James Owen Lyle (1831 - 1909)

Born 4 Jun 1831 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Martha Harriet (Snipes) Lyle — married 23 Nov 1856 in Wapello County, Iowa, USA

Descendants

Died 19 Oct 1909 at age 78 in Lyle, Klickitat, Washington, United States

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Biography

JAMES O. LYLE is a retired farmer residing at present four miles northwest of Lyle post office, at what is known as the "Hewitt" place. He was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1831, the son of Charles and Sarah (Johnson) Lyle, both deceased many years ago. Charles Lyle was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1799. In 1847 he moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, at which place he resided at the time of his death. His people were of Scotch-Irish descent and among the colonial settlers of the Atlantic coast. Hannah (Croford) Lyle, his paternal grandmother, was related in some way to General Anthony Wayne. Sarah (Johnson) Lyle, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1812, and died in 1859. James O., of this review, moved with his parents to Indiana when six years of age, thev later proceeding to Iowa and settling near what was later known as Agency City, the Indians having been removed from this place to their reservation but a short time before. In Iowa, he remained on the home farm with his parents until twenty years of age, then taking up stage driving between Mount Pleasant and Oskaloosa, his employers being Frink & Walker, of Chicago. He was thus employed until 1853. Then with a few thou sand other fortune seekers he got the "gold fever" and started to California with an ox team. The consideration of his passage was one hundred dol lars, he in addition driving a team all the way. missing only one day during the five and a half months required to make the trip. In Fiddle Town, California, the tiresome journey terminated and here Mr. Lyle began mining, remaining thus engaged until April, 1856. Then he took passage on the Golden Age, bound for Iowa, via the Panama route. Ill luck attended his journey. The Golden Age was wrecked two hundred miles from Panama on an island and here the hapless passengers lived several days, scantily supplied with the necessities of life, until rescued by an other vessel. After this narrow escape, Mr. Lyle proceeded to Iowa as best he could and arrived safely. He lived in Iowa until 1863, during which time he was married. In the year mentioned he again crossed the Plains, his objective point this time being The Dalles, Oregon. Shortly after his arrival he rented a place at Rowena, a short distance down the river from The Dalles, where he lived two years, then buying of a squaw man, a farm situated on the Washington side of the Columbia river. This property afterward became the townsite of Lyle, and long before there was much of a town there, a postoffice was established, of which Mr. Lyle was postmaster for eight years. In the spring of 1892 Mr. Lyle sold this property to the Balfours, English capitalists. He then purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land on Camas prairie and a quarter section a few miles northwest of Lyle, which he has since divided between his daughter, Mrs. I. B. Hewitt, and son, G. B. Lyle, himself retiring from the more wearing activities of farm life. In 1857, Mr. Lyle married Miss Martha Snipes, then a resident of Iowa. She was a native of North Carolina, born in 1834; she died in 1887. Ben Snipes, a noted cattleman of Klickitat county during the early days, is her brother. Her parents were Elam and Acenith (Rosson) Snipes, pioneers of this country, the former a native of North Carolina, in which state he attained manhood. He came to Klickitat county in 1863, and resided there until the time of his death in 1894. Acenith Snipes was a native of North Carolina, also, born in 1818. Her death occurred in 1896. Children that have been born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lyle are: Charles E., deceased; George B., and Sarah A., now Mrs. I. B. Hewitt. Fraternally, Mr. Lyle is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and the Grange. In politics, as in all else, he is independent, but he expects to vote for Turner for governor and the rest of his ticket shall be Socialist. No man now residing in Klickitat county is better entitled to the honors due old set tlers than is Mr. Lyle. This county, when he first saw it, contained little evidence of the civilization that was to follow his arrival. Indians' were the only established inhabitants; their crooked trails the only roads across the unplowed prairies, and life and property were safe or otherwise accord ing to the strength of the persons who defended them. (An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties," pub 1904, Chicago Interstate Publishing Co., Online Library, p. 122, accessed 5 Feb 2023)

Burial Lyle-Balch Cemetery, Lyle, Klickitat County, WA

Sources

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ4V-F2C : 12 April 2016), James O Lyle in household of Charles Lyle, Wapello county, Wapello, Iowa, United States
• Lyle family Tree and Find a Grave
• Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, Washington, October 20, 1909, obituary citing birth and death dates.