William "Walking Billy" Tyler
Birth: Oct. 1, 1755, Prince George's County, Maryland, USA
Death: Sep. 23, 1836, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA
Burial: William Tyler Cemetery, Jeffersontown, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA
William was the son of Edward Tyler and Nancy Ann Langley. Before the Revolutionary War he accompanied his parents to the Monongahela River about 30 miles above the Red Stone Fort. On December 1, 1777, he volunteered under Colonel George Rogers Clark and fought the British, French, and Indians in the North West Territory. He was discharged on Christmas Day 1779. His family then moved to the Louisville, Kentucky area. It was there that he applied for a pension by rights of his service in the War, giving a complete record of his military service. The family Bible burned, he stated when his father's house was destroyed by fire. At that time his brother Edward Tyler, aged 66, stated that he objected to his brother inlisting because that left him the only brohter at home. He further stated that his brother returned from the Army in 1779. Then in the spring of 1780 his father removed to the falls of the Ohio River, now Louisville. A short time after the Tyler family arrived in Kentucky, William, while working near his cabin was captured by Indians who carried him north, where they kept him for two years. He escaped and returned to his settlement. He married Sarah "Sally" Williams adn some time later while working in the woods, he saw several Indiains. Pretending not to see them he worked his way back to his cabin and and put his wife and baby out the window in the back. After making sure that they had escaped he quickly followed, just minutes before the Indians rushed the cabin and burned it to the ground. He later returned and built another cabin where he remained for many years, eventually building a lare house. In later years William made many trips to New Orleans by flatboat, always walking the entire distance back to Kentukcy, and thus he earned the name "Walking Billy". He and many of his family were buried near the origanl cabin.
Note: The small cemetery where where William and Sally were buried was mostly destroyed, but has been restored by the owner of the property at that time. Some stones were nevered found, but those that were found were restored and reset in the ground ..
