A. L. Spradlin Log Cabin

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Adolphus Lane Spradlin came into this world in 1863, and by 1875 he was making the long haul from Indiana down to Texas, a boy traveling with his parents toward a life none of them could quite picture yet. He put down roots at Hiram, in Kaufman County, and there he met and married Lee Ann Henson, born in 1864, a woman of Cherokee ancestry.

That right there tells you something about the kind of man Adolphus was, and the kind of life they were building together. Now, 1898 is when things get interesting for our story. Spradlin bought land out in the Van Zandt County community of Small, about five miles north of Edgewood, and he didn't hire somebody else to do the hard work.

He built this cabin himself, a dogtrot cabin of hand-hewn logs. Every notch, every beam, shaped by his own hands. A dogtrot, for those of you riding through and wondering, is two rooms with an open breezeway running between them, and on a hot Texas afternoon, that breezeway is about the finest piece of architecture a man ever conceived.

He and Lee Ann made that cabin home. Then came 1909. Spradlin sold the house and the land to W.

C. Sims, born in 1870, and moved his family into Edgewood. You might think that's where the story winds down, but Adolphus Spradlin was just getting started.

He operated a cotton gin, and he served as justice of the peace for twenty-two years. The man who built a cabin with his own hands out in the community of Small ended up presiding over the affairs of his neighbors for more than two decades. Lee Ann passed in 1939, and Adolphus himself lived all the way to 1946.

Back at the cabin, life kept on. W. C.

Sims, who'd live to see 1960, held the place after Spradlin. And the Joe H. Vines family called it home, and so did the John C.

Simmons family. One hand-hewn log cabin in a small community, and it sheltered all of that living. That's the thing about a well-built structure.

You put enough of yourself into it, and it just keeps going.

What the marker says

Adolphus Lane Spradlin (1863-1946) came to Texas from Indiana in 1875 with his parents. He settled at Hiram in Kaufman County and married Lee Ann Henson (1864-1939), of Cherokee ancestry. In 1898 he bought land in the Van Zandt County community of Small (5 mi. N of Edgewood) and built this dogtrot cabin of hand-hewn logs. In 1909 Spradlin sold the house and land to W. C. Sims (1870-1960) and moved his family to Edgewood. He operated a cotton gin and served as justice of the peace for 22 years. The Joe H. Vines and the John C. Simmons families also lived in this cabin. (1978)