HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Boyce Family Cemetery

Manor, Travis County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Set among rolling hills in Manor, the Boyce Family Cemetery only has five graves, consisting of the family patriarch, Aaron Boyce (1800-1846), his wife, Elizabeth Judah (Ely) Boyce (1804-1884), their son, James Boyce (1826-1841), their daughter, Elizabeth Ely (Boyce) Knight (1834-1870), and her infant son, R. Reason Pumphrey (d. 1850). The first known burial at the cemetery was fifteen-year-old James Boyce, who was killed and scalped by local Lipan Apache Indians. In 1837, Aaron Boyce moved his family to Texas and settled on a 1,280-acre plot of land, which now holds the small family cemetery. The Boyces were instrumental in settling the town of Manor in the days of the Republic of Texas. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2017

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Aaron Boyce moved his family to Texas in 1837, during the young Republic, settling a 1,280-acre tract in the rolling hills near present-day Manor. The cemetery holds only five graves, but they carry hard history: the first burial was fifteen-year-old James Boyce, killed by a Lipan Apache raiding party. The Boyces went on to help found the town of Manor in Republic days, and their family plot survives as one of the settlement's oldest.

Why it matters

The graves record the dangerous edge of Republic-era Texas settlement, where Anglo colonists and the Lipan Apache clashed over the same frontier ground.

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Related people

  • · Aaron Boyce
  • · Elizabeth Judah Boyce
  • · James Boyce

Themes & tags

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