Biography: William Lee Pitts born December 7, 1849

Happy Birthday!

WILLIAM LEE PITTS

BIOGRAPHY and GENEALOGY

(1849-1910)

Perry County, Alabama

William Lee Pitts, of Uniontown, was born near that place in Perry county, December 7, 1849, and was the son of David William Pitts and Eliza Violet(Campbell) Pitts, and the grandson of Thomas Daniel Pitts and Mary(Gray) Pitts, and of William Campbell and Eliza (McLean) Campbell.

Thomas Daniel Pitts was a captain in the War of 1812 Virginia troops. His ancestors came from England and settled in Virginia. He died 1851 in Perry Coutny, Alabama. He was a cousin of Alexander Davidson Pitts. Another son of Thomas Daniel Pitts was Phillip Henry Pitts (1814-1884), a cotton planter of Uniontown, Perry County, Alabama.

His wife was also of English descent. William Campbell was a Scotch emigrant to South Carolina but afterward moved to North Carolina where he married Eliza, daughter of William McLean.

David William Pitts was born in Essex county, Virginia. He was educated at William and Mary College, Virginia and Davidson College, North Carolina and became a planter at Uniontown, Alabama. He entered the Confederate service as lieutenant of company “D,” 4^th Alabama Infantry Regiment, and was killed in first battle of Manassas.

Representative William Lee Pitts was educated in the common schools about Uniontown, at Prof Tutwiler’s school at Greene Springs, at Davidson College. North Carolina. and at Andrews Military College. Statesville, North Carolina. He was a planter in Perry county and deputy collector of internal revenue during Cleveland’s first administration. He was appointed U. S. internal revenue agent in Cleveland’s second term and continued in office during the first administration of President McKinley and then resigned.

He was a Democrat and was a member of the county Democratic committee for several years. is a deacon in the Presbyterian Church: a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, and a Knight of Honor. On November 14. 1871, he married Mattie Lleyellyn Blevins. (Nov. 11, 1850 – Jan 4, 1887) daughter of Dr. Lleyellyn Blevins and Polly Ann (Horne) Blevens. They had the following children:

1. William Llewelyn Pitts, lawyer, probate judge of Perry County, 1915. He was captain of Co. M. Second Alabama volunteer infantry, U. S. Volunteers in the Spanish- American War. He married Mattie Lea Harwood and died Feb. 7, 1917.
2. Dr. David Samuel Pitts (Sep 10, 1875 – Aug. 2, 1900) buried at Holy Cross Cemetery of Davidson Memorial Church
3. Eliza Leonard Pitts married Allen Lewis Morgan

William Lee Pitts passed away Mar 20, 1910, in Selma, Dallas County, Alabama. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery of Davidson Memorial Church in Uniontown, Perry County, Alabama, along with his wife and some children.

SOURCES

1. History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 4, Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1921
2. Alabama official and statistical register By Alabama. Dept. of Archives and History
3. University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.
4. Find A Grave Memorial# 71075282 # 71075406 l# 71075572

ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Exploration: Lost & Forgotten Stories (Volume 1) is a collection of lost and forgotten stories about the people who discovered and initially settled in Alabama.

Some stories include:

• The true story of the first Mardi Gras in America and where it took place
• The Mississippi Bubble Burst – how it affected the settlers
• Did you know that many people devoted to the Crown settled in Alabama –
• Sophia McGillivray- what she did when she was nine months pregnant
• Alabama had its first Interstate in the early days of settlement