Eliza Pitts Malone

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Eliza Pitts Malone, out there in Hays County. Now settle in, because this one's worth your time. In 1842, a little girl named Eliza Pitts came to Texas from Georgia with her parents.

She was ten years old, give or take, and Texas was still raw country. She'd go on to outlast almost everything. Born in 1832, she didn't leave this world until 1923.

Those years tell you something before the story even gets started. She became a charter member of First Methodist Church in San Marcos, not just a name on a list, but an active church leader. The kind of person a community gets built around.

In 1850 she married James Lafayette Malone, and together they had sixteen children. Sixteen. You heard that right.

And if that alone doesn't earn a person a historical marker, well, hold on, because that's barely the beginning. When the Civil War came, 1861 to 1865, James Malone was gone and Eliza was left with a thousand-acre farm to run. A thousand acres.

She ran it. She kept it going. And in whatever hours were left over, she sewed for Confederate soldiers.

The farm didn't fall apart. She didn't fall apart. After the war wound down and the years kept rolling, her husband eventually died, and Eliza didn't slow down then either.

In 1909, she and her daughter Bramwell Malone built the home that still stands there today. Then World War I arrived, and Eliza Malone was in her eighties. Most folks that age are content to let history happen to other people.

Not Eliza. She picked up her knitting needles and she made socks for the soldiers. Two wars, a thousand acres, sixteen children, and a church she helped found.

The marker's there in Hays County. Go find it. Some stories just need to be stood in front of.

What the marker says

In 1842, Eliza Pitts (1832-1923) and her parents came to Texas from Georgia. She was a charter member of First Methodist Church in San Marcos and served as an active church leader. She married James Lafayette Malone in 1850, and they had sixteen children. During the Civil war, 1861-65, Eliza Malone ran their 1,000-acre farm and sewed for Confederate soldiers. After her husband died, she and her daughter Bramwell Malone built this home in 1909. Although in her eighties during World War I, she contributed to the war effort by knitting socks for soldiers.