Kyle Family Ancestor

Daughters of Republic of Texas

Claiborne Kyle, early Texas politician and pioneer of Hays County; son of Major John William and Rebecca Young Kyle, was born August 8, 1800 in Hawkins County, Tennessee. He married Lucy Bugg in 1829 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. The Kyles then lived in Alabama and Mississippi where their nine children were born, their last in 1844.

The Kyles came to Texas in 1845 and landed at Galveston on March 4 after Col. Kyle was financially ruined as a result of being forced to liquidate his holdings to pay off the defaulted bond of the Mississippi State Treasurer, Dr. Richard S. Graves. They settled in Hays County in 1850 and built an unusual four room log house near Kyle; a house which has been restored and is open to the public.

Kyle served in the 5th Texas Senate and two terms in the Texas House of Representatives during the Civil War period; was Senator, Marshall County, Mississippi, 1837-1841. He sent five sons to the Civil War, all of whom returned home: William, Polk, Curran and Andrew Jackson served in Terry's Texas Rangers under their brother, Fergus, who was promoted to Captain of Company D after the Battle of Shiloh. Fergus also founded the town of Kyle, Texas; replaced his father in the Texas House; introduced a bill to create Southwest Texas Teachers Normal in San Marcos; sponsored the bill to save the Alamo in 1905. A daughter, Emma, married Major Ed Burleson and their son, Albert Sidney Burleson, became U.S. Postmaster General (1913-1921). A grandson, Edwin J. Kyle, Dean of Agriculture at Texas A&M, is honored as the namesake of Kyle Field; also U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala by appointment of President Franklin Roosevelt. Cass Kyle married Charles P. Gaines, grandson of James Gaines, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Dallas Kyle married R.M. Wilcox. Hewlin died in Lavaca in 1846. Lucy Kyle died in 1863 and Claiborne in 1867. Both are buried in the Kyle Cemetery on land which they donated to create the cemetery.