Mary Rock Freez |top|

The end of the war brought Reconstruction, a period many Southerners found unbearable. John Freeze, like thousands of defeated Confederates, looked west for a fresh start. By 1870, Mary had packed the family’s remaining possessions and followed her husband to . This was not a romantic wagon-train journey; it was a grim migration of displaced people into the rugged Highland Rim region.

Mary Rock Freeze’s most tangible legacy is her children. She gave birth to at least ten children, though records suggest several died young—a common tragedy of the era. Those who survived, however, became pillars of Tennessee and Arkansas society. mary rock freez