The Story of Joseph Willis: his Biography (Revised and Expanded Edition 2019)

The son of a white man and Cherokee slave, Joseph Willis, gains his freedom and swims the mighty Mississippi on a mule. There, he preaches the first Gospel sermon by an Evangelical west of the Mississippi River.

Randy Willis...books about adventure, family, faith and the character of a man that touched generations.
Joseph Willis's life is a story of triumph over tragedy and victory over adversity!

 ✯ He was born into slavery. His mother was Cherokee and his father a wealthy English plantation owner.

 ✯ His family took him to court to deprive him of his inheritance (which would have made him the wealthiest plantation owner in all of Bladen County, North Carolina in 1776).

✯ He fought as a Patriot in the Revolutionary War under the most colorful of all the American generals, Francis Marion, The Swamp Fox.

✯ His first wife died in childbirth, and his second wife died only six years later, leaving him with five small children.

✯ He crossed the mighty Mississippi River at Natchez at the peril of his own life, riding a mule!

✯ He entered hostile Spanish-controlled Louisiana Territory, when the dreaded Code Noir (Black Code) was in effect. It forbade any Protestant ministers who came into the territory from preaching.

✯ His life was threatened because of the message he brought to Spanish-controlled Louisiana!

✯ His own denomination refused to ordain him because of his race.

✯ Joseph Willis preached the first Gospel sermon by an Evangelical west of the Mississippi River.

✯ After overcoming insurmountable obstacles, he blazed a trail for others for another half-century that changed American history.

 ✯ His accomplishments are still felt today.

Randy Willis is a fourth great-grandson of Joseph Willis and his foremost historian.

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