J. E. ADAMS

The following bio was taken from page 85 of the book entitled “Rusk County History”

compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Gloria Riley 

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

My great-great grandfather, William Adams, and his wife, Suzanah, came to the United States from Belfast, Ireland by boat, where they met and married. They landed in New York around 1840 and settled permanently in Cross Roads, Rusk County. They received a land grant signed by J. Pinkney Henderson, first Governor of Texas. William Adams was born in 1807 and died in 1854. His wife, Suzanah Adams was born in 1807 and died in 1885. Their son, Sam, was born in 1842 and died in 1906. Sam’s wife, Nancy Fambrough, was born in 1852 and died in 1885; all of these are buried in Hickory Grove Cemetery, Rusk County. Mary Fambrough Taylor, Kilgore, has the demijohn water jug the Fambroughs brought with them from Georgia, and Grace Adams Lacy has the darning gourd the Adams brought from Ireland. Children born to Sam and Nancy Adams were Printer, Sam, Mollie, Anna, and my father, John E. Adams (1877-1970). John married Belle Strong in 1900. She was born in 1881 and died in 1953, and both of them are buried in Strong Cemetery, Rusk County. My father gave the preacher a five dollar gold piece for performing their wedding ceremony. My mother’s grandfather gave the land for the Strong Cemetery. My father, John E. Adams, attended school at Elderville, several miles from his home. He rode a mule to school. He gave a colored man his horse and saddle to help his father finish his crop so he could attend Normal School in Henderson, where he received his teacher’s certificate. He taught his first school at Leveretts Chapel three months for $90. He later taught school at Church Hill, Rusk County and then he owned a general store there. He moved to Henderson and operated a grocery store. After leaving the grocery business, he was Tax Assessor-Collector for the Henderson Public Schools. He was also Recording Secretary of the First Methodist Church for fifty years, and he especially enjoyed playing checkers in his spare time. John and Belle had five children: Willard, who married Wilma Chapman, now both deceased, in 1928. They had one child, June, who married William Lawson, also deceased. The Lawsons have three children: Lindsley, Gay, and Reid. June is now married to R. H. Criswell. Lesbia married M. Jack Hale, who retired from Southwestern Electric Power Company after forty-five years. He is now associated with Marshall Savings and Loan Association in Marshall. Nacogdoches is where they now live. They have one child, Betty, who is married to Ray Rinker, connected with Texas Farm Products Company, and they have two sons, Raymond and Robert. Sam, now deceased, married Margaret DeLoach. They had one daughter, Etheldra. She is married to William Turner, attorney, who is now head of Exxon East Texas Legal Division in Tyler. They have three children, Bill, John, and Carolyn, the latter married to Ross Hudson Johnson III. Grace married Joe D. Lacy in 1928 who retired from Stephen F. Austin State University. I, John Ross, am married to Woodie Bechtold Thomas. She and her former husband, now deceased, had two children: Dr. Harold Thomas, deceased, and Dr. Barbara Bailey, who is married to Elton Bailey, an antique dealer. Barbara has her PhD in Psychology, and they have three children: Brad, Blake and Amanda. Woodie and I have one son, John Lewis Adams, who is married to Susie Baker. They have two children, John Ross and Elise Lacy. John Ross is now Senior Vice President of the Texas Commerce Bank in Houston. My wife, Woodie, and I live in Overton and are in the clothing business. I am a former mayor of Overton and am now on the Official Board of the First United Methodist Church. Written by John Ross Adams