Andrew Jackson "Jack" Rye was born May 15, 1836 in Haywood County, Tennessee. He was the son of William "Billy" and Ann Bowling Rye. Andrew Jackson Rye along with his family came to Marion County, Alabama around 1842. Jack Rye married Nancy Jane Aston around 1859 in Marion County, Alabama. Nancy Jane Aston was born March 6, 1839, the daughter of James M. and Cynthia Aston. Jack and Nancy Jane Rye were the parents of one son, James Andrew "Jimmy" Rye, born February 28, 1869.

Jack entered the Confederate States Army on October 16, 1861, as a private. He was paroled in 1865 at Military Ford, Marion County, Alabama.

Jack Rye bought 80 acres from Enoch and Melinda Johnson on March 14, 1871. Then he bought 120 adjoining acres from H.T. and A.E. Mills on February 3, 1881. When Jack's son Jimmy married, they tore down a log cabin near the Harris School and brought the logs to this location, and added a room to the south end of the original cabin for Jimmy and his family. The Rye Post Office was located here up until 1889. The Rye Beat voting place was located here for many years. The voting place was later moved over to the Byrd Community Club House around 1953, after the death of Jimmy Rye. This house and property was bought by Cecil Rye, grandson of Jimmy and Lula Belle Rye, in 1957. The house burned in the fall of 1986.

Jack Rye was a farmer, blacksmith, wheelwright and the manager of the Rye Jug Shop which began around the early 1870's. Jack's father, Billy Rye, was a potter and Jack hired other potters to come in to help his father make pottery to sell. Back in those days before the railroad came through Sulligent, Alabama, groups of local people would get together a wagon train and haul their cotton, pelts, pottery, pine knots, and other goods to the "Cotton Gin Port" area of Aberdeen, Mississippi. This trip would usually last sometimes as long as 3 or 4 days. They would sell of trade what they brought for flour, sugar, salt and any other commodities and materials that they needed for themselves or to sell to their neighbors. When Jack Rye's health began failing he turned over the Rye Jug Shop to his son, Jimmy, who learned to turn ware from the other potters when he was a small child.

Andrew Jackson Rye died on September 1, 1910. Nancy Jane Aston Rye died on February 21, 1927. They are buried in the south section of Cooper Cemetery, Marion County, Alabama, not far from their home place.

Adapted from The Heritage of Marion County, Alabama
© 2000 The Marion County Heritage Book Committee