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Lizzie BROWN was born in Lebanon, Laclede County, Missouri, on January 25, 1888. When she was thirteen the family moved to Pueblo, Colorado where her father worked in the steel mill and she attended school.After her father passed away, the family moved to Springfield Missouri to be near the family of her mother. From Missouri the family moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma, where, at the age of seventeen, Lizzie worked in the post office.
From Oklahoma she returned to Pueblo, Colorado, where her older sister lived, and here she worked as a waitress in a boarding house. It was during this time in Pueblo that she became acquainted with, and later married, Thomas KELLY.
Lizzie along with Thomas and two young sons, came to Kiowa County in 1910, by team and wagon, from Pueblo. They homesteaded eight miles east of Eads. On this homestead they built and lived in a small one room house. They proceeded to farm the land which they broke out. In addition to being a mother, Lizzie worked along side her husband and was his farm helper.
As always on the prairies, water was a necessity and when the family first arrived they hauled water from a neighbor's well several miles distant. Later, they drilled a hand-drilled well and were blessed with a quantity of good water.
Throughout the years nine more children were born to Lizzie and Thomas and larger homes were needed and were built. The first one was a basement home and later a large frame house was constructed.
Lizzie cooked on a coal-wood stove for her large family and also washed their clothes on a wash board during all these years. She also helped shock feed, stack feed, feed cattle, milk cows, raise chickens and planted a garden. Lizzie also sewed, and she made many of the clothes the children wore.
During these years on the homestead there were droughts, insect infestations, low farm and cattle prices and the expense and worry of raising a large family of eleven children. It took true faith and grit to continue against these hardships.
Even with all the hardships of life on the prairies of Eastern Colorado, the joy of a large family and the many blessings provided a very fruitful life for Lizzie, and she was truly a real pioneer.