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Mrs. J.M. "Lizzie" Melton
 "Granny Melton", as everyone called her, was one o' the longest
living residents of Coryell County. She lived 95 of her 102 years in the county.
She was born March 18, 1870 in Illinois to Mr. and Mrs Washington Rodgers. The family soon
moved to McCleque County, Missouri. When she was three years old, he family came to Dallas
in a covered wagon. Her father died in 1875 when she was five. In 1877 the family moved to
Coryell County, settling near Mound, Texas.
In 1885, at age fifteen, she married Jerry Melton, a native of Arkansas. They lived in the
Pecan Grove area. They had eleven children: Harvey, Ed, Effie Patterson, Minnie Martin,
Earnest, Fannie Byford, Addie Grier, Jack, Willie Beaty,
Ruby Storrs, and Velma Trammell. Her husband died in 1913.
Their oldest son, Harvey, died at age two. Their other children lived long lives. Four of
her seven daughters are still living. Like their mother, they are all independent and take
care of themselves. They are Addie Grier, 89, of Oregon,
Willie Beaty, 85, of McGregor, TX, Ruby Storrs, 79, of Calvert, TX, and Velma
Trammell, 74, of Waco, TX.
She celebrated her 100th birthday the same year Gatesville had Its Centennial. Reflecting
on those good ole bygone days when Coryell County was just a youngster and Gatesville a
"pup", she recalled hauling cotton to Waco by wagon to get "grub for the
entire winter". Laughing, she added, "There weren't no supermarkets in those
days ya know. We bought all the food we needed to get us through the winter. Mostly we
bought flour, salt, sugar and such because we raised our own food, sometimes even our own
flour". She told of the way pioneers used everything, such as flour sacks for
clothing.
Grannie always had a quick wit. When celebrating her 100th birthday with a cake topped
with 100 candles, she was asked if she thought she could blow out all of those candles
With a twinkle in her eye, she drawled "I don't know, but I've got a fan that
can"
Talking about her schooling, she chuckled and said she had an old blue back speller when
she was at Newland School, a one room school near Fort Gates. "I got down to
"baker" before I quit. The rest I taught myself".
She was a charter member of Pecan Grove Baptist Church. In an interview she said
"I'll be a Baptist 'till I die". She valued her religious background and said
"there is a higher power than we are and I ask Him for help every day".
She died November 27, 1972, and was buried at Davidson Cemetery near Gatesville, Texas.
At the time of her death, she had 35 grandchildren, 105 great-grandchildren, and 47
great-great-grandchiIdren.
-- Janice Beaty McCorkle
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