Nolen L. Meroney was born was born January 22, 1813, in South Carolina. He married Easter Sterrett Rusk, a sister of David Rusk and Thomas Jefferson Rusk, who was also born in South Carolina on April 17, 1811. They came to Nacogdoches County sometime in the early 1850s. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, even though he was almost fifty years old, Nolen L. Meroney enlisted in the Confederacy along with three of his sons, Thomas J., N. John, and William J. Meroney. A daughter of Nolen L. and Easter Meroney, Mary Jane, who wrote most of the poems in this collection, married William A. King and they are buried in the Meroney Cemetery in Nacogdoches County. Nolen L. Meroney died June 24, 1867 and his wife, Easter Sterrett Rusk Meroney died June 16, 1886. Both are also buried in the Meroney Cemetery as are many of their relatives.