Joseph Lytle    

JOSEPH LYTLE.  One of the most conspicuous figures in the history of Monongahela city was the late Joseph Lytle, who passed from the scene of his life’s activities on the 2d of May, 1925. He was for many years actively and closely identified with the business interests of this locality and was widely known as one of the representative men of his section of the state. Equally noted as a citizen whose useful career conferred credit upon the community and whose marked abilities and sterling qualities won for him much more than local repute, he held distinctive precedence as one of the most progressive and successful men that here ever inaugurated and carried to a satisfactory termination large and important undertakings. Strong mental endowment, invincible courage and a determined will, coupled with an honesty of purpose and motive, so entered into his composition as to render him a dominant factor in the business world and a leader of men. He was essentially a man of affairs, sound of judgment and farseeing in what he undertook, and he won and retained the confidence and esteem of all classes.

Joseph Lytle was born on the old Lytle homestead farm in Forward township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of November, 1848, and was the son of Perry A. and Sarah Catherine (Wycoff) Lytle. He was descended from sterling old Scottish stock, his great-grandfather, Robert Lytle, having been a native of the land of banks and braes. At the age of fifteen years he came to the United States and settled in the western part of Pennsylvania. Later, in 1787, he purchased from the government four hundred and fifteen acres of land located in Mifflin township, Allegheny county, where he spent the remainder of his years and died. He was a soldier of the war of the Revolution and followed the vocation of farming. He was a member of the Mingo Presbyterian church. He was married to Ann Mason, a member of the early historic Mason family of western Pennsylvania, all of the members of which, with the exception of her little brother and herself, were killed by the Indians on Sewickley creek. These two children being left homeless, went to Andrew Markle, father of General Joseph Markle, at the block house, and were cared for and reared by the Markle family. Among the children of Robert and Ann Lytle was Isaac, who was born in Mifflin township, Allegheny county, March 30, 1783, and died on the Lytle farm, November 26, 1854. He was a lifelong farmer and a member of the Presbyterian church. He was married to Martha Penny, who was born in Elizabeth township, Allegheny county, April 19, 1787, and died on the Lytle farm, November 26, 1854. She was the daughter of John and Margaret (Rutan) Penny. Her father was one of the Minute men at the battle of Lexington that ushered in the war of the Revolution. Isaac and Martha Lytle were the parents of Perry A. Lytle, father of the subject of this memoir. Perry A. Lytle was born in Forward township, then known as Elizabeth township, on the old Lytle homestead, May 27, 1821, and died there December 11, 1893, after a lifetime engaged in farming. He was a member and elder of the First Baptist church of Monongahela city. Politically, a republican, he held a number of local public offices and was held in high esteem by all who knew him. He was married to Sarah Catherine Wycoff, who was born at the old Wycoff homestead in Elizabeth township, Allegheny county, October 15, 1826, and who died at the Lytle home in Forward township, August 31, 1912. She was descended from rugged old Holland Dutch stock, the progenitor of the family in this country having been Peter Claesen Wycoff, who came from Holland in 1637 and settled on Long Island, New York. He was married to Gretta Van Ness, the daughter of Hendrick Van Ness, and among their descendants in direct line was John Wycoff, a native of New Jersey, whose wife bore the name of Sarah and was also a native of that state. They were the parents of Jonathan Wycoff, born in New Jersey, who came to Elizabeth township, then called the Jersey settlement, in Allegheny county, about 1780, and there died. He was born October 15, 1764, and died January 17, 1845, and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah C. Le Fevre, also a native of New Jersey, was born December 27, 1761, and died May 17, 1842. Among their children was Isaac Wycoff, who was born in Elizabeth township, Allegheny county, November 11, 1794, and died there, May 22, 1884, in the ninetieth year of his age. He was a carpenter and builder by trade, and also owned considerable farm land. He was a member of the Baptist church at Elizabeth. He married Gertrude Van Kirk, a daughter of Joseph Van Kirk, of New Jersey. She was born in Elizabeth township March 22, 1802, and died there March 21, 1880. They were the parents of Sarah Catherine, who became the wife of Perry A. Lytle and the mother of the subject of this memoir.

Joseph Lytle received his education in the public schools of his native township and in Elizabeth Academy. He had been reared to the life of a farmer and wisely followed that vocation, though he also be came closely identified with a number of other interests in his community. On April 1, 1900, he moved to Monongahela city and, on November 30, 1901, became one of the organizers of the First National Bank, of which he was the efficient and honored president until January 1, 1915. He was also vice president and a director of the Courtney Brick Company and gained an enviable place in the esteem of his business associates, while his general standing in the world of affairs was that of a man whose abilities were held at a premium. A man of great business capacity and of the highest principles of integrity and honor, he made his influence felt along diverse lines and was a leader in the promotion of enterprises which conserved the general welfare of the city and vicinity. His integrity was of the most insistent and unswerving type and no shadow rests upon any portion of his career as an active business man and sterling citizen. He was conservative and well balanced in judgment, possessing to a marked degree the essential qualities that rendered him an ideal executive of the institution which he guided so successfully from its organization until his retirement from office.

Personally, in his relations with his fellowmen, Mr. Lytle was thoroughly upright and conscientious, gentlemanly, considerate and courteous in his personal and social contact, and with all mankind an honest man. Although modest and unassuming and always easily approached, he had a strong and vigorous personality and left the indelible impress of his individuality upon the community which was honored by his citizenship. He possessed a broad, inquiring mind and was keenly alive to everything that tended to advance his community or benefit the public welfare. His career was complete and rounded in its beautiful simplicity; he did his full duty in all the relations of life, and he died beloved by those near to him and respected and esteemed by his fellow citizens.

On September 28, 1875, in Forward township, Allegheny county, Mr. Lytle was married to Miss Mary Jane McKinney, who was born October 4, 1852, the daughter of Robert and Nancy (Marshall) McKinney. Her father was born in Forward township, May 7, 1825, and died January 13, 1902, on his farm in that township. He had devoted practically all of his active life to agricultural pursuits, in which he had been successful, and he had also gained and retained the respect and esteem of the entire community. He was a democrat in his political views, while his religious membership was with the Round Hill Presbyterian church. His wife was born near New Concord, Ohio, November 23, 1823, and died at her home in Forward township, December 20, 1880. She was the daughter of Judge Robert and Mary (Reasoner) Marshall. Her maternal grandfather, John Reasoner, was a native of Pennsylvania and died near New Concord, Ohio, March 1, 1873. He was a man of intelligence and culture, and stood high in his community, having served for twenty-eight years as judge of the Guernsey county court. His wife bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Wilson, and her parents came from Nantes, France, to Pennsylvania in 1685. They were Huguenots in their religious faith, and their property had been confiscated under the edict of Nantes. Robert McKinney was the son of James and Mary Wallace (Blee) McKinney, the former of whom was born in Forward township, February 9, 1783, and died there, October 18, 1863. He was a farmer by vocation, a democrat in his political adherency, a member of the Presbyterian church and a veteran of the Civil war. Mary Wallace Blee was born in County Down, Ireland, and died on the McKinney farm in Forward township, March 24, 1873, at the age of seventy-seven years. James McKinney was the son of Matthew and Elizabeth (Laird) McKinney, who was born in Scotland and on his emigration to America settled in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, where he patented three hundred acres of government land, which is still in the possession of his descendants. He died on his farm there, October 22, 1809. He was a devoted Christian and helped build the Round Hill Presbyterian church, of which he was a member. His second wife was Ann Thompson. Mrs. Joseph Lytle received her education in the public schools of Forward township and at Elizabeth Academy. She was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Monongahela city and took a deep interest in the work of that organization and its various auxiliary societies. She died January 1, 1926. To Mr. and Mrs. Lytle were born three daughters, namely: Edna Belle. who was born in Forward township, Allegheny county, and secured her educational training in the public schools of Forward township, the State Normal School of Indiana, and Beaver College at Beaver. Pennsylvania and Luella May and Georgie Hannah, who are deceased.

History of Washington County, Pennsylvania, 1926; Forrest, Earle Robert, Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., pages 202-207.  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.