Physical Description: Lizzy is a pretty blonde of close to 30 years, but not appearing nearly as weathered as many of that age. Her 5'5" frame is athletic, with well-toned and moving with some grace, though not enough of either to particularly stand out. But when things get rough she's clearly tough as nails, able to endure and take a licking. Between that and her relatively youthful appearance, she's clearly quite healthy. As she moves about, she seems more aware than average, and she demonstrates a good memory, too. But people tend to remember her light skin and golden hair more than anything else.

When it comes to clothing, Lizzy can be fairly practical. Of course she has clothing for church on Sundays and other special events. But mostly she wears trousers, suspenders, and shirts as they are more convenient in the west and for being a doctor. Commonly she wears an apron over these clothes when she's actually working. At times she seems particularly attached to her suspenders and her brown hat, more so than would be expected.

Demeanor: Lizzy's education is clear from her speech, but her heritage is not. Her words tend to be well chosen, and she commonly uses proper grammar, sometimes reminding one of their grade school teacher. But her mix of some northern and some southern terms along with being fluent in several languages makes discerning her history difficult.

Regardless of her heritage, she's a no-nonsense doctor with a pleasant bedside manner. She clearly doesn't like boys and young men shooting at each other, and she tends to reference the war to scold such foolishness when she's fed up.

While her education and disapproval of the wastefulness of war might make her seem a bit stodgy, she is much more a tomboy at heart. She is quite happy riding, swimming, and wandering about the countryside. She's perfectly happy to climb a tree or get down and dirty in the mud. But she can still play the lady when she must, such as at church on Sundays.

History: Elizabeth "Lizzy" Hawkins grew up privileged. Her father, Winston Hawkins was wealthy, being a relatively high-status man in the train industry. They moved about some as a result, mostly close to the Mason-Dixon line because their family was from the Winchester, VA area. Due to their wealth and living further from big cities, Lizzy learned to ride, swim, and explore in the time she wasn't being tutored. Her two brothers challenged her a lot, and as her mother had died giving birth to her younger brother, there wasn't anyone to truly tame to into a proper lady.

Her father at least tried to direct her with a bevy of tutors. As she was fairly clever, Lizzy excelled with her tutors, surpassing even her father's expectations and her two brothers' abilities. She excelled most with languages and as a naturalist. Her father eventually concluded he would need to do something unconventional with Lizzy. Shortly after moving to Gettysburg, PA to build the Gettysburg Railroad and the new station, Winston sent Lizzy to a distance cousin in Boston, MA. There she attended the New England Female Medical College. She was one of four women to receive their doctorates in the spring of 1863, when she was 24 years old.

As the war had begun while she was there, her medical services were needed. She moved south to follow the army around as needed, all the while hoping the northern troops she was saving wouldn't be killing her family spread through Virginia. The Battle of Gettysburg happened soon thereafter. In the immediate aftermath she saw many men she knew dead, dying, or severely wounded. She lost her father and older brother those three days, and her younger brother succumbed to disease from his wounds only a little later. She stuck with the army for the rest of the war, fulfilling her service.

After the war she discovered that she had also lost much of her extended family. Her home just south of Gettysburg proper was in ruins. And everything reminded her of her lost brothers and father. So in August of 1865 she packed her few belongings and moved westward, looking to start a new life far from her painful memories. She moved slowly, knowing she would have to settle in somewhere before winter and get an earlier start the following year. ***