Mary Eliza Brown

Mary Eliza Brown

• Father: John Garland Brown b. 10 January 1810, d. 25 April 1891
• Mother: Frances Rodes b. 14 December 1814, d. 6 September 1864

• Mary Eliza Brown was born on 26 November 1842 in Buckingham County, Virginia.
• She was known as Mollie.
• She married Philip Alston Pegues, son of Oliver Hazard Perry Pegues and Ann Eliza Alston, on 17 February 1859 in Rusk County, Texas, at Thorn Hill.
• Philip Alston Pegues and Mary Eliza Brown appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in New Danville PO, Rusk County, Texas. Other members of the household included Lela Francis Pegues.
• Philip Alston Pegues and Mary Eliza Brown appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Henderson PO, Rusk County, Texas. Other members of the household included Lela Francis Pegues, Emma Eliza Pegues, Philip Thomas Pegues, Gus F. Pegues, Mollie Brown Pegues and Benjamin F. Pegues.
• Philip Alston Pegues and Mary Eliza Brown appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in Gregg County, Texas. Other members of the household included Lela Francis Pegues, Emma Eliza Pegues, Philip Thomas Pegues, Gus F. Pegues, Mollie Brown Pegues and John Garland Pegues. Also in the household were Mary's sisters M. G. Brown (age 30) and Ava Brown (3).
        Note: The northeastern part of Rusk County became Gregg County in 1873.
• Philip Alston Pegues and Mary Eliza Brown appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1900 in Longview, Gregg County, Texas. Other members of the household included Philip Thomas Pegues, Fannie Marshall, Mollie Brown Pegues, Della Keys Pegues and John Garland Pegues.
• The following appeared on 23 February 1909 in The Dallas Morning News: (Longview, Tex., Feb. 22) Philip Alston Pegues and his wife with their six children, P. T. Pegues, owner of the Imperial Hotel, Dallas, Mrs. H. C. Thompson of Ada, Ok; J. G. Pegues, manager of the Longview Ice, Light and Bottling Works at this place; Mrs. P. W. Sandefur of this city and his two daughters, Miss Mollie and Della Pegues, who live with their parents here, celebrated their fiftieth anniversary at their home on Second street. About forty of the closest kinsfolk were present and a great many costly presents were given the couple, among which were several sets of spoons, engraved "1859-1909"; several gold coins and a gold-headed, ebony walking cane, and other valuable presents. The Ladies' Aid Society presented a gold fern dish. The ceremony was begun in the spacious parlors at 9 a. m., when the couple marched in to the wedding march, "Faithful and True." Refreshments were served, all prepared like fifty years ago, such as homemade crackers, wafers, chicken salad, boiled custard, pound cake and other old-fashioned homemade dishes of half a century ago. On the wall hung the picture of Mr. Pegues' great-grandfather, Mr. Pegues from France, of Huguenot extraction; his son Malachi Pegues, and his father, P. T. Pegues. On a table were rich wearing apparel and wedding slippers 75 to 100 years old worn by the Pegueses. The string band played old tunes of fifty hears ago, such as "Dixie," "Old Black Joe," "Annie Laurie," "Coming Through the Rye" and Sally gooden." The couple has been here and within nine miles of this place all their lives. Mr. Pegues works in his daughter's dry goods store every day and his wife attends to household duties as well as she did fifty years ago. Mr. Pegues went to the war in 1861 with the very first call for volunteers and served throughout with distinction. No amount of persuasion could get a photograph of the couple or a picture of any of the family, the couple having a particular aversion to having their picture appear in the newspaper.
• Philip Alston Pegues and Mary Eliza Brown appeared in the US federal census of 15 April 1910 in Longview, Gregg County, Texas, and three male boarders.. Other members of the household included Mollie Brown Pegues and Della Keys Pegues.
• Mary Eliza Brown became a widow at the 25 January 1915 death of her husband Philip Alston Pegues.
• Mary Eliza Brown died on 1 June 1924 at age 81 in Gregg County, Texas, near Longview.
• The following appeared on 3 June 1924 in The Dallas Morning News: (Longview, Texas, June 2) Mrs. P. A. Pegues, 82 years old, died at the home of her daughter, ten miles west of here on the Dixie Highway. She was one of the pioneers of this section, having settled at Danville, nine miles south of Longview, seventy-five years ago. She was born at Buckingham, Va., Nov. 24, 1842, and married P. A. Pegues in 1859. Mr. Pegues was a merchant here for a number of years before he died in 1915. The couple celebrated their diamond anniversary in 1909.
       Mrs. Pegues is survived by six children, Mrs. P. W. Sandifur, Longview; Mrs. H. C. Thompson, Ada, Ok; P. T. Pegues, Dallas; Mrs. J. A. Bass and J. G. Pegues, Longview, and Mrs. C. E. Basham of Wichita Falls. The funeral was held Monday with burial in Grace Hill Cemetery here, the Rev. R. M. Hall, her pastor, officiating.
• She was interred at Grace Hill Cemetery, Longview, Gregg County, Texas.

• Last Edited: 19 Mar 2015

• Charts: Descendants of PEGUES Claudius & Marcia Saunders