[citation needed] Born in Bollington, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, Ryle started working in the silk mills of his native town at the age of five, where he was a "bobbin boy".

Ryle sailed to the United States from Liverpool on 1 March 1839, with the intention of staking out business for his two brothers and seeing how the silk industry was progressing in America.

His work here, however, was short-lived, for in that same year the multicaulis speculation collapsed, and his employer, Mr. Whitmarsh, was ruined in the crash that followed.

During his first year in the United States, Ryle met George W. Murray, who at that time wanted to work in the silk-manufacturing business.

Murray and Ryle went to Christopher Colt, in Hartford, Connecticut, who had a small plant of silk machinery and had made an unsuccessful attempt at manufacturing in what became known as the Old Gun Mill in Paterson.

In 1850, having thoroughly established his business here and wanting to increase his knowledge of manufacturing methods elsewhere, he went to Europe and visited the principal manufactories of France, Italy, and Switzerland.

About that time, he bought the romantic valley and heights surrounding the Passaic Falls and the following year expended large sums of money enhancing their already magnificent beauty.

While John Ryle served as Paterson's mayor, he designed the coat of arms for the city which depicted a young man planting a mulberry bush.

On 10 May 1869, the Murray Mill, together with a large and costly amount of silk and a complete plant of improved machinery, was burned up in a few hours.

In the spring of 1885, Ryle opened negotiations with some capitalists of Allentown, Pennsylvania, who built a mill upon favorable terms.

Ryle was also a pioneer in the efforts to secure protection to American industry, and his face and form were familiar in the halls of Congress well before lobbying became as entrenched as it is today.

It was claimed that while others reaped golden harvests from the field in which he labored, John Ryle paved the way for their successes, and more than any other man is entitled to the credit of having been the pioneer in the silk industry in America.

William Ryle died of Bright's Disease in 1906, shortly after retiring as President of the Silk City Bank.

Peter Ryle channeled his interests in silk manufacturing and banking also, but also went on to become a corporation attorney and set up a law practice with Eugene Stevenson in Paterson.

After recovering from what appeared to be a common cold, on the 6th of November, 1887,[1] John Ryle had a stroke while dressing for Sunday church services and died in the arms of his daughter.

A massive obelisk was later erected over his grave on the hilltop and a bronze bust fitted into the monument and positioned in the direction of the city of Paterson.

[citation needed] John Ryle's children later took charge of his extensive real estate holdings in the city of Paterson and formed the John Ryle Real Estate Association, which acted as a holding company for the family's assets.