Eliza Margaret West Buice, widow of Elijah Eagleton Buice, moved her family from Hill County, Texas to Brazoria County, Texas in 1913. Six of her eight children arrived with her. The first child, Mary Alice Buice, died in1863 at the age of thirteen in Rome, Georgia. The fourth child, Virginia Frances Clarantene Buice Watson, and her husband, William Proctor Watson, chose to remain in their home in Waxahachie, Texas. Moving to Brazoria County with Eliza were her unmarried 2nd child, Sarah Ella “Aunt Sally” Buice; her unmarried 3rd child, William LaFayette “Uncle Billy” Buice; her 5th child, Edward Meshac Buice, a widower, and six of his eight children; her 6th child, Joseph Braxton Buice and his wife Emma Catherine Rodgers with their three children, William Eagleton Buice, Majorie Catherine Buice and Mary Evelynn Buice; her 7th child, Milton Lawrence Buice with his wife Laura J. Lewis and their adopted child, (niece) Virginia Mavoureen Buice; her 8th child, Cynthia Etta Buice Milligan and her husband, Edmond Monroe Milligan with their four children, Mary Eliza “Mae” Milligan, William Franklin Milligan, Elijah Lee Milligan, Virginia Pearl Milligan. A fifth Milligan child was stillborn in Brazoria County and buried in the Sandy Point Cemetery.

Eliza and her family purchased land for each family along the Airline road East of Rosharon and Sandy Point. The Buice men built homes and barns for Eliza and her two unmarried children, and for each of their families except for Milton Lawrence’s family who returned to Hill County. A one room school house, named Excelsior, was built nearby at the intersection of the Airline Road and what is now County Road 52 to school the Buice and neighbor children. The only home still standing as of 2001 is the house and barn built for Eliza at 1902 County Road 52. The house is still owned by Buice descendants. The Excelsior school was closed in 1940 and moved to the colored school facilities located just South of Rosharon.

The Buice families initially made a living by making hay from the native prairie grass and selling it to the U.S. Calvary. After the end of World War I, the market for hay was lost. The Buice families tried to make a living by farming cotton and corn and raising cattle. This proved too difficult for some of them. Living on the prairie was harsh. There were no paved roads, electric power, phones nor indoor plumbing on the prairie. There were mosquitoes that made life miserable for the people and the animals. There were the hurricanes of 1913, 1915 and 1932 that convince most of the family to return to Hill County or move to other places.

Edward Meshac Buice, Mr. “Ed”, and family stayed in Brazoria County with his mother, Eliza Margaret, and her two unmarried children to tough it out. Edmond Monroe Milligan went to work in the oil fields, helping man the oil well drilling rigs in Manvel, West Columbia , and other early Brazoria County oil fields. Eliza Margaret West Buice, the matriarch of Buice family of Brazoria County, died February 14th, 1922. Her son, William LaFayette, had died the previous November. Her daughter, Sarah Ella, died in March 1922, soon after moving back to Hillsboro to live with her brothers, Joesph Braxton and Milton Lawrence Buice. Eliza Margaret and her son, William LaFayette, were buried in the Iowa Colony Methodist Church Cemetery. Sarah Ella was buried in the Peoria Cemetery in Hill County. The Lostracco family, the Maxwell family, the Watson family and the Waldrip family were tenants at Eliza’s home place until the hurricane of 1932. Mr. “Ed” Buice and his married son, Frank Eligah Buice with wife and children, moved into his Mother’s home after the storm. Mr. “Ed’s” home, located about one-half mile North on the Airline Road, was wrecked and the barn was blown down by the storm.

Edward Meshac Buice, the son of Elijah Eagleton Buice and Eliza Margaret West, was born in Trenton, Dade County, Georgia in 1861. He married Frances Dollian Johnson, the daughter of Pleasant Paine Johnson and Louisa J. George, on Christmas day in 1887 in Rome, Georgia. They were blessed with eight children, four were born in Georgia: Bessie Lee Buice; Edward LaFayette Buice; Joseph Lesley Buice; William Howard Buice. There were four more children born after moving to Hill County, Texas, in 1899: Mattie Lou Buice; Frank Eligah Buice; Charles Alton Buice; Virginia Mavoureen Buice. Edward Meshac made a living by farming and ranching on the Buice home place near Rosharon. He suffered a stroke in 1937. He was moved to Shamrock, Texas, to live with his son, William Howard Buice, and family until his death in 1939. He was buried in the Peoria Cemetery in Hill County, Texas. Edward Meshac’s sons, Frank Eligah Buice and Charles Alton Buice, lived in Brazoria County the rest of their lives.

Frank Eligah Buice, son of Edward Meshac Buice and Frances Dollian Johnson, was born at Jack’s Branch near Hillsboro, Texas, in 1902. He moved with his family to Brazoria County, Texas, in 1913. He attended school in Peoria, Hill County and in Sandy Point and Excelsior in Brazoria County. Frank joined the U.S. Marine Corp in 1920 and served aboard the battleships USS Connecticut and USS Kansas. His ship participated in a world cruise during his tour. On July 24, 1924, He married Lucille “Lucy” Ann Pye, the daughter of James S. Pye and Lucy Jane Armstrong who had moved to Brazoria County from Valley Mills, Bosque County, Texas, the previous year. Lucille was born in Fairfield, Freestone County, Texas, in 1903. Frank and Lucille reared six children on the Buice home place near Rosharon. The children all born in Brazoria County were: Dolly Frances Buice married Myron Wolsten and lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Frank Eligah Buice, Jr. married Mary Ann Windsor and lives in Rosharon, Texas; Jack Edward Buice married 1st Nancy Romaine Rowley and 2nd Sarah Moore Munson Broussard and lives in Lake Jackson, Texas; Billy James Buice married Sandra Williams and lives in Fort Worth, Texas; Betty Anne Buice married Glenn Abbitt and lives in Dear Park, Texas; Mary Lou Buice married John Fritz Eixman and lives in Rosharon, Texas. Lucille Ann Pye Buice died at home in 1980. Frank Eligah Buice died at an Alvin nursing home in 1992. Both are buried in the Angleton, Cemetery.

Charles Alton Buice, son of Edward Meshac Buice and Frances Dollian Johnson, was born in 1904 at Jack’s Branch near Hillsboro, Texas. He moved with his family to Brazoria County in 1913. In 1931 he married Annie Mae Holloway, the daughter of Walt Holloway and Fannie Pye, in Saline County, Arkansas. Alton and Annie Mae reared one child: Wanda Louise Buice married 1st Charlie Orsak and 2nd Rex Lavern Broom and lives in Buna, Jasper County, Texas. A second child, Charles Edward Buice, died as an infant in 1934 and was buried in the Iowa Colony Cemetery. Alton died in 1978 and Annie Mae died in 1987. Both are buried in the Angleton, Cemetery.

Elijah Eagleton Buice, husband of Eliza Margaret West Buice, was born at Smith’s Crossing (now Dayton) in Rhea County, Tennessee, in 1828. He was the eighth child of twelve children born to William Buice and Aleminter Wilhelms. Elijah married Eliza, the daughter of Milton Peter West and Cynthia Alice Meadors or Meadows, the daughter of Abraham Meadors or Meadows and Margaret Simmons. In 1850, Elijah and Eliza lived in LaFayette, Walker County, Georgia, with his older brother Valentine Buice, before moving to Rome in Floyd County, Georgia, where their first three children, Mary Alice, Sarah Ella and William LaFayette, were born. About 1860, they moved to Trenton, Dade County, Georgia, where their next two children, Virginia Frances and Edward Meshac, were born. Elijah and Eliza were living in Trenton when the War Between The States began in 1861. In 1862 Elijah had joined the Confederate Army as a 2nd Lt. in Company E, 10th Regiment, Third Brigade of the Georgia State Troops. After the war, Elijah returned to his family who had moved back to Rome, Georgia, in 1863. Three more children, Joseph Braxton, Milton Lawerence and Cynthia Etta, were born to Elijah and Eliza after there return to Rome, Georgia. In 1899 Elijah moved all his family to Hill County, Texas, where they had purchased land near Hillsboro. Elijah died in 1902 and is buried in the Peoria Cemetery in Hill County.

William Buyse/Buis/Bice/Buice, the father of Elijah, was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1776. William was in Rhea County, Tennessee, in 1807, the year Rhea County was founded. His sister, Margaret, married Cain Abel in Rhea County in 1810.
The Buice’s and the Abel’s probably came to Rhea County via the way of North Carolina or South Carolina. William married 1st Katherine Whitehouse and 2nd Aleminter Wilhelms. There were twelve children all born in Rhea County. Known children were Jonathon, Valentine, Robert Wood, Mary A., Elijah E., Martha Jane, Sarah E., Thomas J., and Margaret S. William had moved to LaFayette, Walker County, Georgia, in 1860 to live with his son, Valentine. He died there about 1865. William was a descendant of Jan Buys who arrived in New Amsterdam (New York) in 1649 from Holland, The Netherlands. The Buijs or Buys family were of Flemish (Flanders) origin. William’s ancestors were: William, father, born 1748 in New Jersey; Johannes Buys, Jr., grandfather, born 1711 in Kings County, N.Y.; Johannes Buys, Sr., great grandfather, born 1685 in Curacao, Dutch West Indies; Jan Thyssen Buys, great great grandfather, born 1658 in N.Y.; Jan Buys, the great great great grandfather, born about 1629 in Holland.

Submitted by Jack Edward Buice, the great grandson of Eliza Margaret West Buice.


NOTE: This tombstone is located in the Angleton Cemetery