Dorchester Illustration 2715 Sarell James Willis
Sarell James Willis was born in Dorchester on Sept. 11, 1830. He attended public schools in Dorchester. At the age of seventeen, he became an apprentice to a tinsmith, he worked four and a half years in that capacity. Then went into business for himself.
In 1864, he decided to change his life and became a member of the company at the Boston Theatre, where took the stage name of John Scott. Soon he went back to his own name and continued acting until 1870. Then he became bookkeeper for John F. Bispham, a lumber dealer at Harrison Square.
Wills took the position of cashier in 1876 at the Blue Hill National Bank, a job he held for 42 years. His father-in-law, Eleazer Bispham, Jr., was president of the bank. Sarell and his wife, Mary, and their children lived with Eleazer Bispham on Washington Street in Lower Mills, until 1894 when the family moved to Adams Street in Milton. Sarell died on Feb. 28, 1922.