Archdale library history talk to focus on Lytle family

ARCHDALE – On November 28, 1829, 38 enslaved children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of two Lytle sisters were sold in Randolph County.

It was the largest single sale of enslaved people in the county’s history.

Genealogist Kendra Lyons will delve into the story in “Lytle Family: How Thomas Lytle Tried to Free His Slaves, and What Went Wrong,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 27, at the Archdale Public Library. Lyons’s talk is free and the public is invited.

The story starts with Thomas Lytle, an early Randolph County citizen who owned a large plantation on Caraway Creek. With an enslaved black woman whose name is not known, he fathered four sons and two daughters.

Lytle died in 1794. In his will, he emancipated his children, but for five of them — including daughters Esther and Pink — freedom did not come until Lytle’s wife died in 1816. By 1829, Esther and Pink had children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren — all of whom remained enslaved and were subject to the sale.

Lytle descendants nationwide — some of whom identify as white and some as black — held a reunion in September at Marlboro Friends Church in Sophia.

Lyons is genealogy specialist in the Randolph Room, the local history and genealogy service of the Randolph County Public Libraries.

The library is located at 10433 S. Main Street. For further information, call 336-431-3811.