Willis - Abner Denman
Source: History of Montgomery County, Indiana. Indianapolis: A. W.
Bowen, 1913, P 1242
Abner Denman Willis came of a line of pioneer stock whose
Indiana history began with the very early settlement of the
state. He was born January 14, 1834, near Alamo, in Montgomery
county, Indiana, on the farm which his father secured by
parchment deed from the national government. He was a son of
Benjamin Will and Susanna (Butts) Willis, to whose lot fell the
task of rescuing a fertile farm from the primeval wilderness.
The settlement of his father on government land, however, was
not the beginning of the family history in Indiana. The first
Benjamin Willis, grandfather of the subject, came to Indiana in
the early twenties from near Dayton, Ohio, where he had married
Nancy Allison and raised a large family. He was buried near a
favorite tree on his farm. Glowing reports of the fertility of
the soil near Alamo brought the younger Benjamin to Montgomery
County just after his marriage. There were born to them nine
children, of whom eight grew to manhood and womanhood. There were Steven Decature, Abner Denman, Julia Ann, Amanda Jane,
John Wesley, Benjamin Franklin, Sarah Elizabeth, Joseph Martin.
Abner Denman was apprenticed to a Tinner in Crawfordsville until
he was old enough to attend a school of higher learning, when he
entered Barnabas Hobbs Quaker Academy at Bloomingdale, Indiana.
After graduation there, he taught a district school for several
years and while teaching in Vermillion County in the winter of
1863-1864 he met Frances Ellen Comegys, a pupil, to whom he was
married on September 29, 1864 near Danville Illiinois. He
operated a traveling Photograph Gallery having become especially
proficient in the making of daguerreotypes. In 1866 he moved to
Crawfordsville where he bought a Photograph Gallery, which he
operated for twelve consecutive years. In 1878 he moved to
Harrisonville, Missouri, where he operated a Photograph Gallery
for three years, after which he returned to Crawfordsville, where
he remained in the Photograph business until 1898, when he died of pneumonia while on a
business trip to Harrisonville, Missouri. He was the father of six children,
of whom three died in infancy. Those who lived were Nathaniel
Parker, Lucius Comegys and Anibel Ellen. For thirty years A. D.
Willis was one of the most widely know citizens of Montgomery
County. He took an active part in politics both national and
local and was a stanch Democrat although he never held any
political office. He was a student of more than ordinary
diligence and depth. His affiliations were with the Christian
church and the Masonic order, but he delved into many
philosophies and became an especial admirer of the philosophy of
Swedenbourg. He spent a great deal of his leisure time reading
and discussing these philosophies and became known all over the
country side for his erudition and his love for literature of the
better class. One of the tenets of his faith was a scrupulous
honesty and forehandedness, which led to the accumulation of a
comfortable competence, although he never had a large income. As a schoolteacher he was a strict disciplinarian and
was known as one of the most successful in the county. As a
photographer, in which profession he became best known, he earned
a reputation for a conscientious work and the scrupulous care
with which he kept faith with his clients. He was buried on
December 9, 1898, in Oak Hill Cemetery, the funeral being
conducted by the Masonic order. - transcribed by kbz