Willard, Julius Terrass, Prof.

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Not so many years ago many men regarded the application of science to agriculture as an idle theory and it is within the lifetime of such men as Prof. Julius Terrass Willard, dean of the division of general science, professor of chemistry, and chemist of the agricultural experiment station, in the Kansas State Agricultural College, at Manhattan, that these doubters have been convinced. Applied science had not only revolutionized many phases of agriculture but is bringing this most important of industries to the forefront in scholarly study and research. America had held her position for many years as a granary of the world, but future conditions will tax her power to produce crops and livestock, and the cry for food from hungry people in this and other lands may find no adequate supply. To such men as Professor Willard the country must turn for expert assistance in preventing this condition.

Julius Terrass Willard was born on a farm near Wabaunsee, in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, April 9, 1862, and is a son of Julius F. and Mary Elizabeth (Terrass) Willard. The progenitor of the Willard family, Simon Willard, came from England to Massachusetts in May, 1634, settling near Boston. The name is well and favorably known in New England to the present day. Julius F. Willard, father of Professor Willard, was born in Farmington, Connecticut, August 2, 1835, and, as a member of the New Haven colony, popularly known as the Beecher Rifle and Bible Company, came to Kansas in 1856, settling in Wabaunsee County, where be engaged in farming until 1911.

In Wabaunsee County, Kansas, Julius F. Willard was married in March, 1861, to Mary Elizabeth Terrass, who was born in Ohio and came with her parents to Wabaunsee County, Kansas, in 1855. Her parents came to America from Germany but her father, Jacob Terrass, was of French lineage. Mrs. Willard died in 1885, at the age of forty-four years, the mother of five children of whom Julius T. was the eldest. March 27, 1889, Mr. Willard married Viola Bangs, and in 1911 moved to San Diego, California, where he now resided. He bears well the weight of age.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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