The following is excerpted from John Walter Wayland’s A history of Shenandoah County, Virginia, published by Shenandoah Publishing House, Strasburg, Virginia, in 1927.

Daniel Warrick Burruss II notes in the Mount Jackson Chamber of Commerce Newsletter, February 2005:  “Prior to the War, Colonel Levi Rinker…was one of the wealthiest men and one of the largest landowners in this County. He was forced to dispose of most of his property except two mills and the home farm that this compiler resides on today. He was virtually penniless otherwise when he died in 1889.”

John Will (October 11, 1805–January 2, 1881) was born in Shenandoah County, the son of George Will and Catharine Byrd. He married Mariam Hoffman in Shenandoah County on December 10, 1831. By 1870, they had moved to Henry County, Illinois, and by 1880 the family had moved again, to Caldwell County, Missouri. John is buried in Weaver Cemetery, Breckenridge, Caldwell County, Missouri.

Most of the people of Shenandoah County stood loyally by the confederate States government from 1861 to 1865, and the great majority of the men from 17 to 45 years of age served for a longer or shorter period in the army; yet a considerable number entered the conflict between the states with keen regret, and a few were known throughout the sad years of fratricidal strife as “Union Men.”

One of the latter was John Will, whose home was near the old Pine Church. He was a skilled carpenter and cabinet-maker, and he and his sons had built or taken part in building many of the best houses and mills in the neighborhood. He was above the military age, and so was not required to serve in the army. One of John Will’s neighbors was Col. Levi Rinker, of Rinkerton, one of the most prominent men in the county, a colonel of militia in ante-bellum days, and one of the local towers of strength to the Confederate cause during the war. He had held various positions of trust and influence, civil and military. His father, Absalom Rinker, sometime sheriff of the county, was a son of Col. Jacob Rinker of the Revolution, who had been county surveyor for many years, presiding justice of the county court, and whose name is almost a household word among our people even today. Levi Rinker had a rich inheritance, materian and spiritual. His spacious brick residence, built about 1843, and honest product of the skill of John Will and other local artisans, stood high upon the northeast bank of Mill Creek, at the intersection of the Orkney Grade with the Middle Road. If John Will, the poor man, was one of the most outright “Union Men” of the neighborhood, Col. Levi Rinker, the rich man, certainly was one of the most outstanding Confederates of the county and the Shenandoah Valley.

On the 5th of November, 1863, rather early in the morning, two or three soldiers rode up to the humble abode of John Will and put him under arrest. The protests of his wife and daughters were all unheeded—he was led away to Mt. Jackson to answer before the military tribunal there to certain charges of disloyalty that had been preferred against him by a certain man of the community. Perhaps he was lucky to be handled in this way. Two or three other men of the vicinity, whose attitude or utterances had given offense, disposed of in more summary, and somewhat more irregular fashion. He was perhaps lucky to be given a hearing before the authorities; but the outcome was uncertain—the prospect of justice in those days of turbulent prejudices was not always promising. His wife and daughters hardly hoped to see him again—at least, not for many a long day.

At the trial things did not seem to go well for John Will. There were witnesses against him, perhaps none for him; and his own statements were discredited by the officer in charge. Soon the latter reached a conclusion. “You probably ought to be shot,” he asserted, “but for the present, I’ll put you in jail. You shall be kept in confinement, under close guard, unless”—and this with an exultant smile—”unless you can give bail in the sum of five thousand dollars.”

“Can you do it?” he demanded.

“Yes, and for twice that sum if you had said so.”

The answer came in a good strong voice, full of vigor and confidence. It was a great surprise to the arrogant judge, all the more so for the reason that it did not come from John Will at all, but from Col. Levi Rinker, who, unobserved, had just entered the courtroom from the rear. By chance he had learned of the arrest of John Will and had hurried to his relief. They stood on different sides of a crucial opinion, on different planes of wealth, but they were neighbors; and Col. Rinker knew that his neighbor, John Will, was an upright man, innocent of harm even to a cause in which he did not believe. Accordingly, he was ready to stand for justice to this man, in the face of the world. He did do stand, and the two neighbors went home together.

References

1. Shenandoah County Marriage Bonds: John Will married Mary Hoffman, November 19, 1831. Bondsman Thos. Young.
2. 1850 US Census, District 58, Shenandoah County, Virginia: John Will 44 Joiner VA, value of real estate owned $1000; Miriam 50 VA; John W Wayland 21 Joiner VA; Catharine E 18 VA; Martha A 16 VA; George S 13 VA; William F 10 VA; Thomas J 7 VA.
3. 1860 US Census, Mount Jackson, Shenandoah County, Virginia: John Will 54 Carpenter VA, value of real estate $1600, value of personal estate $1428; Mary 62 VA; Martha 25 VA; William 21 VA; Thomas 17 VA.
4. 1870 US Census, Geneseo, Henry, Illinois: Jno Will 66 VA Carpenter; Thomas Will 26 VA; Elizabeth Will 26 IN; William Will 5 IL; Martha Will 35 VA seamstress.
5. 1880 US Census, Gomer, Caldwell County, Missouri: George Will 44 VA VA VA farmer; Catherine 36 VA; Luther 15 IL; Annie 14 IL; John 12 IL; Matilda 9 IL; Henry 5 MO; Josie 2 MO; Bertha 7 mo MO; John (father) 74 MD VA VA.
6. Mrs. Chester Funkhouser, Mt. Jackson, Virginia, writes in the Works Progress Administration of Virginia, Historical Inventory, St. John’s Reformed Church, on July 15, 1938 (online): “St. John’s Reformed Church [located at Hudson Cross Roads, Virginia, on the northeast side of the crossing] was built by John Will, Abraham Wolff and Benjamin Hudson on an acre of ground deeded for the purpose, by Benjamin Hudson…The corner stone was laid September 5, 1851, and was dedicated on July 31, 1852, by Reverend John G. Wolfe, of Woodstock. Abraham Wolff furnished and helped cut the lumber for the inside of the church, when the dry kiln caught fire and burned the first lumber…There are several bullet holes in this church, put there by the Blue and the Grey during a skirmish between them. Legend has it, that the attic of this church was used as a hide-away for meat and lard and other staples so that the soldiers would not find them. Over the right entrance is a large bullet hole also several over the pulpit.” Mrs. Funkhouser cites the Shenandoah County Court Records as a source. Abraham Wolf (July 26, 1800–December 6, 1852) married Lydia Will (January 17, 1803–October 10, 1874). Lydia is John Will’s sister. Thomas, the son of Benjamin Hudson (June 25, 1793–November 4, 1854), married Leannah Will, daughter of William and Mary and a niece of John and Miriam.