Robert M. Kyle, farmer and miller, was born near his present location forty-eight years ago on March 23, 1839, son of William C. and Alice (Massengill) Kyle. Both were of Irish descent. The former was born in Hawkins County, June 6, 1813, and is now living at Whitesburg, Hamblen Co., the mother born in Grainger County, in Dec., 1815, and died at Whitesburg, in October, 1886. They were married in Grainger County, and immediately settled at Rogersville, Hawkins County, where they resided some fourteen years, then moved onto a farm two miles west of Rogersville and lived until the year 1867, at which time they went to Whitesburg, Hamblen County. Before the war the father was engaged in the mercantile business and the slave trade, and since the war in farming. He is a Democrat, and not a member of any church. The mother is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Subject is the eldest of five children. He secured a good academic education at Rogersville, in his youth. Before the war he was engaged in agricultural pursuits; during the war and one year after the war, in merchandising. At Knoxville during the war, and at Whitesburg after the war, he was engaged in the mercantile interest. In 1867 he settled on a farm near Rogersville, where he was engaged in farming two years and in 1869 he purchased and settled on a farm in Jefferson County, and after five years farming in Jefferson County he sold out and came to Hawkins County and purchased and settled where he now lives. He gave his attention exclusively to farming and the live stock trade up to the fall of 1886, at which time he built the Walnut Hill Rolling Process Flouring Mills. Since then he has been engaged in farming and the milling interest. Our subject has been a successful man, he now owns one mill and over 1,700 acres of land in Hawkins County, 1,000 of which is on the Stony Mountain. Subject’s farm was owned by his father, William C. Kyle, by his grandfather, Absalom Kyle and by the great-grandfather, Robert Kyle, who came from North Carolina, and located, entering or buying the farm at the early settling of Hawkins County. On December 18, 1866, our subject married Miss Annie McNutt, of Knoxville, an excellent lady, and born in 1847 or 1848. They have seven children living, four sons and three daughter. Subject is a Democrat, but takes part in politics. He and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Transcribed by Betty Mize from Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee, 1886.