Llano County, TX - Biographies:  Maxwell, Isaac Byler (Ike)

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Submitted by: krussell@moment.net  (Karylon A. Russell)
January 06, 2001


Family of Isaac Byler (IKE) Maxwell

Surname: MAXWELL, DAVIS, GARRETT, TOW, JOHNSTON

In the summer of 1854, Edward W. NED Davis and his father William K. BILLY
Davis returned to Arkansas on a business trip. Billy Davis died in Arkansas,
but before NED left the state, he returned to his former home in Yell Co. AR
to visit family and friends. It was here that the decision was made for his
17 year old brother-in-law, Isaac Byler IKE Maxwell, to return to TX with
him. Receiving a mule from his step mother and the rifle that had belonged
to his father from his oldest brother, the young strapling 6 ft. 1 in. lad
left his Arkansas home for a new life in a new land. According to Ike himself
in an interview at age 93, he and NED crossed the Colorado on Sept. 8, 1854.
Ike's first employment in the new land was, like everyone else in the area,
either directly or indirectly connected to the Salt Works operation at
present day Tow. Ike's job was to cut firewood to use to boil the water in
the large salt vats.

Llano Co. became an official county toward the end of 1856. It is said that
the first marriage license issued after the county was created was for Ike
Maxwell and Margaret Melcenie (MAGGIE) Davis, the youngest sister of NED.
In July of 1859, their first child was born, James Lafayette JIM Maxwell.
Two more children would come in the next few years, William Isaac (called
DOUG-pronounced DOOG), and Nancy Ella ELLIE Maxwell. In December of 1866,
Ike took his young family to help with crops in the Field Creek area--
probably to help and visit with Maggie's brother, Benjamin F. Davis, who
had settled there pre 1860 with his wife's family--the Johnstons. On Dec.
24, 1866, for whatever reason, Maggie died. Ike made her coffin out of wood,
placed her body in a wagon along with the children, and took her body back
to the other side of the county for burial in the Tow Cemetery.

About a year later, Ike married a second time. This time to Abigail C.
GARRETT, who was related to the Tow early settler Merrill Simpson Garrett,
although the exact relationship has not 100% been proved. Abigail would bear
Ike several more children, several which died as infants, & Nathan H., who
died in pre-adolescence. Other children included John B.; who settled in
New Mexico as a married adult, Margaret M. MAG, who ended up in Merced Co.
CA by the 1920's; Mary, who was accidentally killed with a gunshot to the
back shoulder when her husband and brother-in-law were scuffling; and Dock,
who lived out his life in Burnet. Abigail and an infant son who was about
7 days old both died in April, 1878, and were buried together in the same
grave.

Ike married for the third time in 1879 to the niece of his first wife--
Mary Elzira Davis, oldest child of Maggie's brother Caleb A. Davis and Sarah
Ann Tow Davis. Born to this union was Mark and a twin brother who died;
Bertha, who died as a young child; Clyde; Solomon SOL, who ended up in NM;
Ernest ERN; and McGary, who died as a young man around 1919.

Ike Maxwell lived a long life--to age 94--most which was in Llano Co. During
this time, he made quite an impact on the area and its development. On
several occasions, he served as a county commissioner to Pct. 2. During the
time the State Capitol building was to be constructed, he represented Llano
and several adjoining counties as the area's state representative in Austin.
As a legislator, he was the person responsible for encouraging the structure
to be made of Texas granite as opposed to limestone. When this was decided,
it was Ike who saw that the granite came from Burnet Co., and since he was
also on the state prison committee, it was decided to use prison labor to
move the granite. When the capitol was completed, a coin with Ike's name was
placed inside the cornerstone, and Ike was given a memorial of granite used
in the capitol as a momento, which is still in the family today. In the
Austin area, he became known as "Old Granite Ike."

In addition to Ike's civic achievements, he was also an early day gospel
minister, performing scores of marriages in both Llano and Burnet Co, not to
mention the many funerals and pulpit sermons. He was originally associated
with the Disciples of Christ, which later became Church of Christ. In his
old age, his eyesight was poor, so he had his granddaughter, Honerhea Maxwell,
read scripture to him. He continued to preach--sitting down--right up until
his later days when he became physically unable. And, through the years,
since persons attending services had some distance to travel, he always had
them in his home for Sunday dinner.

Ike died Dec. 15, 1931, being one of the first persons to be buried in the
New Bluffton Cemetery, which had been purchased from Ross HOLLAND to re-inter
the bodies that had to be moved from their original grave sites in areas that
would soon be covered by the rising waters of the Colorado River once
Buchanan Dam was completed. One of these places was the community of Bluffton,
which received its name from Ike Maxwell himself in honor of his former Yell
Co. home in Bluffton, Arkansas. He was 94.

His widow, called Aunt Mary IKE to distinguish her from another Mary Maxwell
in the area known as Aunt Mary MACK, continued to live on Ike's Confederate
Pension he had received for service as a frontier scout in Llano Co. during
the Civil War. She died in 1938 and is buried beside him in the New Bluffton
Cemetery.