The Great Boone Towne Tract contained 4,066 acres and was purchased by David Ogden in 1759. The tract contained iron works established in 1710 near the Rockaway Falls. The Boone Town Manor, David Ogden’s home, later became known as the Faesch House. Today the home is still standing in the Hope area just outside Picatinny Arsenal. It was in the vicinity of this home and the ironworks of Hibernia that William Willis built his home.

The home was typical of the colonial period, comprising a long one-story structure with high sloping roof, which contained a row of dormer windows. The home was divided by a wide center hall with a “best room” on one side and a large living room in which the family activities were concentrated. There was a huge fireplace that could easily hold 3-foot hickory logs. On each side of the fire was a wooden seat forming an ingle-nook, which was the focal point of the home.

William Willis worked as an architect and engineer for the London Company. In the winter of 1769-1770, a heavy snow slowed the operations of the ironworks to a complete standstill. No products could be hauled to Newark for processing in the furnaces and mills. Willis had traveled to Ringwood and was engaged in erecting an ironworks there.

The same snowfall stopped work at Ringwood and William returned home over the three-day journey. Before leaving Ringwood, he shot a huge panther in Ringwood and took the hide to Pompton for tanning by the Indians located there. Many stories of panthers and other wild cats are recorded in the Ringwood area. Such stories were reported in newspapers in New York City at that time.

A Native American chief named Black Eagle from the Wawayanda Lenni Lenape tribe, a sub-tribe of the Wolf Tribe, visited the home of William Willis with his son Serpent. During this same severe winter, Black Eagle and Serpent made their way to the Willis home while on route to Pompton. It is reported that Willis hunted with Black Eagle at Wawayanda.

There were seven sons in the Willis family, of which I know only the four oldest: Russell, William, Bethual and Joseph. William’s wife was Bathsheba, last name unknown to me.

The tradition of working in the ironworks continued down through the generations to my great-great-grandfather John Willis. John Willis moved from Hibernia to Ringwood and purchased 16 acres from Conrad Tice along the Westbrook Road, which at the time was called Water Street. Now, while the water level is low, the old road where the home was located can be seen from West Brook Road as you approach the viaduct heading west.

The 16 acres included the land under the viaduct. Conrad Tice retained the mining and mineral rights as part of a deed restriction. When the Wanaque Reservoir was constructed, and the commission purchased the 16 acres from John Willis, the North Jersey District Water Commission had to pay the heirs of Conrad Tice for those rights.

John Willis and his wife Sophronia Jane had eight children that I know of: David, Anna Eliza, John, Alanson, Lyman, William, Theodore and Emma. Anna Eliza married my great-grandfather John Townsend, also of Pompton Township.
In the next article we will cover the members of the Ryerson family as we follow in their footsteps.