Mary Eliza Franklin was the daughter of David Franklin & Rebecca Shell. She married Thomas Kelly Lillard in Tennessee about 1850. The Lillards migrated to the Texas Frontier in 1859.
The following are recollections of Mary Lillard's granddaughter, Reta Taylor Blystone, written in a letter dated 1991
"Soon as Texas seceded, he joined the Confederate Army, leaving Mary Eliza with 4 little girls, and another on the way. She was a very brave woman. After so many Indian raids the first year, they had moved from Coryell county to McLennan. During the war she fought off deserters several times, armed with a pistol, and one black man. She sold the farm for Confederate money, which became worthless later, and moved into town, where she and her children were safer. When the war was over, they bought a farm 4 miles from Waco, on the Bosqueville Road. One morning, her dress caught fire at the fireplace, while she was in the house alone. Grandpa was out milking when he heard her screams. By the time he got to her, she was so badly burned she died that night, November 12, 1894."
The following are recollections of Mary Lillard's granddaughter, Reta Taylor Blystone, written in a letter dated 1991
"Soon as Texas seceded, he joined the Confederate Army, leaving Mary Eliza with 4 little girls, and another on the way. She was a very brave woman. After so many Indian raids the first year, they had moved from Coryell county to McLennan. During the war she fought off deserters several times, armed with a pistol, and one black man. She sold the farm for Confederate money, which became worthless later, and moved into town, where she and her children were safer. When the war was over, they bought a farm 4 miles from Waco, on the Bosqueville Road. One morning, her dress caught fire at the fireplace, while she was in the house alone. Grandpa was out milking when he heard her screams. By the time he got to her, she was so badly burned she died that night, November 12, 1894."
Mary Eliza Franklin was the daughter of David Franklin & Rebecca Shell. She married Thomas Kelly Lillard in Tennessee about 1850. The Lillards migrated to the Texas Frontier in 1859.
The following are recollections of Mary Lillard's granddaughter, Reta Taylor Blystone, written in a letter dated 1991
"Soon as Texas seceded, he joined the Confederate Army, leaving Mary Eliza with 4 little girls, and another on the way. She was a very brave woman. After so many Indian raids the first year, they had moved from Coryell county to McLennan. During the war she fought off deserters several times, armed with a pistol, and one black man. She sold the farm for Confederate money, which became worthless later, and moved into town, where she and her children were safer. When the war was over, they bought a farm 4 miles from Waco, on the Bosqueville Road. One morning, her dress caught fire at the fireplace, while she was in the house alone. Grandpa was out milking when he heard her screams. By the time he got to her, she was so badly burned she died that night, November 12, 1894."
The following are recollections of Mary Lillard's granddaughter, Reta Taylor Blystone, written in a letter dated 1991
"Soon as Texas seceded, he joined the Confederate Army, leaving Mary Eliza with 4 little girls, and another on the way. She was a very brave woman. After so many Indian raids the first year, they had moved from Coryell county to McLennan. During the war she fought off deserters several times, armed with a pistol, and one black man. She sold the farm for Confederate money, which became worthless later, and moved into town, where she and her children were safer. When the war was over, they bought a farm 4 miles from Waco, on the Bosqueville Road. One morning, her dress caught fire at the fireplace, while she was in the house alone. Grandpa was out milking when he heard her screams. By the time he got to her, she was so badly burned she died that night, November 12, 1894."
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