Lera Millard was born on August 3, 1900, to Annie Donnell Watkins and Jesse Wadlington Millard in the Old North Church Community of Nacogdoches, Texas. 

Likely, during her high school years at Nacogdoches High School, she met her true love, Albert Langston Thomas (1898 – 1966). Lera attended Brenau College in Gainesville, Georgia and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa while Albert moved to Rice University and law school. After a lengthy courtship and in the middle of Lera’s senior year of college, the two married on October 2, 1922. Lera was college-educated but never graduated.

 

The couple settled in Nacogdoches while Thomas practiced law, and their only son, James “Jim” Nelson Thomas, was born in 1923. The family moved to Houston in 1930 where Albert worked as district attorney. Young Jim died four years later from broncho pneumonia and malaria. Daughter Anne (1938 – 2025) was born in Houston. The family moved to Washington, D.C. when Albert was elected to Congress in 1936 and their daughter Lera was born there 1942.

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On February 15, 1966, Albert Thomas died, and a special election was scheduled for March 26, 1966, to select a successor to his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In that election, Lera Millard Thomas received 74% of votes, defeating Republican Louis Leman, who urged voters to support “the Widow Thomas”. Mrs. Thomas became the first woman elected to Congress from the State of Texas. She served on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee to support the expansion of the Houston Ship Channel. After serving the remainder of her husband's term, Lera left Congress on January 3, 1967. Following her service, she spent one year as a special liaison for the Houston Chronicle to members of the armed services in Vietnam.

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By 1968 the Stephen F. Austin Teachers College was growing by leaps and bounds. Historic homes – some associated with Lera’s family – were being torn down to accommodate fast food establishments serving the expanding student population. Appalled at the destruction, Lera Millard Thomas resolved to preserve them by relocating family homes to her property north of town – and she did. This effort marked the beginning of her vision for Millard’s Crossing Historic Village.

 

The name “Millard’s Crossing” comes from its location on Millard family property, held by family since 1830. A railroad line crosses the property at North Street. The map is a computer-generated rendition of what the actual property ownership may have looked like around 1900.