Mary Garner was born in Benton County Missouri, probably in or near Warsaw. Her middle name was likely Ann or Angeline. She is a distant ancestor who is also very fascinating to those of us who have been studying her and trying to find out about her. She was probably a very interesting woman. In fact, we are lucky enough to have a description of her first hand.

Going back, it appears that she grew up in Missouri. She had an older brother and sister, then three younger sisters and one younger brother, all of whom were born in Missouri. There is strong evidence to suggest that Mary, whose nickname was “Mollie”, married James or John Cowen when she was very young, in Missouri, about 1869. For an unknown reason the marriage didn’t last long, whether through death or divorce we can only speculate. It is certain that she married William Davis about 1870 in Missouri. The census records help us track their travels. They moved to Texas between 1875 and 1876. The 1880 census finds them in Denton County, Texas. At that time they had six children.

Then, they were somewhere in Indian territory in 1888 to 1891. With some careful study, the best place looks to be Seminole, in Lincoln County. Their last child was born in 1890. Then William Davis drops out of the picture and it is unknown what happened to him. (See page on William Davis)

It is likely that Mollie was in Missouri after 1891, probably near where she grew up. The story has been passed down about her driving a wagon and team into Arkansas, after William died. They had to constantly be aware of wolves which followed them and would try to attack.

We next find Mollie in the 1900 census. The picture on the right was taken at this time. She was living in Choctaw Nation in a town called Farmers, which was near Cameron. She had married Francis Matlock in June 1898. That census shows Francis, Mary (Mollie), and Francis’ daughter Bertha, who was a widow. Also there were Mollie’s daughters, Martha, our Sarah (shown as Sary), Etta D. and Lillie L. There is a number after Mollie’s name that looks like this: 11-9. What this means is that she stated she had eleven children but only nine of them were living. Then, in the 1910 census she states that she only has five children living. Through a process of elimination we can figure out which ones died and approximately when.

Stories have been passed down about Sarah having an unhappy life when she was younger, She saw a large number of her brothers and sisters die and also her father. We don’t know the cause of these deaths; only that they happened. Think of how Mollie must have felt. She outlived two husbands and by 1910 had buried six children. What a strong woman she must have been! Thanks to Floyd Nance, Mollie’s grandson, we know that she was tall, heavy set and was very friendly and loving. She had one finger cut off and an eye put out. She had probably lived a hard life.

The last time we see her and Francis was in the census at Shady point in 1920. There is a notation in Lettie Honeycutt’s Bible which stated Mollie died in 1930; this probably happened at Shady Point and she is most likely buried there. Almost all of the Davis family are in unmarked graves so we don’t know for sure; however we can figure that back then, people were usually buried closest to where they had lived.

It would sure be interesting to have known Mollie!