Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12A
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2009
Family will pay tribute to Revolutionary War ancestor, Jan. 9
‘The Lyle Boys’ Photo
“The Lyle Boys” is a photo that hangs in the Crawford W. Long Museum, which
will re-open after renovations on Saturday, Jan. 9. Family members don’t know
who the particular relatives are in the large photo, but the Lyle family has a long
history in Jackson County.
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
The prospect of making
a fortune from gold in the
Mulberry River brought Maher
Lyle and other family mem
bers to Jackson County.
Almost 200 years later, his
descendants
are returning to
Lyle’s adopted
home on the
banks of the
river to honor
his service in
the American
Revolution
— which
included being
with George
Washington at
the surrender of
Gen. Cornwallis
at Yorktown.
Maher Lyle’s
family will meet
on Saturday, Jan.
9, at the Lyle
Cemetery — located off Ga.
Hwy. 53 on Tapp Wood Road,
near the Jackson-Barrow coun
ty line in Hoschton.
There, family members will
host a flag raising ceremony at
the small cemetery and con
duct a 21-gun salute, possi
bly by the Georgia chapter
of the Sons of the American
Revolution.
An estimated 50 family
members and friends through
out the Southeast will first
meet at a Braselton hotel for
a reunion, before attending the
grand opening of the Crawford
Long Museum in Jefferson.
That’s where a photo titled
“The Lyle Boys” hangs in the
newly-renovated museum. The
grand opening ceremony will
be held on Saturday, Jan. 9,
from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“It’s a picture of some of
our ancestors, but other than
the ‘The Lyle Boys," there’s
no heading on it, so we don’t
really know who it is,” said
Don Lyle, a descendant of
Maher Lyle.
Maher Lyle’s grave is locat
ed in the family cemetery,
where it says he was bom in
1737 and died in 1814. It also
states his full name — Maher
Shallal Hashbaz Lyle.
Maher Lyle is believed to
have come from Ireland or
Scotland and his birth name
may be David, according to
Don Lyle. While on a ship
crossing the Atlantic, his
father died and the younger
Lyle changed his name to one
featured in the Bible.
The history of the Lyle fam
ily in this area starts short
ly after the signing of the
Declaration of Independence
— when Dilmus Lyle, son of
Maher Lyle, left Virginia with
his wife to start a new life in
Georgia.
Dilmus Lyle was looking
for a stream to provide enough
power to turn stones for a
mill, according to a history
of the family by the office of
former Atlanta mayor George
B. Lyle.
But what Dilmus Lyle found
was gold. He and his wife,
Katharine Reed Lyle, quickly
headed back to Virginia to
share in the fortune.
Maher Lyle was one of the
family members — including
Dilmus’ brothers, John and
George Lyle — who moved
to Georgia.
Dilmus Lyle had staked out
his claim to the gold’s loca
tion, but it couldn’t be found
after months of searching. And
history says that no gold has
been found in the area streams
since that initial discovery.
Instead, Dilmus Lyle decid
ed to settle on the banks of
the Mulberry River — which
today borders Jackson, Barrow,
Gwinnett and Hall counties in
the Braselton-Hoschton area.
At the time, the Mulberry River
was known as Tishmauga and
was deeper than it is now.
Dilmus Lyle soon built the
first grain mill in the area for
the few white settlers and
Indians that lived in the region,
according to family history.
He also continued to live up
to his reputation in Virginia
as a great whisky maker and
distilled the drink along the
Mulberry River.
After the War of 1812,
Dilmus Lyle commissioned
two pairs of the finest flint
millstones in Nova Scotia. The
stones were four feet wide and
18 inches thick.
After arriving
in Charleston, the
four stones were
taken by oxcart
through forests
to the Lyle mill
on the Mulberry
River in 1815.
The stones were
in almost-con-
tinuous use to
convert com and
wheat into meal
and flour for 119
years.
However,
while lifting the
stones for neces
sary cleaning and
redressing, one of
them fell on the foot of Dilmus
Lyle in 1847. He later died of
complications from gangrene.
His son — Dilmus Reed
Lyle, also known as D.R. —
continued to operate the mill
until his death in 1889. D.R.
was bom the year after the
stones that ultimately took his
father’s life arrived from Nova
Scotia.
D.R. Lyle later became
known as one of three delegates
from Jackson County to attend
a convention in Milledgeville,
where he voted for secession
from the Union.
After D.R. Lyle’s death, the
stones were idle for a year
and sold in 1890 to the Rev.
H.N. Rainey, who operated it
for four years. In 1894. H.N.
Rainey turned the stones
over to his nephew, James R
Rainey.
The stones almost caused
James Rainey’s death dur
ing a time when the vents to
the water house of the mill
became clogged. While trying
to dislodge a stick from a vent,
the vent of the turbine closed
on his hand — keeping him
in a deep shaft with steadily
rising water.
He managed to get his hand
out from the stone, but caused
damage to his fingers.
The stones were sold again
in 1918 to Alec Hill, who
operated a small motor-driven
mill on the Winder-Gainesville
Highway. He later found the
stones too heavy to turn his
small motor and discarded the
stones for 15 years.
After the death of his father,
James R Rainey, H.F. Rainey
decided that the resting place
of the last owner of the historic
mill could have no more fit
ting memorial than the stones
themselves, according to a
family history.
J.W. Nichols of the Nichols
Marble and Granite Company,
Winder, was given the task of
finding the stones and keeping
them in their natural form for
the memorial.
It was later discovered that
the stones had been used as
foundation stones for a house,
which was raised and the
stones dragged out from under
the building.
Today, the stones mark the
Rainey lot in the Rose Hill
Cemetery in Winder.
TRACING FAMILY
HISTORY
Don Lyle didn’t know much
about his family — except his
grandfather’s name — when
he visited Salt Lake City last
summer.
There, the Lake Wales, Fla.
man searched for his ances
tors in perhaps the best spot
to begin looking at geneal
ogy records. With the help of
existing data on websites, Don
Lyle quickly pieced together
his family history.
"Believe it or not, I have
traced my family back to
1066 A.D. — the Battle of
Hastings,” said Don Lyle, who
was a painting contractor for
50 years.
Additional research later
led him to the Crawford Long
Museum, where the “Lyle
Boys” photo is displayed.
Along with his wife and five
or six relatives, they visited the
Jefferson museum in August
— while renovations were
underway.
In October, the family
returned to the Lyle cemetery
to clean up the property that
includes the graves of Maher
and D.R. Lyle. Maher Lyle had
12 children.
The Jackson County
Airport’s Lyle Field, Jefferson,
also is named after a Lyle
— L.J. Lyle, a former county
commission chairman.
For more information, con
tact Don Lyle at 863-439-6778
or Rdlylel2@gmail.com.
Old Tombstone
The tombstone of Maher Shallal Hashbaz Lyle
(records show various spellings of his name) in
West Jackson shows the soldier’s service during the
American Revolution.
The descendants of Revolutionary War sol
dier Maher Shallal Hashbaz Lyle will meet
at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 9, at the grand
opening ceremony of the newly-renovated
Crawford Long Museum, Jefferson.
After a tour of the museum, the
group will travel to the Lyle Cemetery
— located off Ga. Hwy. 53 on Tapp
Wood Road, near the Jackson-Barrow
county line —for a special ceremony.
For more information, contact Don Lyle at
863-439-6778 or Rdlylel2@gmail.com.
Dr. Neelagaru, M.D. (Dr. Neel)
Telephone Applications Welcome.
Call or Come Visit Us Today!
1816 N. Broad Street
SECURITY Commerce, GA 30529
roMN® (706)335-3551
Lyle Gravesites
Several family members spent a day in October clearing debris from the Lyle
Cemetery in West Jackson.
Family Cemetery
The Lyle Cemetery includes graves dating to the early 1800s, several years after
the first pioneer families arrived in Jackson County. The cemetery is located off
Ga. Hwy. 53 on Tapp Wood Road, near the Jackson-Barrow county line. More
recent gravesites are located near the entrance from the road.
We offer personal loans
from $150.00 to $500.00.*
'More if you qualify. All loans are subject to our
liberal credit policy and credit limitations, if any.
Dr. Neel is:
• Associated with Northeast Georgia
Heart Center in Gainesville,
Georgia. He performs all invasive
cardiology procedures at the
Ronnie Green Heart Center at
Northeast Georgia Medical Center
Clinic.
• Affiliated with BJC.
• Accepts most insurances.
Commerce Cardiology Clinic
Call for appointment.
706-335-2000
JEFFERSON TIRE
& BATTERY
367-9210
Has Complete Car Care
• Oil Change • Tune-ups
• Brake Work • A/C Service Repair
• Complete Tire Service
• Replace CV Joints
• Front-end Alignment
HOURS:
Mon.-Fri. 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sat. & Sun. Closed
Recycle!