William ADAMS

The following bio was taken from page 87 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

William was born in Ireland in 1807. Apparently no member of his immediate family came with him to America. On the boat, he met Miss Susanah Printer and they married before they landed at New York. She was born in 1809, probably in Ireland. It is not known when William and Susanah came to Texas, but they homesteaded one section of land in the northern part of Rusk County in the Cross Roads Community, in the William Adams Survey. The deed was signed in 1847 by J. Pinkney Henderson, Governor of Texas. The William Adams family must have, at some time, lived in Bastrop County, Texas, as the records show his son, Sam, was born there. William died September 13, 1854, and Susanah died November 11, 1885, and both are buried in the Hickory Grove Cemetery in the Cross Roads Community. Williams and Susanah Adams were the parents of Susan, Mary, Jane, John, Sarah, Eliza, James Edward, W.E., and Sam, who married Nancy Fambrough, born May 15, 1854. To this union were born: Printer, Sam Erby, John Edward, Mollie, who married Jim Montgomery, and Susanah (Anna). Nancy Adams became very sick and knew she could not get well, so she called her children to her bed and told them she could not be with them much longer, and that she wanted them to make fine men and women. They did as their mother directed them, becoming leaders of good in the communities where they lived. Nancy Adams died August 1, 1887. Sam Adams’ second wife was Fanny Barnett, and to this union were born Maggie, Leonard, and Fay. Sam Adams died May 21, 1906, and he and Nancy are buried at Hickory Grove. Leonard Adams, son of Sam and Fanny Adams, married Hattie Watson and they had one son, Maurice, who lives in Kilgore, Texas. Leonard bought his father’s farm from the other heirs, and he and Hattie continued to live there with his mother and his sisters, Maggie and Fay. They are all dead and buried at Hickory Grove. The land is still in the Adams family, inherited by Maurice. Anna Adams, daughter of Sam and Nancy Adams, married James Claude Watson, son of James and Myra Watson, who lived abut two miles form the Adams’ home. They lived in their home on the Watson land that he bought from his father. Anna and Claude became the parents of Ruth and Eloise. Claude is buried in the Peatown Cemetery with his family. After about five years Anna married Mr. Tom Watt and went to Henderson to live. Tom and Anna had one son, Jack, who married Frances O’Keef, and the couple had three children: Don, Tommy, and Becky. Ruth Watson married W. E. McFarland. They had no children. Eloise Watson married Charles Daugherty, and they had one child, Myra Lynn. Anna and Tom are buried in Henderson. Written by Ruth McFarland.