My Pulliam Line in America

My Pulliam genealogy has been close to my heart from the beginning of my interest in genealogy. My mother was Nadine Pulliam, born in Kansas City, Missouri. You can go to the about page and read how I became interested in this hobby, or obsession depending how you look at it.

I certainly have to give a tremendous amount of credit to Mary Laurine Schneck Williams (1926-2017) for the uncountable hours of research that she put into documenting her collection of records, notes, letters, travels and sharing her knowledge. My wife and I had the honor of meeting Laurine and the family during the celebration of their 70th anniversary. I was able to spend an afternoon in her study and browse through her collection of years of work. After Laurine passed, her children honored her wishes and donated her work, which is now being archived at the Mid-Continent Genealogical Library in Independence, Missouri.

Another two mentors in need of credit for their work are Wanda Pulliam Forste and my mother Nadine Pulliam White. Between the three of them, I have a very good base for our American Pulliam line.

It has become impossible to ignore the general belief that our American Pulliam line began with Edward Pulliam that came to Virginia in 1636. It is with this belief that the following is based on. We all have to be very thankful for the surviving early records. Through wars, fires and mishandling, many records will most likely never be part of the historical evidence to support the story that we believe today.

Chapter One – A New Beginning

Let us start with what we can find on Edward Pulliam as being our original ancestor coming from England and starting a new life. Take a look at these three research papers that I found in Laurine Williams collection and Library. [1] [2] [3].

I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I don’t follow up on resources. I have a Public Library in Huntington Beach, California that has a very nice genealogy section. The picture below shows the Cavaliers and Pioneers by Nugent. I have spent way to many hours just tracing the same research material that my mentors have laid out for me. You never know, they may have missed something.

The following is my personal view on this early Pulliam period of time.

It is the general accepted view that Edward Pulliam came to America in 1636 on the ship called “Hopewell” and there are plenty of transcribed records to support this view. This idea has spun around in my head for several years. One thing I absolutely love is, History. I only wish that I was better at retaining the massive amount of history that we encounter in our lifetime. One big problem with history is how it is written. It does not seem that history is written until it is scrutinized, twisted to fit certain views, and after years you seem to find other supporting facts that don’t seem to fit what is written. I could dwell on this subject with examples of our Black History, Indian History, Political History and the list goes on. Let’s narrow this down some and get back to Edward Pulliam and Virginia.

We cannot ignore certain historical figures and stand out moments in early Virginia while we are making conjectures of Edward Pulliam.

• King James (reigned 1603-1625) – we have a bible version with his name associated with it.
• John Smith and Pocahontas – talk about twisting stories in history.
• Virginia Company of London – The group of investors chartered by King James.
• Algonquin Indians and Powhantan – They certainly were not happy about the English invading the land they had live in for centuries.
• Tobacco – The savior to colonizing Virginia.
• The House of Burgesses – Similar to the British House of Commons it gave the colonist a sense of rights of citizenship.
• The Royal colony of Virginia – In 1624 the Virginia Company’s charter was revoked, largely because of failure to make a profit and England was back in direct control.
• King James dies in 1625 and a new era starts in Virginia.
• Virginia Headright system – Pages from the Library of Virginia
• King Charles I – Ended up being beheaded in 1649. English Civil War 1642-1651.
• Virginia Parishes and Vestry Records – Originally, Virginia was divided into shires.

Now why on Earth would anyone in their right mind want to make a long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean (average 8 to 12 weeks) to a newly developed country that about 70 percent of the English settlers had lost their lives to disease, Indian retaliation, and unknown circumstances. We have fragmented record, but, we lack the thoughts that were driving these brave souls to embark on a perilous journey. Of course we are provided with stories of religious persecution, but, I believe that the biggest drive is the same reason that exist today, the pursuit of a better life. Life in England in this time period was not the greatest. Tension with Spain, economic conditions, politics, and other factors were contributory to the great migration to New England.

While researching our first Pulliam to arrive you run into murky waters, an example is the sources from that period, this sheet copy has conflicts. Then there is the spelling issues. Pulliam, Pullam, Pullum, Pulham, and Pulleyn are just a few examples of possible spellings. through the ages, it is possible that some of the descendants used different spellings.

Another idea that runs through my head is time. Think of your own life and what has happened in just 20 years. In 1636, we are just 20 years from the settlement of Jamestown. In that 20 years, the population of New England exploded from a few hundred to thousands. So, what makes one think that only one Pulliam descendant crossed that Atlantic, in other words, what makes us so sure that our Pulliam’s all came from the same branch of Edward that shows up in 1636.

Another issue that is a little murky is the ship “Hopewell” and the passenger list. If you really want to go down a few “rabbit holes”, put Hopewell immigration ship in your search engine. The Hopewell was a ship that had several captains. The captain Thomas Wood as referenced with Edward Pullin, in the passenger list, brings up some things that generates some questions for me. The Barbados destination for one, the length of the passenger list for another. I am still working on the transcribed writings and proof of how the Hopewell fits in to our Edward Pulliam.

Alright, there are a few records to support a Edward and Edmond Pullum in Virginia somewhere between 1636-1638. So what now? I am having issues with the resources of “Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly. Vol IV Neville-Terrill” and “Early Virginia Immigrants-Greer” that tells about Edward and Edmund. Looks like Edward arrives in 1636 and by 1640 has a son named James. Also, Edmund disappears off the historical records (were the two the same person?). I am searching for the writings that include some sort of clue, such as answering such questions as; Was Edward married before crossing the Atlantic or did he meet his wife in Virginia? Did Edward come over as an indentured servant or was he one of the affluent men that began the colonization of Virginia. By the way, during this time period 1600 to 1640, thousands of immigrants were populating the entire coast of New England. and they were not all from England.

I hope by now that you can see that I am a little skeptical on accepting any conjecture without a substantial amount of evidence. That does not mean that I don’t accept it, it means that I am very open to any other theories. It is a bit of a coincident that my wife and I came across a PBS series on TV called “Jamestown”. It is an old series that we can binge watch episodes. We got hooked. It does appear that the writers have done their research and have done a very good job of putting together a fictional story based on true facts. I can’t tell you how many times I have entertained the idea of writing a story about my genealogy with the title “Family Facts and Embellishments”.

Okay, it seems I am a little stuck on our first Pulliam/Pullum in America. There is more on this in the Genetics section and the YDNA results for a few of my Pulliam cousins. I am so hoping that someone reading this has more evidence about what we believe about our beginning and the descendant line of Edward Pulliam. Please click on the Feedback button in the top right corner on the home page and let me know what supporting material you have.

Let’s refresh our belief in the American beginning of the Pulliam/Pullum genealogy.

Edward Pulliam/Pullum Born in England about1600 – We don’t have a lot of evidence, yet he is believed to be at the top of the tree. The “Cavaliers and Pioneers” by Nugent and “Early Virginia Immigrants” by Greer are two of the most used sources. If anyone can find other supporting documents for this belief, please share it. Use the Feedback button on the home page.

Son of Edward is believed to be, James Pulliam/Pullum, oddly enough, is listed in the “Geneanet Community Trees Index” which is an Ancestry.com affiliation. He is listed as being born in Henrico County about 1640 and dying in 1675. He is listed as being married to a Mary Clarke, which is interesting with the headright theory and the listing of William Clarke in the “Early Virginia Immigrants”.  Also listed in the “Geneanet Tree” is a list of James children. James Clarke Pulliam, Sarah Clarke Pulliam, Thomas Clarke Pulliam and William Clarke Pulliam. This listing of the four children only adds more murkiness to the story. I have no idea what records produced these names except William.

 William Pulliam/Pullum, born in Henrico County around 1665. Hurray!! we are finally going to start moving here and start seeing some supporting finds in published material. Referenced in the Hornbook of Virginia History we can find that Henrico County was one of the original eight shires that made up Virginia. New Kent County was formed from York County in 1654. Also we will find a little something on Parishes of the established Church. Listed in Henrico County are the parishes of Bristol, Dale, Henrico or Varina, King William and Saint James’s. In New Kent County we find the parishes of Blisland, Saint John’s, Saint Paul’s, Saint Peter’s, Saint Stephen’s and Stratton Major.

At this point we need to refresh one of our resources and take a look at the Virginia Families in the Quarterly again. There you will see that William is listed as having children being baptized in Saint Peter’s Parish.

• James baptized 1690
• William baptized 1690
• Benjamin born about 1706
• Anna baptized 1722 Here is a related resource take a look at.

William Pulliam has abundant listings in our Cavaliers and Pioneers volumes. Here are a few to preview. I have done a terrible job of copying and organizing these listings. It is going to take me a while to gather and post in a better way. Many acres are listed with William Pulliam name associated in New Kent County. Another interesting thing is that it appears that he is involved in the Headright system, acquiring land for transporting people.

There is one particular listing in the Cavaliers and Pioneers on page 409 that is a mystery to me. It is a record involving Henry Gooch and William Pullam. The problem here is the date of 1660. The Chickahominy Swamp is perfect for the location of land involving our Pulliam ancestors in the New Kent and Henrico counties, but, the date does not fit our William Pulliam. I am not sure what to think or make of this.

Now I have to point out that the above resources do not clear up anything for me. It actually makes thing a little more murky as we go down the line. The biggest problem or missing piece of the puzzle is finding the will of William Pulliam, that would certainly be a big help. None the less, we are just going to have to keep moving and hopefully someone will help out and submit more resources. Some of this will start getting connected when I continue working on the genetics section of this website.

William has really thrown a big wrench in my gears of genealogy. My original intent, goal and dream was to research records and tie together the Pulliam/Pullum families that originated in Virginia and somehow show how they migrated out of Virginia (or stayed) and integrate the genealogies. Well……….that is not going so well. Thomas Obidiah Pulliam, (1702-1758) in Virginia is supposed to be the son of William. I am really having a tough time trying to gather resources to make a good case for this. Reaching out to various Pulliam families has resulted in a variety of stories. Until I can reach out and make solid contact with these various Pulliam family branches and start making verification through records and or DNA, I will just have to stick with what I know and have found on my own branch. Wish me luck and a lot of it.

Chapter Two – A Growing Family

I cannot give you an accurate number when it comes to Virginia Colony population between the years of 1636 and 1700. In today’s life expectancy you could look at it as one’s lifetime or a little more that 60 years. We are trying to concentrate on the British Colony of Virginia and attempting to establish the early genealogy of the first Pulliam/Pullum’s in the said colony. Using some of the resource tools talked about in the resource section on this website, we will execute a few searches. Starting with FamilySearch.org we can do a search in the pull down menu, family trees and Genealogies, for James Pulliam/Pullum born about 1640 in Henrico County. Or you can do a search for William Pulliam/Pullum born 1665 in New Kent County. We assume that they are the son and grandson respectively of our Edward Pulliam/Pullum. The search will come back with well over a hundred results. Then you can go to Ancestry.com and do a search for member family trees. The results will come back with over one hundred family trees with James Pulliam and wife Mary Clarke. The results of a search for James Pulliam on MyHeritage.com will come back with an overwhelming number of family trees. My point here is that there are an overwhelming number of people that are descendants and want to find and publish their heredity.

WikiTree is a community based website that people contribute their input. The picture below is an example of what you can find in a search. As I mentioned before, this site can lead you down a lot of “rabbit holes” and you may never see light again. That is not to say that it is not valuable. As one of the most respected genealogist, Elizabeth Shown Mills, would say “where is the evidence?”.

As I certainly could not possibly explore each and every one of these search results, I certainly keep an eye out as I am browsing for resources. It is with this in mind, I continually look for sources to keep the family branches closer together.

Church records are extremely valuable and while finding transcribed entries in various books, I can get the general location of our William Pulliam/Pullum in New Kent County. over time he certainly accumulated a great deal of land. I will work on doing a better job of posting his entries. Other very valuable sources are the Church Records as one being linked here with the Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter’s Parish. Something very interesting to me is the listing of William son to William Pullam on page 383. There is a little notation of Nat, and at this time, I will just leave it as being interesting. I was able to travel to the Library of Virginia early in September of 2023. I was able to look at the Vestry Book in the research room.

This Chapter is far from over. The goal was to find microfilmed documents to support all that we take for the truth. That trip to the Library made me realize that for this chapter to be supported with original document (many that don’t exist) is going to be a monumental task. The time that it takes to find a reference, be it a micro film or achieved article, can take up half a day. I am not ready to give up on the quest, just going to have to move on and come back to the research. I am having the toughest time trying to connect Thomas Obidiah Pulliam, Pattison Pulliam and John Pulliam to William Pulliam and Ann Pattison. I can find different references that say so, but, show me the hard evidence.

Before we move on to the next chapter, it is important to point out the Genetics that is a part of the whole picture. In the Genetic section of this site, the Haplogroup and Block matches shows 5 matches for the Haplogroup branch of R-FT99418. This branch or mutation was created about the year of 1600. Two of the matches surnames are Pullum. This has some significant weight in the American Pulliam/Pullum ancestral line. If we could get more male tester, we could possibly get closer to connecting the line.

Chapter Three – Expanding

Up to this point, 1636-1700, we have kept our study in the counties of Henrico, Hanover and New Kent. The scarce records that we have found so far have shown us that our William Pulliam (b 1665) has been documented in transcribed records dealing with property in these counties. William’s children that have been documented in transcribed records are believed to be as follows;

• James – found in Vestry Record (Born between 1690-1710)
• William – found in Vestry Record (Born between 1690-1710)
• David – Still working on it (Born between 1690-1710)
• John – Still working on it (Born between 1690-1710)
• Thomas _ My Line (Born between 1690-1710)
• Pattison – assumed to be Thomas’s brother (Born between 1690-1710)
• Ann – found in Vestry Record (Born between 1690-1710)
• Benjamin – found in Vestry Record (Born between 1690-1710)
• Mary – Still working on it (Born between 1690-1710)

As I have stated in the previous chapter, this list has problems with finding original transcripts to back up the claim that they are children of William Pulliam of New Kent VA. It certainly would help if someday, we find the will of William Pulliam of New Kent County or any other records that clue us in to the connection. The vestry records make it likely that he married a woman of the Pattison/Patterson family. There are certainly clues that lead us to that belief. You may wonder why the dates are listed in range rather than exact year. The sources for the dates found in the Vestry book are transcribed and seeing the photo pages of the Vestry book, some of the dates are unreadable. Also, a baptism date may not be a birth date. Below you will find more about the listed individual and perhaps a closer date of birth.

The above map was copied and cropped from “Historicalmapworks.com”. This map shows the area that our colonial ancestors lived in 1755. You can see that the counties that are mentioned in the existing records are all very close to River travel. The Pamunkey River is mentioned numerous times. The North Anna Rivers is where the present day Anna Lake is formed, and you can still find the land that the Holladay Belfonte Plantation was. It is very easy to assume that migration from New Kent County to Spotsylvania County had water involved.

This chapter is going to try and and explore the expansion and migration of the above list. At this point we are still in the early colonial period of Virginia. The maps I copied at the Library of Virginia were sourced from M. P. Robinson “Virginia Counties”. Also as a reference, found at the Virginia Library, an index on microfilm which will let us have a starting point in Spotsylvania County.

James Pulliam. Believed to be born and baptized in New Kent county 1691 and being the son of William and Ann (Patterson) Pulliam. Still looking for any records beyond the Vestry record in the St. Peter parish.

William Pulliam. Believed to be born before 1700 and baptized in New Kent County. He is listed in the Vestry records of St. Peters Parish.

David Pulliam. Believed to be born before 1700 in New Kent County and being the son of William and Ann (Patterson) Pulliam.

John Pulliam. Believed to be born before 1700 in New Kent County and being the son of William and Ann (Patterson) Pulliam. Now, we are able to find some records that could help us on researching John. There is a will that was probated February 6, 1734. This will was probated in Hanover County. Hanover county was created in 1720 from part of New Kent county. It is believed that his wife was Agnes Allen, although the marriage dates is unknow at this time. We may find more records in the Vestry book of St. Paul Parish which was formed in 1704 by a the division of St. Peter’s Parish in New Kent County.

The will of John Pulliam as copied from Wikitree and other places on the Internet;

I John Pullium of Hanover Co., being very weak and Sick of body but of perfect mind and Memory do make this my last Will and testament. I give my Soul to the hand of God who gave it and my Body I recommend to the Earth to be buried in a Christian decent manner at the discretion of my Exor. All my just debts to be paid.
I give unto my four sons Namly William, John, James and Drewry all my Land to be equally Divided between them if the Child my wife is now with should be a Son then he to have an equal part of my sd. Lands with the Rest of his Brothers; to my three daughters Agness, Elizabeth and Sarah 1 Cow and 1 Pewter Bason; all the rest of my Estate to my well beloved wife Agness Pullum to be by her Distributed among my children as she shall see fit, when they come of age. I do appoint my wife Agness my sole Executix. John Pulliam Wit: John Bowles, Robt. Allin, Charles Balley, Robt. Allin, Jun.
6th February 1734 presented in Court by Agness Pulliam Extrx and proved by oaths of John Bowles, Robert Allin and Robert Allin, Jr.

According to the above will, John and Agnes’s children were not very old. Especially when you consider that he was probably in his 30’s.

Thomas Obadiah Pulliam. Believed to be born in 1702 and died 1758. Thomas has a written will, mentioned in other wills and Thomas starts the Pulliam line that actually can be followed with fairly reliable documentation. This is where we move out of New Kent County and start a beginning in Spotsylvania County Virginia. It is not clear when Thomas Pulliam migrated out of New Kent County area. At the present time we can only go on the surviving records at hand. Take a look at the wills of Thomas Pulliam and John Holladay to start this study.

Now, let’s take a look at the wills and see if we can get some clues. With the two wills, we have established that the Holladay’s and Pulliam’s have a close relationship. We do know that John Holladay the Ranger has been established by reading his know history. Looking at the bottom of the above link, you will see the children listed of John Marshall Holladay. Beside that, the story that his descendant tells is great. We are trying to just look at the transcribed wills of the “will books” (which I have not seen the original). The untold story of how and when Thomas Pulliam and family migrated to Spotsylvania still remains to be discovered in lost documents. We will have to go with what we know.

Looking at the transcribed will of John Holladay, it appears that he owned land in Caroline County, which is next to Spotsylvania. It appears that John’s wife and mother of his children has passed on. It appears that he has 5 sons and 4 daughters. Two of the daughters have married Pulliam men. One daughter has married a Rawlings man and it appears that Susanna is not married in 1742.

Now, as we turn to Thomas Pulliam (1702-1758), let’s take a look at his will and draw out a bunch of questions.

I think this would be a good place to say that I am not proud of any person in history that had the mindset that they could own a human being like a piece of property. Just a terrible part of history and I accept it as such and I do not ignore it like it never happened.

• Spotsylvania County was founded in 1721. There seems to be a time gap that exist from New Kent County and the children of William Pulliam and when did Thomas and Patterson/Pattison migrate to Spotsylvania. I might add here that their sister Anne, who married William Sandige, seems to have migrated to Spotsylvania.
• How did the Pulliam – Holladay relation begin?
• The marriage pool must not have been to large with the family marriages. We need to research the Rawlins, Dicken and Sandige.
• There are more documents about Thomas’s children that give us clues to age and guardianship. ]
• Still working on all of Williams children and finding records of this generation.

We owe a lot of gratitude to William Armstrong Crozier, 1864-1913. He is credited with being the author of History of Early Spotsylvania. With over 500 pages of transcribed records, we have a wonderful source of historic Spotsylvania records.

In Thomas’s will, we assume that Winifred has passed away because of no mention of her. In 1758, Thomas is not even sixty years old. We can assume that two of his daughters are of age and find them married. Anna to David Sandidge (possible cousin marriage). Sarah to Christopher Dicken. The will states that Benjamin is not 21 years old yet. Near the end of the will there is mention equally dividing between seveb children. Of those seven Benjamin , Anna and Sarah are not listed. That would make it a little unclear on how many living children there are. I believe there would be ten children. Now we go to other records and come to other conclusions.

After the death of Thomas we find a couple of guardian bonds in Will Book B that indicate that Susanna, Isabella (maybe Elizabeth), Agnes, Mary and Benjamin are listed as orphans of Thomas Pulliam. This would indicate that they were not of age (maybe 18 or 21). It appears that James is named as the guardian of his younger sibling. Let’s assume that James is at least 25 years old. We can assume that he was born about 1733. We will be looking for baptism records in the church records.

Patterson Pulliam. Is believed to be born after 1700 and being another son of William and Ann (Patterson) Pulliam.

Ann Pulliam. Is believed to be born around 1700 (the baptism record in the Vestry is unreadable) and is found in the St. Peter Vestry records in New Kent County. In the Vestry book she is recorded as a daughter of William Pulliam. The records indicate that she married William Sandidge. There is plenty of information pertaining to her and William Sandige and the descendants. The Genealogies of Virginia Families from the Tyler’s Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine has a little information on the Sandidge family. There is also a book on the genealogy of William Sandidge that I found in the Virginia Library in Richmond, I will share some of that maybe later. Ann Pulliam Sandidge remarried to Joseph Martin after the death of William in 1747. There were no children from that marriage, yet it appears that Joseph had children from his previous marriage also. As a side note, I find it very interesting that my 2nd great grandfather, born in 1813 Kentucky had a middle name of Sandridge. Very close on the spelling, eh?

Benjamin Pulliam. Is believed to be born around 1700 and is also found in the St. Peter Vestry records in New Kent County. He is recorded as being baptized as son of William Pulliam.

Mary Pulliam. Is believed to be a daughter of William and Ann (Patterson) Pulliam.

Chapter Four – Becoming a New Nation

The next generation are the children that are no longer thinking of themselves as English patriots, but are thinking of themselves as Americans. The expansion of the Pulliam/Pullum family is migrating to other counties and even other newly formed communities. These are the pioneers of developing America. We are going to be entering a Revolutionary War. Later on we will discuss more about the War.

When it comes to research of names, it is very easy to get off track when you are dealing with multiple same names. William, James, Thomas, Benjamin, Joseph, John and yes, even Drury. After the Pulliam/Pullen families started growing. The namesakes started showing up. The trick is finding records in certain locations. You can’t have the same person in different places at the same time. As you go through the research paces of today methods, one of them being the Internet), hundreds of trees can be found on such websites as Family Search, Ancestry, Wikitree, MyHeritage, etc., one has to really pay attention to the sources, or where did the conclusions come from.

If we accept the conclusions established in the above chapters about our earliest ancestors in America, then we will move on to the next generations. Some of this may be redundant as we start to move on to the grand children of William Pulliam and Ann Patterson. The growing pains of becoming a sovereign nation are well documented. Our Pulliam ancestors were a part of that. Up to this point the genealogy proofs have been scarce. Now, as we get into the grandchildren, we are able to find more citations along with more slightly confusing family history. Below is a county map that is very useful to get an idea where the Pulliam’s lived and slowly migrated.

Below you see a couple of pages out of the William-Mary Quarterly Vol 4. As you can see, it starts with the Edward Pulliam from England and gives a short genealogy to William Pulliam (assumed William that married Sarah Ann Patterson). I want you to see again that it only list four children that were listed in the St. Peter’s Parish. This genealogy is about the third son, Benjamin and his descendants. It is not that easy to follow, but, I will try to break it down.

Okay, let’s see if we can make the above a little more clearer. First of all, the William Mary Quarterly is a wonderful reference tool and was published as a Journal Article. I am not sure who wrote this article, it seems to be a descendent of the Pulliam or Bruce family with great genealogy knowledge.

Benjamin Pulliam b.1706 in New Kent d.1792 in Mecklenburg , marries first Mary Bruce. They have three children.

• Mary Willis Pulliam marries a Mr. Rose and have no children.
• Barnett Pulliam never marries, yet a very prominent man dies in 1813 and leaves his estate to his brother John’s children.
• John Pulliam b. 1755 d. 1809 marries Elizabeth Wilson. They had eight children
  • John Pulliam d. 1837 in Tennessee marries Temperance Norman
  • Barnett Pulliam b. 1781 d. 1807 marries Margaret Norman
  • Lucy Wilson Pulliam b. 1795 d. 1869 marries Portius Moore.
  • Mary Israel Pulliam b.1786 marries James Butler
  • Elizabeth Pulliam b. 1792 marries William Webb
  • Don’t seem to find the other two children in this Journal.

The following is a descendant report for John and Elizabeth Wilson.

Benjamin Pulliam marries his second wife Ann Ragland, a widow to Samuel Hester. They had one child. Benjamin Pulliam Jr. There are issues with this, looks like Benjamin and Ann Ragland did not get married until 1784, Benjamin would be in his seventies. A few things need to be discovered; how old was Ann Ragland Hester? When did Margaret Bruce pass away? In the will of Benjamin 1792, Benjamin Ragland Pulliam was not twenty one years old. The will of Benjamin in 1792 shows Ann and his children, also the will let’s us know that Benjamin is a successful tobacco planter with slaves.

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James Pulliam, who appears to be a son of William and Ann Patterson, I am just not having any luck on him. I am hoping that as the research goes on, he will show up with more information. And maybe find his marriage and children. James seems to be listed in most genealogies that are the children of William and Ann Patterson. I just need more evidence. So far, a James Pulliam is listed as being baptized about 1690 and listed in the St. Peters Vestry as a son to William Pulliam. I have seen a few family genealogies that do have James Pulliam born in 1689 to William and Ann in New Kent county. These family genealogies also have him passing anywhere from 1734 to 1764. Also some of these genealogies have him being married to a Mary…. and having a son named Joseph born in 1720. The problem is finding any evidence to support this. There is an interesting family website out of Dewey Rose Georgia that has an historical Pulliam Cemetery. (historicpulliamcemetery.com). There is a family tree at that website that is very interesting and is worthy to look at. I would love to find a descendent of the founding father Robert Pulliam 1740-1825 and get a YDNA test done. So far no luck.

You can also find this Robert Pulliam married Eleanor Brown on WikiTree website. The line goes back to James but does not have a lot of supporting citations.

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William Pulliam son of William and Ann is another research challenge. Even back to the Vestry record that list him a being “nat” is somewhat of mystery. I am not having much luck with finding his marriage and children. There is plenty of clues that mention a William Pulliam in various records, such as Virginia Spotsylvania County Records by Crozier. The hard part is, which William Pulliam, the Sr. or Jr..

The above date would indicate that these men are the generation after William Pulliam and Sarah Ann Patterson. There are other listings in Grozier’s Virginia records for William Pulliam that would indicate a prior generation.

Listed on WikiTree you find a William Pulliam Jr. You will find William Patterson Pulliam son of William Pulliam and Ann Patterson with siblings listed. You will also find he married and had children. Another unlikely fact is that he lived to be over a hundred years old. I am not sure why he is listed with Patterson as his middle name. The children listed are lacking in sources and a lot of research is going to be required on this William Pulliam.

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Not sure if I pointed out in the hand written Vestry record, that there is a listing of “boy” which would indicate that the male child had not been named yet. Have no clue on who this was. Thomas? Patterson? John?

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Ann Pulliam is believed to be a daughter of William and Ann. She is listed in the St. Peter Vestry, the date is hard to read, but, it is believed she was baptized about 1702. Our Ann is a great study and believed to have married William Sandidge. There is plenty of records to investigate to follow this marriage and connections with the Pulliam family. There are plenty of conflicts with the stories of William Sandidge and Ann Pulliam, such as where William was born and who he married. The book “History of the Sandidge Family of Virginia and their descendants” is most compelling to me. It also ties together my line (as you will see later) of Pulliam’s.

It’s believed that William Sandidge migrated from England. Again there are conflicts with where he was born. It appears that Ann Pulliam married William Sandidge about 1718, she would certainly be young. Not really sure how old William was, I am thinking he is at least ten years older. I always think of how folks met each other, Ann Pulliam was from New Kent County and had to have some sort of introduction from someone to William. Where and when is always in my abstract thoughts. We find records of the Sandidge family in Spotsylvania County. The following is from Genealogies of Virginia Families, Tylers Quarterly Historical can Genealogy Magazine.

Now, the records certainly tie a relationship with the Pulliam, Holladay, Gholston and other families in Spotsylvania County. As you will see as we move down the list of children believed to be the children of William Pulliam and Ann Pattison.

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The children above were the children of William Pulliam and Ann Pattison that were listed in the St. Peter’s Vestry records. The children below are believed to be siblings to the above. I am still looking for more positive records and as they are found they will be edited into this Pulliam Story. One thing that certainly helps is the Genetics of folks that I connect with. The children below are the children of William Pulliam and Ann Patterson that are believed to be of the nine children that you will find in the Genealogy Tree and descendants of Edward Pulliam that immigrated in1636. The problem of hard evidence is going to be my quest. There is a genetic connection with the following Pulliam’s/Pullum’s, which is very encouraging. In the future there will be more on this in the Genetic button on home page.

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Now, David Pulliam is believed to be one of the sons of William and Ann. Born approximately 1692 in New Kent county, he is not found in the Vestry book (that I see). This David Pulliam does not fit well as a son of William and Ann. There is a possibility that there was a David Pulliam 1688-1710 that shows up in WikiTree. I don’t have much of anything on that David. Hopefully as our research goes on we will find more. We do find a will for David Pulliam. We also find numerous property records. This David married a Elizabeth Dickenson, which the Dickenson’s do have records in Spotsylvania County. One issue that I am having is that David would be over a hundred years old in 1774. At this point we are going to go with it, until we find a better record that can straighten this out. The transcribed will of David is as follows.

This will, to me, fits into a David Pulliam that is much younger than the 1692 birthdate. The older sons are possibly patriots that fought in the Revolutionary War. The David Pulliam has records in the Virginia record in the Crozier book that list his dealings with his Pulliam relatives in Spotsylvania County. We will come back to the sons and daughters listed in the will a little later.

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John Pulliam according to available family records John was born in New Kent County in 1692. His will that was probated in 1734 provides a lot of information. We know that St. Paul’s parish in Hanover County was created from New Kent County. There is a lot of places to find John Pulliam and Agnes Allen. There are records found in William and Mary Historical magazine that reference John. The Small book of Hanover County Records, is listed as having his will. Below is the will of John found on Familysearch.org and the film number listed below it.

I found a transcribed paragraph of the above will on Ancestry.com

(Small book of Hanover County Records, page 5.) Will of John Pulliam, dated 4 Dec 1734, proved 5 February 1734/35, To my four sons, William, John, James and Drewry Pulliam…..all my land to be equally divided and if the child my wife is now with is a son, then he to have an equal part. To my three daughters, Agness, Elizabeth and Sarah, one cow and one pewter basin; all the rest of my estate to my wife Agness Pulliam, to be distributed to my children as she shall see fit when they come of age. I appoint my wife, Agness, to be executrix of this last will and testament. Witnesses: John Bowles, ROBERT ALLEN, Charles Bailey and ROBERT ALLEN, JR. Agness Pulliam with her securities, ROBERT ALLEN and ROBERT ALLEN, JR, are bound unto Nicholas Meriwether to serve as executrix of the estate of John Pulliam. Bond acknowledged and recorded 6 February 1734/35. 4 June 1735,

WikiTree.com is where you can find “Pulliam-29”, John Pulliam and includes a biography and children.

The above will tells us at the time he wrote this will, he had four sons, three daughters and Agnes is with child. Apparently the children are relatively young. It is not telling us how much property is being equally divided.

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Pattison Pulliam shows up in most Pulliam genealogies as a son of William and Ann Pattison. Even though he is not listed in St. Peter’s Vestry, it certainly rings a connection bell with his first name.

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Thomas Obadiah Pulliam, is my line of Pulliam’s. It appears that he is brother to Pattison, maybe cousin, and both are not listed in the St. Peter Vestry, but, are very much connected to the Spotsylvania records we find.

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Thanks to many Virginia research records, we can tell a lot about Pattison and Thomas Pulliam. Especially our friend William Crozier and his Virginia records. This is where we connect with John Holladay, known as the ranger. In the following, we will take a look at the will of John Holladay and follow as many records that we can find on the lines of Pattison and Thomas Pulliam.

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John Holladay (1676-1742) is believed to be born in England, yet there are some that believe he is a descendant of the people in Jamestown. He is called the ranger because of his service with the Virginia Rangers, a colonial militia that existed to protect the frontier. It is believed that for his service he was awarded land in Spotsylvania County. The whole story on John Holladay and the plantation of “Bellfonte” is a whole research project by itself. I have been to Anna Lake and visited the cemetery where it is believed his descendants are buried. For now, we will just stick to the will of John Holladay and where our Pattison and Thomas enter the connection with the Holladay family. You can find some great information on the Holladay line in “Notable Southern Families” Vol. II Zella Armstrong. The following transcription of John Holladay’s will is from Virginia Genealogies by Horace Hayden.

This file certainly brings together the Pulliam, Holladay, Rawling families. From here, we can establish more connections.

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I can not find a will of Patterson Pulliam, we can certainly find his name in various witness and property records associated with Spotsylvania. The file below shows the wife and children of Patterson.

Patterson Pulliam I.

The following record is significant in tying Patterson Pulliam I to his father William Pulliam II. William Pulliam and William Jennings, sr. of Hanover County VA., witnessed a deed executed by Christopher Smith, Merchant, of Hanover to Patterson Pulliam, planter, of Caroline Co., VA on the 6th of Feb. 1729, for a track of 250 acres of land on the North side of the Pamunkey River in Spotsylyania County VA. There are many Pulliam records to be found in this county beginning at this time and up to the Revolutionary War when they began to scatter to the Carolinas and Georgia.

Children of Patterson Pulliam and Elizabeth Holladay are:

1.) . Joseph Pulliam,

2.)  William Pulliam,

3.)  Benjamin Pulliam,

4.)   Patterson Pulliam, Jr.,.

5.) . James Pulliam, born Bef. 1734 in Hanover Co, VA; died 19 Apr

1799 in Person Co., NC; married Elizabeth Allen Stone 28 Feb 1757 in

Lunenburg Co., VA.

Glad Family Page information

(Pulliam Family Genealogy by: Mildred Pulliam, Last updated 1985)

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The transcribed will of Thomas Pulliam is below. I have seen a copy of the hand written will and have no idea how anyone could have accurately transcribed it.

Thanks to William Crozier and his work on Virginia Records we find in the Guardians Bond Will book B, a record of Thomas’s young children bonded to the oldest son James. Also mentioned is David Sandige who would be a cousin through Anna Pulliam Sandige.

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At this point of time we are still a little less than 20 years from the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Still under the English Rule of Government, the colonies are warming up to become a new Nation.

This Chapter is far from complete and in time research will be added. The Pulliam family has grown exponentially from what we have uncovered, the children of William Pulliam and Anne Patterson are starting to migrate.

Chapter Five- Benjamin Pulliam

From the records we can determine that Thomas O. Pulliam migrated to Spotsylvania in the 1720’s. Also from the records we can determine that his brother Patterson both married daughters of John Holladay. There are records that show that brothers Thomas and Patterson were both overseer’s for road work about 1729. From the records we find that both brothers were referred to as “planters”, Patterson in the county of Louisa and Thomas near the Holladay plantation.

This chapter will be about my line which starts with Benjamin Pulliam. Reference to the will of his father indicates that he was young when his father passed. Along with his sisters refereed to as orphans in the above record in 1758.

Let’s take a look at the transcribed will. Apparently Thomas was not very well if he wrote this will in April and the will was in probate in June of 1758. Rather important to notice is that the will states that it is written in the 31st year of majesty reign. That indicates that the king is still being recognized and the St. George Parish is being stated. We are under English law.

It is not really clear on how much land Thomas owns. The apparent oldest son, James, inherits 200 acres of the land that Thomas lives on. We conclude that Thomas is a widower and it is not all that clear on where the mentioned children live. It appears that two of the daughters are married and living with their husbands. We assume that the two oldest sons, James and Thomas, are adults and it is not clear where they reside. We assume that the younger children are living with their father. Benjamin is given some land and we don’t know how much. The young daughters are to divide the remaining estate. It strikes me that Benjamin gets the best feather bed and furniture along with a colt. I suppose the general thinking is that the daughters will get married and their husbands will provide.

It is important to take a look at the Guardian Bond record, provided by our friend Crozier and his Virginia Records. From what I understand, the guardian bond that we see makes the oldest brother, James, responsible for his younger siblings. Note the monetary values and the mention of David Sandige (the husband of the oldest sibling, Ann). It is not clearly spelled out on how and why the value of guardian protection of the younger siblings was derived. I can only assume that the courts or the St. George vestry determined the values of the estates for the orphans.

Six years later, 1764, the Virginia records show that James Pulliam passes away. In the Administration Bond Will Book D, in Crozier’s Virginia Records we see that an Elizabeth Pulliam has a 1000 pound bond for James Pulliam. I do find it curious that the bond is equal to the Guardian Bonds in 1758. None the less, by this time, I believe the younger siblings are now old enough to start lives of their own as we try to follow Benjamin Pulliam. By the way, most family trees that have our Benjamin listed, have him born in 1744. I think this is a good estimate. It puts him to about fourteen years old when his father died.

At this point, I have not found any records to indicate what education or trade that Benjamin acquired. We start finding records that he marries Lucinda Stuart. I have not found the record for the marriage and not sure if Benjamin and Lucy were married in Spotsylvania or Culpepper county.

There are a few clues to this marriage. Lucinda Stuart is thought to be the daughter of Robert Stuart (a whole other study) and his will mentions her. Also there is a land deed recorded in Crozier’s records.

Now, with these two pieces of information, we can assume that Benjamin and Lucy have decided to migrate to Culpeper County and have decided to give up the land in Spotsylvania. We can also see that Lucy has a sister and brother-in-law. Joseph Strother, husband of Nancy will be brought up a little later. We still are under English rule, but we are getting closer to a big change in American way of life.

While searching for information about Benjamin Pulliam, son of Thomas, I came across a book I found some time ago in “Familysearch.org”. It was written by a distant cousin of mine and I really admire the author and his style of writing and belief in sharing. His name is Chester Clark Buchanan and the several books that he has written about family can easily be found on “Familysearch.org”.

Chester and I connect our families back to Benjamin Pulliam. His son Thomas Jefferson Pulliam married Nancy Decker. That is where our lines separated. My line is from Benjamin’s son Joseph Pulliam who married Margaret Ficklin. The main reason I bring up the books of Chester is because he really inspired me to keep digging for more information. The families that connect to his ancestors have very familiar sounding surnames, and perhaps as I dig in, we may find other ways that we connect. Also his family history is very similar to my family and they shared a lot of the same time period history.

Another thing that intrigued me about Chester’s book is his references. A lot of them are the same that I have seen and used. One that really caught my eye was Wanda Forste. I brought her up at the beginning of this story. Wanda worked at a LDS center in New Mexico, plus she is connected to my line of Pulliam’s. I have a very small folder from Wanda that my mother possessed. I have a picture of Wanda and my mother sitting together going over genealogy. Wanda passed away and I am striking out on finding her research. I can only imagine that she had a mountain of records that she accumulated over the years. I will not give up searching for what she left.

I encourage anyone interested in Pulliam genealogy to check out Chester’s book. His research is enlightening you and inspire you to follow up on records. As mentioned above, Joseph Strother was brother-in-law to Benjamin Pulliam. In Chester’s book, he writes about the common practice of paying another man to serve in the Revolutionary War. I have found this in several resources. I did find in my research that Joseph Strother was somewhat of a hero and went on and became a prominent figure in Kentucky.

Chester Buchanon also put in a very nice resource for the reason why Benjamin may have been motivated to migrate to Kentucky. The 1795 South of Green River Act by the Kentucky General Assembly that allowed non-veterans to settle in the south central military district. You can learn more about this at https://www.sos.ky.gov/land/resources/legislation/Pages/South-of-Green-River.aspx

At this point I want to insert what we believe to be the children of Benjamin and Lucy Pulliam. From there we will discuss more about records.

It appears that Benjamin and Lucy were married in Culpepper County, Virginia. How they met and the relationship between the Pulliam and Stewart families will have to remain a research project. We can pretty much make the assumption that almost all the children were born in Culpepper County and some of them were married adults before migrating.

Chapter 6

Migration

I think this would be a time to make something clear about the Pulliam/Pullum descendants of Edward, the immigrant that crossed the Atlantic Ocean to begin the American line of Pulliam/Pullums. You have to realize that when Benjamin and Lucy migrated to Kentucky, they left behind many relations that went their own way. These brothers, sisters and cousins all form the genealogy that is very deep and will take many contributions to put the relations together. I have found many DNA connections over the past 10 years that somehow fit into the Pulliam story. This chapter is condensed to the family and group that migrated with Benjamin and Lucy Pulliam. Maybe in future chapters we will mention other lines that migrated to other parts of the United States.

Getting from Culpeper Virginia to Southern Kentucky must have been quit a journey. Chester Buchannan, in his book, has a very good theory that make good since. Some time after 1792 when Kentucky became a state and before 1799 when the land grant for the Big Difficult Creek was surveyed, Benjamin Pulliam and Lucy made the decision to move. Benjamin and Lucy were about fifty years old and many of their children were adults. It is not known how many were in his group. There is a very good possibility that they traveled by wagon from Culpeper to the Monongahela River, near Pittsburg, and built a flat boat. Then floated down the Ohio River to Louisville where they disembarked and traveled overland to the Big Difficult Creek.

The insert below is from Chester’s book that he was so kind as to allow me to use.