Isaac Watts Willard / Isaac Watts Willard

Isaac Watts Willard (1803-1879) helped survey and plat the village of Paw Paw in 1838 with Peter Gremps and Lyman Daniels, and that same year he and Gremps opened a mercantile and grist mill there. A Vermont native, Willard first visited Michigan in 1830, moved to White Pigeon in 1831, and opened a mercantile with future governor John Barry. After that partnership ended in 1834, he moved to Kalamazoo and opened Willard’s Mercantile, then in 1836 became Kalamazoo’s postmaster, served as the first resident clerk of the St. Joseph County Circuit Court, and represented the county at the second Convention of Assent that accepted the federal government’s terms for Michigan statehood; he later became the county probate judge. Willard moved to Paw Paw in 1840 and opened a hotel, and at this site built a saw mill that he operated until his death. He represented Van Buren County at the 1850 Michigan Constitutional Convention, became a commissioner of the Paw Paw and Lawton Plank Road Company in 1849, served as Timber Agent for Michigan and the Western Territories after President Pierce appointed him in 1853, and became Paw Paw’s first village president in 1859. On Prospect Hill he built a 127-foot-tall tower, and he is buried there at the summit.

Paw Paw, Michigan · United States