My Genealogy Hound

ISAAC WILLARD, one of the representative farmers of Buffalo county, is a native of Indiana, and was born in Johnson county, that state, March 8, 1829. He is the youngest son of John Willard, a Tennessean by birth, who was one of the first settlers in Johnson county and cleared his way through the forests of that state in 1829. He died in 1836. He was by occupation a farmer, and was also a zealous member of the Baptist church. The mother of Isaac Willard bore the maiden name of Elsie Wright. She was a native of Tennessee and died in 1833.

The Willard family are of English with slight mixture of German extraction and are noted for their longevity. John Willard was the only son of a large family to die under the age of eighty years. The forefathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and all lived to a good round old age. Isaac Willard, our subject, went to live with an uncle in 1836, in Pratt county, Illinois, when he was seven years old. The territory now composing that prosperous county was then a vast wilderness, inhabited by only five families. Mr. Willard well remembers when the county seat was laid out on the Fourth of July, a few years after he went to reside with his uncle. The first appropriation made by the county board amounted to exactly thirty-seven cents. Young Willard grew to manhood in Pratt county and resided there for twenty-seven years. When he was twenty-five he began learning the carpenter trade, which he has followed more or less of the time since.

When the war broke out, Isaac Willard was among the first to respond to the call for volunteers, enlisting on the first of December, 1861, in the Sixty-third Illinois regiment. He participated in the terrible siege of Vicksburg, but only happened to be in two severe engagements after that, during his two years’ service. He was discharged on December 11, 1863, on account of physical disability.

He located in Macon City, Mo., in 1864, where he did an extensive business as a contractor and builder for about nine years. In 1873, Mr. Willard came to Kearney, Nebr., where he landed on Christmas eve. He immediately investigated the new country and at once saw its great future possibilities. He worked at his trade in Kearney for the first two years and in the meantime located a homestead in Sharon township. He located his family on this homestead, December 3, 1875, where he has since resided. He was grasshoppered two years in succession, but he never became discouraged or lost faith in the future of the country.

Mr. Willard was married March 4, 1864, to Virginia C., daughter of William Newler. The Newlers belonged to the F. F. V.’s, and, like the Willard family, are noted for their longevity. Mr. and Mrs. Willard have had three children, namely — Louie M., born in Missouri, November 25, 1872, now the wife of D. W. Scott, of Haxtun, Colo.; Charlie F., born August 9, 1874, and H. J. Ray, born October 27, 1878.

Mr. Willard was originally a member of the whig party, but has always been a republican since the organization of that party. While he has never been an aspirant for political honors, he has filled very acceptably some important positions of public trust. He has always, however, taken a prominent part in the management of the political affairs in his county and state, and is recognized as one of the leaders of his party in the county. He has also been identified, for several years, with the agricultural society of Buffalo county, and is at this time a member of the board of management of that organization. He takes considerable pride in raising fine horses and cattle, and is considered one of the most successful fruit growers in Buffalo county. He has one hundred and twenty acres of splendid land, equipped with nearly all the modern conveniences.