Pyle, Maria:

$950 · Offered by William Reese Company

[MANUSCRIPT PENMANSHIP AND COPYBOOK KEPT BY MARIA PYLE OF THORNBURY TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA, BETWEEN 1812 AND 1852]. A manuscript penmanship and copybook kept by Maria (spelled here variously as both Maria and Mariah) Pyle of Thornbury Township, Pennsylvania, between 1812 and 1852, with contents including a variety of copied poems, hymns, and Bible verses as well as several pages of genealogical records, a smattering of diary entries, and penmanship trials. Inscribed on the first page is Pyle's claim to this humble copybook: "Mariah Pyle her hand and pen she wants to be good and she will try before sheel dye."Maria Pyle (September 21, 1797–May 7, 1853) was born in Middletown Township, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John and Alice (Crosley) Pyle. On March 9, 1815, she married her first cousin Albin Pyle (1789–1875). Together, they settled in Thornbury Township, Pennsylvania, and had eight children, two of whose names—Chalkley Jaffras Pyle and Phebe Ann Pyle—appear together with Maria's and Albin's on the first page of the present copybook. The family were members of Stony Bank Methodist Church, organized in part by Maria's brother, Israel Pyle, in 1810. They later joined Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Church, an offshoot of Stony Bank, gathered about 1845, with its meetinghouse and burial ground established on land given by Maria's husband, Albin (Ashmead). Clearly, family and religion were the central pillars of Pyle's life, a fact which is demonstrated throughout her copybook.

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