Manfred Willard
Manfred Willard was born in the village of Washington, Fayette County, Ohio, September 18, 1839, and is a son of Lockhart D. and Mary Jane Willard. L. D. Willard, a native of Massachusetts, removed to this county in 1832, and was one of a family of three children. His wife, whose maiden name was Doron, was a native of Pennsylvania. Her parents removed with her to this county at an early date. She was one of a family of seven children. The marriage of L. D. Willard and Mary J. Doron was solemnized on the 5th day of December, 1838. They raised a family of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest.
Our subject was educated in the common schools of Massachusetts, to which place his father removed about the year 1852, His youth was principally spent on the farm in this county. At the age of sixteen he commenced land surveying, and continued in that business until 1860, when he removed to Mercer County, Illinois, and remained there in the business of farming until August 1, 1861, when he enlisted in the "Rangers," an independent company, raised and commanded by Captain Graham. This company successfully ran the blockade established by the governor of Illinois, and succeeded in joining the army of the West, at Fort Leavenworth, about the 5th of August. From this point Captain Graham's command was at once sent to Lexington, Missouri, where they remained in active duty until that place was surrendered, in September of the same year, by Colonel Mulligan, to the rebel General Price. In the seige that preceded the surrender, Willard was slightly wounded by a rifle ball removing the skin from the top of his head as it passed over.
As soon as exchanged, and in the winter of 1861-2, he raised a company (H) in the 60th O. V. I., commanded by Colonel William H. Trimble (than whom no braver man ever lived), which regiment participated throughout the campaign of Major-General John C. Fremont, resulting in driving Jackson out of the Shenandoah Valley.
In September, 1862, through the treachery or imbecility of Colonel Miles, in command of the Union forces at Harper's Ferry, to which point Colonel Trimble and his regiment had been ordered, with other troops, Willard was again a prisoner to the rebel foe. Previous to the surrender, however, he was severely wounded in the left arm. Soon after this, he was honorably discharged at Camp Douglas, Illinois.
Returning home a mere skeleton, weighing less than one hundred pounds, he was elected probate judge of Fayette County at the same election that gave Governor Brough one hundred thousand majority over Clement L. Vallandigham. After the expiration of his term of office, he became cashier of the Fayette County National Bank, which position he held until that institution closed up its business in October, 1875.
In May, 1869, he passed an examination, and was admitted to the bar in his native town, and since the closing of the bank he has given his whole time and attention to the practice of hie profession.
On the 7th day of April, 1863, he married Verselle S. Worley (formerly Knight) a daughter of Salathiel and Jane Knight, and grand-daughter of Colonel Joseph Bell. Mrs. Willard has one hrother, Joseph Knight, now a resident of Fayette County, and one sister, Elizabeth V., who is now the wife of M. Herbert, Esq., teller in the Peoples and Drovers Bank of Washington. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Willard three children: Jane B., born on the 8th day of September, 1864; Laura A., born on the 17th day of February, 1867; and Herbert A., born on the 31st day of October, 1872.
