LACY-STILL

The following bio was taken from page 396 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

 Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Eliza Still, who married J. Walter Harris, was the daughter of Josiah Napoleon Still and Eliza Jane Lacy.  Josiah N. Still was born September 2, 1840 in Appomattox County, Virginia, the son of William H. Still and Emily L.C. LeGrande, William H. Still was born in Appomattox County, Virginia in 1815, and Emily L.E.  LeGrande was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia in 1835.  They came to Texas in 1850, and William H. Still died in 1851, and he is buried in the City Cemetery in Henderson.

   Eliza Jane Lacy was the daughter of Donald Ross Lacy and Jane Bailey and was born in Madison County, Tennessee in 1848.  The family moved to Texas in 1850 and settled in southwest Rusk County in a community called Cool Springs.  Eliza Jane came to Henderson to go to school and met J.N. Still.  They were married July 24,1867.  He was a long-time County Clerk of Rusk County.  They had ten children, eight daughters and two sons: Ora, born in 1868; Ida, 1869; Perry Whitstone, 1870; Susan Jane, 1872; Mary (called Mamie), in 1874; Sallie, 1875; Eliza, 1877; Josie, 1879; Donald, 1881; Margaret, 1882.  Margaret was born two months after the death of her father, who died November 24, 1881.

 In January 1887, the four older daughters, all in their teens, and the young son, who was six years old, died within a month of each other of typhoid fever.  Mamie was engaged to be married and was buried in her wedding dress.

 In 1877, J.N. built the two-story white colonial house on South Main now on the corner of South Main and Sunset and owned today by the Boren family.  The Stills moved from a log house at the back of the lot into the new home when Eliza was four months old.

 Eliza Jane Still, known as Mrs. E.J. Still, lived in the family home until her four living daughters were married or away in college.  She worked hard, taking in boarders and running a millinery business.  She was one of the earlier members of the First Baptist Church and attended all the services.  She also taught a Sunday school class.

 Mrs. Still’s daughter, Josie, went to Baylor University, where she met. B.L. Lockett, who was studying for the ministry.  After getting his B.A. Degree in 1903, he began his seminary and medical training.  Josie Still and B.L. Lockett were married August, 1904.  They felt a call to go as missionaries to Africa, and after a few years they were appointed by the Foreign Mission Board to go to Nigeria, Africa.  In October, 1910, they left with their small daughter, Esther.  Josie died the next year in May, 1911 and was buried in the cemetery in Abeokuta, West Nigeria.  Dr. Lockett brought his little daughter back to Henderson to live with her grandmother and her aunt, Margaret Still, who had married Vernon Rayford.  When Dr. Lockett returned to the U.S. to stay, his daughter, Esther, went with him to live in Abilene, Texas.  She was drowned at the age of fifteen in a flash flood and is buried in Abilene.

 Eliza Jane Still sold the home to J.M. Mays and built a smaller home next door.  Her son, Perry Whitstone Still, married Ella Mertz of Cleburne and they had four children.  He lived in El Paso for many years and died there in 1945.

 Sallie Still married Hunter Ross in 1899, and they had seven children.  Josie, one of their children, married L.H. Buckner, and they live in Henderson.  Both L.H. and Josie are retired schoolteachers.  The Buckners have two children, Sara and Bob.  Sara married Ed York and they have three children and live in Corsicana.  Bob married Judy Johnson, and they have three children and live in Plano. 

Another Ross daughter, Margaret Louise, born in 1901, married Marvin Holt, who died in 1969 she lives in Kilgore.  Edward Ross, in 1902, married Louise Joselyn and lives in Dallas.  Lillian, born in 1904, remained single and died in 1979.  Cecil, born in 1909 married Fay Redford, and they had one daughter, Cecil Ann, who died young.  Cecil now lives in Kerens, Texas.  Samuel Hunter, born in 1912, married Pauline Randall. They have one son, Randall and he lives in Tyler.  Eugene LeGrande, born in 1915, married Nancy Goodall.  Their only child, Eugene L., lives in Houston.

 Margaret, the youngest daughter of J.N. and Eliza Jane, married Vernon Rayford and had two children.  Lis, who was born in 1911 and never married and died in 1980, operated a floral shop for many years in Henderson. Margaret’s son, Vernon Lacy Rayford, was born in 1913 and married Ernestine Turner, who died in 1979.  Vernon and Ernestine had three children – Margaret, Nancy, and Robert.

 Submitted by Frankie Harris