Hester White

Hester White was the daughter of a neighboring family in the McAdams-White settlement east of the Sabine River. The White and McAdams families lived isolated on the Texas frontier in the mid-1830s, huddled together for protection against hostile Indians and the “unscrupulous inhabitants of ‘the neutral ground’” — the lawless strip between Texas and Louisiana.¹

To Hester White, who had heard her friends the McAdams girls speak of “Brother John,” the young man returning from San Jacinto was “nothing short of a hero.” In 1838, John McAdams Jr. married Hester, and they moved to a location near Huntsville.¹

The Raid

Late one night in 1838, a group of cattle rustlers from the neutral ground raided the settlement. Barricading themselves in their cabins, the White and McAdams families fought to save their lives. When the battle cleared, two of John’s brothers — Joe and Jim — were found mortally wounded. The raiders took nearly everything: hogs, geese, mules, chickens, horses, and practically all of their worldly possessions.¹

Rallying from this blow, the survivors gathered their few remaining possessions, hitched up their ox wagons, and set out toward Huntsville, seeking their old friend Sam Houston. They settled fourteen miles west of town.¹

Under the Hickory Tree

In 1844, John and Hester purchased 1,042 acres from Daniel Boone Guerrant and Green Spillers, and built their home near what became the McAdams Cemetery. Hester bore five children: Jane, Bill, John, Hiram, and Jim.¹

On January 16, 1849, Hester McAdams died. A handmade rock vault marks her grave, and in recent years a small engraved metal marker has been placed at its head, recording her words when she selected her burial site:¹

“John, when I die, bury me under this hickory tree.”

Hundreds of McAdamses, their descendants, relatives, and friends have been buried there since that time. McAdams Cemetery endures to this day — begun under a hickory tree by a pioneer woman on the Texas frontier.¹