The Trace Brothers' father, Ashby Alfonso Trace, worked as a druggist and small machines repairman in Hempstead, Texas, for approximately 20 years. It was while working at the Houx General Store that Mr. Trace first met Bonita Weir Houx, beautiful daughter of Thomas Francis Houx, inventor of the "Houx Salve" and owner of the store.

Ashby and Bonita married in July of 1947 at Liendo Plantation, the nineteenth century home of internationally acclaimed sculptress, Elizabeth Ney.

In 1950, Mr. Trace and Mr. Houx attempted to start a guano mining venture utilizing the phosphate-rich bat caves of Central Texas. Phosphates derived from bat excrement were in demand for use as a key ingredient in agricultural fertilizers. However, this venture failed miserably due to Mr. Trace's almost-fatal allergy to phosphates and the lack of any nearby railroad tracks to facilitate transport.

Disillusioned by his bad fortunes and failing health, Mr. Trace fled Hempstead in December of 1956, leaving his wife and two children. Inexplicably in April of 1957, Mr. Trace surfaced as the leader of a secessionist movement outside of the East Texas town of Marshall.

It seems that he and a rag-tag band of 22 followers had taken over approximately 240 acres of land and an old plantation house, declaring the creation of something called the "Republic of Marifloras." The movement came to a rough end on the night of April 21, 1957, with the intervention of an apparently annoyed group of Texas Rangers. A hail of bullets took the lives of all of Mr. Trace's adherents. However, Mr. Trace's body was never found.

When she learned of her husband's presumed death, Bonita Trace, a local voice and diction teacher, was reported as saying only that, "My husband was not prepared for everyday life."