Mrs. Mary E. Reeves

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Born on October 28, 1828, in Georgia, Mary Ellephan Hawkins came into this world as a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Hawkins.

Now, Georgia to Alabama is one thing, but Mary wasn't finished movin'. In 1847, in Alabama, she married William Jay Reeves, and the two of them started building a life and a family together. Then, about 1855, they loaded up those young children and pointed themselves toward Texas.

That right there tells you something about the kind of woman Mary was, because Texas in 1855 was not exactly a gentle invitation. It was a decision. Then the Civil War came calling, and William Jay Reeves answered.

He served in Company F, 15th Texas Cavalry, Sweet Regiment, and while he was gone, Mary E. Reeves held the line at home. She cared for that family, kept it together, kept it moving forward, through all of it.

Now, a marker could try to list everything she gave to this world, but sometimes the truest measure of a life is what it sets loose into the future. Physicians. Lawyers.

Bankers. Citizens walking in many other walks of life. All descendants of Mary E.

Reeves. She lived until January 7, 1917, and if you look around Limestone County long enough, you just might be standin' in the shadow of something she started.

What the marker says

(October 28, 1828 - January 7, 1917) Born in Georgia, a daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Ben Hawkins, Mary Ellephan Hawkins was married in 1847 in Alabama to William Jay Reeves. The couple and their young children moved to Texas about 1855. While her husband served in Company F, 15th Texas Cavalry, Sweet Regiment during the Civil War, Mary E. Reeves cared for the family at home. Descendants include physicians, lawyers, bankers, and citizens in many other walks of life. Recorded - 1978