Notes for Thomas Lyles: In the western part of Fairfield County along the Broad River the land is extremely hilly, bordering upon being mountainous. The steep wooded hills and deep narrow valleys make it a rugged county. Hidden among the hills, usually on their crests, like gems in a tiara, are some of the oldest and most historic homes in the county.
One of these is a time-warn, weather-beaten house that was build in 1812 by major Thomas Lyles.
Major Thomas Lyles was a son of Arromanus Lyles, whose father was Ephriam Lyles, one of Fairfield's first settlers. Ephrain, and his brother, Colonel John, took lands at the mouth of Beaver Creek on the Broad River. The family was from Brunswick County, VA originally, but they came to Fairfield from Butte County, NC about 1745.
Ephraim was killed by Indians in his new home and a Negro servant was murdered by them in the yard, but his widow, Ann and her 7 or 8 children who were in the home at the time, were miraculously spared.
Arromanus became one of the first citizens of the district. From 1790 he was one of the citizens who paid tribute to the memory of the Reverend Jacob Gibson, a pioneer Baptist minister, who died that year. Major Thomas Lyles married Miss Peay, a daughter of another of Fairfield's first families. He was a representative of the legislature from 1832 until 1836. In 1839 his family consisted of 3 persons. When the census of 1860 was taken, his plantation was valued at $32,000.
The house that Major Lyles built in 1812 is a sturdy and attractive one. It was constructed to last and to be an heirloom of posterity. The bricks were all made by the plantation Negroes who mashed and packed the red mud with their bare feet. When the bricks were dried and cured, they were laid in wet mud mortar and pointed up on the surface with lime. The walls of the building are entirely of brick and are sixteen inches thick.
The design of the house is typical of the period. It is a compact rectangular structure with a well-braced hipped roof. The roof was originally covered with thick hand-hewn shingles. For decoration, the bricks in the cornice are laid in an angular pattern and a one story porch or piazza extends across the front just below the second story windows. This is supported by a graceful, slightly tapering, round columns. Over the front door is a semicircular fan-light of very small glass panels. The broad entrance steps are of everlasting blue granite.
Originally the front yard was fenced in to protect an elaborately designed boxwood garden through the center of which is a wide brick walk. The fence and trellis over the gate was covered with a profusely blooming rose vine. Brick columns on either side of the entrance were topped with graceful wrought iron urns.
Old houses such as this are filled with stories of romance, history, gaiety, love sorrow, mystery, and well guarded secrets. One of these stories will be told.
In late February 1865 after the fall and destruction of Columbia, Sherman's devastating army moved into Fairfield. At that time, Major Lyles was an old man ill and bed-ridden with a broken hip, and his bed was set up downstairs in what is now the dining room. As the dreaded invaders came near his little domain he sent his family away for their safety. The household treasures were taken with them, His finest stock and the highly bred horses for which his plantation was famous were sent deep into the swamps of the Broad River and carefully hidden. The old man, alone with a few servants, remained on the place to receive the enemy. Before their arrival the bummers had been told that he was a rich old planter, and that in all probability he had much treasure hidden away.
They came like angry hornets swarming all over the place. When they inquired about the owner, the servants told that that their master was in the house and ill, too sick to be disturbed. The usual search for loot ensued; the barns were raided then burned. Stock and poultry that was superfluous for them to carry away was killed and thrown into the flaming outbuildings. The cotton house containing fifty bales of fine staple went up in smoke. The house was ransacked and when no treasure was found, the old man's bed chamber was invaded.
He told them positively and emphatically, that there was nothing of any value in the house or on the plantation. They did not believe him and swore at him telling him that if he did not reveal the hiding place of his loot that they would burn the house over him. To these threats he shouted, "Burn and be damned! I only have a few miserable years ahead of me."
With that some of the men placed a pile of litter under his bed, and set fire to it. He did not flinch but remained in the great canopied bed until smoke began to fill the room. He was too sick and too proud to move. When the soldiers realized this one of the officers said, "That is the bravest old man I have ever seen," and ordered the awe-stricken servants to remove the fire. This was done with all haste, but even today, almost 140 years later, the charred spots remain on the floor where Thomas Lyles' bed stood.
A boy taking the last of the horses to safety in the swamps was overtaken by the plunderers and the beautiful animal was taken from him. The steed was "Zuleika," the pride of the countryside. It belonged to one of the Lyles daughters and was acclaimed to be the best "lady's horse" ever bred in the county. After the Yankees left, this beautiful creature was found dead by the roadside. The vile act was committed by the officer who had appropriated the animal for his own use. He killed the horse because the horse had bitten him and refused to let him mount. The horse was as gentle and easy to manage as a pet kitten when handled by a lady, but it had been trained to bite and refuse to carry any man, except its groom, who tried to handle it. from "A Fairfield Sketchbook"
Thomas Lyles was the youngest son of Col. Aromanus Lyles (eldest son of the first settler of that name) and lived a short time after his marriage on Mill Creek, then moved to Wateree Creek, thence back to Broad River, where he was born, and settled on his father's plantation, where his father died in 1817. He next William Fant's place on the Columbia Road and settled on it in January 1821. He was a man of untiring energy and fixed purpose, of more than ordinary mental caliber, fond of mills and financial enterprises. With a large planting interest, he combined a mercantile enterprise and associated with himself John Smith of Wateree. He commanded as Captain the Buckhead troop of cavalry at the time our state passed the Ordinance of Nullification, and I was cornetist. We were all ready to march to Charleston to whip Old Hickory, and would have done so, or tried, had it not been for the timely and fortunate modification by Congress of the Tariff Act of 1832. I have often thought of the whipping we would have received had it not been for "Clay's Olive Branch," as it was so truly called. He was promoted to the office of major in 1832. Afterwards he was commissioned by Gov. R.Y. Hayne in 1832 as lieutenant colonel of the 1st squadron of cavalry organized within the 6th Brigade of South Carolina Militia. He was a true patriot. At the beginning of the late Civil War, although he was seventy-five years old, he equipped a young soldier and sent him to fight in his place. Major Thomas Lyles was a man of undaunted courage. At the time of Sherman's raid, he was confined to bed with a dislocated hip. one of the raiders (perhaps thinking that he was feigning disability) approached with a lighted torch, saying, "Unless you give me silver and gold, I'll burn you alive." To this the old hero replied, I have not many years to live anyway, burn and be d----d." The Yankees, surprised at this characteristic speech, ordered a negro to remove the torch from under the bed, remarking, "You are the bravest man I have seen in South Carolina." Major Lyles represented Fairfield in the Legislature for eight years. He married Mary A.C. Woodward in December 1810. They had only two children, Thomas M. and William S. Lyles. His wife died in 1855. He lived at his home near Buckhead until his death, which took place on the 19th of January 1874 at the advanced age of eighty-seven.
"Life's labor done, Serenely to his rest he passed, While the soft memory of his virtues yet Linger, like sunset hues, when that bright orb has set."
His older son, Thomas M., married Eliza R. the youngest daughter of Colonel Austin F. Peay. They were the parent of seven sons and six daughters; two of the daughters died in childhood. Mrs. Lyles died in 1897. William Boykin, the oldest son, was married to Sally W. Strother soon after he returned from the University of Virginia. She lived but a short time. Two years later, he married Georgianna C., daughter of J.M. Dantzler of Orangeburg District. He was one of the first to respond to his country's call in the late Civil War, and went from home as a first lieutenant of the Buckhead Guards to the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861. At the reorganization of the 6th Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers in Virginia, he was made captain of the company and was killed at the battle of Seven Pines, May 31, 1862, while gallantly leading his command to the charge, aged twenty-six years.
The enemy occupied the field next morning, and our men, sent under a flag of truce to recover our dead, were refused permission to enter the lines; hence he was buried on the field of battle.
"But freedom's young favorites sleep as sound, On foreign soil as native ground."
Captain Lyles possessed a warm and genial disposition, and was brave and generous to a fault.
"When hearts whose truth was proven, Like his, are laid in earth, There should a wreath be woven To tell the world their worth."
He left a widow and one little daughter, Sue Boykin, who grew to lovely womanhood, married J. William McCants in 1882, and died six months after. They were not long severed, for he passed from earth November 1, 1885. Their mortal remains are interred in the cemetery of the M.E. Church in Winnsboro, there to lie till the resurrection morn.
Capt. Thomas M. Lyles had five other brave sons in the Confederate army--Thomas, Nicholas, Austin, John, and Belton. Austin was twice wounded, first at Dranesville, then at the Second Battle of Manassas, and was killed near Petersonburg, Va., in June 1864, aged only twenty-one years. The four remaining brothers returned home unmaimed. Nicholas served through the whole was and was slightly wounded once or twice.. Nicholas was sheriff of Marengo County, Alabama, died 1899. Thomas is living in Louisiana. Nicholas, who married Lou Poelinitz, of Alabama, moved to that state. John W., who married Sue C. Morris, is a practical farmer and was a member of the Legislature from this county one term. Belton married Rosalie Meekin, and James, the youngest son, married Cora Irby, who died. They all engaged in planting. Of Capt. Thomas Lyles' daughters, Sallie E. married Lieut. E.A. Poelinitz, of Alabama; Mattie P. married A.E. Davis, of Monticello; Rebecca V. became the second wife of Major T.W. Woodward, of Winnsboro; and Carrie E. married J. Feaster Lyles of Buckhead.
Old Major Thomas Lyles' second son, William, was a man of fine intellect, with a warm heart and generous to a fault, and like his father, represented Fairfield in the Legislature. He was an enthusiastic member of the Secession Convention. He died April 1862, much lamented. He was twice married, first to Sallie P. Woodward. They had several sons who died in childhood and two daughters, Mary C., who married Colonel S.D. Goodlett, of Greenville, and died in January 1877, leaving a son and daughter. Sallie P., the youngest child, married John C. Feaster, and resides at her grandfather's old homestead.
In May 1846, Major William S. Lyles married Sallie A. Haynesworth, of Sumter Court House. There were five children by this marriage, Sue H., who married C.B. Pearson and died in 1868; Fannie Hortensai, who died in childhood; Fannie Eliza, who died in her fourteenth year. William H., the only son, removed to Columbia and married Miriam M. Sloan, of Anderson. He is engaged in the practice of law and has also been a member of the legislature from Richland County. the youngest child, Florence, married Mr. M. L. Kinard, a popular clothing merchant of Columbia S.C.
"The Lyles Family" by William Edrington News and Herald (Winnsboro, SC) March 15, 1901 http://home.earthlink.net/~jbl2403/lyles_family/Fairfield_Co._Lyles.html
Basic Information
* Location – Blair (Buckhead Section), Fairfield County
On the western side of Fairfield near Broad River
* Origin of name – "The Oaks" is determined from a monument to the builder, Col Thomas Lyles, at Rock Creek Presbyterian Church, which states that he is buried at "The Oaks."
* Other names – Lyles-Crowder home
* Current status – Restored
Timeline
* 1811 – Earliest known date of existence
* 1811 and 1820 – House built
Land
* Number of acres – 1000
* Primary crop – Cotton, Indian Corn
Owners
* Alphabetical list – Dru and Cris Blair (Current owners), John Collins, Benjamin and Gussie Crowder, Sallie Lyles Feaster, Thomas Lyles
Thomas Lyles (d. date unknown)
Notes for Thomas Lyles: