(1785–1857)
Thomas Dodson Cayce moved to Texas from Tennessee in December 18291, making the trek by boat from Memphis2. He established a ferry near where the bridge over the Colorado River is now just west of Bay City, near the head of what was referred to as Bay Prairie in the days of early Anglo settlements in what today is Matagorda County.
After Stephen F. Austin led a large group of American settlers into Texas in the early 1820s, Thomas Dodson Cayce received a land grant of a league and a labor (4,605 acres) in Matagorda County and moved there with his wife and their children in 1830.
Cayce’s Ferry was utilized by both the Texan and Mexican armies to get across the Colorado River during the Spring of 1836 when Texas settlers were fighting for their independence from Mexican rule. Upon news of the fall of the Alamo and the massacre at Goliad amidst the continuing retreat of General Sam Houston’s Texian Army, Hannah Cayce took her family and servants to Galveston while her husband Thomas was participating as a soldier with Houston’s army. Thus, the Cayce family was involved in “The Runaway Scrape,” the Cayce children and their mother retreating to safety on Galveston Island.
In 1835-36 Thomas Cayce served in Captain Thomas Stewart’s Matagorda Volunteers4 who fought at the Siege of Bexar. There was a small army post at Cayce’s Ferry, garrisoned by 30 to 40 men. This Texian army post was in existence from the latter part of November 1836, until about June of 1837.
Following the Texian army’s victory at the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836 and the capture of Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Thomas Cayce decided to move his family from their former home on the Colorado River to a site on a ridge between Caney Creek and Cedar Lake, near the coast. On this newly chosen spot, he managed a cotton plantation and established his family residence.
On January 22, 1839, Cayce sold his land and the ferry on the Colorado River to George Elliott3. There is a state historical marker for Elliott’s Ferry near the Colorado River bridge on Highway 35 in Bay City.
Thomas Dodson Cayce was a charter member of the Matagorda Masonic Lodge5.
He was born September 12, 1795, in Cumberland County, Virginia, the eldest child of Shadrach Cayce and Mary Ann Dodson Cayce. Thomas’s father was a Baptist preacher, merchant and farmer.6 His family moved to Williamson County, Tennessee, where Thomas married Hannah Ada Stanley October 14, 1815.
The Cayce family operated a prosperous plantation once Thomas sold his Matagorda County property and bought the J.F. Tong league on the west side of the San Bernard River in Brazoria County, located about five miles from Columbia7.
This veteran of the Texas Revolution, a man who operated an important river ferry during the time Texas won its independence from Mexico, and later a successful farmer in Brazoria County, died at the age of 62 on September 17, 18578. Thomas Dodson Cayce is buried at historic Columbia Cemetery in West Columbia, Texas, in an unmarked grave near the burial site of his son, Augustus. Thomas Cayce died at his residence near the San Bernard River9.
The youngest son of Thomas and Hannah Cayce, Augustus, was born in 1839 and died tragically at the young age of 10 or 11 in 1850 when he was kicked in the abdomen by a spooked horse in his father’s stable7. Thomas Dodson Cayce also lost his eldest son tragically. George Washington Cayce was killed by Comanche Indians March 19, 1840, at the Council House Fight in San Antonio10.
The historic Columbia Cemetery was donated to the community of Columbia in the 1800s by Mary Bell, wife of East Columbia and West Columbia founder Josiah Hughes Bell. Josiah died in 1838 and his widow Mary continued to manage the Bell’s plantation near Columbia long after the capitol of the Republic of Texas was moved from Columbia to Houston in 1837.
Josiah and Mary Bell’s son, Thaddeus Constantine Bell, believed to be the first Anglo male baby born in Stephen F. Austin’s “Old 300” colony in 1822, married Thomas and Hannah Cayce’s daughter, Elizabeth Hodges Cayce, in Brazoria County August 3, 1847. Elizabeth Cayce Bell, who died February 24, 1867, when she was only 36, is believed to have been buried at Columbia Cemetery near Josiah and Mary Bell’s graves, which are not far from where Thomas Dodson Cayce, his wife Hannah and their young son Augustus are buried.
George Washington Cayce, Shadrach Cayce and Henry Petty Cayce – all sons of Thomas and Hannah Cayce – fought with their father during the Texas Revolution. Shadrach (1818-1884) served under Sam Houston, Colonel Henry Petty Cayce (1819-1875) helped the Texians capture La Bahia at Goliad from the Mexican Army when he was only 16 years old, and George was killed by Indians11 at San Antonio while serving in the Texas Army. Henry Cayce eluded execution at Goliad10 because he had been assigned the duty of guarding several wagons because of his young age.
After escaping the Goliad Massacre, Henry Cayce made his way to the Colorado River where he met up with General Sam Houston who thought Henry was too young for battle. He missed out on being involved in the victorious Texan battle at San Jacinto because Sam Houston had assigned him to assist women and children during the “Runaway Scrape.”
A Muster Roll of Captain Thomas Stewart’s Company of the Matagorda Volunteers dated July 15, 1836, lists Thomas Cayce and his sons George W. Cayce and Shadrach Cayce, all as privates4. This 1836 Muster Roll is on file in Volume 1, Page 658 of Matagorda County records.
The Columbia Cemetery Board of Trustees is requesting approval of a Texas Historical Commission marker honoring the memory of Thomas Dodson Cayce. The cemetery board’s intention is to place the new historical marker at the gravesite of Thomas Dodson Cayce when it arrives and host a dedication ceremony for the historical marker.
Gupton, Robert Tracy (March 3, 2024) Application for Texas Historical Marker
Bibliography
1 Young, Barbara L., Texas State Historical Association, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/cayce-henry-petty
2 wikitree.com, Wiki Tree online biography of Thomas Dodson Cayce
3 Matagorda County Historical Marker, Elliott’s Ferry
4 “Muster Roll of Captain Stewart’s Company, Matagorda Volunteers, July 15, 1836.” Historic Matagorda County, Volume 1, page 658.
5 Winnett, Don, “A History of Matagorda Lodge #7 A.F.&A.M., Matagorda, Texas.
6 Parks, Nancy Ann, sister of Thomas Dodson Cayce, in a letter dated December 16, 1893, written to A.P. McCormick
7 McCormick, Andrew Phelps, Scotch-Irish in Ireland and in America, Chapter 5, 1897.
8 Civilian and Gazette, Galveston, Texas, Tuesday, September 29, 1857, Page 2. [Thomas Dodson Cayce death notice]
Young, Barbara, Texas State Historical Association website, December 1, 1994 [Henry Petty Cayce biography], www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/cayce-henry-petty
9 www.findagrave.com/memorial/204349134/thomas-dodson-cayce
10 Young, Barbara L., Texas State Historical Association website, December 1, 1994 [Henry Petty Cayce biography], www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/cayce-henry-petty
11 Schilz, Jodye Lynn Dickson, Texas State Historical Association website, October 19, 2020 [Council House Fight]