William R. Pettiford

William R. Pettiford
Pettiford in 1887
Born	(1847-01-20)January 20, 1847 Granville County, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	September 20, 1914(1914-09-20) (aged 67) Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Alma mater	Lincoln Normal School, Selma University, Shaw University
Occupation	Minister, educator, banker
Political party	Republican
Religion	Baptist

William R. Pettiford (January 20, 1847 – September 20, 1914) was a minister and banker in Birmingham, Alabama. Early in his career he worked as a minister and teacher in various towns in Alabama, moving to the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1883 and serving there for about ten years. In 1890 he founded the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, which played an important role in black economic development in Alabama and in the South during the 25 years it existed. Pettiford has been called the most significant institutional builder and leader in the African American community in Birmingham during the period in which he lived. In 1897 he was said to be next to Booker T. Washington the black man who has done the most in the South for blacks.

William Reuben Pettiford was born in Granville County, North Carolina on January 20, 1847 to William and Matilda Pettiford. His parents were free blacks and owned a farm. William worked on the farm and had lessons on the weekends where he learned to read. About the age of ten, his parents sold their farm and moved to Person County, North Carolina, where Pettiford was able to get a tutor and more formal lessons.

On July 4, 1868, Pettiford converted to the Baptist religion and on August 3, 1868 he was baptized by Rev. Ezekiel Horton in Salisbury, North Carolina. He took the place of clerk at the Pleasant Grove church and on July 4, 1869 he married Mary Jane Farley, daughter of Joseph Farley, but she died on March 8, 1870. He remarried to Jennie Powell on July 24, 1873, but she died September 5, 1874. He married a third time on November 23, 1880 to Della Boyd, daughter of Richard and Caroline Boyd of Selma, Alabama. They had at least three children, the oldest of which was Carry Bell Pettiford born September 22, 1882.

On December 3, 1869 he moved to Selma, Alabama where he took work as a farm hand and teacher. He entered the State Normal School at Marion, Alabama where he studied for seven years, teaching and farming in his spare time to fund his education. He took a principalship at a school in Uniontown, Alabama from which he resigned in 1877 to focus on finishing his schooling. In 1878, he was elected a teacher at the Selma Institute (later Selma University) and given the opportunity to study theology under then president, W. H. Woodsmall. On March 6, 1879 he was licensed to preach at the Baptist Church in Marion, Alabama and in November 1879 he was made general financial agent by the board at the State Baptist Convention in Opelika, Alabama. In 1880, he resigned from these positions to accept the pastorate of a church at Union Springs, Alabama. In late February 1883 he moved to Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In Birmingham, he was a very successful fundraiser for the church, and succeeded in building a new church building costing $25,000 and growing the size of the congregation.