William Pullen
William N. Pullen (born February 4, 1758 near Petersburg, Bedford County, Virginia; died April 4, 1845 in Jefferson County) was a Revolutionary War veteran and early settler of Jefferson County.
Pullen enlisted in the continental army on January 1, 1777. He served for seven years in George Lambert's regulars, 14th battalion, 14th Virginia regiment of foot. That outfit later became the 10th Virginia Regiment under Colonel William Davies, and then merged with the 1st Regiment. Pullen fought in numerous battles and was encamped with Washington at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in the winter of 1777-78. He attained the rank of Lieutenant.
After the war, Pullen first settled in South Carolina, then moved to the area which is now Avondale in 1820. Upon his death in 1845, he was buried in what was then a family cemetery. By all accounts, he was the first man buried in Jefferson County with full military honors. His wife was buried alongside him. They had 6 children: Clarissa (Hickman), Sarah (Rowan), William, Martha (Hickman), Mary (Rowan) and Elizabeth (Tankersley). Clarissa's son, W. P. Hickman, was a Jefferson County Commissioner.
Pullen's grave site lay in the path of the development of Avondale after 1887. The once-secluded family plot was soon surrounded by new houses, about 50 yards from the Avondale Streetcar (6th Avenue South) between 34th and 35th Streets. Pullen's grave was marked by a mound of brown stones at the base of an oak tree, capped with a flat tablet inscribed: "William Pullen, A Soldier of the Revolution, who died April 4th, 1845 aged 87 years."
In 1925 Pullen's remains, and those of his wife, were moved to Forest Hill Cemetery. A new granite headstone was made with a bronze plaque provided by the General Sumter Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. On the testimony of his descendants, his new stone gave his birth year as 1749, but that date conflicts with the original marker and with the 1840 "Census of Pensioners", which gives his age as 82. More than 5,000 people attended the ceremonies at Forest Hill.
References
- Mell, Annie (Mrs. P. H.)., Transactions of the Alabama Historical Society, Vol. iv, pp. 558-560.
- Owen, Thomas McAdory (1911) Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama