Mary Ella was born in Decaturville, Tennessee, October 25, 1886. She was four years old when she made the three-month ox and wagon trip to Lucas, Arkansas with her mother, father, brother Jesse Jones Lacy, and Uncle John Edmund Lacy.
Mary Ella married William Arthur Byrd. They had four children: William Fieldon Byrd Nov 3, 1903 / June 23, 1949, Emanuel Auburn Byrd July 28, 1906 / July 1, 1962, Cleo Byrd Patronis April 4, 1908 / May 19, 1989, and Frances "Frankie" Saros Sept 9, 1911.
Arthur worked for the Rock Island Railroad in Booneville. His job was getting the steam engines ready and bringing them to the yard for the outbound trains. At the end of the steam era he was transferred to Little Rock, then Memphis. Arthur was on the job at Memphis when he died of a heart attack April 20, 1940.
Mary Ella was living with her daughter Frankie Saros in Seagoville when she died June 11, 1986. She was only four months from her one-hundredth birthday. Thanks to her memory we have insight on this century and the Lacys journey to Arkansas.