Mary Austin Holley
Holley Elementary School
Mary Austin Holley was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1784. During her life, she became an accomplished author and teacher. She moved to Louisiana and became a teacher after her husband died in 1829. Once her cousin, Stephen F. Austin was settled in Texas, she communicated with him concerning the possibility of gathering her family around her in Texas. Austin made arrangements to reserve land for her on Galveston Bay, and in October 1831 she visited the Austin colony. Throughout her life, she wrote numerous books that gave an early account of Texas history, including pictorial documentation of historical landmarks. She also wrote a biography of Stephen F. Austin. Holley died of yellow fever on August 2, 1846, and was buried in the Donatien Augustine tomb in the St. Louis Cemetery at New Orleans. Her books and her long series of family letters are invaluable accounts of early Texas.