In 1992, I received a book from Halpert Publishing company of Ohio. In it were the family crest, a few facts about genealogy and addresses of thousands of Pyles. The book sat on my coffee table for a couple of years before I decided it was time to get twenty-nine dollars out of "The World Book of Pyles." Together with the small bits of information from our scrapbook and the mailing list, I wrote to those addresses I could find around Dana, Indiana. I received an answer from Jerry Pyle from Kokomo, Indiana. His daughter graduated from high school in 1982 and one of her assignments was to do the family history. Jerry sent me that history and copies of her documentation from Aaron Pyles book, "Limited Genealogy of Coonrod Pile and Many of His Descendants," written in 1978. The story on Conrad Pile contained the genealogy bug that bit me. Here is Coonrod's history: Conrad Pile was born in Pennsylvania in the year 1766 and came to North Carolina with his parents when he was a year old. In the closing years of the eighteenth century while British were settling along the coast, Conrad Pile climbed the eastern slope of the Cumberland Mountains and found the fertile valley of the Wolf River. The Valley of the Three Forks of the Wolf River, located in North Central Tennessee is a large territory of fertile wooded land lying in an area where three branches go together to form the Wolf River. The beautiful Cumberland Mountains surround this valley, making it a place of beauty. The soil was rich and the game was plentiful. Coonrod found a spring under some overhanging rocks and as he drank from this spring, he looked up and spied a large deer staring at him. He aimed his flintlock and felled the deer that became the first meal for a white man in the Valley of the Three Forks of the Wolf River. For more than fifty years, Coonrod lived with in a few hundred yards of where he camped that day. Coonrod Pile left his campfire burning as he hunted and surveyed the area. Other long hunters joined his camp and for several years they believed they were in Kentucky. Actually they settled seven miles from the Kentucky border and created a town known as Pall Mall, Tennessee. In 1823 Fentress, Tennessee became a county and records indicate that Coonrod was the title holder of the land in Jamestown where the Fentress County Courthouse now stands. Coonrod also owned the tract of land known as "Rock Castle," a vast tract of hardwood timber that became famous during the civil war. He built his home at the spot where he made his first camp. John M. Clemens lived in Jamestown and he and Coonrod was very close friends. John's son Samuel wrote "Gilded Age" referring to this County. Coonrod helped Clemens get elected to the office of the county clerk of Fentress County. Both Pile and Clemens were large land owners for many years before Clemens sold their land and moved to Missouri where Samuel (Mark Twain) was born. Co-incidently Mark Twain made my county famous by writing "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County!" The scene was taken from the Angels Camp Hotel which still stands and is a tourist attraction. David Crockett was another close friend and neighbor. He was the hero of the Alamo and his home still stands between Jamestown and Pall Mall. Deaf and dumb Jimmy Crockett spent the last years of his life in a home owned by Coonrod Pile. David Crockett in his autobiography tells the story of deaf and dumb Jimmy, but he places the scene in Kentucky. Coonrod Pile died in 1849 in Fentress County, Tennessee. Fentress County, located on the border between the North and South, became a no mans land during the civil war. The opinions of the people caused father to fight against son and brother against brother. Coonrod and Mary Pile were the parents of ten children. Elijah was born in 1795. It was Elijah's granddaughter Mary that married William York and their son Alvin was born on December 13, 1887. Alvin York was the third born of eight sons and two daughters. Alvin was the subject of a movie and an "objector" who finally answered his countries call and went to France in World War 1. William and Mary York raised Alvin in a one room cabin by York Springs in Fentress County, Tennessee. They lived in poverty, but was warmed by their mother's love. On summer nights, the York's sat on the stoop and sang. Alvin came from a line of mountain men who could shoot with deadly accuracy and it was with this background that he joined the US. Army in the first world's war and went to France as a sergeant with the 82nd Infantry Division. On October 8, 1918 he single-handedly killed twenty German soldiers with a rifle and a pistol and forced 132 others to surrender. Marshall Ferdinand Foch called this, "The greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all the armies in Europe." General John J. Pershing while pinning the Congressional Medal of Honor on York, called him "The greatest civilian soldier of the war." When his troopship landed at New York he enjoyed a hero's welcome. When he appeared in the gallery of the House of Representatives, all business ceased as they turned to cheer him. No man of the mountains ever received such a welcome home. The people of Tennessee filled the depots, the streets and the Tabernacles to welcome him. Gifts ranged from a 400 acre farm paid for by subscriptions to the Rotary Club and other organizations provided blooded livestock for his farm. Other gifts were furniture of all types and it took a warehouse at the Tennessee State fairgrounds to hold the gifts given to him. The Governor of Tennessee promoted Alvin to Colonel and the Nations of Europe continued to honor him, but once home Alvin wanted no special treatment and moved back to the hills to live with his mother in her mountain cabin. When asked if she was proud of Alvin, she said "I'm proud of each of my eight boys." Alvin asked that any money given to him be used to benefit and promote the education of mountain children. York Agriculture Institute established in 1927 is a State operated High School today. I hope you enjoy! Ron