The surname takes many forms Will, Wills, Willis to name but a few. This surname was profanely derived from William i.e. son of Will. The surname Wills is common in England while the form Will is predominately Scottish
The roots of my Wills family tree are in the town of Montrose, Scotland.
While researching my family tree I found the surname spelt Will and Wills. It must be remembered that spelling did not really matter and a name was written as it was sounded. I have traced my family name back to the year 1769 the approximate birth
date of a Robert Will(s). Although his name is recorded, as Will his children are all named Wills. This family originated in the Montrose, County of Angus on the east coast of Scotland before splitting up and living in the Scottish towns of Coupar Angus, Dundee
and Edinburgh. Other lines of the family moved west to Glasgow. In 1906 all the Edinburgh family members were residing in London before emigrating to America and settling in Michigan. William Fraser Wills moved back to Edinburgh and married. He remained in Edinburgh until his
death in 1957. His family at that time all stayed in Scotland. My family tree with an index of births, marriages and deaths are recorded at the
website of my second cousin David Wills from California.
During my research I have gathered some interesting information relating to family names. As I have established that this information forms no part of my family history I thought it might be of assistance to anyone researching their family history. This source information
relates to the following names: Will, Wills, Dey, Christell and Runciman. I have also found a reference to a William Wills in Jacobite papers relation to the trials of Jacobites captured after the battle of Culloden. There is a link to more information from the Jacobites References button on the menu at the left of this page.
For those of us who are interested in a bit of mystery there is a link to the author R. L. Stevenson through the Christell family.
