The following article about James Knox Lytle, the founder of our community was written by George H. Kattman and was published in the Evening Leader on October 3, 1935. Mr. Kattman was a prominent citizen of New Knoxville who served for many years as an Evening Leader correspondent, and who was the author of the Centennial souvenir book published in 1936. More information about Mr. Kattman can be found in the “Interviews” portion of our website.
New Knoxville, Oct. 3 – In our endeavors, both by mail and personal interviews to learn about the early history of our village we found that the founder of our town, James K. Lytle was of Scotch-Irish descent. This fact is amusing to us, that an Irishman should found a community so predominately German. The Grandfather Robert Lytle, Sr., of our illustrious subject was born in North Ireland in 1730, and came to this country in 1760, going to New Castle, Del., and returning in the following year to bring his wife and two brothers. Returning to this country he settled in Pennsylvania. In 1790 we find him located in Franklin county, near Chambersburg, Pa. Here he reared a family of ten children of which Robert Lytle, Jr., the third in point of birth, became in due season the father of Edmund and James K. Lytle, who during the 30s did much to shape the community. Edmund Lytle as far as we can learn had no connection in the immediate founding of our village other than that he was a large land owner, having land holdings all about our present town according to the old deeds held by the various present holders of the land. Edmund Lytle was a resident of Sidney at the time of the founding of our village and there later reared his family of which Stephen R. Lytle draws into our picture, he likewise lived in and about Sidney and reared a family of which Mrs. John E. Thompson (Brieta Amelia Lytle), Mrs. Harry Oldham (Nellie Gertrude Lytle), Reynolds Denny Lytle, Port Jefferson, and James Ginn Lytle, Sidney, are the living grand-nieces and grand-nephews of our illustrious person, James K. Lytle.
Another most interesting fact that we learned is that Miss Hannah Knox, wife of Robert Lytle, Jr., and mother of Edmund and James Lytle was a sister to the mother of James K. Polk, the eleventh president of the United States. Both James K. Lytle and James K. Polk received their middle name “Knox” from their mother’s side and the two illustrious sons were first cousins.