M. L. BYERLEY, farmer, was born October 25, 1831, in Knox County, where he remained but two years, when his parents moved to Blount County. In 1876 our subject moved to Knox County, but in the spring of 1887 he moved to his present location in the Tenth District Blount County. He had good common school advantages, and began for himself, a poor man. He now owns 146 acres of splendid land on the Maryville & Louisville Road, six miles northwest of the former place. He is the eldest of ten children of Isaac and Mary (HOBBS) BYERLEY, and born in South Carolina. When about eight years old, his father moved to Blount County, settling on Boyd Creek. Mrs. BYERLEY was born and reared in Virginia, coming to Blount County in 1825. Isaac began as a poor man, and by his ability soon became wealthy, but the actions of other parties caused him to fail. The father and mother were of German and English descent. The grandfather, Jasper BYERLEY, came to America before the Revolution, in which war he was a soldier, and lived to be one hundred and ten years old. Our subject married Rachel C., daughter of Bill and Elizabeth (SWAN) CLARK. Their children were Mary Elizabeth and Sarah Frances, deceased; Emma, afterward Mrs. STRANGE; Ida, afterward Mrs. JOHNSON; Don Charles, Isaac C., Edgar E. ,Myrtle, James and Marcus L. Mr. BYERLEY is a Methodist. He is a Republican, first voted for Scott, and is an industrious and successful man.
Source: Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of from Twenty-Five to Thirty Counties of East Tennessee. Chicago: Goodspeed, 1887.