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Boyle, Andrew Michael https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/boyle-andrew-michael

The Life of Andrew Michael Boyle: Settler, Soldier, and Founder of Boyle Heights (1818–1871)

By: Jeanette H. Flachmeier

Published: 1952

Updated: November 1, 1994

Andrew Michael (Andrew A.) Boyle, settler and soldier, was born Andrew Michael O'Boyle, the son of Hugh and Maria (Kelly) O'Boyle, in County Mayo, Ireland, on September 29, 1818. At his confirmation he changed his name to Aloysius, and later in life he dropped the O' from O'Boyle. After his mother's death his father deserted the family. He and his siblings immigrated to New York in 1832, and in 1834 the family moved to Texas and helped found San Patricio. On January 7, 1836, Boyle joined Ira J. Westover's battery of the first company of regular artillery in the Texas army. He fought with James W. Fannin, Jr., and was wounded at Goliad and taken prisoner. He was spared from the Goliad Massacre by order of Gen. Francisco Garay because of the kindness of Boyle's sister to Garay at San Patricio. Boyle was given a passport and a parole, taken to Matamoros, and released to go the United States. After the Texas Revolution he traded on the Gulf of Mexico for four years and then started a store near Red River, Louisiana. In 1846 he married Elizabeth Christi in New Orleans. Evidently he joined the gold rush to California, for in 1851 he was in Boston to buy boots and shoes for his store in San Francisco. In 1858 he moved to Los Angeles, where he operated a shoe store and bought land for his home and a vineyard. Boyle Heights, in East Los Angeles, was named for him. He died in Los Angeles on February 9, 1871.

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Bibliography:

Andrew A. Boyle, "Reminiscences of the Texas Revolution," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 13 (April 1910). Harbert Davenport, Notes from an Unfinished Study of Fannin and His Men (MS, Harbert Davenport Collection, Texas State Library, Austin; Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin). Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Muster Rolls of the Texas Revolution (Austin, 1986). Rachel Bluntzer Hébert, The Forgotten Colony: San Patricio de Hibernia (Burnet, Texas: Eakin Press, 1981).

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Jeanette H. Flachmeier, “Boyle, Andrew Michael,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed April 11, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/boyle-andrew-michael.

TID: FBO62

Original Publication Date:
1952
Most Recent Revision Date:
November 1, 1994