Grace Hill

Byrd Mobley Grace, planter, riverboat operator, and slaveowner, was born in Georgia about 1812. He participated in the Creek Indian Wars. Grace probably moved to Polk County, Texas, sometime in the 1850s. He owned a large plantation and was the owner and operator of riverboats on the Trinity River that departed from a point known as Grace's Landing. It was in this capacity that he was called by the title of captain. Apparently Grace Hill, located about eight miles upstream from the town of Swartwout in Polk County, was named for Byrd Grace. The 1860 census reported Grace as forty-seven years old, with a wife and five children, aged eight to sixteen. All children were listed as having attended school within the year. Their birth state was listed as Alabama. Grace may have been married twice. The census reported that he owned 114 slaves. He raised corn and cotton on 500 acres of improved land in Polk County. During the Civil War he served as a private in Company H, Fifth Regiment, Texas Infantry. He died in 1889 and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, east of Coldspring, Texas, in San Jacinto County.