Cicero C. Carpenter was born in Georgia to Ely and Annzena Norris Carpenter on August 1, 1850.  As a lad of sixteen, he came to Texas. He learned the art of stonemasonry and helped build the Texas Central Railroad from Waco to Houston and from Waco to Hico.  He worked as a brake man on the Texas Central Railroad until he settled permanently in 1881 in Hico.  He did the masonry on the buildings in downtown Hico and the Methodist Church.

At one time Cicero had extensive real estate holdings in Hico and owned the farm which, until just recently belonged to Dorothy Carpenter.  At the turn of the century he bought the Carpenter House, a hotel in downtown Hico, which burned in 1933, two years after his death.

Cicero married Lou Parker who died giving birth to a child who later died.  He married a Mrs. Callie Williams from Comanche County.  The children born to this union were Cora, John, Bill, Pearl, Belle, and Ed.  Mrs. Williams Carpenter died in the latter 1880's, and Cicero, while visiting a brother who was preaching in Cordell, Washita County, OK, met and later married Mary Elizabeth "Mollie" Creswell on July 29, 1901.  Born to the union were Tillie Tennessee, who later changed her name to Nadine; Ella Victoria who later changed her name to Peggy; and Tullos Ely.

Cicero was preceded in death by his son Bill (Aug. 17, 1894 - May 10, 1925) and daughter Belle Carpenter Harris (1925).  Their resting place is in the Carpenter plot in the Hico Cemetery.  Cicero died in Hico on May 25, 1931 and was put to rest in the Hico Cemetery near his children.  He was survived by his wife and seven children.

Mollie lived in Hico until her marriage  to Joel Jasper Harvey on July 20, 1940.  They lived in Hamilton, Texas, until Joel's death on March 20, 1946.  At that time Mollie returned to Hico where she resided until her death, August 30, 1964.  She is interred in the Carpenter plot in the Hico Cemetery.