Casper “Jasper” Phillip Byerly was born in Germany in 1746. He was the son of John Phillip Casper Byerly, who immigrated with his wife (who may have been named Catherine), to America from Germany in 1752 on the ship the Calcedonia. They lived in Newberry, South Carolina.
Jasper’s father John Phillip Casper Byerly is also listed on some sites as a patriot.
Jasper had several siblings: Martin, Elizabeth, and John who all appear to have remained in South Carolina.
There is not much to indicate documentation of what Jasper Byerly did for the Revolutionary War cause. He was not a soldier but provided a valuable service in other ways. The name “Casper Bierly” appears in some court documents in South Carolina.
Byerly is man who is considered a patriot not for his military service, but for providing much-needed supplies to the Revolutionary War Army or their known associates. Military action was dependent on those who supported them with goods and services and Byerly did that in some form. His father likely did as well.
Jasper Byerly’s father died in 1794 in South Carolina. He left his son Jasper five shillings sterling and a slave in his will. Jasper married Mary Moore at some unknown date. They had their first son, Jacob, in 1795. Jasper was 49 and Mary was 28. A brother David was born a year later. The family was still in South Carolina.
At some point Jasper and Mary and their young family moved to Knoxville and what was then the newly formed state of Tennessee.
A son Isaac was born in Knox County, Tennessee in 1807. Jasper and Mary had several more children: a daughter Margaret (1811) and son Martin (1816). There may have been several more children.
Some sources list the birthdate of sons Isaac and Martin as two months apart in 1807. Likely an impossibility or a mistake unless one was adopted or the son of another mother.
Byerly is said to have traded and possibly owned a store in Knox County. He would have crossed the river at some time into Louisville, Tennessee in Blount County which at the time was a thriving community with a lot of river traffic importing and exporting goods.
Some accounts list him as a large man who was very strong, an asset in the trades business. One account says he remained active and fit until his death.
Jasper Byerly was listed in the 1850 census living with William Watkins and wife Margaret, Byerly’s daughter in Louisville, Tennessee. The Watkins family were close friends with the Byerly’s even before their children married. Both Jasper and Mary are listed as witnesses to William Watkins’s parents’ wedding.
Jasper Byerly passed away after 1850 at least at the age of 104. Wife Mary passed after that; the date is unknown and her burial site unknown, but it is likely the Byerly Family Cemetery.
Son Isaac remained in Louisville and married Mary “Polly” Hobs and Sara Melinda French. Isaac is buried in the Byerly Cemetery. Daughter Margaret and her husband William Watkins are buried in Loudon County.
James and David are buried in Knox County. Another son of Jasper and Mary, Martin, moved to Kansas and is buried there.
One descendant of Isaac, M. L. Byerly, is listed in Goodspeed’s “History of Tennessee” as having 146 acres in 1883, in Louisville of good farmland six miles northwest of the original place.
It may refer to Knox County that in 1883, would be northwest and across the river.
The family cemetery where Jasper rests is located on TVA access property off Rankin Ferry Road. Some sources list it as a peaceful cove. It is in a changed topography from when Byerly was buried there. Private property needs to be crossed to access the TVA property and owner permission should be obtained to explore this private gravesite cemetery.
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