This page is dedicated to our Mother, Anna May Lines Lilley. She was a supportive, loving, and wondrous person. She always seemed to be in awe of the talents of her children. She quietly encouraged any endeavor we undertook. She was always our biggest fan. Sometimes I think Anna May , the person, got lost in the shuffle of Anna May, Bill's wife, and Anna May, the kid's mother. Not that you could push her around. She had a backbone of steel. I wish I was half the mother to my children that she was to me.

Anna May Lines was born in Reading, Berks County, Pa. on March 31, 1910. Her parents were Elmer Ellsworth Lines and Hattie Siegfried. She was the oldest of five children.

When my grandfather became terminally ill, my mother had to quit school and go to work to help her mother with the finances of day to day living. She went to work at the 'Berky', the Berkshire knitting Mill, in Reading. She was a ' topper', someone with enough skill to put the band around the top of the stockings without causing it to tear or run. She also modeled stockings. She had the best looking legs around, according to my father. When I knew her ( I was born when she was 36) she still had the most beautiful legs around. Up until she was 83, and beginning to fail physically, her legs were still slender and beautiful.

The Lines are another one of those trying elusive families that are hard to take back past the Great-Great stage. I know for sure that my Great-Grandfather's name was Christian H. Lines . I know he was married to Leah Kepperling. I have found more information on the Lines family. A wonderful man named Robert Hull, in Salt Lake City, Utah, discovered my Great-Great-Great Grandfather. His name was Abraham Lines and his wife's name was Mary (unfortunately no maiden name) The 1850 census from Lancaster County, Conestoga Township, lists Abraham as 34 years old, his wife Mary as 29 years old, their children as Christian, 7 years old, Ann as 5 years old, and Susan as 1 year old. I know that Christian had a sister Susie, (see letter below), and the age is right for him to have been born in 1842, per the family bible. The 1850 census confirms the information I already was sure of, and adds a bit to the picture. Christian's mother 's name was Mary, so the Anna I have heard of, and that is listed as a 60 year old female might possibly have been Abraham's Mother, Christian's Grandmother.

Christian H. Lines was born October 18, 1842 in Lancaster County, PA. His father was Abraham Lines ;his mother was Anna? He had at least one sister, Susie H.. He served in the Army of the James during the Civil War. There is a letter written from him to his sister, Susie H., from a 'camp near Richmond', in 1864.

I have since found out that Christian Lines served in the 203rd Pa. Regiment, Company A , beginning August 17, 1864. He was promoted to Corporal on March 1, 1865. He was mustered out with his Company on June 22, 1865. He also served with the Militia in 1862, although I do not have all the facts on this yet.

Leah Kepperling was born November 10, 1850. Her parents were Abraham Kepperling, b. September 5, 1817, d. April 27, 1890, and Leah Ressel, b. August 18, 1815, d. October 21, 1906. Leah and Christian were married in Lancaster County, PA. on November 13, 1866.

The children of Abraham Lines and Leah Kepperling:
1. Infant son, b. November 2, 1868, died in infancy
   
2. Abraham K. , b. September 1, 1870
   
3. Henry K., b.October 26, 1873
   
4. Ida K., b. August 11, 1876
   
5. Leah K., b. February 10,1879
   
6. Elmer Ellsworth , b. February 24, 1882.
   
7. Anna Mary, b. October 13, 1884
   
8. John K., b. October 12, 1887
   
9. Walter Ressel, b. October 10, 1891
   
10. Etta Mary, May 28, 1895
    

Elmer Ellsworth Lines married Hattie Siegfried on September 25, 1909, in Reading, Berks County, PA. Hattie was born on August 1, 1882. She was the daughter of Henry Siegfried and Barbara Alice Boyer.

1. Anna May , b. March 31, 1910
2. Florence, b. 1912 - d. in infancy.
3. Barbara Alice, b. 1916
4. Walter Russel, b. 1920
5. Elizabeth Leah, b. 1922

Anna May Lines married William Arthur Lilley on December 24, 1932, in Reading, Berks County, PA. William was born on March 17, 1910 in Tamaqua, PA. He was the son of William Lilley and Effie May Forry. Bill and Anna May were married for 41 years. Bill died January 12, 1974. Anna May died August 17, 1995. God Bless and Keep them.