0L5
http://lyles.homepage.com/BIBLE.htm
I have tried to read some of the information below from the images below, which were copied by Lyles descendant and genealogist Robert MARTIN from a Bible now possessed by "Brother" LYLES of Winnsboro, Fairfield County, SC.
"Brother" Lyles said a person thought "Brother" could care for the Bible better than a museum and gave it to him. "Brother" keeps this Bible locked in a safe at his hardware store and generously displayed it and his extraordinary collection of Indian artifacts at the Lyles family reunion held in the year 2000.
Most of the handwritten information contained in this Bible seems to have been carelessly scribbled with the same pen and ink and in the same beautiful hand writing (ink bled through some pages).
Birth years seem to have been calculated from the ages of family members when the Bible was new (about 1845 when Arromanus would have been almost 60 years old and had seven grown children) by someone (possibly Arromanus or one of his children) who seems to have tried to remember the birthdays, etc. of each member of the family.
The Bible says Arromanus Lyles was born April 11, 1786 and married Mary (the name of two of his wives) December 8, 1808. If the entry which says that Mary Lyles, a wife of A. Lyles died February 11, 1822 refers to Mary WOODWARD Lyles, she died at age 34 and had just delivered her last child Mary.
Most of the information I wrote below was obtained from other genealogists: I wish I could provide their sources because some of it is inconsistent with information found on the images of the Bible below, etc.
Arromanus Lyles II (1786 - ?) was the son of Arromanus (Col.) Lyles (1748 - 1817) and his second wife Rebecca VALENTINE (~1750 - ?), and the grandson of Ephraim Lyles, Sr. (~1720 - ~1755). Whether Ann Margaret LYTHER (1725 - ?) was the wife of Ephraim Lyles, Sr has been disputed.
Arromanus Lyles II's wife Mary Woodward (~1788 - ?) was the daughter of Reverend William Woodward and Nancy BARRETT (~1767 - 8/10/1829). Her father William "Preacher Billy" Woodward was one of the boldest fighters of South Carolina's FIRST Revolution, and the son of a historically famous Fairfield soldier killed in battle during the same Revolution named Thomas "the Regulator" Woodward (? - 5/12/1779) and Jemima COLLINS and the grandson of Thomas WOODWARD (born near Annapolis, Maryland) and Elizabeth SIMPSON of Fairfax county, VA.
Nancy B. (Barrett?) LYLES (tombstone says born 6/13/1812 in Fairfield - died 5/20/1895 and buried at Beaver Creek Baptist Church in Fairfield) was the daughter of Arromanus Lyles and Mary WOODWARD. Nancy B. LYLES married William E. TRAYLOR (born 1817 - probably buried in Mississippi where he died).
Nancy may have named her children after her siblings and ancestors because she loved and was proud of her family. Even Nancy's grandchild Carrie Lyles TRAYLOR Stewart (born 4/21/1891 - died 9/21/1980) remembered her ancestor "Manus" and named a child Julian Lyles STEWART.
William E. TRAYLOR and Nancy LYLES Traylor had a daughter Mary. Their son William Henry TRAYLOR (born 6/15/1847 - died 4/25/1920) married Alice WIX, and their son Thomas Woodward TRAYLOR became the largest landowner in Fairfield County and established what is now the Bank of Fairfield (according to his newspaper obituary).
Both sons of William E. and Nancy LYLES TRAYLOR were beloved soldiers of South Carolina's SECOND Revolution (not yet won and still sorely needed) against imperialism: Thomas returned from the war with only a quarter in his pocket and declared that one day he would own a mansion like one he saw: two of his old maid descendants inherited it. "Brother" Lyles now owns and lives in it. I have thought it to be architecturally the most beautiful house in America since I first saw it, long before I realized my kinsmen owned it. I would like to have a photograph of it so I could post it here.
According to Mr. Ballew, a descendant of Thomas, descendants of Nancy B. Lyles' brother Thomas Valentine LYLES (born 1822 in SC - died 20 May 1860 in Fayette, AL) and William E. TRAYLOR's sister Isabella TRAYLOR (born 15 April, 1822 in VA and died in 1895) were also named Nancy, Thomas, Henry, and William, possibly after their Lyles kin (see Mr. Ballew's chart).
A provisional chart I obtained from Mrs. Brannon lists the
children of Arromanus LYLES and Mary WOODWARD Lyles as:
i. Elizabeth, born 1810
ii. Nancy B., born 1811, Fairfield County, South Carolina
iii. James, born 1813
iv. Henry Jefferson, born June 15, 1815, Fairfield County, SC;
died September 23, 1861, Fairfield County, SC (buried Jacob
Coleman Feaster Cemetery)
v. Thomas Valentine, born 1817, Fairfield County, SC
vi. William, born 1817
vii. Mary, born 1822
