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John Pyle was born 17 March 1796 in Greenville Co., South Carolina to Samuel Pyle and Charity Eason. He and his parents and brothers along with his Uncle John and Mary Maxwell Pyle's family moved to Oglethorpe Co., Georgia in the late 1790's. They appeared on the 1800 census (GA/EL 1800 022) and the Tax Rolls of Georgia, 1800-1802, Vol. II.) His father and uncle drew land in the 1805, 1807 and 1809 Cherokee Land Lottery in various counties as the boundaries were carved out and renamed for several years. John married Thurza Kilgore, daughter of William Killgore, Jr. and Ann Higginbotham of Greene Co., Georgia. No marriage record has been found but their oldest child was born in 1817 in Mississippi. They were on the 1820 census in Lawrence County. ( M33, Roll: 57, Page 78) John's younger brother, Nicholas was living with them. They were on the Tax Rolls 1823 to 1831. Thurza's brother Joseph T. Kilgore was living next door to them part of that time. By 1830 the county lines had been re-drawn and was now Covington County. (M19, Roll: 70, Page 138) John's father, Samuel. Died sometimes after 1830 in Henry Co., Georgia; his mother, Charity, sold their land plus that which she had drawn in the 1832 lottery as a widow. The deed named all the children and places of residence. John was living in Sumter Co., Alabama at that time. (Henry County Deed Book G, Page 196) In June of 1836, John Pyle volunteered for a three-month tour of duty with the Texas Army. Muster Roll dated 9th June shows him serving on the east side of the Brazos River in Washington County. He served until 8 May 1837. (Texas Archives). The Audited Records of the Republic of Texas shows that James McFarland and Wiley B.D. Smith both appointed John Pyle as their true and lawful attorney to appear before the Justice of Peace and swear that they had not embezzled any arms, ammunition, provisions or clothing nor owed any money to the Republic of Texas upon their discharge from the Army of Texas. Land Grant Certificate # 71 states "This is to certify that John Pyle has appeared before the Board of Land Commissioners of Montgomery County and proved according to law that he was in the county in December 1835 and that he is a married man entitled to one League and one Labor of land upon the condition of paying at the rate of $3 for every Labor of irrigable land, $2 for every Labor of temporal land and $1 for every Labor of pasture land which may be contained in the survey secured to said Pyle by certificate. Given under our hand this 2nd day of February 1838." This was in present day Kaufman County but he did not actually receive it until 1841. On 18 August 1838, John bought 320 acres of land out of the John M. Springer Bounty Land Grant #2570 in Montgomery County. (Lindley History in Montgomery County History) John Pyle was on the Tax Roll in Washington County from 1837-1839. On the 1840 Tax Roll that also serves as the Census that year in Austin County. On 23 September 1847 John Pyle sold 320 acres at Egypt, Montgomery Co., to George Bell Madely. ( Madley Family History in Montgomery County History) 1850 Census shows John, 53; Thurza, 46; sons John Kilgore Pyle, 16 and Jonathon J., 13 living next door to an older son, Samuel and wife Theresa Grant Pyle and son Andrew Hurley. (M432, Roll: 913, Page 44) We don't have a definite date when they left Montgomery County. John was accessed taxes on the land in Kaufman County and James P. McFarland was accessed taxes on 230 head of cattle in 1850. It seems that part of the family went earlier to get their new homesteads started as some stayed in Montgomery County and closed out their business there. We know that Jonathon married in Conroe in 1856 and was on the 1860 census in Montgomery County. A record in Kaufman County dated 21 November 1853 states that the County of Kaufman and John Pyle, the representative of Simeon F. Pyle, deceased; made the necessary proof that Simeon had received 320 acres of land in Montgomery County. Two more records following that show land Simeon F. Pyle and Joseph T. Pyle, both deceased, that received was sold by John and Thurza Pyle in Montgomery County. Both deeds were dated 18 February 1854. We don't know what happened to them. Children of John and Thurza were: Emmeline E. Pyle, b. 1817 in MS- d.1878 in Kaufman Co. m. James P. McFarland (2) William T. Stubbs Thurza died in 1857 and is buried in Pyle Prairie Cemetery. John married Elizabeth James on 26 July 1859 and they had: Martha Jane Pyle, b. 1860 d.? m. Robert Phillips After outliving two wives, John made his Last Will and Testament leaving all his estate to the three youngest children by his second wife, reserving twenty-eight acres of land by the cemetery for expansion of it, a school and a church. He made Charity Pyle Smith guardian of the children. He had already given land to his older children by his first wire as follows: 1860 census (M653, Roll: 1299, Page 31) lists John, 64 yrs old, Elizabeth, 23, his brother Nicholas, 57, and Martha Jane, 1 1/12. John died 6 January 1869 and is buried in Pyle Prairie Cemetery. As early as 1877 records show a school called Pyle Prairie was located off what is now Farm Road 148 eight miles southwest of Kemp. In 1917 Pyle Prairie along with other rural schools consolidated and a high school was established called Phoenix High School. It burned in 1928 and was rebuilt in 1929 and renamed Stubbs High School. The grade school was consolidated with Kemp in the late 1940's. (Source Kaufman County History). Pyle Prairie Cemetery originally was a private family cemetery but several years ago it was opened to the community for all us use. It is still being used at the present time and is well kept and people gather each 4th of July to visit and conduct cemetery business. There are no records of a church ever being built on the Pyle land when it was owned within the family. Today all of it has been sold and many people own small acreages on it. Ancestry of this Pyle family extends back to Bishop's Canning Parish, Wiltshire, England. This area is northwest of London on the Salisbury Plain near the ruins of Stonehenge. This family lineage is as follows:
1. John Pyle, 1594-1652 and Mary Withers. Sources: |