MARY WALL WAS BORN IN JASPER, FLORIDA IN AUGUST 1831.  SHE WAS THE DAUGHTER OF PERRY GREEN WALL AND NANCY ANN HUNTER.

FOLLOWING HER MOTHER’S DEATH, HER FATHER MOVED THE FAMILY TO HERNANDO COUNTY.  AS THE OLDEST OF SEVEN CHILDREN, SHE HAD RESPONSIBILITY FOR SEEING THAT HER BROTHERS AND SISTERS WERE PROPERLY CARED FOR.  ONE FAMILY STORY IS THAT SHE WOULD WEAR WHITE COTTON GLOVES AND GO THROUGH THE HOUSE SWEEPING HER HANDS OVER BANNISTERS AND FURNITURE.  WOE TO THE SERVANT WHO HAD NOT DUSTED PROPERLY! 

WHEN SHE WAS 17, SHE MARRIED MAJOR AARON TAYLOR FRIERSON WHO HAD COME TO HERNANDO COUNTY AFTER BEING TWICE WIDOWED.  TWO MORE SONS AND TWO DAUGHTERS SOON JOINED HIS THREE SONS AND YOUNG DAUGHTER AS THE FAMILY GREW.

AT THE TIME OF THE SEMINOLE WARS, THE FAMILY MOVED TO KEY WEST, BUT RETURNED TO BROOKSVILLE IN 1853.  DURING THE CIVIL WAR, THE FRIERSON FARM WAS ONE OF THOSE WHOSE FENCES WERE BURNED AS A TROOP OF UNION SOLDIERS MARCHED FROM THE COAST TOWARD BROOKSVILLE TO DESTROY CROPS AND CATTLE.  MARY WAS KNOWN FOR HER GOODNESS AND AID TO THE SOLDIERS, MANY OF WHOM REMEMBERED HER THOUGHTFUL HELP YEARS LATER.

AFTER THE WAR, THE FAMILY MOVED TO TAMPA WHERE HER FATHER HAD SETTLED. THEN IN THE LATE 1870S THEY MOVED TO FORT MYERS WHERE THEIR THREE CHILDREN HAD SETTLED.  SHE WAS KNOWN FOR HER GOOD WORKS, HELPING OTHERS. ANOTHER FAMILY STORY IS THAT A MINISTER CAME BY AND SAID HE WAS IN DIRE NEED.  THEY HAD BUT ONE GOLD PIECE LEFT FOR EMERGENCIES.  MARY GAVE IT TO THIS MAN.

MARY WAS A MEMBER OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH, FIRST IN BROOKSVILLE AND THEN IN FORT MYERS.  SHE HAD A LOVELY GARDEN IN FORT MYERS, AND EACH SUNDAY SHE WOULD PREPARE A BOUQUET OF RARE TROPICAL FLOWERS FOR THE PULPITS OF BOTH THE METHODIST AND THE BAPTIST CHURCHES.

THE NOTICE OF HER DEATH IN THE FORT MYERS PRESS OF JULY 27, 1905 READS: THE FUNERAL SERVICE TOOK PLACE YESTERDAY MORNING AT 10 O’CLOCK AT THE RESIDENCE.  OUT OF RESPECT TO HER WHOSE IMPRESS FOR GOOD HAS BEEN SO GREAT, ALL OUR BUSINESS HOUSES CLOSED DURING THE FUNERAL SERVICE AND AS MANY AS COULD CROWDED INTO THE LARGE ROOMS AND ON THE PORCHES, LISTENED TO THE CHOIR OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH RENDER THE BYMNS SHE DEPARTED SPIRIT LOVED AND TO THE SPLENDID EULOGIES AND LESSONS DRAWN FROM HER LIFE….” 

SHE WAS BURIED BESIDE HER HUSBAND, AARON TAYLOR FRIERSON, IN THE FRIERSON-HENDRY CEMETERY.