Mary Louisa Curry (maiden name: Mary Louisa Dunnica) was born in the late 1820s—possibly on May 27, 1829—in Jefferson City, Missouri, to John F. Dunnica and Elizabeth J. Ferguson. The family moved to Texas in the early 1840s, and she married Telephus Johnson in Montgomery County, Texas, on July 17, 1844. They moved to Waco in 1852, and Telephus became one of the town’s wealthiest residents, eventually owning more than 700 acres of land and 49 slaves.

Telephus died on January 27, 1875, and the following year, Mary married local businessman John Tarleton, the namesake of Tarleton State University. She filed for divorce in 1879, insisting that Tarleton had physically abused her. Although officials reported no evidence of abuse, they ultimately granted the divorce. She then married William A. Curry in Waco on February 7, 1881.Their marriage quickly deteriorated, and in January 1882, officials charged Curry with aggravated assault after witnesses reported screaming coming from their house. A local gossip writer reported that Curry had shaker her “violently” and thrown her to the ground. The couple probably divorced soon afterwards, and she married John L. Anderson around February 1891.

Mary made each husband sign a prenuptial contract, keeping her money separate from theirs. As a result, she remained enormously wealthy, and in 1884 alone, she paid nearly $24,000 in taxes. Despite her many marriages, she went by “Mary L. Johnson” in the final years of her life. She died in Forney, Texas, on November 11, 1904, of “exhaustion” brought on by a “Fibroid Tumor and age.”