He was owned by S.J. Wilson, a merchant, living in Portsmouth, Va.
Willis was of a very dark hue, thick set, thirty-two years of age, and
possessed of a fair share of mind. The owner had been accustomed to hire
Willis out for "one hundred dollars a year." Willis thought his lot
"pretty hard," and his master rather increased this notion by his
severity, and especially by "threatening" to sell him. He had enjoyed,
as far as it was expected for a slave to do, "five months of married
life," but he loved slavery no less on this account. In fact he had just
begun to consider what it was to have a wife and children that he "could
not own or protect," and who were claimed as another's property.
Consequently he became quite restive under these reflections and his
master's ill-usage, and concluded to "look out," without consulting
either the master or the young wife.
This step looked exceedingly hard, but what else could the poor fellow
do? Slavery existed expressly for the purpose of crushing souls and
breaking tender hearts.
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