William Lytle (1728 - 1797)

Born 15 Oct 1728 in Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 14 Aug 1797 at age 68 in Elm Grove, Nelson County, Kentucky, United States

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Biography

William was born in Pennsylvania in 1728. He married Mary Steele on 29 October 1761. Their children were Isaac, Josephine, Jane, Mary, John, Sarah, William, Agnes Ann and Elizabeth. William passed away in 1797.

According to the 1911 Twentieth Century History of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, William was commissioned Captain of an Independent Company of Foot on 9 April 1750 by Lt. Governor Robert Hunter Morris, commander-in-chief of the Province of Pennsylvania. Morris was in fact Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania from 1754 to 1756. Lytle was stationed in and near Fort Hamilton in the Tuscarora Valley of Cumberland County. A RootsWeb post ^[1] places Fort Hamilton in the Tuscarora Valley, but in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Fort Hamilton was built under the direction of Benjamin Franklin and named after James Hamilton, a member of the Governor's Council. In December 1755, Franklin sent British captains George Ashton and John Trump to erect the fort in Northampton County and what is now the western part of Stroudsburg, Monroe County. The fort was completed around 20 January 1756. Subsequent supervisors of Fort Hamilton were Captain Craig, Captain Nicholas Wetterholt, Captain James Van Etten and Lieutenant James Hyndshaw. It was abandoned around 1757.

Listed among the Frontier Forts in the Cumberland and Juaniata Vallets was Fort Lytle. It was erected in Cumberland County (present Porter Township, Huntingdon County) but the date is unknown. It was located (1894) on the farm of Louis G. Knode, situated two and one-half miles south of Alexandria.

The narrative of Captain Lytle's son, William, states that he was awarded 3,000 acres of land for his service in the French and Indian War. In the Fall of 1779 he solicited settlers to follow him with the promise of land in Kentucky, then part of Virginia. The winter weather delayed the expedition until April 1780 when Captain Lytle and his family led 63 Kentucky flatboats of settlers, accompanied by 1,000 fighting men, down the river to the falls of the Ohio. They passed the future site of Cincinnati April 11 where they attacked and chased an Indian party which was the vanguard of the British invasion of Kentucky. They continued on to Beargrass Creek (site of Louisville), landing on April 15, 1780. Lytle made his permanent home near Lexington, Kentucky in August 1787. He gave land to his daughter Anne (Agnes) for a wedding gift on which she and her husband, Judge John Rowan, built the Federal Hill Mansion, in Bardstown, Kentucky, which, according to tradition, inspired the song 'My Old Kentucky Home.' He also sold land to Henry Clay that became the 'Ashland' estate.

The Rutherford County Tennessee Historical Society states that Captain William Lytle was in General Washington's inner circle during the American Revolution. This is in reference to the William Lytle of North Carolina, who settled in Tennessee, and was a member of the Society of Cincinnati. The article cited some confusion with William Lytle of Ohio (actually of Lexington, Kentucky) who, however, was not the father of Cincinnati, Ohio.^{[2] [3]} Many articles confuse the two men with the same portrait, said to have been painted in 1810. If one observes closely, the pin of the Society of Cincinnati can be seen on his left breast.^[4]

Captain Lytle is given credit for the founding of Portland, Kentucky. Positioned along the Ohio River, Portland was a thriving community in 19th century Louisville. Founded in 1811, the community of Portland grew from Lytle's 3,000 acres of land just below the Falls of the Ohio. Lytle's plan was to sell the lots of land to settlers and business owners in order to pay for a canal to go around the Falls of the Ohio.^[5]

1. ↑ https://www.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestrycom/~eazier1/Rowan/HARDIN.htm
2. ↑ Rutherford County Tennessee Historical Society, "Official records correct Lytle folklore errors", https://rutherfordtnhistory.org/official-records-correct-lytle-folklore-errors/
3. ↑ Note: Captain William Lytle passed by the site of Cincinnati on his way to the Falls of the Ohio during the Revolutionary War; this is likely what that reference was regarding. Captain Lytle's son, also named William, is considered the father of Clermont County, Ohio.
4. ↑ Captain William Lytle Chapter DAR, https://www.tndar.org/~captainwmlytle/index.htm
5. ↑ Kentucky History, Louisville to Portland Turnpike, https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/867 This article incorrectly cites William Lytle as the founder of Cincinnati.

Sources

• Lytle Familys, https://luken1.homestead.com/Lytlefamilys.html.
• Notes and Queries, Historical, Biographical and Genealogical Relating Chiefly to Interior Pennsylvania, William Henry Egle, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1897.
• Darrell Dean Litle's Extended Family Tree, https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/l/i/t/Darrell-Litle-CA/index.html.
• Lytle Families of America, https://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lytleusa/lytlefam/intro.html.
• Books.google.com, The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 2, Louisville, KY, 1904.
• Books.google.com, Twentieth Century History of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, Jesse C. Sell, Chicago, 1911.
• Books.google.com, American Monthly Magazine, Vol. 30, January-June 1907, Washington, D.C.
• RootsWeb, https://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~eazier1/Rowan/HARDIN.htm.