Joel Reid Lyle, a Virginia native who moved to Kentucky by 1807, first taught school in Clark County, then moved to Paris where he assisted his brother, John Lyle, at the Bourbon Female Academy. Lyle purchased the Western Citizen in early 1809 from Grimes & Johnston. He served as editor and publisher until 1829 when ill health forced him to turn the job over to his son, William C. Lyle.