In 1884, the Pinckney family, along with 12 year-old William, boarded a train in South Carolina. Their destination was a small, dusty, cow town in the San Joaquin Valley, which later took the name of Bakersfield.

Pinckney's family was one of 130 or so black families hired by the Haggin and Carr Land Development Co., to grow cotton.

Their land however, was ill-suited for cotton and the crop failed.

To help his family survive, young William turned to a variety of jobs, including a 2 year stint as a cowboy in the Tehachapi area.

Any spare time he had, he devoted to music. He played tenor trombone in Bakersfield's first black orchestra the Kern Valley Band, until it disbanded in 1905.

In an interview with Richard Bailey, he recalled how Bakersfield of the 18901s was a "wild and woolly cow town" where cowboys from the Tejon and other area ranches would ride into town on paydays and take over in a manner often depicted in TV westerns.

In 1899, he married Amanda Rudolph, and a year later they purchased a house at 812 H. Street. Their former home is preserved at Kern County Museum.

In his later years, Pinckney spent much of his time on his ranch in the mountains above Lorraine.

During the Bailey interview, Pinckney recalled the great fire of 1899, and other disasters. He also recounted numerous stories about city's bawdy past when gambling and prostitution were integral to Bakersfield nightlife.

Although he passed away in 1954, William Pinckney's recollections serve as a permanent record of Bakersfield historical legacy.