Pyle, Benjamin B.

PYLE

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 23:53:26

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.397

BENJAMIN BARNETT PYLE
With the farming and stock-raising interests of Palmyra Township, Benjamin B. Pyle is identified, his home being on section 19, where he has a good farm of eighty acres. He was born in Morgan County, Indiana, June 16, 1845, and is descended from a family of English origin that was founded in Virginia at an early day in the development of this country. His father, G. T. Pyle, was born in the city of Richmond, Virginia, in 1800, and in early man­hood married Nancy Gordon, also a native of the Old Dominion. Learning the wagonmaker's trade, he followed that occupation during his active business life. He remained a resident of Virginia until after the birth of two of his children, and then removed to Morgan County, Indiana, where four sons were added to the family. In 1855 he came to Iowa and took up his residence in Hartford, where he carried on business as a wagonmaker for many years. He died there January 16, 1881, and his wife passed away in 1887. After her husband's death she lived with a daughter, Mrs. Harriet Pendry.
Benjamin B. Pyle was a lad of ten years when the family came to Iowa, and he attended the common schools of Hartford. Later he learned the painter's trade, which he followed for twenty years. Since then he has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, first in Richland Township, this county, and later in Polk County, Iowa, where he spent five years, but for the past fifteen years he has made his home on his present farm in Palmyra Town­ship. He has made many good and substantial improvements upon the place and he keeps a high grade of horses, cattle and hogs, fattening about eighty hogs yearly. On the 5th of January 1892, Mr. Pyle was married in Des Moines, to Miss Clara Shutterly, who was born, reared and educated in this county, her parents being J. H. and Phebe (Carzott) Shutterly, natives of Indiana and Ohio re­spectively. Her father is a pioneer of Warren County, having located here in 1849, and he spent his last years on his farm in Richland Township. Mrs. Pyle has one brother living, Abraham Shutterly, a farmer of Pratt county, Kansas. The only child born to Mr. and Mrs. Pyle was Martha, who died in infancy.
Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise, Mr. Pyle has been a supporter of the Republican Party, and cast his first presidential vote for Gen­eral U. S. Grant. He has served as a delegate to the county conventions of his party and has also served on the petit jury, but has never cared for political office. He gives to the support of the churches of Hartford, and his wife holds membership in the Baptist Church. Wherever known they are held in high regard, and they have a host of friends throughout Warren County.