Elizabeth Jane Harrell was born to Jesse Harrell and his wife on August 31, 1820, according to the information on her death certificate. From family information collected during her lifetime the place of her birth was Yazoo City, Yazoo Mississippi. Her sister, Alzada, was reportedly born in Perryville, Kentucky in 1821. According to family tradition, the girls were left orphans. The exact time of their parents death is not known but both girls were reared by their Uncle Jacob and his wife Mary McCutcheon Harrell.

Jacob most likely brought along the girls when he came to Texas in 1833.     Jacob Harrell left Missouri with his family and brothers, James and Joab, settling along the Colorado River in Travis County . He was friends with Reuben Hornsby, a neighbor.  He later moved his family farther up the Colorado River to a place later named Waterloo.  They were the first family there.  A historical marker located on Congress Avenue at the Colorado River, states that Jacob Harrell and family lived there.  Jacob then moved to the town of Round Rock and is buried there.  Round Rock was named for the round rock.  It was the local meeting place for fishermen.

Elizabeth Jane met and married William McCutcheon under the laws of Coahula-Texas and later re-wed in the new Republic of Texas. Elizabeth Jane and William had 13 children: Willis, Mary Jane, John, Jesse Anderson, Sarah A.,  Joseph Thomas, George Aubrey, William Franklin,  Francis Ellen, Elizabeth Alzada, James Walter, Beauregard, and Jefferson Davis. 

Elizabeth Jane was involved in the Runaway Scrape, giving birth to her first child on April 14 1836, just 7 days before the Battle at San Jacinto. Only those who lived through these trying times can realize the heart aches and anxiety of the mothers in those days of trial and bloodshed. 

She professed religion in the early 1850’s and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church South.  She was one among the mothers of the infant Republic, that she loved, who lived to see it develop into a great commonwealth.  
    

Elizabeth Jane Harrell McCutcheon rests beside her husband, William in the Shiloh -McCutcheon Cemetery, near Hutto on land deeded by them for a cemetery.