Much of what is known about the person called Eno (or Enoe) Will is known through the journals and book, originally published in 1709, of English explorer and surveyor John Lawson. Lawson was employed by North Carolina’s colonial proprietors to explore the inland backcountry of what is now North and South Carolina. Towards the end of this journey, Lawson hired and relied on Eno Will, an Indigenous guide, who was an Eno-Shakori chief. Eno Will was known and trusted among colonial traders and agreed to guide Lawson from Occaneechi Town, near present-day Hillsborough, to English settlements near the Carolina coast.
Eno Will guided Lawson and his party from Occaneechi Town across the Eno River to the village of Adshusheer (near present-day Durham). They traveled southeast through areas populated by the Tuscarora Nation, crossing the Neuse and Tar rivers, and then concluded their journey at the English settlements near the Pamlico River. According to Lawson’s account of his travels through North Carolina, Eno Will had confided to Lawson during their journey that he feared alienation from and even death by the hand of his own people due to his affiliation with the English. Lawson also recorded in his account that Eno Will had rejected an attempt by Lawson to convert him to Christianity.