Born 27 May 1829 Cole Co MO - Died 11 Nov 1904 Forney TX
Buried Hillcrest Cemetery

She came to TX in 1844 with parents, John B & Elizabeth James Dunnica.  She was sister to Waco philanthropist, Wiley Redmond, and to Leona Augusta Dunnica Lewis - the wife of Forney businessman, John M Lewis, and to Sarah Ann Dunnica Daugherty, wife of Forney cattleman, James M Daugherty.

Married 17 Jul 1844 Montgomery Co TX
Telephus Telemachus Louis Augustus Albertus Johnson
(1822 - 1875)
He became a very wealthy land broker and when he died Mary Johnson was one of the wealthiest women in Texas.  She was known as "The Texas Queen of Diamonds".

She married 27 Jan 1875 McLennan Co TX
John Tarleton
(1808 - 1895)
He was the man for whom Tarlleton State University is named.
He had some money of his own, but quickly began "acquiring" more by selling off Mary's real estate and personsl assets behind her back.  When Mary's friends told her what he was doing she went to St. Louis, where her Dunnica family had legal representation, and obtained a divorce from him in 1877.  After the divorce she resumed using the Johnson surname, and although she divorced Tarleton, they remained friends the rest of his life.

She lived in Forney the last 15 years of her life.  She helped fund the Lewis Academy of Forney.