Mary E Allison was born October 1860 in Lamar County, Texas to W G and Lavinia Allison. Just before her birth her parents were living in Precinct 6, Lamar County, Texas. Post Office: Paris, on the 1860 US census. Her father was a carpenter who had been born in Illinois. Her mother was born in Tennessee. There were two boys in the family: Louis T, age 5, born in Illinois and John K, age 2, born in Kentucky. So the couple must have been married in Illinois, then moved from Illinois to Kentucky and had not been in Texas long.

Mary’s mother died between 1866 and 1869. Mary had a younger brother William M who was 3 on the 1870 US census. W G Allison remarried 11 May 1869 to 22-yesr-old Isabel L West in Lamar County, Texas (Lamar Co Tx Marriage Records at rootsweb).

At the 1870 US census, M E Allison, age 9, is living in the home of her father W G Allison in Beat 1, Lamar County, Texas, Post Office: Paris. Along with her two older brothers is younger brother Wm M. Listed just under the name of the wife and ahead of the oldest son is a four year old male identified as W M W. I wonder if this is the son of Isabel by a previous marriage.

Mary E Allison and Martin F Craig were married 16 August 1875 (pdf) in Lamar County, Texas (Lamar Co Tx Marriage Records at rootsweb). They had a daughter Annie B who was two at the 1880 US census. Martin apparently died between 1877 and 1880. At the 1880 US census, twenty-year-old Mary E Craig and Annie B are living with her father W G Allison in Precinct 8, Lamar County, Texas.

A second marriage (pds) for Mary occurred 16 February 1881 with the marriage of Mary, now called Mollie E Craig, and Andrew M Kerr in Lamar County, Texas (Lamar Co Tx Marriage Records at rootsweb).

On the 1900 US census for Justice Precinct 4, Red River County, Texas, Mary and Andrew have five children living: Geraldine 18, William W 13, Benjamine H 10, Lovina M 6, Derby 1. Another child has died, but the birth and death dates are unknnown. Another daughter, Marguretta, was born about 1907.

Family lore includes a possibility that Mary E was of Indian ancestry. Richard Smith reports that a descendant of Mary’s son Benjamin Hill Kerr, "tells me her grandmother once took her as a child to visit her greatgrandmother who lived in little more than a shack in the utmost of primitive conditions." Although the family of Mary E may have been poor in later years, the Indian ancestry is doubtful since her father was born in Illinois and her mother in Tennessee and they moved to Texas after their marriage.

The World War I Draft Registration cards give us one clue to family appearance. While son Ben Hill is described as tall and slender, and son Derby Manuel is described as medium height and build, both have grey eyes and dark hair.

Mary E Allison Craig Kerr died in Texas between 1907 and 1910 since A M Kerr is listed as a widower on the 1910 US census.