Narrative by:  Sue Davis      Pictures by:  Rush Higginbotham

The Higginbotham family and the Conner Cemetery Association are honoring Mary Williams Higginbotham Lackey during the Conner Cemetery Homecoming on April 26, 2003, following the installation of a new monument for her in the Conner Cemetery. Mary A. E. Williams, the daughter of John D. and Elizabeth A. Williams from Alabama, was born in Houston County on September 13, 1844. The Houston County (Texas) Cemeteries published in 1978 shows that Mary Williams Lackey's grave was located in the Conner Cemetery at that time, reading only "Mother of Rev. Lee Higginbotham", but her grave and tombstone were not located during a search of the cemetery in 2002.

A new marker for Mary Lackey has been installed near tombstones for other members of the Lackey family in the Conner Cemetery near Ratcliff. According to the marriage license list supplied by Mary Turner Kinard on the Houston County web site, Mary married F. A. Lackey on December 17, 1887 and her daughter, Martha A., married G. M. Lackey on January 16, 1888. On May 26, 1892, G. M. Lackey married Fannie Ezell, and their graves are plainly marked in the Conner Cemetery. There are four unmarked graves south of G. M. Lackey's grave, and it is believed that one of these graves is probably the grave of Mary Williams Higginbotham Lackey. Mary's daughter, Icey, married W. J. Lackey on October 13, 1888. The new marker for Mary Williams Lackey is located north of the graves of G. M. Lackey and Frances Pamela Lackey.

The front of the new marker shows:

MARY A. E. WILLIAMS

Sept 13 1844

July 24, 1913

Wife of David S. Higginbotham

Wife of F A. Lackey

While the back of the marker lists known information regarding the eight children of David S. Higginbotham and Mary A. E. Williams and the three children of David S. Higginbotham and his wife, Elizabeth Jane. Elizabeth Jane Higginbotham died of pneumonia in September of 1859 after being ill for only nine days.

Mary Lackey died July 24, 1913 in the Plain Community near Conner Cemetery. When Mary was sixteen years old, she married her widower neighbor, David S. Higginbotham, whose name is shown on the tax roll for Houston County in 1840 and on original surveys of land in the Hagarville community. Mary Lackey's father, John D. Williams, also is shown on the 1840 Houston County tax roll and on original surveys of land in the Hagarville community.

Descendants of David's and Mary's children and Earl Higginbotham who published a book on the Higginbotham family have been involved in research to locate the grave of Mary A. E. Williams and information regarding the children of David and Mary Higginbotham for several years. Descendants include those of David Basil (Rush Higginbotham of Shreveport, LA.), Andrew Jackson (Ray Pafford of Dayton, TX), and Samuel Houston (Sue Higginbotham Davis, Judge Sharolyn Petty Wood, Betty Higginbotham Petty, and Beth Higginbotham Bitner all of Houston.)

The Higginbotham descendants thank the officers of the Conner Cemetery for approving the installation of a new marker for Mary Williams Higginbotham Lackey in the Conner Cemetery. Also, the descendants thank Billy Conner for his help in locating the Lackey graves in the Conner Cemetery and in the installation of the new marker for Mary Williams Higginbotham Lackey.