Lillie May (Burns) Lawrence, 1896-1975, Texas, Arkansas

Lillie May Burns (b. 27 April 1896 in Hopkins County, Texas) was the daughter of William "Bill" B. Burns and Sarah "Sally" C. Booth. Lillie was the youngest child in her family and only two when her mother died. After Sally's death, Bill seems to disappear. He's difficult to locate in records. Lillie appears to have been raised by her older brother Henry.

Lillie marries young--she's a month short of 17--when she marries Charles Elon Lawrence on 9 March 1913 in New Boston, Bowie County, Texas. Charles was born 28 March 1895 in Detroit, Red River County, Texas, the son of Samuel Patton Lawrence and Mary Idella Campbell. Lillie and Charles have the following children.

Child 1:
Ennis Alvin Lawrence
b. 12 Sep 1914 New Boston, Bowie County, Texas
d. 6 Mar 1996 Horatio, Seiver County, Arkansas (FAG 46197105)
m. Where? When?...before 1938
Myrtle Leona Lincoln
b. 26 Jun 1916 Bowie County, Texas
d. 7 Apr 2003 Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas (FAG 7364244)

Child 2:
Leona Virginia Lawrence
b. 27 Aug 1919 New Boston, Bowie County, Texas
d. 1 Oct 1992 Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana
m. Where? When?...before 1952
Howard Franklin Collins
b. 23 Nov 1912 Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas
d. 7 oct 1984 Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Child 3:
Loyd Elon Lawrence
b. 9 Jul 1923 Bowie County, Texas
d. 21 Dec 1971 New York City, New York

Child 4:
Mandy Lawrence
b. 1925 New Boston, Bowie County, Texas
d. Before Apr 1930 New Boston, Bowie County, Texas

Child 5:
Della May Lawrence
b. 28 Dec 1936 Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas
d. 28 Aug 1950 Taylor, Columbia County, Arkansas (FAG 67532136)

Child 6:
Living Lawrence
b. 29 Dec 1936 Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas
m. When? Where?
Joseph Oscar Hood
b. 26 Mar 1926 Plain Dealing, Bossier Parish, Louisiana
d. ?? Nov 1985 Plain Dealing, Bossier Parish, Louisiana

At some point, Charles becomes a reverend, and sometime in the 1930's the family moved to Arkansas. Losing three children must have tested the faith of both Charles and Lillie. The loss must also have caused them to cling tighter to their living children.

Both Charles and Lillie die in Horatio, Sevier County, Arkansas. Charles dies 27 June 1974 with Lillie following on 23 Feb 1975. Both are buried in Horatio Cemetery, Horatio, Sevier County, Arkansas.

I'm missing obituaries for Lillie and Charles. The obituaries would of course provide more detail about lives of Lillie and Charles. The demise of Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness closes the door on one possible route to these obits. My next best bet is to see if a local library offers a look up service. If I strike pay dirt, I'll post a follow up. In the meantime, if you're researching this family I'd like the opportunity to trade info with you. Please post a comment.

Corbitt Marie (Collins) Knopp went by Marie

I've continued to pursue death dates and obituaries for everyone in my list with a custom ID of D (dead or probably dead based on their date of birth). It's been slow going as I've been tracking down local libraries and contacting them to see if they offer an obituary lookup service.

In addition, I've added a few requests to Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. RAOGK volunteer Raymond in the Dallas, Texas area responded almost immediately with an obituary for Marie.

Marie already had a memorial on Find A Grave; however, it was under Marie. Most of the records I have found for her were under Corbitt. Therefore, I added a second memorial and cross-referenced it to the first momorial. See 6734531 and 67581124 on Find A Grave.

Raymond also told me that he couldn't find an obituary for Marie's husband:
Donald Richard Knopp
b. 12 Jun 1926 Minneapolis, MN
d. 18 Mar 2005 Irving, TX

Marie is buried in a national cemetery. Therefore, I'm assuming that Donald was also buried in the same cemetery. I've requested a photo of Marie's gravesite in the hopes that the F.A.G. volunteer will notice and take a photograph of Donald's gravesite too. We'll see.

In the meantime, I'm still in hot pursuit of the right library. When I'm successful, I usually end up making a donation to the library when they don't have a fee for the service. I figure if I have to go back to them a little bit of cash will grease my way into their good graces. After all, many times, librarians are looking up obits for me in their spare time...time that they could use for their own pursuits.