Adams Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Lorenzo H. Adams came to this part of Panola County from Arkansas, sometime after the Civil War had finished its long and terrible work.

He put down roots, built a life, and made himself useful to his neighbors. By 1880, they trusted him enough to elect him constable, and he didn't stop there. He went on to serve as justice of the peace and deputy sheriff.

A man who kept showing up when the community needed him. That's the kind of man Lorenzo Adams was. But the marker doesn't linger long on his titles, and honestly, neither should we.

Because the heart of this story is a little girl named Georgia Anne. Born in 1871, gone by 1884. Thirteen years old.

When Georgia Anne died, Lorenzo Adams did something quiet and permanent. He donated one acre of land, including the ground where his daughter lay, to serve as a public cemetery. Not a family plot.

A public one. Open to whoever needed it. And they came.

From the 1880s onward, families with names like Baker, Goodwin, Kilburn, McNeese, Sikes, Sinclair, and Spears added their own to that acre of earth. Veterans of the Civil War found their rest there, and later, veterans of the First and Second World Wars joined them. Generation after generation.

Lorenzo himself is buried there, alongside his second wife, Naomi Lawrence Jay Adams, born in 1872 and gone in 1963, and many of their descendants rest nearby as well. One man's grief became a community's gathering place. That acre said: you belong here too.

What the marker says

Lorenzo H. Adams (1849-1912) came to this area from Arkansas after the Civil War. He was elected constable in 1880 and later served as justice of the peace and deputy sheriff. Upon the death of his daughter Georgia Anne (1871-1884), Adams donated one acre including her grave as a public cemetery. Other marked graves from the 1880s include family names of Baker, Goodwin, Kilburn, McNeese, Sikes, Sinclair, and Spears. Burials include veterans of the Civil War and World Wars I and II. Adams and his second wife, Naomi Lawrence Jay Adams (1872-1963), are buried here with many of their descendants. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986