William Willis
- Position
- Coachman
- Years in President's House
- circa 1885 – 1895
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Biography
William Willis was born in Prince George’s County, Maryland ca. 1850.1 It appears that he worked as a porter in Washington, D.C. before he joined the White House staff as coachman to Private Secretary Daniel Lamont around 1885. Willis later succeeded longtime employee Albert Hawkins as the president’s coachman in 1890. He lived in the stables with his mother, Ellen.2 According to newspapers, “His knowledge of horses and care in manipulating them made him an invaluable man at the President’s stable, for he could not only present a fine appearance on the box, but could give the attention of a groom as well as a veterinary surgeon.”3
Willis died on July 27, 1895; President Grover Cleveland sent “a large wreath of white flowers and asparagus” to the funeral service, which was attended by many White House employees. He was buried with Masonic honors at Graceland Cemetery in Washington, D.C.4
- Some newspapers reported that Willis was the son of Jefferson’s Davis’s personal body servant, but it is difficult to confirm this claim. “Coachman Willis is Dead,” Morning Times (DC), July 28, 1895, pg. 2, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024442/1895-07-28/ed-1/seq-2/; William Willis in 1880 Federal Census, Year: 1880; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: 122; Page: 426c; Enumeration District: 041, Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6742/records/26905856?tid=&pid=&queryId=3eb212d6-4c02-4c77-8a6d-14c2471277a7&_phsrc=Hdy142&_phstart=successSource.
- William Bushong, “Presidents as Horsemen,” White House Historical Association, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/presidents-as-horsemen; “Coachman Willis is Dead,” Washington Post, July 28, 1895.
- “Cleveland’s Sick Coachman,” Morning News, July 26, 1895.
- “The President’s Coachman Buried,” Evening Herald, July 21, 1895; “William Willis’ Funeral,” Morning Times (DC), July 31, 1895, pg. 5, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024442/1895-07-31/ed-1/seq-5/; “From Washington,” Alexandria Gazette, July 27, 1895, pg. 2, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025007/1895-07-27/ed-1/seq-2/.
- Birthplace
- Prince George's County, Maryland, USA
- Graceland Cemetery
- Related Association Content
- https://www.whitehousehistory.org/presidents-as-horsemen