Thomas and Henry Lytle were brothers from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Their father's name has NOT actually been determined, though one person has found a Thomas Little as a landownder around the time of their birth. Much more data is needed, but my not be found, because their father died around the time of their birth. We're not even certain who is older.
One thing we do know is that Thomas and Henry's mother was originally thought to be a McCord, but is now known to be Elizabeth Clark. Thomas and Henry are related to several other families in Randolph County via this Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, connection.
Thomas and Henry may be connected to Archibald Lytle, of Lancaster County. His son, Robert, lived in Orange County, north Carolina, and Robert's son William even bought land along the same creek as Thomas did. Another possible connection is in the line of Ephraim Lytle, also of Lancaster County. Ephraim's family lived quite near the McCords, and one branch lived in the same town as Henry, though at a later date.
Thomas and Henry came to what is now Randolph County, North Carolina, in the 1760's. There was a major migration at this time from the Lancaster County area, including Germans, English and Irish Quakers, and the Scotch-Irish. Randolph County was separated from Guilford County in 1779. Guilford was formed from the East portion of Rowan County and the West portion of Orange County in 1786. The Lytles settled in Rowan County.
Henry Lytle had three daughters and no sons. Two of the daughters married Johnston (later Johnson) brothers, and from these descend most of the Johnsons of the Randolph County area. His other daughter married Daniel Merrill. For his descendants, see Henry Lytle in the database.
Thomas, meanwhile, had no children. With the likely exception of six slaves on his plantation. Thomas instructed the executors of his will to carry out several deeds after his death, which were written on a separate document and signed by the executors, but NOT filed along with his will. At Thomas' death, in 1794, the executors petitioned the state legislature for the freedom of Frank, one of the slaves, and specifically requested that he be given the Lytle name. Per the signed document, Frank was also given 200 acres of land and all his blacksmith tools.
The remaining slaves (Joe, Sam, Esther, Jack, and Pink) were to be given the remainder of the land, 403 acres, and their freedom at the death of Thomas' widow, Catherine (King) Lytle. It was 22 years until Catherine died in 1816, and the other slaves had children and grandchildren by this time. The legal heirs of Thomas and Catherine, their nieces and nephews, brought a court case for the value of the estate. It was not settled until 1833, nearly 40 years after Thomas' death. The net result was that the letter of the agreement was obeyed, but not the intent. Those slaves who had belonged to Thomas were set free, but those born after his death were not. The slaves who were freed in 1816, and had children after that, passed that freedom on to those children, as was the law at that time. All of the others were sold, along with the remaining 403 acres, and the monies divided amongst the heirs of Thomas and Catherine. Not surprisingly, the land and slaves were sold to two lawyers involved with the case, William Hogan and Henry Humphreys.
For SOURCE materials on Thomas, see Thomas Lytle Source Material
For more history of Frank, see Family of Frank Lytle
For descendants of Frank, see Frank Lytle in the database.
For descendants of the other slaves, see Lytle Slaves in the database. Those who were sold are denoted by either (Humphreys) or (Hogan) in their names. Some were bought by Quakers and set free, which was common for that religion. Also, Randolph County was in the heart of a very tolerant area, where "Free Colored" were ordinary members of society in many respects.