William Bull (governor)

William Bull
24th Governor of South Carolina
In office
November 22, 1737 – December 17, 1743
MonarchGeorge II
Preceded byThomas Broughton
Succeeded byJames Glen
2nd Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
In office
December 23, 1738 – March 21, 1755
GovernorJames Glen
Preceded byThomas Broughton
Succeeded byWilliam Bull II
Personal details
Born1683
DiedMarch 21, 1755
William Bull's House, Charleston

William Bull (1683 – March 21, 1755) was a colonial American landowner and politician in the Province of South Carolina.

He was a captain in the Tuscarora War and then a colonel in the Yamasee War before he became the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1721.[1] He served on the governor's council and was the lieutenant governor under James Glen from 1738 to 1755 and acting governor from 1738 to 1744. In 1733, he assisted James Oglethorpe in the founding of the new Province of Georgia, laying out the town of Savannah, whose Bull Street is named for him.[2] His father, Stephen Bull, was Lord Ashley's deputy and one of the leaders of the expedition that came from England in 1670 and settled Charles Town.[citation needed]

He was married to Mary Quintyne and his descendants include a son, also named William Bull, who was also a South Carolina acting governor, as well as William Henry Drayton and Charles Drayton, sons of his daughter Charlotta Bull and John Drayton. A monument to Governor Bull (c. 1791) is located at Ashley Hall Plantation, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ "The Bull Family of South Carolina". The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine. 1 (1): 76–90. 1900. JSTOR 27574894.
  2. ^ Savannah's Bull Street: The Man Behind Its Name – B. H. Levy
  3. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  4. ^ John W. Califf and Elias B. Bull (February 1975). "Rosemont Plantation" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  5. ^ "Ashley Hall Plantation, Charleston County (Address Restricted)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 2014-08-01.