McAdams Family Cemetery  History

Oak Cliff, Dallas Co. Cemeteries of TX

Submitted by Frances James

The McAdams Family Cemetery is located in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas just south of the Illinois Exit of R.L. Thornton Freeway on the dead end of the of Brookhaven/service road. (Mapsco 54 U) This is a portion of the J. M. Robertson original Peters Colony land grant No. 1219.

The McAdams family consisted of N.O. (1820-1897) and his wife, Mary M. (1825-1882) and two children Mary (1851-1916) and Thomas (1853-1919) when they came to Dallas County from Tennessee in 1856 (census 1860). A third child was born in Dallas, Elizabeth, in 1862. N.O. McAdams dedicated this cemetery site in 1892 "for the purpose and consideration that the graves of the buried dead be preserved and perpetuated."

N.O. and Mary had a large farm on Lisbon Road three miles south of what would become Oak Cliff that they were able to manage with help. The 1860 census shows a farm laborer and three other men living in the same house on this property. The Lisbon Presbyterian Church was started on McAdams farm property.

Mary McAdams married William Bedford Rogers (1850-1921) in 1871 and they are both buried in this cemetery. The Rogers’ daughter Nancy Marina Rogers (1857-1948) married the McAdams son, Thomas, in 1877 and he is buried along with his parents in 1919. Nancy and Thomas had a son, Roger Owens, in 1888 who died in 1889 and the inventory in 1961 notes this baby is one of the infants buried in this cemetery. The Rogers family settled on a farm in Dallas County in 1866. The site of their farm was later known as Kidd Springs.

N.O. McAdams (1822-1897) was first elected sheriff of Dallas County for the term 1862-1864. He was re-elected for the term 1864-66. His bond was set at $5000.00. The records show he had only one deputy during this period, J.M. Brown. He served one term as Justice of the Peace from December 1873 until 1875. He was elected a County Commissioner of Precinct 4 in 1876 and served in that capacity for nine additional elections and died in office in 1897. He suffered a stroke and was in failing health for a year before he died. At one time he held the record for the number of years spent serving the public.

McAdams joined the Tannehill Lodge August 25, 1853 and dimitted in September 1890. He then joined the Oak Cliff Lodge No. 705 in August 1891 and dimitted June 22, 1897.

The name of N.O. McAdams is on the cornerstone of the "Old Red Courthouse" that was completed in 1892. He was one of the County Commissioners at this time.

An inventory of the cemetery lists mostly family members. The first noted burial was that of a grandchild Alice E. Rogers on April 23, 1882. The mother of this infant was Mary McAdams Rogers the daughter of N.O. and Mary McAdams. Through these 106 years the markers and head stones have been overturned and broken, surprisingly most are readable. There are three infants on the list that are probably the illegible broken pieces. A copy of the inventory is included with this information.

The freeway that runs in front of the cemetery was constructed by the Texas Highway Department in the 1960s and the terrain of the surrounding land was changed. Dirt was loaded and dumped on vacant property on three sides of the cemetery, making the cemetery a low spot. This surrounding land is now unkempt and overgrown with vines, weeds and trees. On the old maps of the site a street named Guthrie is noted. This has now been abandoned and makes a dead end off of Zangs Blvd. behind the cemetery. Across the freeway Guthrie is now still a street in Oak Cliff. (See Mapsco No. 54U enclosed.)

If there are any descendants alive, they show no concern for the site, although one did send a Thank You note when informed that a Troop of Boy Scouts had cleaned it up. The police department cleaned it up one time. The most recent clean up this fall was by a retired Southwestern Bell Telephone Company supervisor and an interested friend who had participated in the dedication of another cemetery recently.