The marriage in June 1905 of Jessie Early and Thomas A. Wylie united the Early and Wylie families. Jessie Early was the daughter of Joshua Early (1857-1915) of Nashville, Tenn., and Mattie Washington Early (1864-1935) of Farmville, Va. Joshua and Mattie Early were married in 1880 in Springfield, Ill., and moved in 1884 to Peoria, Ill. They had four daughters: Minnie, Elizabeth, Pinkie, and Jessie. Pinkie Early married Arthur Stewart in 1900 and had two daughters: Verlie (b. 1902) and Thelma (b. 1904). She became seriously ill with strep throat and died in 1908.
Thomas Wylie (1855-1890) and Emmaline Reed of Coulterville, Ill., had three children who lived to adulthood: Mary, Millie, and Thomas A. Mary Wylie married William Blakeley and owned a restaurant in Paducah, Ky. The extended Wylie family included cousins Marvin and Herbert King; J. Finley Wilson; and Elizabeth Gillis, who lived to be 114 years old. It also included E. Payne Wylie, a Cherokee Indian who was Thomas A. Wylie's cousin.
Jessie Early Wylie (b. 1887) and Thomas A. Wylie (b. 1884) had several children of their own, including Minnie Wylie Graves (d. 1994), Bernice Wylie, Irma Wylie McGavock, Everett Wylie (1921-1944), and Albert Wylie. Everett Wylie served in World War II and was killed at Guadalcanal on 20 July 1944. Albert Wylie died of pneumonia and liver failure in 1930.
Biographical information was provided by Albert Wylie III.
From the guide to the Wylie Family Papers, 1893-1982 (bulk 1900-1940), (Southern Historical Collection)
