William H. Tyers was a free-born mulatto of former Virginia slaves Henry Tyers and his wife Jane "Jennie" Jones. He was born in 1870 in Petersburg, Virginia, just south of Richmond. Many biographies state his birth year as 1876, and some show one or both of his parents born outside the U.S. However, U.S. census records, including the 1870 enumeration, are very clear and consistent on both his birth year of 1870 and on the birthplace of both of his parents as Virginia.
