Isaac Byler Maxwell
Llano, Llano County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Isaac Byler "Ike" Maxwell was born April 21, 1837, in Ripley, Tennessee to Isaac D. and Nancy Love Byler Maxwell. In 1844, after his mother died, his family moved to Bluffton, Arkansas. He moved from there to this area in 1854, naming the land Bluffton after his former home. After serving as a scout for frontier units during the Civil War, he was a justice of the peace for three terms. Later elected to the state legislature, he helped arrange the excavation of granite for the state Capitol. He also served as a Church of Christ minister. When he died in 1931, he was reportedly the oldest living Llano County pioneer. Recorded - 2003
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Tennessee in 1837 and orphaned of his mother as a boy, Isaac 'Ike' Maxwell followed the westering tide to the Texas Hill Country in 1854, naming his new home Bluffton after the Arkansas town he had left behind. He scouted for frontier units during the Civil War, then served his county as justice of the peace and in the state legislature, where he helped secure the granite that built the Texas Capitol. A Church of Christ minister, he was remembered at his death in 1931 as the oldest living pioneer of Llano County.
Why it matters
Maxwell's long life traced the arc of a frontier county from raw settlement to statehood institutions, and his hand in the Capitol's granite links one settler's story to a landmark every Texan knows.
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Related people
- · Isaac Byler Maxwell
Themes & tags
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