The first-born child of John M. Anderson and Kate Lippert Anderson, Helena was born in Meredosia, Morgan county, Illinois on the 2nd of October 1861, just four months after the outbreak of the War Between the States. Trained as a teacher, she graduated from Jacksonville Women's College in Jacksonville, Illinois. Of note, her cousin, Dr. Frank Harker was the college president.
At the age of 20, she joined her family in Lincoln county, Missouri as they loaded their earthly possessions into four wagons and headed for Texas. As the eldest daughter, she helped care for her younger siblings during the long trip, and the family eventually arrived in Taylor county in the fall of 1881. Halting briefly at Buffalo Gap, they moved on to the south and settled along Bluff Creek. Family recollections state that her father, John Marshall Anderson, "started the town of Moro with a cotton gin and general store."
Shortly after settling in what would later become the Moro community, she made a trip to the Taylor county court house in Buffalo Gap, and took the Texas State certification tests. She passed and obtained her license. As more families began settling in the Moro area, she started a school, which contemporary accounts described as a "little red school house." Consisting of one room, it was a built from logs and had no real windows. One log was removed for light and ventilation, yet there were no glass window panes.
Many students attending the school followed blaze marks on trees to find their way to school. One doting parent, "Captain" Lyon, plowed a deep furrow from his home to the school, a distance of roughly 1/2 mile, so his daughters, Baynie (Baynie Lyon-Kincaid) and Gertrude wouldn't become lost. Lena's teaching salary was $15.00 per month.
The Moro school was located in close proximity to the present day location of Bluff Creek Cemetery and was still standing as late as 1979. Today, few traces remain.
Lena married Moliere Malcolm Mayfield on December 18th, 1884 in Moro, Texas. Shortly after marriage, they moved to Helena, Karnes county for a few years, and eventually moved back to Abilene in Taylor county after 1887. She was a co-founder of a Mission sponsored by the First Baptist Church, first organized in 1908. Located on the corner of 10th and Walnut Streets, in 1921 it became known as the Walnut Street Baptist Church. Eventually, she served as president of the Women's Missionary Society from 1924-25. In 1929, the church moved to the corner of 13th and Cypress Streets and was known as the Immanuel Baptist Church.
Widowed in 1912, she bought the Hughes partnership of 870 acres of land, thereby keeping most of the family properties intact. in 1927, she was approached by representatives of Abilene Christian College to sell 160 acres east of Cedar Creek. They needed the land as a new location for the College. Initially reluctant, she told them: "I have told you again and again, my heart has been set on keeping this land for my children. It could become a city heights addition some day and be worth many times what you now offer." Her words held a ring of finality.
One of the men countered with, "Surely you won't cause the college to lose this location?" Appealing to her civic pride, he continued - "Look what it will mean for our city." Startling the men by rising from her chair quickly, she said, "If my husband were living, he would never stand in the way of progress, I know this." She then signed the papers and sold ACC the land they were seeking.
On the 3rd of December 1927, the Abilene Reporter News published this story:
DEATH CLAIMS MRS. M M MAYFIELD, EARLY SETTLER
FUNERAL THIS AFTERNOON FOR WOMAN WHO RESIDED IN THIS COUNTY FOR 46 YEARS
"Death claimed one of the earliest settlers of Taylor county and one of the most loved women of the community, last night at 9:30 o'clock when Mrs. Mayfield passed away to her reward at the age of 66 years. Her five children were at her bedside t their mother's home, 1457 Pine Street, when the end came. The funeral will be held this afternoon at 3 o'clock from the residence with Dr. Millard Jenkins, pastor of the First Baptist Church officiating. Burial will be in the local cemetery where Mrs. Mayfield's husband was laid to rest 16 years ago. Mrs. Mayfield was born in Illinois and emigrated to Taylor county Texas in 1881. She had resided in this county for 46 years, most of that time having been spent in Abilene. Her five children, Merro and Percy of Abilene, Malcolm Mayfield of Amarillo, Prentiss Mayfield of Texarkana, and Miss Alberta Mayfield of Dallas, in addition to other relatives were with her when death came. Besides her children and three grandchildren, she is survived by three brothers and three sisters. Chess Anderson of Big Spring, Fred Anderson of Tulia, Jack Anderson of Lawn, Mrs. Shupe of Oklahoma, Mrs. Jackson of Bradshaw, and Mrs. J.D. Elliott of Moro."
At the age of 20, she joined her family in Lincoln county, Missouri as they loaded their earthly possessions into four wagons and headed for Texas. As the eldest daughter, she helped care for her younger siblings during the long trip, and the family eventually arrived in Taylor county in the fall of 1881. Halting briefly at Buffalo Gap, they moved on to the south and settled along Bluff Creek. Family recollections state that her father, John Marshall Anderson, "started the town of Moro with a cotton gin and general store."
Shortly after settling in what would later become the Moro community, she made a trip to the Taylor county court house in Buffalo Gap, and took the Texas State certification tests. She passed and obtained her license. As more families began settling in the Moro area, she started a school, which contemporary accounts described as a "little red school house." Consisting of one room, it was a built from logs and had no real windows. One log was removed for light and ventilation, yet there were no glass window panes.
Many students attending the school followed blaze marks on trees to find their way to school. One doting parent, "Captain" Lyon, plowed a deep furrow from his home to the school, a distance of roughly 1/2 mile, so his daughters, Baynie (Baynie Lyon-Kincaid) and Gertrude wouldn't become lost. Lena's teaching salary was $15.00 per month.
The Moro school was located in close proximity to the present day location of Bluff Creek Cemetery and was still standing as late as 1979. Today, few traces remain.
Lena married Moliere Malcolm Mayfield on December 18th, 1884 in Moro, Texas. Shortly after marriage, they moved to Helena, Karnes county for a few years, and eventually moved back to Abilene in Taylor county after 1887. She was a co-founder of a Mission sponsored by the First Baptist Church, first organized in 1908. Located on the corner of 10th and Walnut Streets, in 1921 it became known as the Walnut Street Baptist Church. Eventually, she served as president of the Women's Missionary Society from 1924-25. In 1929, the church moved to the corner of 13th and Cypress Streets and was known as the Immanuel Baptist Church.
Widowed in 1912, she bought the Hughes partnership of 870 acres of land, thereby keeping most of the family properties intact. in 1927, she was approached by representatives of Abilene Christian College to sell 160 acres east of Cedar Creek. They needed the land as a new location for the College. Initially reluctant, she told them: "I have told you again and again, my heart has been set on keeping this land for my children. It could become a city heights addition some day and be worth many times what you now offer." Her words held a ring of finality.
One of the men countered with, "Surely you won't cause the college to lose this location?" Appealing to her civic pride, he continued - "Look what it will mean for our city." Startling the men by rising from her chair quickly, she said, "If my husband were living, he would never stand in the way of progress, I know this." She then signed the papers and sold ACC the land they were seeking.
On the 3rd of December 1927, the Abilene Reporter News published this story:
DEATH CLAIMS MRS. M M MAYFIELD, EARLY SETTLER
FUNERAL THIS AFTERNOON FOR WOMAN WHO RESIDED IN THIS COUNTY FOR 46 YEARS
"Death claimed one of the earliest settlers of Taylor county and one of the most loved women of the community, last night at 9:30 o'clock when Mrs. Mayfield passed away to her reward at the age of 66 years. Her five children were at her bedside t their mother's home, 1457 Pine Street, when the end came. The funeral will be held this afternoon at 3 o'clock from the residence with Dr. Millard Jenkins, pastor of the First Baptist Church officiating. Burial will be in the local cemetery where Mrs. Mayfield's husband was laid to rest 16 years ago. Mrs. Mayfield was born in Illinois and emigrated to Taylor county Texas in 1881. She had resided in this county for 46 years, most of that time having been spent in Abilene. Her five children, Merro and Percy of Abilene, Malcolm Mayfield of Amarillo, Prentiss Mayfield of Texarkana, and Miss Alberta Mayfield of Dallas, in addition to other relatives were with her when death came. Besides her children and three grandchildren, she is survived by three brothers and three sisters. Chess Anderson of Big Spring, Fred Anderson of Tulia, Jack Anderson of Lawn, Mrs. Shupe of Oklahoma, Mrs. Jackson of Bradshaw, and Mrs. J.D. Elliott of Moro."
The first-born child of John M. Anderson and Kate Lippert Anderson, Helena was born in Meredosia, Morgan county, Illinois on the 2nd of October 1861, just four months after the outbreak of the War Between the States. Trained as a teacher, she graduated from Jacksonville Women's College in Jacksonville, Illinois. Of note, her cousin, Dr. Frank Harker was the college president.
At the age of 20, she joined her family in Lincoln county, Missouri as they loaded their earthly possessions into four wagons and headed for Texas. As the eldest daughter, she helped care for her younger siblings during the long trip, and the family eventually arrived in Taylor county in the fall of 1881. Halting briefly at Buffalo Gap, they moved on to the south and settled along Bluff Creek. Family recollections state that her father, John Marshall Anderson, "started the town of Moro with a cotton gin and general store."
Shortly after settling in what would later become the Moro community, she made a trip to the Taylor county court house in Buffalo Gap, and took the Texas State certification tests. She passed and obtained her license. As more families began settling in the Moro area, she started a school, which contemporary accounts described as a "little red school house." Consisting of one room, it was a built from logs and had no real windows. One log was removed for light and ventilation, yet there were no glass window panes.
Many students attending the school followed blaze marks on trees to find their way to school. One doting parent, "Captain" Lyon, plowed a deep furrow from his home to the school, a distance of roughly 1/2 mile, so his daughters, Baynie (Baynie Lyon-Kincaid) and Gertrude wouldn't become lost. Lena's teaching salary was $15.00 per month.
The Moro school was located in close proximity to the present day location of Bluff Creek Cemetery and was still standing as late as 1979. Today, few traces remain.
Lena married Moliere Malcolm Mayfield on December 18th, 1884 in Moro, Texas. Shortly after marriage, they moved to Helena, Karnes county for a few years, and eventually moved back to Abilene in Taylor county after 1887. She was a co-founder of a Mission sponsored by the First Baptist Church, first organized in 1908. Located on the corner of 10th and Walnut Streets, in 1921 it became known as the Walnut Street Baptist Church. Eventually, she served as president of the Women's Missionary Society from 1924-25. In 1929, the church moved to the corner of 13th and Cypress Streets and was known as the Immanuel Baptist Church.
Widowed in 1912, she bought the Hughes partnership of 870 acres of land, thereby keeping most of the family properties intact. in 1927, she was approached by representatives of Abilene Christian College to sell 160 acres east of Cedar Creek. They needed the land as a new location for the College. Initially reluctant, she told them: "I have told you again and again, my heart has been set on keeping this land for my children. It could become a city heights addition some day and be worth many times what you now offer." Her words held a ring of finality.
One of the men countered with, "Surely you won't cause the college to lose this location?" Appealing to her civic pride, he continued - "Look what it will mean for our city." Startling the men by rising from her chair quickly, she said, "If my husband were living, he would never stand in the way of progress, I know this." She then signed the papers and sold ACC the land they were seeking.
On the 3rd of December 1927, the Abilene Reporter News published this story:
DEATH CLAIMS MRS. M M MAYFIELD, EARLY SETTLER
FUNERAL THIS AFTERNOON FOR WOMAN WHO RESIDED IN THIS COUNTY FOR 46 YEARS
"Death claimed one of the earliest settlers of Taylor county and one of the most loved women of the community, last night at 9:30 o'clock when Mrs. Mayfield passed away to her reward at the age of 66 years. Her five children were at her bedside t their mother's home, 1457 Pine Street, when the end came. The funeral will be held this afternoon at 3 o'clock from the residence with Dr. Millard Jenkins, pastor of the First Baptist Church officiating. Burial will be in the local cemetery where Mrs. Mayfield's husband was laid to rest 16 years ago. Mrs. Mayfield was born in Illinois and emigrated to Taylor county Texas in 1881. She had resided in this county for 46 years, most of that time having been spent in Abilene. Her five children, Merro and Percy of Abilene, Malcolm Mayfield of Amarillo, Prentiss Mayfield of Texarkana, and Miss Alberta Mayfield of Dallas, in addition to other relatives were with her when death came. Besides her children and three grandchildren, she is survived by three brothers and three sisters. Chess Anderson of Big Spring, Fred Anderson of Tulia, Jack Anderson of Lawn, Mrs. Shupe of Oklahoma, Mrs. Jackson of Bradshaw, and Mrs. J.D. Elliott of Moro."
At the age of 20, she joined her family in Lincoln county, Missouri as they loaded their earthly possessions into four wagons and headed for Texas. As the eldest daughter, she helped care for her younger siblings during the long trip, and the family eventually arrived in Taylor county in the fall of 1881. Halting briefly at Buffalo Gap, they moved on to the south and settled along Bluff Creek. Family recollections state that her father, John Marshall Anderson, "started the town of Moro with a cotton gin and general store."
Shortly after settling in what would later become the Moro community, she made a trip to the Taylor county court house in Buffalo Gap, and took the Texas State certification tests. She passed and obtained her license. As more families began settling in the Moro area, she started a school, which contemporary accounts described as a "little red school house." Consisting of one room, it was a built from logs and had no real windows. One log was removed for light and ventilation, yet there were no glass window panes.
Many students attending the school followed blaze marks on trees to find their way to school. One doting parent, "Captain" Lyon, plowed a deep furrow from his home to the school, a distance of roughly 1/2 mile, so his daughters, Baynie (Baynie Lyon-Kincaid) and Gertrude wouldn't become lost. Lena's teaching salary was $15.00 per month.
The Moro school was located in close proximity to the present day location of Bluff Creek Cemetery and was still standing as late as 1979. Today, few traces remain.
Lena married Moliere Malcolm Mayfield on December 18th, 1884 in Moro, Texas. Shortly after marriage, they moved to Helena, Karnes county for a few years, and eventually moved back to Abilene in Taylor county after 1887. She was a co-founder of a Mission sponsored by the First Baptist Church, first organized in 1908. Located on the corner of 10th and Walnut Streets, in 1921 it became known as the Walnut Street Baptist Church. Eventually, she served as president of the Women's Missionary Society from 1924-25. In 1929, the church moved to the corner of 13th and Cypress Streets and was known as the Immanuel Baptist Church.
Widowed in 1912, she bought the Hughes partnership of 870 acres of land, thereby keeping most of the family properties intact. in 1927, she was approached by representatives of Abilene Christian College to sell 160 acres east of Cedar Creek. They needed the land as a new location for the College. Initially reluctant, she told them: "I have told you again and again, my heart has been set on keeping this land for my children. It could become a city heights addition some day and be worth many times what you now offer." Her words held a ring of finality.
One of the men countered with, "Surely you won't cause the college to lose this location?" Appealing to her civic pride, he continued - "Look what it will mean for our city." Startling the men by rising from her chair quickly, she said, "If my husband were living, he would never stand in the way of progress, I know this." She then signed the papers and sold ACC the land they were seeking.
On the 3rd of December 1927, the Abilene Reporter News published this story:
DEATH CLAIMS MRS. M M MAYFIELD, EARLY SETTLER
FUNERAL THIS AFTERNOON FOR WOMAN WHO RESIDED IN THIS COUNTY FOR 46 YEARS
"Death claimed one of the earliest settlers of Taylor county and one of the most loved women of the community, last night at 9:30 o'clock when Mrs. Mayfield passed away to her reward at the age of 66 years. Her five children were at her bedside t their mother's home, 1457 Pine Street, when the end came. The funeral will be held this afternoon at 3 o'clock from the residence with Dr. Millard Jenkins, pastor of the First Baptist Church officiating. Burial will be in the local cemetery where Mrs. Mayfield's husband was laid to rest 16 years ago. Mrs. Mayfield was born in Illinois and emigrated to Taylor county Texas in 1881. She had resided in this county for 46 years, most of that time having been spent in Abilene. Her five children, Merro and Percy of Abilene, Malcolm Mayfield of Amarillo, Prentiss Mayfield of Texarkana, and Miss Alberta Mayfield of Dallas, in addition to other relatives were with her when death came. Besides her children and three grandchildren, she is survived by three brothers and three sisters. Chess Anderson of Big Spring, Fred Anderson of Tulia, Jack Anderson of Lawn, Mrs. Shupe of Oklahoma, Mrs. Jackson of Bradshaw, and Mrs. J.D. Elliott of Moro."
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