McAdams Homeplace

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it to you straight. John McAdams the Third was born in 1815, and by the time he was done with his work on this earth in 1892, he had left a mark on Walker County that people are still reading about today. He came out of the Sabine District, a veteran of the Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas Army, and he didn't slow down once he arrived in what is now Walker County.

He and his first wife, Hester White, born in 1818, built this home in the 1840s. Hester passed in 1849, and John later wed Mary Frances Bankhead, born in 1834, who lived on until 1905. Now, John McAdams was not a man who kept still.

He was a land speculator, a planter, a rancher, and on top of all that he ran a cotton gin and a sawmill. The kind of man who, if there was work to be done, had already started it. The area around his land became known as the McAdams community, and a post office operated there from 1888 all the way to 1917.

The family cemetery is now a public burial ground. And the house itself, well, in 1968 it was moved here from its original site, one mile to the east. The man is gone, the post office is gone, but the house made the trip.

Some things hold on.

What the marker says

John McAdams, III (1815-92), a veteran of the Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas Army, moved to present Walker County from the Sabine District. He and his first wife Hester White (1818-49) built this home in the 1840s. He later wed Mary Frances Bankhead (1834-1905). A land speculator, planter, and rancher, he also ran a cotton gin and sawmill. The area around his land became known as McAdams community. A post office was located there from 1888 to 1917. The family cemetery is now a public burial ground. In 1968 the house was moved here from the original site (1 mi. E).