Submitted
by
Mary
Jo Fraley
Charity Elizabeth was
born Charity Elizabeth May in April, 1860 to Harry and Elizabeth May. Her
place of birth was on the Cadron River, Conway County, AR. She is buried
near her sister, Julia Ann McBride in Powers Chapel Cemetery.
"Lizzie"
gave birth to four girls; Mary Alice (my grandmother), then Nancy
Alfara, Ollie Lenora, and Francis. After several failed marriages,
Lizzie finally married James David Williams in Falls County on July 27,
1907. The marriage gave her a step-daughter, Edna Williams.
In July of 1913,
Charity Elizabeth was killed in a freak accident. The family had loaded
up into a buckboard for a trip to my grandmother's house near Oglesby,
TX. As the team of mules pulling the wagon got over the Briery Creek
bridge, a sack full of cats set about screeching for their lives. Someone
had thrown the sack off the bridge. The screeching scared the mules so
bad that they started backing off the bridge, and J. D. Williams did his best
to control them long enough for everyone to escape. He later tearfully
told the family that, for some reason, Charity just couldn't move.
Fear, I would suspect. Anyway, she landed in the creek bed with internal
injuries, broken ribs, and a broken arm. According to an
old newspaper clipping, a Scott & White doctor came to call, but could not
save her. She died a few days later.
Ever since I was young
girl, Daddy and his older sister told me stories about Charity Elizabeth, and
the way she died. As I began piecing her life together, locating more and
more information, this truly remarkable story emerged. The father of
these girls went off to fight in the Civil War, and their mother drowned trying
to get them to safety. There were actually 6 girls in the household, but
after losing both parents, they were all farmed out as orphans. Julia Ann
knew the farm where Charity was, and "borrowed" a horse from the
family that she lived with. She hid in the bushes until Charity came out
to fetch water from a spring, and stole her. There was an old turkey
roosting in the bushes near Julia. As Charity walked down the trail to
the spring, Julia grabbed the turkey, and threw it out of the bushes.
Charity went to see what had spooked the turkey and her older sister
nabbed her. From there, the two sisters made their way to Texas. To
this day, we have never been able to locate any of the other sisters.
Apparently, Charity was small when the family took her in. She grew up
thinking that her last name was Hawthorne, or some variant of that
surname. Julia thought her last name was Holly. They both died
thinking that they were half sisters. In truth, they were full sisters,
confused by what they had endured as children.
Julia outlived her
sister, but she had a very sad life, and died a horrible death. After she
lost a child, she had a nervous breakdown (according to her descendants).
She was committed to the state hospital in Austin for many years. She
died when her nightgown caught fire at that facility.