Eliza McAllister

Eliza McAllister was a schoolteacher in Nipton, California, and the mother of Julia McAllister, the notorious Courier Six.

Early life
Eliza was the last of three children born to Frank and Jeanette McAllister, farmers on the outskirts of New Reno. The family had largely managed to avoid any major involvement with the city's crime families, mostly minding their own business and trading with caravans heading in and out of California. The McAllisters warned their children to stay away from the Wrights, Bishops, Mordinos and Salvatores, a warning the two older children, Catherine and Nicholas, mostly heeded. Eliza, on the other hand formed a close friendship with the youngest-- and most ambitious-- member of the Bishop family, Silas.

Relationship with Silas Bishop
Against her parents' wishes, Eliza became friends with Silas when they were both young children and maintained this friendship as they got older. Her parents never expressly forbid her from seeing him; they strongly implied she shouldn't but Eliza was headstrong and continued to do so.

Friendship turned into puppy love turned into teen romance between the two, with dire results. In late 2257 Eliza realized she was pregnant-- and not only that, but she was pregnant with a Bishop child, irrevocably involving her in New Reno's criminal world. Scared and suddenly in way over her head, she fled New Reno without breathing a word to her family or to Silas. She eventually settled in Nipton, California, where she gave birth to her daughter, Julia Catherine McAllister, on April 1, 2258.

Life in Nipton
Eliza did her best to provide her daughter with a comfortable childhood, as difficult as that was in Nipton. She started teaching at the town's school and quickly became well known for her kindness and patience, not just with her students but with most everyone she came across.