Circa 1726, Lilly married John Bowen, the son of Moses Bowen and Rebecca Reese of Pennsylvania.

Lilly and John moved to Augusta County, Virginia, where they had a large landed estate, which Lilly managed after John’s death in 1760. Lily and John had several children, and their sons served in the Revolutionary War, fighting for American Independence. Her sons Robert (married to Mary Gillespie), Arthur (married to Mary McMurray), William (married to Mary Russell), and John (married to Rachel Mathew) earned the rank of Captain. Her son Reese (Louisa Smith) was killed at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780.

In 1777, Lilly supported the cause of American Independence by loaning funds and providing food and military supplies; she is named on the Smyth County Revolutionary War Memorial in Marion, Virginia. John and Lilly owned enslaved African Americans, who made it possible for Lilly to have funds to loan and provide patriotic service.

After 1779, moving from Augusta County, Lilly purchased 800 acres from Colonel Patton’s Executors, along the Great Road on the middle Fork of Holston. It is said that the first missionaries to the Holston settlement held services in a ballroom named for her.

Lilly was predeceased by a few of her children, including Moses, who died on the Expedition with the Fincastle Troops; she died before June 20, 1780, in Washington County, Virginia.

This memorial was sponsored by Lilly’s descendants, Dr. Nora R. Field and daughters, Mari Noorai and Dr. R. E. Noorai, through her son Robert and his wife Mary Gillespie, the daughter of William Gillespie and Mary Yeomans Clendennin.