New York Anchor Cheryl Wills Tells the Love Story of Her Great-Great-Great Grandparents

The true story of New York 1 News anchor Cheryl Wills’ remarkable family journey is uncovered in her first book, Die Free: A Heroic Family History. Wills shares the unvarnished truth about her family’s ancestral roots, beginning with her great-great-great grandfather and great-great-great grandmother Emma and Sandy Wills, who was a Civil War veteran.

Wills said the death of her father, Charles Douglas Wills, a Vietnam veteran — and the first African American to integrate the oldest firehouse in New York City, Engine 1, Ladder 24 — influenced her to trace her roots. “He died in a motorcycle accident at 38 years old at an early age. It was a void in my life. I soon started asking who am I? Where did I come from? Then, I started searching for answers and I got them from people,” she said.

“I also searched ancestry.com. I found out my great-great great-grandfather Sandy Wills fought in the Civil War … and great-great-great grandmother Emma Wills fought hard to obtain her husband’s Civil War pension.”

Wills stated her great-great-great grandmother, Emma, was born a slave in Tennessee probably around 1850 and sold twice in her life. She began life on a plantation owned by the West Family. In her adolescence she was sold to the Moore family.

“She was known as Emma West Moore. When the Civil War ended in 1865, she was about 15 and caught the eye of my great-great-great grandfather who was a dashing veteran just returning from War as an honorably discharged soldier of the United States Colored Troops. He courted the mulatto teen who he found remarkably sophisticated for a former slave,” recalled Wills.

Records show the young couple married in 1869 in the home of her former slave holders — The Moore family — complete with waiters and a minister who traveled from Memphis to unite them in holy matrimony.

“They had nine children together and Emma cherished the fact that she was the first woman in her family in generations who had children who would not be sold on an auction block. Although she was illiterate (as most slaves were) she had the people who once owned her write the name and birth date of each of her children in her family bible,” Wills said.

Wills noted Emma was pregnant with her ninth child when Sandy died. She realized that widows of Civil War soldiers were eligible for pensions. “She applied for a widow’s pension for herself and her dependents — provided Sandy’s discharge certificate and was roundly rejected by the United States War Department Pensions Bureau. But, Emma did not give up. She hired a lawyer — C.M. Sweet and demanded that he “fight for her rights and honor her husband’s service,” Wills said.

Appalled at her insistence, Wills says the U.S. Government treated the widow of the honorable soldier like a “lying thief.” Officials delayed the benefits and sent letters to every soldier who served with the deceased Veteran while his widow nearly starved with her children.

Wills said, “An official certified discharge certificate was not enough for a black soldier — they had to triple check and ask nearly every black soldier in his unit if Sandy served. Most of the soldiers replied to the official government inquiry stating the obvious, that they did in fact serve with Sandy and he did serve honorable and was officially discharged. Throughout this absurd investigation, Emma never lost heart or her dignity. She submitted countless depositions where she detailed her life with Sandy and signed the bottom of every legal document with an “X.”

Finally, the United States Government acquiesced and awarded Emma Wills a pension for herself and her dependent children. “Emma was a soldier in her own right and though slavery tried to erase the bonds between her African roots, she proved that the African warrior was still very much alive and well in her soul,” Wills said.

According to Wills, the story of Emma and Sandy Wills is a love story Hollywood wants to bring to the silver screen. A major star is interested in the project, and Wills said “stay tuned.”

For more information about Wills family and her book or to see some of her great-great-great grandfather’s pension documents, you can visit www.diefreethebook.com