Lillian is my maternal 3rd Great Grandmother. She was known by her family and friends as Lillie.
Lillie was born on February 12, 1873, in Calhoun County, Arkansas, to James Knox Pierce and Eliza Jane Frost Pierce. She was the 4th of eight children in all. Her siblings were Joel Alexander (1866), Martha Salina (1869), Thomas Benjamin (1871), Susan Elizabeth (1876), Lawrence M. (1879), Gilbert Leonard (1882), and Chester Elbert (1885).
Lillie was the daughter of farmers and soldiers. Her paternal grandfather, Ephraim Boyd Pierce was a well known plantation owner within the Ouachita and Dallas County areas. He is mentioned in the Biographical & Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas on pages 687 and 688. Ephraim was murdered by a mistress. She shot him point blank in the face while in his bedroom (good for her). The woman then broke into his safe, stole $1,000, then escaped with his horse and carriage. There were at least 6 publications about it in the paper that I have copies of. I'm not going to post them, because the articles are so graphic and obsene. The woman accused a slave of Ephraim as the actual killer (he wasn't). I was supportive of her for taking the money, because, hey, times were rough then, and he was a plantation owner. But her pointing the blame to one of the slaves makes me want to slap her to the ground. The man was apprehended and eventually killed. Its incredibly sad and disgusting how they treated the man...over a span of a year, mind you. The judge even knew he didn't do it. The documents are easily accessible on genealogybank.com if you have a membership.
Lillie's great-great grandfather, Caleb Holbrook, fought in the Revolutionary War. He was the father of Lillie's paternal great grandmother, Elizabeth Holbrook Pierce.
Lillie's father fought in the Civil War. He enlisted as a confederate soldier in the McNally Company as the Blocher's Battalion.
Lillie's paternal line has been residing in South Arkansas, especially Ouachita and Dallas Counties, since 1855. By the time Lillie was born, her family had been in the area for at least eighteen years.
In the 1880 census of Huey, Calhoun County, Arkansas, Lillie (age 7) is shown living with her father and mother (ages 34 and 35), as well as five of her siblings: Joel, Martha, Thomas, Susan, and Lawrence (ages 12, 11, 9, 5, and 4 months). Her oldest brother Joel is shown as being a farm-hand with their father.
On February 20, 1890, in Calhoun County, Arkansas, Lillie married my 3rd Great Grandfather, Doctor Franklin Jones (no he wasn't a medical doctor, it was literally his name. He went by Frank.). She was 17, and he was 33. Together they had eight children: Verner Preston (1890), Aaron Pittman (1892), Benjamin Franklin (1895 - my 2nd Great Grandfather), Peter (1897), Charles Hugh (1897), Eliza Chloe Dove (1899), Annie Love (1902), and Zelta Mae (1907).
Lillie was 17 when she gave birth 9 months after her wedding day, and she was 34 when she gave birth to her last child. The girl didn't even really get a chance to enjoy married life with her husband. It's like she started out pregnant from the jump, and spent her life that way until her mid 30s. That had to be miserable.
Two years after her wedding, her father was committed into the Arkansas State Lunatic Asylum in Little Rock, Arkansas. His initial date of being transferred there was November 4, 1892 when he was 46. I think, according to all of my documents I've collected pertaining to him, the Civil War did a number on him. There's no telling what all he experienced or saw, but it obviously destroyed him mentally. He spent the rest of his life in that facility. Lillie was 19 when her father was committed. Coincidentally, her grandfather Ephraim Boyd Pierce (her father's father), was shot to death in his plantation a day before her father was committed into the asylum. Maybe his death also had a factor on mentally breaking her father?
In 1900, Lillie (age 27) is living with her husband (age 49), and five of their children: Verner, Aaron, Ben, Peter, and Eliza (ages 8, 7, 5, 3, and 1). By this point, Lillie has been married for 11 years, and all of her children are living. She's also living on a decent sized plot of farmland that is completely paid off (mortgage free). Both her and her husband are able to read and write. Several of her husband's relatives live on the same stretch of road as them.
The 1910 census of Huey, Calhoun County, Arkansas is the last census that Lillie appears in. At this point she's 38, and living with her husband (age 54), and 7 of their children (ages 17 to 2). It blows me away that she's in her late 30s, and still trying to raise infants. My heart goes out to her. Two houses down from her house lives her brother Thomas Benjamin Pierce (age 39) with his wife and 7 of their children. I love the fact that Lillie and her brother's kids all lived close together. I can only imagine how much fun it would've been to have so many cousins to play and socialize with on the same street. I like to imagine Lillie and her sister-in-law Martha gossiping in the yard together while their kids played.
Sadly, in the fall of that year Lillie passed away on October 3, 1910, at her home. She was 37 years old. To this day, I haven't been able to find any sort of death notice, newspaper article, or death certificate to shed any light on what could've happened to her. With as young as she was, it could be a million different causes. Hopefully one day I'll find out.
It makes me really sad that she spent all of her life growing up at such a fast rate. She was incredibly young when she got married. She immediately started having children, and kept having them one after the other, probably worried over her mother after her father was committed, and endured the embarrassment of her plantation owning grandfather. Her candle flickered out far too fast. She had so much more to do in her life.
Lillie left behind her father, her mother, her husband, all eight of her children, all seven of her siblings, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Lillie was buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Tinsman Arkansas. The cemetery is located along the highway between Fordyce and Hampton. Lillie's mother-in-law, Elizabeth Walden Jones, was the very first person to be buried in that cemetery in 1859 (fourteen years before Lillie would be born).
Eventually, Lillie's husband as well as 6 of her 7 children would also be buried there with her.
(Information given by Lillian Fairy Pierce Jones & Doctor Franklin Jones' 3rd Great Grandson, Bradley Haden Ainsworth Reynolds. Haden is the 2nd great grandson of Benjamin Franklin Jones & Lottie Lavonia Pugh Jones, the great grandson of Glen Franklin Jones & Maudie Marie Selman Jones, the grandson of Glen Edward Jones & Ola Jeannine Gray Reaves, and the son of Michelle Renne Jones Swilling & Stephen Wayne Ainsworth) March 22, 2024.
Lillian is my maternal 3rd Great Grandmother. She was known by her family and friends as Lillie.
Lillie was born on February 12, 1873, in Calhoun County, Arkansas, to James Knox Pierce and Eliza Jane Frost Pierce. She was the 4th of eight children in all. Her siblings were Joel Alexander (1866), Martha Salina (1869), Thomas Benjamin (1871), Susan Elizabeth (1876), Lawrence M. (1879), Gilbert Leonard (1882), and Chester Elbert (1885).
Lillie was the daughter of farmers and soldiers. Her paternal grandfather, Ephraim Boyd Pierce was a well known plantation owner within the Ouachita and Dallas County areas. He is mentioned in the Biographical & Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas on pages 687 and 688. Ephraim was murdered by a mistress. She shot him point blank in the face while in his bedroom (good for her). The woman then broke into his safe, stole $1,000, then escaped with his horse and carriage. There were at least 6 publications about it in the paper that I have copies of. I'm not going to post them, because the articles are so graphic and obsene. The woman accused a slave of Ephraim as the actual killer (he wasn't). I was supportive of her for taking the money, because, hey, times were rough then, and he was a plantation owner. But her pointing the blame to one of the slaves makes me want to slap her to the ground. The man was apprehended and eventually killed. Its incredibly sad and disgusting how they treated the man...over a span of a year, mind you. The judge even knew he didn't do it. The documents are easily accessible on genealogybank.com if you have a membership.
Lillie's great-great grandfather, Caleb Holbrook, fought in the Revolutionary War. He was the father of Lillie's paternal great grandmother, Elizabeth Holbrook Pierce.
Lillie's father fought in the Civil War. He enlisted as a confederate soldier in the McNally Company as the Blocher's Battalion.
Lillie's paternal line has been residing in South Arkansas, especially Ouachita and Dallas Counties, since 1855. By the time Lillie was born, her family had been in the area for at least eighteen years.
In the 1880 census of Huey, Calhoun County, Arkansas, Lillie (age 7) is shown living with her father and mother (ages 34 and 35), as well as five of her siblings: Joel, Martha, Thomas, Susan, and Lawrence (ages 12, 11, 9, 5, and 4 months). Her oldest brother Joel is shown as being a farm-hand with their father.
On February 20, 1890, in Calhoun County, Arkansas, Lillie married my 3rd Great Grandfather, Doctor Franklin Jones (no he wasn't a medical doctor, it was literally his name. He went by Frank.). She was 17, and he was 33. Together they had eight children: Verner Preston (1890), Aaron Pittman (1892), Benjamin Franklin (1895 - my 2nd Great Grandfather), Peter (1897), Charles Hugh (1897), Eliza Chloe Dove (1899), Annie Love (1902), and Zelta Mae (1907).
Lillie was 17 when she gave birth 9 months after her wedding day, and she was 34 when she gave birth to her last child. The girl didn't even really get a chance to enjoy married life with her husband. It's like she started out pregnant from the jump, and spent her life that way until her mid 30s. That had to be miserable.
Two years after her wedding, her father was committed into the Arkansas State Lunatic Asylum in Little Rock, Arkansas. His initial date of being transferred there was November 4, 1892 when he was 46. I think, according to all of my documents I've collected pertaining to him, the Civil War did a number on him. There's no telling what all he experienced or saw, but it obviously destroyed him mentally. He spent the rest of his life in that facility. Lillie was 19 when her father was committed. Coincidentally, her grandfather Ephraim Boyd Pierce (her father's father), was shot to death in his plantation a day before her father was committed into the asylum. Maybe his death also had a factor on mentally breaking her father?
In 1900, Lillie (age 27) is living with her husband (age 49), and five of their children: Verner, Aaron, Ben, Peter, and Eliza (ages 8, 7, 5, 3, and 1). By this point, Lillie has been married for 11 years, and all of her children are living. She's also living on a decent sized plot of farmland that is completely paid off (mortgage free). Both her and her husband are able to read and write. Several of her husband's relatives live on the same stretch of road as them.
The 1910 census of Huey, Calhoun County, Arkansas is the last census that Lillie appears in. At this point she's 38, and living with her husband (age 54), and 7 of their children (ages 17 to 2). It blows me away that she's in her late 30s, and still trying to raise infants. My heart goes out to her. Two houses down from her house lives her brother Thomas Benjamin Pierce (age 39) with his wife and 7 of their children. I love the fact that Lillie and her brother's kids all lived close together. I can only imagine how much fun it would've been to have so many cousins to play and socialize with on the same street. I like to imagine Lillie and her sister-in-law Martha gossiping in the yard together while their kids played.
Sadly, in the fall of that year Lillie passed away on October 3, 1910, at her home. She was 37 years old. To this day, I haven't been able to find any sort of death notice, newspaper article, or death certificate to shed any light on what could've happened to her. With as young as she was, it could be a million different causes. Hopefully one day I'll find out.
It makes me really sad that she spent all of her life growing up at such a fast rate. She was incredibly young when she got married. She immediately started having children, and kept having them one after the other, probably worried over her mother after her father was committed, and endured the embarrassment of her plantation owning grandfather. Her candle flickered out far too fast. She had so much more to do in her life.
Lillie left behind her father, her mother, her husband, all eight of her children, all seven of her siblings, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Lillie was buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Tinsman Arkansas. The cemetery is located along the highway between Fordyce and Hampton. Lillie's mother-in-law, Elizabeth Walden Jones, was the very first person to be buried in that cemetery in 1859 (fourteen years before Lillie would be born).
Eventually, Lillie's husband as well as 6 of her 7 children would also be buried there with her.
(Information given by Lillian Fairy Pierce Jones & Doctor Franklin Jones' 3rd Great Grandson, Bradley Haden Ainsworth Reynolds. Haden is the 2nd great grandson of Benjamin Franklin Jones & Lottie Lavonia Pugh Jones, the great grandson of Glen Franklin Jones & Maudie Marie Selman Jones, the grandson of Glen Edward Jones & Ola Jeannine Gray Reaves, and the son of Michelle Renne Jones Swilling & Stephen Wayne Ainsworth) March 22, 2024.
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