From the Matagorda County History & Genealogy page
www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txmatago/
Wylie Martin Kuykendall was born in Fort Bend County, Texas on Oct. 22, 1839, to Robert H., Jr. and Electra Shannon Kuykendall.
He was named for the family friend and prominent colonist, Wiley Martin.
Robert H., Jr. failed to return from a trip and was presumed killed by the Indians sometime in 1846.
Wylie went to live for a while with his great-uncle, Joe Kuykendall. When he was 11 years old, he went to Matagorda County to live with his grandmother, Susan K. Tone.
Kuykendall entered the ranching business at an early age. He was driving cattle when only 10 years old and at 12 he was trailing cattle to Missouri.
Bill Hurnden, the owner of the herd of 700 head, paid him $25 per month. When Quincy, Ill., was reached, 600 head were marketed.
That was in 1857, nearly 20 years before the big drives to the North from Texas. The land between the coast country of Texas and Missouri was a wilderness, infested by hostile bands of Indians. Buffalo and deer were to be seen by the thousands.
Since history states that most of the great drives took place after the Civil War - not before - Wylie obviously was making long cattle drives much earlier than most.
In 1858 Kuykendall began ranching in Matagorda with 5,000 head of stock.
When the Civil War erupted in 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate army, serving throughout the conflict in Texas and Louisiana.
After the close of this struggle, he spent several years rounding up ownerless cattle of the plains as the nucleus of his herd.
Wiley M. Kuykendall joined the Confederate army on Aug. 10, 1862, at Camp H.E. McCulloch, Texas, in Captain James C. Borden’s Company (also known as “Company D”), Yager’s Battalion, Texas Mounted Volunteers.
His name appears on the company Muster Report for March, 1863. If there is a record of where he served, it is unknown.
In late 1865 or early 1866, Wylie went to work for Abel Head “Shanghai” Pierce as a trail boss.
When he first heard that Wylie was courting his sister, “Shanghai” stated that he wanted a trail boss not a brother-in-law and that sister Susan better watch out because “Mr. Wylie” occasionally had “Kuykendall fits.”
These “Kuykendall fits” were probably caused by the fact that “Mr. Wiley” was a heavy drinker.
In the minutes of the Trespalacios Baptist Church, Wylie was admitted and thrown out - depending on the mood of the elders - and the sobriety, or lack of it, of himself.
He was excluded from the church on March 4, 1860, because he refused to make reconciliation.
On April 22, 1869, Wylie Kuykendall married Susan E. Pierce, daughter of Jonathan D. and Hanna Pierce of Little Compton, Rhode Island. Susan was the sister of Abel Head “Shanghai” and Jonathan Edwards Pierce.
Wylie and Susan began their married life on a 400-acre ranch near Deming’s Bridge, Tres Palacios River.
Susan, like all women of the period, kept the place running and tended the children while Wylie was on the many cattle drives “up the trail.”
With the opening of the northern markets in the early 1870s, Matagorda County cattlemen saw an unusual opportunity to make good money.
Prior to that time, thousands of head of cattle in that section were killed for their hides and tallow only - not for meat.
Kuykendall trailed cattle to Kansas and Missouri and made a profit on every trip. In 1886 he began raising registered stock, purchasing a herd of registered Herefords for this purpose. In later years he dealt solely in Brahman cattle breeds.
In 1887 Wiley and Susan bought one-half of the Cox League on the Colorado River, now known as the Buckeye Ranch.
They had four children: Robert Gill, May 15, 1870-Dec. 19, 1905; Isaac B., October 15, 1874-June 23, 1875; Isaac G., June 19, 1876-Dec. 1, 1896; and Ella M., April 15, 1883-Jan. 28, 1965.
In 1901, because of Wylie’s health, he and his son, Robert Gill, decided to move away from the coastal climate.
They bought 11,000 acres west of Buda, Hays County, on Onion Creek. Wylie bought 5,000 acres just south of it on the Blanco River in Hays County and a small place on the river just outside of Kyle.
“Mr. K.,” as he was called, and “Miss Susan,” kept a home in San Marcos and stayed there most of the time.
Wylie Kuykendall died in San Marcos on January 31, 1920, and Susan died September 26, 1920, around either Ashby or Blessing.
Both were buried in the old Hawley Cemetery next to their three children.