Rushden-born author's 15-year project uncovers origins of USA in Northamptonshire
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A man from Rushden has spent fifteen years uncovering the origin of the United States of America — and it's centred on one Northamptonshire village.
Steve Willis, an engineer and inventor from Rushden, now based in Belize, has been researching his home county’s links to the founding families of what became the USA and many of its presidents.
On July 4, 2026, Americans will celebrate 250 years since the Declaration of American Independence – and Steve’s book will reveal the foundations of the colony were all located within a 21-mile radius circle centred on the village of Ecton.
His book The 21 Mile Circle: Origin of America will be published to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the States.
He said: “The American Revolution was a Northamptonshire family argument. I grew up walking through the grounds of Rushden Hall, past Abington Park, beside the River Nene. I worked across the county — building schools, managing construction projects, working on the Nene itself for the Environment Agency. I had no idea what any of it meant. Neither did anyone else. That is the story."
Steve made more than thirty discoveries unearthing evidence linking Northamptonshire to seven of the 13 original colonies that became the United States.
He said: “They are not the marginal colonies. Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and North Carolina — the dominant forces in the colonial economy, the Continental Congress, and the constitutional settlement — all came from inside the same 21-mile radius.
"The 21-Mile Circle: Origin of America is the result of a systematic survey of every parish within a radius of 21 miles centred on the church of St Mary Magdalene at Ecton. Within that single circle lies the documented ancestral origin of four American presidents, the founding of seven of the thirteen original colonies, the theology that became the Mayflower Compact, the hymn sung at every American funeral and civil rights march, and the first published poet of the New World.
“The pattern had been in the published record for 250 years. It took an engineer — not a historian — to finally measure the distance between the fixed points and see what they contained.”
Presidents with family connections to the county are Benjamin Franklin (Ecton), George Washington (Sulgrave), Thomas Jefferson (Pytchley) and John Quincy Adams and his wife Abigail (Wigsthorpe near Lilford) and the man who presided over the first election ever held in the New World.
Other Northants locations linked to notable settlers include Abington Park, Lamport, Little Houghton, Fawsley Hall, Guilsborough and Stony Stratford.
Born in Rushden in 1969, Steve attended Rushden Boys School and Chichele School. He later moved to Northampton.
He thinks his lack of ‘institutional boundaries’ and a physical knowledge of the Northamptonshire landscape gave him an advantage to unlock the local links.
He said: “The connections existed in published records and archives on both sides of the Atlantic. But they existed in separate silos.
“Genealogists study individual families. American colonial historians study America. Northamptonshire local historians study the county.
“None had reason to look across all three simultaneously.
"I knew where these places were in relation to each other before I understood what that meant."
The 21-Mile Circle: Origin of America by Steve Willis publishes as an eBook on July 4, 2026 — America's 250th anniversary – is available to pre-order from Amazon for $9.99 or £7.35.