Nathaniel Willis

(February 7, 1755 – April 1, 1831)

The first literate member of his family, Nathaniel Willis used his talents to publish patriotic papers throughout the American Revolution. In December 1773, Willis was an 18-year-old printer’s apprentice working in Boston.  

The “destruction of the tea” on December 16, 1773, was one of Willis’ earliest revolutionary acts. Following the event, he joined the Lodge of St. Andrews, a branch of the Freemasons in Boston’s North End neighborhood known for harboring revolutionary sentiments. After the evacuation of Loyalists from the city in March 1776, Willis published the Independent Chronicle, a pro-patriot paper that ran throughout the Revolutionary War and concluded in 1784.  

Willis did more than write newspapers during the war. He was a distinguished horseman, serving from November 1776 until May 1777. After a brief summer hiatus, he reenlisted in September of that year. When the British Navy threatened Rhode Island, Willis answered the alarm and traveled with other Bostonians to bolster Rhode Island’s defenses.  

In 1784, Nathanial Willis sold his interest in the Independent Chronicle and moved south to Virginia. Keeping to the printing profession, Willis started a newspaper in every city he lived in. In Martinsburg, Willis founded the Potomac Guardian, the first newspaper in the Northwest Territory. Literary talents ran in Willis’ descendants as well. His grandson, N. P. Willis, was an American author, poet, and editor who worked with several notable American writers, including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

Nathaniel Willis likely died in Perry, OH, on April 1, 1831, and is buried in Bainbridge Cemetery in Bainbridge, OH.