, L.A. Co., California, buried December 16, 1954, San Pedro, L.A. Co., California. GRANDMA MYRT developed throat cancer from a lifelong addiction to smoking, and was also quarantined in a TB hospital in Torrance, California, at the time of her death. It was a slow and painful suffering for the dearest person I ever knew. She was 68 years young.