SAM HOUSTON
MCADAMS, TEXAS. McAdams was on the path of present Farm Road 1696 fourteen
miles northwest of Huntsville in eastern Walker County. It was probably
named for John McAdams, Jr., an early settler in the area, who served
as a member of the St. Augustine Volunteers under Captain Bradley in the
Texas revolutionary army. The McAdams home became the center of a rural
community, and the village soon supported a church and school. Sam Houston
is reported to have been a frequent visitor in the McAdams home. A McAdams
post office opened in 1888 with Mary Frances McAdams, second wife of John
McAdams, Jr., as postmistress. The Texas Gazetteer estimated the 1896
population of McAdams to be near fifteen; in 1914 the community had a
population of sixty, two cotton gins, and three general stores. The post
office closed in 1917. In 1936 a schoolhouse, a church, and a cemetery
remained. County maps of 1990 indicate only a cemetery at the site.