Mary C. Billings

Mary C. Billings
Born	Mary Charlotte Ward July 12, 1824 Litchfield, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	March 2, 1904(1904-03-02) (aged 79) Hico, Texas, U.S.
Resting place	Hico Cemetery
Pen name	M. C. G.; Mrs. M. C. Granniss
Occupation	evangelist missionary writer
Language	English
Nationality	American
Notable works	Emma Clermert; The Wonderful Christmas Tree
Spouse	Frederick Granniss ​ ​ (m. 1845; died 1866)​ ; Charles Henry Webster ​ ​ (m. 1869; died 1877)​ ; James Billings ​ ​ (m. 1885; died 1898)​ ;

Mary C. Billings (née, Ward; after first marriage, Granniss; after second marriage, Webster; after third marriage, Billings; pen names, M.C.G., Mrs. M.C. Granniss; July 12, 1824 – March 2, 1904) was an American evangelist, missionary, and writer. She was Texas' first ordained woman Universalist minister.^[1]

Billings, an ordained minister in the Universalist Church, did missionary work in Texas, and associated with her husband, of the same congregation, who was superintendent of its missions in the State. Though Billings largely gave her life to clerical work, she displayed great activity in other fields. She wrote two books, one a work of fiction, entitled Emma Clermert, and the other a holiday publication, known as The Wonderful Christmas Tree. Both were well received and were flatteringly commended by the press. While abroad, she wrote "Thitherside Sketches," which were serially published in Ladies' Repository, a Boston monthly, running through two years of that publication. Billings was also a prolific writer for northern journals and periodicals, denominational and secular.^[2][3] These productions were both in prose and verse, and from each, certain works were compiled in book form for literary readers. Among these compilations may be mentioned "Poets and Poetry of Printerdom," "Women in Sacred Song," and "Our Women Workers". Billings was a member of The Texas Woman's Press Association, and of The Woman's State Council. Widowed three times, Billings had no children.^[3]