Kaufman Daily Herald, 7 Sep 1932

JEFF PYLE, 82-YEAR OLD COLORED EMPLOYEE OF CITY,
COMPLETES 44 YEARS CONTINUOUS SERVICES HERE

   Kaufman, famous for its significant pioneers characters, has in Jeff Pyle, 82-year old colored employee of the city, a public servant for 44 years and perhaps North Texas' most interesting personality.

   Jeff, who last month rounded out his two score and four years as an employee of the city of Kaufman, was born in 1850 (sic) on the A.J. Hurley ranch where he grew up as a nurse and sheep herder.  He came to Kaufman in 1870 and worked for several prominent pioneer men as a yard boy.

   Then in 1882 Jeff was married and he and his bride moved to South Kaufman where he now lives.  He began his service with the city in 1888 in the sanitation department through the influence of Dr. Pyle, former physician of Kaufman, and as such Jeff has been well known by both white and negro residents of the county for four decades.

  The weather has not been too hot nor too cold nor the days too long nor too short for Jeff to be seen on the job.  Rearing a family that is well educated with each of his children leaders his race, Jeff has reason to be proud of his 82 years of existence.  He, himself, has been active among his people in organizing them for better service and at present he is the president of the Ex-Slaves Association of America which he founded.

    For twenty years Jeff drove an old dump cart with an aged blind horse he called Jim and Old Drummie, a big, club footed horse.  The trio gave Jeff plenty to do in his younger days when automobiles first came into existence.  Since 1909 he has driven the old wagon he now drives and to it he has hitched a mule named Kit for 23 years.  Kit, so it was said was twenty years old when Jeff purchased her from Mack Forehand who lived nearby at the time.  That would make Kit 43.

   Recenty Jeff remodeled his old barn that was built the year the court house was erected in 1886.  On the wall of the barn hangs an old dump cart saddle made by Jeff for his first day's work for the city.

   Jeff was so well thought of for his three decades of faithful service twelve years ago that the city offered to buy him a set of false teeth but Jeff refused them on the grounds that it would be more economical to do without the teeth.  "My grocery bill will be lighter," he said.  And so Jeff didn't get the false teeth.

  All of Jeff's children were born in the same little residence except one.  He has three daughters, five sons and fifteen grandchildren.  The boys are B.J., principal of the Kaufman Colored school, Vaughn, Bob and Logan, all of Fort Worth, and Bruce of Kaufman.  The three daughters are Lillian Smith, local colored school teacher, Florence Hill, Fort Worth, and Ola Davis of Tulsa, Okla.