| Notes |
- From Lola McFarland Hill's book: p. 94
FLORENCE CORDELIA MCFARLAND m. F.C. Crawford and W.M. Williams born Nov. 9, 1876, the third child in the family of J. F. and Mary Jane Harper McFarland. They lived 5 ½ mi. N. of Ladonia, Tex. in the first home they occupied. In 1886, when she was ten years old they moved into the new one-story and a half house. The year, 1889 the family lived in Ladonia at the White Place. "Then back to the country home. Florence attended colleges including Kidd-Key at Sherman, Sam Houston Normal at Huntsville, University of Texas and University of Chicago. She taught school at Bagby, Providnece, Honey Grove, McGregor, Taylor and Ben Franklin. In 1898 she was married to Frank C. Crawford and lived in Ladonia. During that time her baby sis¬ter, Lola, stayed with her and went to kindergarten. Within a year her husband died and within a month her baby boy, Frank was was born and died in infancy. She went to Taylor, Texas where she lived in the home of her sister Mary Jennings, and taught school there for several years. At this time her school principal was Mr. W. M. Williams, whom she later married. During this time of her widowhood she was back home for the vacation months except for her graduate work and a trip to Europe in the summer of 1950. She married Rev. W. M. Williams, in 1912 and moved to Fort Worth, where her baby, Florence was born. Mr. Williams had two children by his first marriage, Noland and Mary Jane who made their home with them. They lived in Bonham, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Dallas. Their second daughter Frances was born in Dallas. Mr. Williams died in 1931. Florence and the girls moved to Ladonia amd lived near her mother for three years, then they moved to Denton and later to Whitewright - then to Dallas where she spent the remainder of her life. She was an active member of the Greenville Ave. Christian Church, and was the organizer of the Business and Professional Women's Group, among whom she had many true friends and admirers. She maintained a remarkable interest in current affairs, was an avid reader and an inveterate "clipper". She often subscribed to the local newspapers of the towns in which she had lived in order to keep aware of their progress and of the ones she had known. It would be a surprise if she ever failed to recall a person or event which she had ever known. She kept close contact with many of them and cherished the letters and visits from them. Her scrap books are invaluable as a source of family and Christian Church history. On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24th she suffered a paralytic stroke in the afternoon at the Central Park Manor on Capitol Street Dallas, after she had spent a pleasant day with her daughter Florence and a visit to her home on Goodwin Street. She had been living at the Manor since a less severe stroke about two years previously. She had walked to the door with her sister, Lola, and after having conversed about all the members of her family - a kind of benediction - she said no more. She lived until the early morning of Dec. 12, 1966, at a little more than ninety years of age. Her daughters, Florence and Frances gave her loving care and they were a source of great pride to her. Laura and Jim Jernigan and the children of her step-children, Noland and Mary Jane compose her eight grand¬children. Her funeral service at the Wildwood Cemetery at Restland was very beautifully conducted by Rev. Put Henry and Rev. R.C. Lohman. The pall-bearers were: W. J. Jernigan, A. J. Jernigan, Nick Spellman, Lt. Col. Joe M. Hill Jr., John S. Mc¬Farland and C. Jack Wilson. This was truly a Reunion of her family and friends who wished to honor this great woman.
|
1876 - 1966 (90 years)
