Mahala Martha Parthenia (Lawson) Cooner was the aunt of Albert Gallatin Lawson and the daughter of John and Sarah Lawson. According to her death certificate, she was born on April 24, 1833, in Walker County, Alabama, and passed away on December 23, 1927, in the same county. She married James Carroll Cooner, and together they spent their entire lives in the area where she was born. Mahala helped care for her parents before they passed away in Walker County. She is buried near her parents and husband in Files Cemetery, located west of Townley in Walker County, Alabama.

A picture of Mahala in the last years of her life.