Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsWillcox Brothers Heard The Call Of Their Country And Responded
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
When John Willcox returned to Ivy Mills and Philadelphia in 1779 to have little John, Jr., age 2, baptized in the Catholic faith, like the rest of the family, he might have met again with his old friend, Benjamin Franklin, who had once advanced a sum of money to him when he was only seventeen years of age. The old man and the boy evidently were the best of friends and John's name is found on the general store records of Benjamin Franklin.
Ironically, not much else is found of John's early life in Pennsylvania. It could have been Gentle Ben who urged him to seek his horizons elsewhere. Certainly Ben Franklin had done the same thing earlier when he moved from Boston to Philadelphia.
And John was probably glad to return to his old home for a brief stay because he had been the object of the wrath of the British in North Carolina. As John settled in the central part of the state, following the Old Pennsylvania Wagon Road, as did settlers of various backgrounds (Scottish Highlanders, German Dunkers, and others), it was realized that a polarization of people and attitudes was fermenting into something called trouble.
The citizens loyal to the Crown (King of England) had congregated on the east coast of North Carolina and the settlers west of there were resenting the heavy-handed way the government officials were riding roughshod over them with their demands for exorbitant taxes. It came to the place where the two elements were swapping some pretty stiff blows and the sheriff was riding not by himself anymore but with an assorted number of comrades which more resembled a posse. These tactics only irritated the backwoodsmen more and they would retaliate against the unfairness by various contrivances. A Colonel Fanning was so obnoxious in enforcing British demands on the settlers that a song about him and his corruption was heard at a backwoods wedding:
"When Fanning first to Orange came
He looked both pale and ware worn
An old patched coat upon his back
An old mare he road on.
Both man and horse won't worth five pounds
As I've been often told
But by his civil robberies
He's laced his coat with gold."
And speaking of weddings, the marriage license fee got so unreasonably high that the backwooders resorted to common law ties and "taking each other for bettter or worse" without the benefit of legal ceremony.
So the men of Orange County (later Chatham) fought back and John Willcox was one of their leaders. They formed a group called The Regulators and some of these men were hanged by the British. John had narrowly escaped this fate as we can see by the account below (following his arrest by the British) (Spellings left as they appeared in the original text):
"Never was a poor man so tyrannically treated; the acusation, and suspicion was founded on the most triffling circumstances; the affidavit against him, in the openion of most every person that has heard it, is false. Yet such has been the effects of malice, or despotism, and inquisition itself could scarcely prosecute a man with more severity. During his confinement (under guard in irons) at Hillsboro, there were six men hanged, six more condemned who were reprived undow the gallows; He was paraded under guard to the gallows, and from there back again, like the criminals, only not tried; He was three weeks kept in confinment and harrassed in this mannor, not withstanding indisputable security was offered to him, and then hurried down 200 miles more to Wilmington, to be delivered to a magistrate, and none else allowed to take his recognizance."
So, yes, a brief respite to Philadelphia was probably welcomed by John. And John probably stood by his proud wife, Rebecca, as she received the tidings that her uncle, John Barry, had become an American hero:
"Elsewhere in the room, a scale model of the man-of-war Raleigh attracts attention. Built in 1777, and commanded by John Barry (whose statue graces the center of the courtyard of Independence Hall), the Raleigh became the first ship of the United States to fly the Stars and Stripes. The wily Captain Barry captured two British ships, including the Nancy. So valuable was the plunder from the Nancy that it would have taken 18 months for Americans to manufacture an equivalent amount of the captured materiel."
Her uncle, who started out as a cabin boy, rose quickly through the ranks of the Navy and finally became Commodore John Barry, "The Father of the U.S. Navy."
And John could not help being proud of his younger brother, Mark, who had assumed the duty of running the paper mill. Father Thomas was now reaching his last years and had turned the mill over to Mark.
The call to come to the aid of their country signaled both John and Mark.
In North Carolina, John, who was in attendance at the House of Representatives heeded this directive from his colleagues:
"That Mr. John Willcox do immediately proceed home and make the necessary preparations for the casting of cannon, cannon balls and grape shot for the use of the State."
And at Ivy Mills, Pennsylvania, Mark was receiving authorization from the Continental Congress to issue Continental bills and provided for the first loan of the new government to the extent of "five millions of continental dollars." Mark was also authorized to make the paper for the loan office certificates. After this, there were many more deliveries of paper to the Continental Government.
The Willcox boys were called on by a country in need. And they responded by producing the goods and meeting the challenge.
Credits:
Telfair History Book, 1807-1987; Willcox Family information;
Ivy Mills/Willcox articles by Arden Skidmore;
John Willcox's Iron Enterprises by George Willcox;
info furnished by Gertrude Wilcox Williams and Diane Williams Rogers and others;
Ivy Mills by Joseph Willcox;
John Willcox (1728-1793) by Historical Research Company; Colonial Philadelphia;
various other sources.
