BYLER
Second Generation

2. Barbara BEILER b. __ ___ 1723, Switzerland, m. Christian YODER, b. Abt__ ___ 1722, Europe, d. __ Jan 1771. 
Barbara died __ ___ 1781.  11 Children.
    Children:
      i Jacob YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1745.
      ii Christian YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1747.
      iii Elizabeth YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1749.
      iv Barbara YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1751.
      v John YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1753.
      vi Veronica YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1755.
      vii Joseph YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1757.
      viii Henry YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1759.
      ix Anna YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1761.
      x David YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1763.
      xi Catherine YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1765.

3. Anna BEILER b. __ ___ 1726, Switzerland, m. Jacob YODER, b. Abt__ ___ 1726, Europe, d. __ ___ 1790, Morgantown,
Lancaster County, PA.  Anna died __ ___ 1804.  9 children.
    Children:
      i Franny YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1748, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
      ii Jacob YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1750, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
      iii John YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1753, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
      iv Mary YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1755, Berks County, Pennsylvania, m. Christian HERTZLER.  Mary died 13 Jul 1813, 
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
      v Elizabeth YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1758, Berks County, Pennsylvania, m. Henry ARNOLD.
      vi Christian YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1763, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
      vii Barbara YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1763, Berks County, Pennsylvania, m. John BLANK.  Barbara died __ ___ 1837, 
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
      viii Sarah YODER b. 17 Sep 1765, Berks County, Pennsylvania, m. Peter SUMMERS.  Sarah died 17 Nov 1836, Lancaster 
County, Pennsylvania.
      ix Esther YODER b. Abt__ ___ 1767, Berks County, Pennsylvania, m. William MORROW.  Esther died 11 Dec 1863, 
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

4. Christian BEILER b. __ ___ 1727, Switzerland, m. (1) Elizabeth YODER, m. (2) Barbar Yoder.  Christian died __ ___ 1812. 
Christian Beiler in some accounts is listed as Christopher Beiler, and in fact his name was Christian on the ship "Charming Nancy"
immigration list.  Later deeds, wills, etc., show he was "Christian" Beiler.  Also, some accounts give his birth year as 1729. 
Christian is most likely buried at Mast Cemetery west of Morgantown PA.  Christopher purchased land and lived in this area
until his death.  The original section of the Mast Cemetery has no memorial stones. These stones were removed many years ago
and no records exist to our knowledge.  One of Christopher's daughters (Anna) has a memorial stone in this cemetery. Source: Chart 1-Beiler-Biler-Boiler-Byler Surname, DESCENDANTS OF PIONEER BEILER, prepared by Allen R. Beiler, New Holland, 
PA 17557.
    Children:
      i Christian K. BEILER b. __ ___ 1752, m. Anna KING.
      ii Veronica BEILER b. __ ___ 1754, m. John LANTZ.  Another source gives her name as Franey BEILER.
      iii Magdalena BEILER b. __ ___ 1756.
      iv Jacob BEILER b. __ ___ 1758.
      v John BEILER b. __ ___ 1761, m. Mary DETWILER.
      vi Elizabeth BEILER b. __ ___ 1754, m. (1) Christian KING, m. (2) Jacob KAUFFMAN.  1 daughter.
      vii Maria BEILER b. __ ___ 1769, m. Christian STUTZMAN.
      viii Anna BEILER b. __ ___ 1773.
      ix Jacob BYLER b. __ ___ 1776.
      x Henry BYLER.
      xi Joseph BEILER b. __ ___ 1780.

5. Jacob BYLER b. __ ___ 1740, Oley Twnship, Lancaster County, PA, occupation Tanner-Farmer, m. __ ___ 1765, in Oley 
Twnshp, Lancaster County, PA, Katherine KISH, b. __ ___ 1744, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, d. __ ___ 1835, Moniteau County,
Missouri.  Jacob died 15 May 1804, Reems Creek, Buncombe County, NC.
    Jacob Byler, son of the immigrant Jakob Beyeler, began life on his father's farm in Oley Township, Lancaster County, later Berks
County, Pennsylvania.  As a young man he took up the trade of a tanner and built on the farm a tan yard. It was here in Oley Township,
that he met and married about 1765 to Katherine Kish or Kisch.  Jacob and Katherine Kish Byler bought the Jakob Be˜eler
homestead in Oley Township following the immigrant's death in 1771.  Here they remained until about 1781 when they left Berks 
County and settled in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.  It is thought that Jacob Byler was a member of the Northumberland
County Militia during the Revolution, but proof has not been found.
      Sometime between 1782 and 1788, Jacob Byler with his family began to move south.  In 1788 he was granted land on 
occupancy in Burke County, North Carolina.  The land was located on Reems Creek of the Big Ivey River.  Abraham Byler and 
David Byler also bought land on Reems Creek between 1789 and 1790. This land fell within the boundaries of Buncombe County, 
North Carolina when it was created in 1792.  It was here on Reems Creek, Buncombe County, that Jacob Byler and his family 
built their homes, a grist mill and a black powder mill for gunpouder.  The saltpeter mine was located on the Jacob Byler property
in a cave along Reems Creek.  It was reopened in 1918 to mine saltpeter for gun powder needed in World War I.
      Jacob Byler is thought to have been killed in the winter of 1804 when his powder mill exploded and burned.  He was dead by 
May of 1804 when letters of administration were issued to Jacob Byler, Jr. for the estate of Jacob Byler. Katherine Kish Byler
moved to Missouri in 1816 with her son, Joseph Byler, and died there between 1830 and 1840.  A deed settling part of the Jacob
Byler estate in 1806 lists the children of Jacob and Katherine Kish Byler who survived Jacob's death.  They were living in Tennessee
and in North Carolina, indicating that their westward movement had begun before their father's death. Source: The Izard County 
Historian, Vol 13, Nr 4, 1982, The Ancestry of the Byler Family in Izard County, by Edgar D. Byler, III p. 18-19.
   Another source gives his death date as 15 May 1804.  Source also states that Jacob was the first person buried in the Dillingham
Cemetery in Bernardsville, NC.  Another source gives death date as 15 March 1804. Katherine: Born in 1740s.  Died in 1830s.
 Another source gives county residing in when death occurred as Cooper County, MO.  Also states she lived to the age of 91.
Possibly living at the time of death with either her son Jacob or Elizabeth her daughter.
    Children:
    8. i Jacob Franklin b. 10 Jun 1765.
    9. ii Abraham b. 11 Apr 1769.
    10. iii David b. 30 Mar 1772.
    11. iv Joseph b. __ ___ 1772.
    12. v Catherine b. __ ___ 1774.
      vi Elizabeth BYLER m. John WEBB.
      vii John BYLER b. 10 Dec 1781, Pennsylvania, m. About 1800, Elizabeth A. WALKER, (daughter of John Walker and 
Elizabeth Cowen). John died 9 Sep 1824, Lawrence County, Alabama.
  John Byler was a Captain of Mounted Gunmen in the War of 1812.  He and his company were from Bedford County, Tennessee
and fought in the battle of Horshoe Bend in Alabama.  After the War of 1812, he settled in Lawrence County, Alabama and was
commissioned in 1819 to build a toll road from the Tennessee River to the head of navigation on the Black Warrior, present day
Tuscaloosa.  This road is known throughout Alabama today as the Byler Road and has been placed on the National Registerof Historic Sites.

                                Chapter V
                  ALABAMA'S FIRST STATE HIGHWAY
                   The Story of the Byler Road

  The Legislature of the Independent State of Alabama convened in November, 1819, and one of its first concerns was the
question of roadways.  The Congress of the United States admitted this State into the Federal Union on December 14, 1819
and two days later Governor Bibb approved the act which provided for our first State Road.  It began, "on the Great Military
Road leading from Columbia in Tennessee to Madisonville in Louisiana, at or near the place where Samuel Craig now lives,
on the west side of Big Shoal Creek in Lauderdale County."  and it must follow "the nearest and best way to the Tennessee River 
at the ferry opposite the town of Bainbridge," and go thence generally south to Tuskaloosa.

  This roadway, a toll turnpike for the most or longest distance, known in subsequent history as "Byler's Turnpike Road," is the 
original one established by State Legislation.  The Natchez Trace, the Federal Road and the Jackson Military Road (that one 
above referred to as the Great Military Road), were provided by Acts of the U. S. Congress, and were kept up until Statehood 
days by Federal appropriations.  The Natchez Trace was authorized by treaties with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians, dated
respectively, October 24, and December 17, 1801.  Over it went the first post-route in the Gulf contry.  It crossed at Colbert's
Ferry at the head of Muscle Shoals.  Lorenzo Dow, the South's original itenerant preacher, passed along it as early as 1803.  The
Federal Road, to Alabama the most important in the entire early history of the state, crossed from Fort Mitchell site of later days,
then the Indian trading path by Coweta town, and was opened by authority of the treaty of November 14, 1805, to be recognized
as "a horsepath through the Creek Country from the Okmulgee to the Mobile."

  The old military road running directly from Columbia in Tennessee, crossed at Florence and passed through Russellville, old 
Pikeville, Sulligent, on through Columbus, Mississippi, and southwest.  Congress was appropriating money for its repair on 
April 27, 1816, a few months after the triumphant return of Andrew Jackson over that trail from his New Orleans victory.
  The Byler Road was to facilitate travel from Nashville to Tuskaloosa, and after 1826, when the latter became the Alabama Capital,
was a much used way, for many of our early settlers in West Alabama were from Tennessee and Virginia and they used this route.
  The Act to authorize the road was passed at Huntsville in 1819, amended at Cahaba, June 16, 1821, and the time allowed for
completion extended by a resolution passed December 28, 1822,--the Legislature worked during Christmas in those days,--when
November 1, 1823, was fixed as the date.  They also aurhorized the builders of the toll section to collect half toll (over that part 
constructed,) until November 1823, when the fixed rate was allowed to become effective, if the road was finished.  That toll rate
which is somewhat different from the one of later years, is interesting.  As originally fixed, a four-wheeled carraige and team was
allowed to pass over the entire length for 75 cents, but in the Anendment of 1821 this rate was increased to $1.00. Horseback
riders paid 12 and one-half cents--one bit--and the penalty for intent to evade payment of toll was $5.00 over and above the 
amount which "his, her or their toll would habe been."
  While even to this day the old turnpike, short stretches of which are still in use, is known as the Byler Road, John Byler and his 
associates were only authorized to build "from the southern boundary of the counties of Lawrence and Franklin to the center of
the Township numbered eighteen of Range numbered ten, west."  That part in Lauderdale County from Sam Craig's house to
Bainbridge, was to be built under the orders of the judge of the inferior court. "By an overseer with a sufficient number of hands to
open and keep the same in good repair."  From the Tennessee River south, along the Line of Franklin and Lawrence counties, the
law directed the opening in the words: "All persons liable to work on public road within two miles of said road on either side
thereof, shall be bound to assist."  From the Township eighteen line, to the end of the toll section, the court of Tuskaloosa County
was directed to "cause the residue of the road to the falls of Tuskaloosa River to be viewed by five white male citizens who shall
be sworn to mark the same--the nearest and best way to the town of Tuskaloosa."  Likewise the court must appoint an overseer 
and sufficient hands to open the same.
  An interesting connection with the legislation affecting the road is that "John Byler and associates" are referred to in a number of
places, but in no case are the "associates" named and no one can tell me at this late date who they were.  "John Byler" seems to
have been the whold corporation.  As was usually the case in those days "Commissioners" were duly appointed to examine and
report, and their expenses and per diem of Three dollars each were charged to Mr. Byler.  Further, he was directed to pay the 
Tuskaloosa County commissioners even though his toll section ran but a short distance into that county.
  The road was directed to be twelve feet wide, clear of stumps and roots, and good causways were planned for all soft places.
 Tanner's post-rout map of 1830 shows the finished route running down the eastern boundary line of Marion County acros
s "Lafayette" County to Tuscaloosa.  Old citizens refer to the road running south from Bainbridge landing as the "Tuskaloosa Road," 
but this way which ran generally south and southwest through Leighton, old LaGrange, Avoca, Ora, Kinlock, Littlesville, Ark, 
Haleyville, Larissa, Eldridge, Dublin, Bankston, New Lexington, Samantha and on to Northport, was the original Byler Road, and
that one going west from Moulton was only a branch.  The Legislature too, authorized this one which was to intersect the main road 
"at the sixty-six mile tree from Tennessee River" and persons were penalized who felled trees across it or otherwise obstructed the 
same.
  Today, that improved highway going north toward Fayette P.O., out ot Tuscaloosa is known as the Byler Road and, practically 
speaking, is the identical route.
  Examine a topographical map and you will see that the survey as fixed by the Act of 1819, followed the high country almost the
entire distance.  In some stretches it passes through a mountainous country and must bear into the valleys of the numerous streams
so prevalent in that section of the State. However, in that region there is no swamp country comparable to the sections lower 
down and roads paralelling the water courses are possible.
  Hance M. Cunningham, William Russell and Hanby Files seem to have been shown favors as "commissions to view" Mr. Byler's
road,--he paying the bill always. Mr. Cunningham is sometimes "Vance" and Mr. Russell is sometimes "George" and Mr. Files is 
onec "Manley," but doubtless these three individuals, the former from Lawrence and the two latter thought to be from Franklin, 
were always associated.
  But, changes in population and political centers, or the coming of the railroads, or possibly both, long since wiped from the memories
of all but a few of our old people, the recollections of the toll gates at the branch roads along this old pike.  Bainbridge, which 
honored the Commodore who fought on Lake Erie, is now one hundred feet under the waters of the Tennessee, for Wilson Dam
is but a few miles down that stream.  LaGrange College in the mountains by the side of the old highway, that original institution of
higher learning in Alabama, is marked now with but a bronze tablet and a few of the old cedars which shaded the roadside.  No 
improved highway today crosses Big Shoal Creek where did the "Military Road" of old, and the forks of "the road to Bainbridge
ferry" is obliterated.
  Haleyville, which was "Haleysville," when the post boy of 1830 stopped there, Bankston, New Lexington and Samanthya are left, 
but even to few of their citizens is Byler's Turnpike known, though they sometimes refer to the "Boiler road" and ask why the name. 
John Byler of Lawrence is gone but not forgotten.  The little "house by the side of the road"--Nathan Gregg's tavern in Leighton,
where John Gregg, Brigadier General in the Confederate Army once lived, is the one silent reminder of the "Stage road to
Tuskaloosa," at its upper end at least.  At Courtland, the northern terminus of the branch to join at "the 66 mile tree," you will
find the old "horse-block" from which the well groomed ladies whose skirts were much longer than those of 1929, mounted their 
steeds.  Mr. James Young, now long since passed by his four score year and rounding the ten to follow, well remembers "old 
John Byler" and, too, he remembers Tom Green, the stage driver, who passed to his reward before his contract was finished,
leaving his son to carry it out.  But, Mr. Young's memory goes back to the time when the capital was at Tuskaloosa (spelled
with a "k" not a "c") and the blast of the Stage driver's horn was music to his youthful ears.
      [Source: Alabama History, pp 46-53]

6. John C. BILER b. __ ___ 1740, Berks County, Pennsylvania, m. Christina ESTERBE.  John died __ ___ 1821, Berks County, Pennsylvania.  Other source gives birth date as Abt. 1742 and death date 1822.
    Children:
      i Sarah BILER m. David KLINE.
      ii Mary BILER m. Jacob STAUFFER.
      iii Elizabeth BILER m. John HINE.
      iv Rachel BILER m. Mark PHARE.
      v Christina BILER m. John KLOSS.

7. David BEILER b. __ ___ 1743, Berks County, Pennsylvania, m. Nancy FISHER, d. __ ___ 1839, Pike County, Ohio.
 David died 13 Jan 1824, Pike County, Ohio.  Nancy: Daughter of John Fisher who came from Germany. Source: Mennonite
Family History, October 1991, p. 141.
    Children:
      i Joseph BEILER d. __ ___ 1848, Ohio.