Lyle family papers

Title

Lyle family papers

Date

1768-1944, undated (inclusive)

Extent

8.33 Cubic Feet

Subjects

Second Great Awakening -- Kentucky.

Bourbon County (Ky.) -- History.

Sermons.

Correspondence.

Kentucky -- Religion.

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.

Rockbridge County (Va.)

Finding Aid Author

Ida Sell

Preferred Citation

62m49: [Identification of item], Lyle family papers, 1789-1944, undated University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.

Repository

University of Kentucky

Biography / History

Ministers, newspaper publishers. John Lyle was an elder of the Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His sons, the Rev. John Lyle and Joel Reid Lyle came to Kentucky in the early 19th century. Joel Lyle had three sons, William, John and Joel Kenney Lyle; the latter married Maria Nourse. They were the parents of Lizzie, Helen and Charles Nourse Lyle. The Rev. John Lyle operated private schools in Bourbon County, Ky. and a printing shop in Paris in addition to his pastoral duties. He was active in the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky. Joel Reid Lyle taught in his brother's schools but resigned in 1809 to publish the Western Citizen, a Paris newspaper. He retired in 1829, turning the paper over to his son, William.

Scope and Content

The Lyle family papers (dated 1768-1944, undated; 8.3 cubic feet; 21 boxes) represent four generations of the family, which lived in Rockbridge County, Virginia and Bourbon County, Kentucky. The elder John Lyle is well represented through his correspondence in the collection. Papers relating to his son, the Rev. John Lyle, include his sermon on Order preached in opposition to the extravagancies which he perceived in the frontier revival, and a copy of the Circular Letter to the churches of the synod of Kentucky. There are letters between Joel Reid Lyle and his sons, William and John who attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Joel Kenney who attended Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and Princeton Theological Seminary. These letters (1825-1849) comment on events of the times, the Second Great Revival, the Campbell-Rice debates, the Bank of Kentucky, slavery, abolition, and troubles in Texas. Joel Kenney Lyle's papers (1842-1872) include correspondence, and records pertaining to his pastorates in Kentucky, sermons and notes. References to the Civil War are frequent.

Genealogical materials concerning both the Nourse and Lyle families were accumulated by Marie Nourse Lyle. Additional papers deal with Mrs. Lyle and her children. Among the Lyle papers are early indentures, day books, diaries, scrapbooks, and broadsides. Correspondents include Archibald Alexander of Princeton Theological Seminary, Robert Jefferson Breckinridge, Presbyterian historian Robert Davidson, textbook author and educator W. H. McGuffey, and religious historian William B. Sprague.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to researchers by appointment.

Use Restrictions

The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.