PATRICK HENRY ADAMSON

Shared by: Virginia McDaniel Weede

Hello Elreeta,

Thanks for your reply to my e-mail concerning Patrick Adamson. I have looked through my material on this man and read through many of the articles which appear on your website which are stories told by people who apparently lived at that time. Frankly, I am more confused than ever. Let me tell you what I have. You are welcome to use any or all of it on your site.

PATRICK HENRY ADAMSON

Patrick Henry Adamson was the son of John Whitfield Adamson and Mary Ann McDaniel (McDaniel is my line, only this woman is a sister of my ancestor).

Patrick was the fourth child and second son of the above couple. He was born in Henry County, GA on 30 June 1849. He and his family later moved to Carroll County, GA. He was educated in law and later moved to Hamilton County, TX. I have no idea why he chose to go there. No one else from his family preceded or followed him.

Patrick was married to Nancy "Nannie" A. Claunch probably about 1873 and probably in Hamilton Co., TX. They had one child, a girl, born 19 May 1874 in Hamilton Co., TX.

Nancy was the daughter of William Truehart Claunch and his wife, Sarah A. Prater. William Truehart Claunch was born 1 Feb. 1830 and died 1 Sept. 1879. Sarah was born 6 Feb. 1828 and died 17 Nov. 1928. They are both buried in Rock House Cemetery, Hamilton Co., TX. Nancy was their oldest child.

The daughter of Patrick Henry Adamson and Nancy A. Claunch was Leila Patrick Adamson. The "Patrick" part of her name was for her father. It seems that she was called Leila Pat. On 7 July 1874 when Leila was just a tiny baby, her father was shot and killed. He is buried in Rock House Cemetery in Hamilton Co., TX.

Nancy A. Claunch Adamson, widow, married James D. Freeman in Hamilton Co., TX on 30 Jan. 1878. Their tombstone in Rock House Cemetery has the following dates:

Freeman

Mother                                   Father

Nannie A.                                   James D.

1850--1938                                1852--1922

This couple were the parents of Mattie E. (Martha ?), W. Tom, and Georgia. Georgia was born Jan. 1886. There were no other children on the 1900 census, so it seems their family may have consisted only of those three children.

The 1880 census for Hamilton Co., TX has J. D. Freeman; wife, Nancy A.; daughter, Mattie E.; and step-daughter, Lelia Adamson, age 6. The birth place for Freeman is given as Canada with his parents being born in Ireland.

Leila Patrick Adamson married Wright W. Baskin in Georgia and had the following children: Dorothy, b. 1900, d. 1900; Wright W. Baskin, Jr., b. 1907, d. 1907; and Leila Belle b. ? d. ? m. K. Diller. This last child had a daughter, Dorothy Diller. The first two infant children of the Baskins are buried in the Carrollton Cemetery in Carrollton, Carroll Co., GA.

Leila Pat Adamson Baskin was born 19 May 1874 and died 4 March 1956. Her husband, Wright W. Baskin was born 19 Oct. 1872 and died 6 March 1956. They are both buried in the Bellview Cemetery in Bellview, Marion Co., FL.

My distant cousin William Walker McDaniel, III, now deceased, had collected much material on the McDaniel line. He had a story about the death of Patrick Henry Adamson. I have no idea where he got it, but it is reproduced below:

"Patrick Henry Adamson was the son of Mary Ann 'McDaniel' Adamson and John Whitfield Adamson. After the Civil War, he studied Law and became an Attorney, then moved to Hamilton, Hamilton County, Texas, where he opened a law office. He married there and later a daughter, Lelia Pat Adamson, was born. He came home one night from work and was holding his daughter in his arms, when there was a knock at the door. He opened the door and someone shot and killed him. Lelia Pat was also wounded and was a cripple for the rest of her life. When Lelia Pat was about 6 years old, her uncle, William C. Adamson, went to Texas and brought her to Bowdon, Georgia, where she was raised and educated by her grandparents.

Patrick Henry Adamson is buried in the "Rock House Cemetery" in Hamilton County, Texas. Patrick Henry's widow later married a man by the name of J. D. Freeman and they are both buried in the same Cemetery where Patrick Henry Adamson is buried, "Rock House Cemetery" in Hamilton County, Texas."

Leila Pat's grandparents were, of course, John Whitfield Adamson and Mary Ann McDaniel Adamson.

William W. McDaniel, III, always wondered why a mother would be willing to give up her daughter, Leila Pat, to go to Georgia to live with her paternal grandparents.

Well, Elreeta, you can see that this story of the death of Patrick Henry Adamson does not match the stories told by the men of Hamilton County. They are quoted as saying that Patrick was shot when he went to a well for water. They say nothing about a baby's being injured. I would be inclined to go with their story; however, I surely wish I could find an official record somewhere. I checked on newspapers of that time and found none for Hamilton, so I tried Waco with no luck. A friend told me to check the Galveston News since it was an important paper of that time and may have covered news from various places. I have not yet done that.

If Hughes was tried and convicted of the shooting of Adamson, and then escaped as mentioned in those recollections, doesn't it seem to you that something would have been in some newspaper?

I have one more direct piece of information for you. After Leila Pat was grown and married she wrote a piece about the Adamson family which was published in the Carroll County (GA) Centennial Edition of the _________.

(The information for the blank was not supplied). However, the date was Thursday, October 13, 1927. In the article Leila Pat tells about all of the children of John Whitfield Adamson and his wife Mary Ann McDaniel Adamson. I will quote only the part about Patrick Henry Adamson, Leila Pat's father.

"Patrick Henry, the second son, was of brilliant intellect and an eloquent speaker of his day. He went into service when he was only fifteen years old. After the war he went to Texas, where he became an imminent lawyer, giving his life in the establishment of law and order on the Texas frontier. He left a widow Nannie Claunch Adamson, and an infant daughter, Leila Patrick who was named for her father. W. C. Adamson went to Texas and brought this daughter back to Bowdon (her mother having married again), where, taking her fathers place she grew up in the home of her grandparents.

She is now the wife of Wright W. Baskin, a prominent merchant of Carrollton, they having one living child, Leila Belle (Mrs. Bernard K. Diller of Center Hill Fla.), and one grandchild Dorothy."

Well, there you have it. Even the daughter of Patrick Henry Adamson did not tell the complete story of her father's death. Since she was just a baby at the time, maybe no one ever gave her all the information.

Do you think that the William Claunch who was a partner with Mr. Snell was the father of William Truehart Claunch who was the father of Nancy "Nannie" A. Claunch? [To me it appears that William Claungh--partner of Mr. Snell WAS William Truehart Claunch.--Elreeta]

I do wish there were some official documents or sources to use to help solve the mystery of the Adamson murder.

Thanks for your help. If you can answer any of my questions, I would appreciate your help. Even though the courthouse burned twice after Adamson's murder, maybe some documents are still there if one just knew where to look.

Something else that puzzles me is that in those interviews with the older men, someone talks about how James Freeman was sent to the penitentiary. I wonder when that took place. From what was said, it seems that it must have been about 1890 or so. Maybe that information is in the court house.

Virginia McDaniel Weede