The following essay on the Edward Lee Adair family history was obtained from Nell Lewis:

The following story was written for the BUDA, TEXAS Centennial on October 3, 1981

THE EDWARD LEE ADAIR FAMILY HISTORY
By Opal Adair Harvey

The Ed Adair family history began on November 11, 1896, when Edward Lee Adair and Margaret Frances Cleveland were married in Kyle, Texas. To that union Luther, Dee, Roy, Opal, Lula, Lorene, Elmer and Edward were born and grew to adulthood.

Edward Lee was the son of Andrew Jackson (A.J.) And Frances Gant Adair who came to Texas from Mississippi in 1886 and settled on a farm near Kyle. He had one brother, Jim, and 5 sisters, the youngest of who Lula later married Buckner H. Rylander and lived the remainder of her life in Buda.

Ed and Jim came from Mississippi citing harrowing experiences as they crossed through some ‘wild country’ of what was then known as "The Indian Territory".

Margaret Frances, dubbed "Maggie’ by her brothers, was the only daughter of David Dumas and Sarah McClure Cleveland. She had 5 brothers, Jim, Will, Tom, Epp, and David. All of these, except Jim, spent much of their lives in and near the Buda area.

The Cleveland family came to Texas from Dalton, Georgia, by way of Knoxville, Arkansas in 1891 and also settled on a farm near Kyle. While they were in Knoxville, Jim Cleveland married and stayed on there.

The Ed Adair family spent their earlier years in the hill country west of Buda, then in the Goforth area located about 7 miles southeast of Buda. Then they settled on a farm in the Science Hall area about 4 miles southeast of Buda, and lived there for many years.

Ed was always a farmer and loved it. He loved the plowing, planting, and the time of harvest and worked hard at it. He was a man of great faith and courage, and had a great sense of values and high principles.

His word was his bond, and he tried hard to instill these same values in the hearts and minds of his children as they came, and he had the full cooperation of his faithful wife. Everyone ‘pitched in’ and helped. Each child had assigned chores as he or she grew large enough, and these had to be completed before any play time or free time could be expected.

The Jim Adairs, also farmers, lived just a mile to the east, and the Clevelands were never too far away. It was the delight of the entire family when aunts, uncles, and cousins came to spend the day. The children played for hours on end----hide and seek, marbles, kick the can, rolling hoops (later old tires), drop the handkerchief, whatever, with the cousins there it was a barrel of fun.

There was a big umbrella chinaberry tree in the front yard. The girls often made their playhouses under this tree, while the boys would go ride horses, or maybe calves, or explore the pasture. The chinaberries were used as grapes to make a pie or as peas if a vegetable were needed for the ‘mud pie’ dinner that was being prepared. The words ‘play like’ were used frequently as the girls played and were often run together so that they came out sounding like ‘plike’.

‘Aunt Mag’ as the cousins called Margaret was a good cook, and most of them were especially found of her fluffy biscuits and creamed gravy. A big freezer of homemade ice cream was often made in the summer and it was a frequent game to se who could eat the most.

The younger children attended school at Science Hall – a two teacher school where grades one through six were taught. The children walked the half mile or so except in bad weather when they rode horses or drove to school in the buggy pulled by a horse.

When they reached the seventh grade, they drove to Buda and attended through high school. As the school year at Science Hall closed in the spring, there was often a picnic on the grounds where parents would attend if they could. A program of songs, recitations, dialogs, and short plays was given by the students. For many years Sunday School was also held at the school building on Sunday afternoons.

There was a small library housed in the ‘cloak closet’—just a few shelves of books—and it was here that many children first learned to love books. These books could be checked out and taken home; and after all chores were done, supper dishes washed, dried and put away, and all school lessons for next day prepared, some older member of the family would read aloud for awhile. Everyone looked forward to this as a special treat, especially on the long winter nights.

As children grew into their teen years, there were ‘country parties’ held in the homes of the community, 42 parties, etc. These were a lot of fun.

The family always attended Sunday School and church at the Baptist Church in Buda when they could. For this there was a two seated surrey pulled by 2 horses. With a family of this size, both the surrey and the buggy were used for it was understood that everyone was expected to go. Of course, later on there was a Ford car, but that must have been 1914 or 1915.

Farming was done with mules and horses and hand plows, of course. The family raised as much of their food as they could, so there were always cows, hogs, chickens, and sometimes turkeys. They also raised hogs to sell and sold cream or butter, eggs, and chickens at one time or another.

There was also a spring and fall garden to provide fresh vegetables for food. There was a particular joy in pulling a nice ripe tomato from the vine and eating it while picking some to go on the table — or in pulling up a turnip or carrot and peeling and eating it right in the patch.

It was quite an event when Ed would take a wagon load of hogs to Austin to sell. He would have to leave home very early in the morning perhaps around three o’clock and it would be perhaps midnight by the time he returned.

The churning of the butter was done in a wooden or crock type churn with an upright dasher in it on a long wooden handle. It was a long tedious job that most of the children loathed. However, when Grandpa Cleveland was there, he took this on as his personal chore, and he did not seem to mind it at all.

Margaret had a one pound rectangular wooden mold that she used to mold the butter that she sold. It was then wrapped in waxed paper made especially for this purpose, and Ed would deliver it to San Marcos once a week. They sold butter to San Marcos Baptist Academy for a number of years.

Hog killing was another big day on the farm in the winter time. It had to be done on a cold day, and everyone was up bright and early. Ed and the older boys, and there was usually Mexican help living on the place, usually did a lot of this chore. They usually killed the hog by shooting him between the eyes with a ‘11 rifle’, then sticking him in the neck with a sharp knife to bleed him well.

Then they had a big wash pot of very hot water in which they scalded him. Then with sharp knives, they scraped the hair all off, somewhat like shaving with a razor. They would then cut his head off, cut him open down the middle of the stomach and take all the insides out. Then they washed him out real good with buckets of clean water. They hung him by his hind legs on to the limb of a tree.

They saved the heart and liver and Margaret cooked these for a family meal. Margaret cleaned all the fat from around the ‘insides’ and saved it with fat from other parts of the meat from which lard was made. The big black wash pot was scrubbed very clean, and it was here the lard was rendered.

Ed was the one who cut the meat up, or if he had help he did the supervising and every part was used. Sometimes the head was given to the Mexican helpers to make tamales which they always shared with the family. But if there were no Mexicans helping, Margaret made a good hog’s head cheese from it. Even the feet were cleaned and pickled, and they were good!

There was a smoke house in the back yard where the hams and bacons were hung and smoked. Later they were taken down, packed in salt in a large wooden box there in the smoke house, and stored for use as they were needed. All of this was done as needed during the winter months and there would be enough meat to last through spring and into early summer. Enough lard was also made through the winter for several months use. The lard was stored in five gallon size tin cans with lids that fit tightly.

Ed was also the one who cut up, ground, and seasoned the sausage, through Margaret and the older boys might help. The family thought he made the best sausage in the world! The sausage was usually stuffed into cloth bags which Margaret sewed up on the sewing machine.

They were made from unbleached domestic about 18 to 24 inches in length and about 3 inches in diameter. The seams were left on the outside and when they were filled, the open end was twisted and tied with a strong string. When it was to be cooked, the bag was split and peeled back, the sausage sliced and fried. The sausage was also kept in the smoke house until needed.

Much of the soap used for dishwashing and for the laundry was made at home, too, in that same big iron wash pot. This was made from grease and lye and was called ‘lye soap’. The laundry was done in wash tubs and with a rub board and the white clothes were boiled in that same big iron pot.

While the clothes were in the pot boiling, they were punched down a good couple of times. The handle from a corn out broom made a good ‘punch stick’ which was used to get the clothes out of the boiling water also. After the clothes were scrubbed, then boiled, they were rinsed good through two tubs of clean water to get out the soap suds. A little bluing was added to the last rinse water to make them pretty and white. The clothes were then hung out on the clothes line to dry.

Farming was becoming increasingly difficult in the Buda area. Johnson Grass was becoming harder and harder to combat and crop yields were becoming smaller. Many families were looking for more promising farmland elsewhere, and many were moving away.

In December, 1920, the Ed Adair family moved from Buda to a farm four miles west of Bishop, in Nueces County, Texas, about 35 miles southwest of Corpus Christi. This was rich black farm land, almost flat, no hills, and marked off in sections of one square mile.

Every mile there would be a road running east and west crossing a road running north and south. Farming was still done with mules and horses—tractors and mechanized farming came later. The land was much cleaner, no Johnson grass to fight, but everyone still worked hard. Cotton was the leading crop grown with some corn and grain grown to feed the animals.

When harvest time came, truck loads of ‘hands’ came from Central and North Texas to help. They worked from daylight til dark, and moved from one farm to another until the cotton was all picked. Gins would run day and night to take care of the load. Later sorghum grain became a very popular crop, though farmers have always planted cotton, too. They now use machinery to work, plant and harvest both the grain and cotton crops.

Ed and Margaret both lived to see their children grow to adulthood. Dee became a rural mail carrier for Uncle Sam and married Nettie Davenport, a school teacher from Elgin, Texas. He carried the mail in Bishop for several years, then traded routes with a carrier from Lexington, Texas.

Dee is no longer living, but Nettie still lives in their home in Lexington. They had only one child, Charley and he and his wife, a teacher, live in Pasadena, Texas. They have one son, Danny, also living there.

Luther married Roxie Griffin of Corpus Christi, and they had one child, a daughter, Nell Roxie. The Luther Adairs lived in Sinton, Texas for many years where he was an accountant. When he retired, they moved to an apartment in Victoria to be nearer Nell and her family.

Nell had married an attorney, Marion (Mack) Lewis, who has recently been appointed to a Judgeship by Governor Clements for one of the newly formed Districts in Texas. Since Victoria is in this new District, it will not necessitate a move for the family. Nell and Mack have two children, Tom and Roxanne. Luther deceased on May 28, 1979

Roy married Amelia Hunt from the Rio Grande Valley and they had a son, Billy Roy, who retired a few years ago as a Lt. Col. From the U.S. Army. Later Roy and Amelia were divorced and he married June Goericke of Corpus Christi.

They had a son, James Edward. Roy and June both died in 1962 and Bill was made legal guardian of "Eddie’ who later preferred to be called ‘Jim’. However, Bill, who had married and had a son of his won, adopted Jim to make it easier to cope with military regulations. They now live in San Antonio.

Opal became a teacher and after teaching three years married Earl Thomas Harvey, an accountant of San Antonio. They had two sons, David and John, who are now Financial Consultants and live in Virginia just out of Washington, D.C. Earl died in 1958 and Opal moved back to Bishop. She got her Master’s Degree in Library Science and worked as Junior High Librarian in the Bishop Public School for six years then as Circulation Librarian in the Bishop Public School for six years then as Circulation Librarian at Texas A&I University in Kingsville for eight years. In 1972 she suffered a stroke which left her partially paralyzed in the left side and she retired. She still lives in Bishop.

Lula married Cecil Witt, a building contractor, of Bishop. They lived in Raymondville for several years where they adopted two little girls, Judy and Brenda. Lula moved back to Bishop after Cecil died where she took care of her mother who was a semi-invalid for the last several years of her life. Margaret died in 1959. Ed having passed on in 1947.

Lula has worked as cashier in the Service Department of K.A. Childs Motors in Kingsville since 1959. Judy teaches in the Houston Public Schools, and brenda is employed in personnel in the Arthur Andersen Firm in Houston. Lula still lives in Bishop.

Lorene married Durwood Miller, a farmer in Bishop. They had two sons, Don and Dwain. Both of them are married and live in Bishop and are farmers. When Durwood died in 1964, Don moved to the farm place and Lorene moved into town, where she still lives. Don and Dwain each have a son and a daughter.

Elmer married Lois Ash of Bishop and they have two children, Margaret and Mike. Elmer is a retired communications technician for Amaco Oil Company. They live in Slidell, Louisiana. Margaret is a computer programmer for Tennessee Valley Authority, lives in Chattanooga, Tenn. Mike works for Chevron Oil Company in New Orleans.

Edward married Doris Naney, a teacher of Bishop. They have three children. Ron, Craig and Vicki. Edward farmed for many years but developed a cancer on his lip about 16 years ago. His doctor told him that he would have to give up farming. The rest of his life he was employed by the Bishop Public Schools as a night watchman and bus driver. He died on February 8, 1981 of leukemia. Doris still teaches in Bishop. Vicki has married and is a Registered Nurse and she and her family live in San Antonia. Ron, an engineer for Mobil Oil Co. and Craig a CPA in Houston.

The Ed Adair family story has been written by Opal Adair Harvey for the Centennial Celebration on October 23, 1981, by the Buda Community. We are sorry none of us can be there to help you celebrate. Our love, our thoughts, and our prayers will be with you. We spent many happy hours there as children and as we were growing up. May God bless each of you and keep you ever in His loving care.

Funeral Service For E. L. Adair Held Wednesday333

Funeral services for Edward Lee Adair, 78, well known Bishop farmer, were held at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, at the First Baptist Church with the pastor, Rev. Carl J. Schlomach, officiating.
He passed away at his farm home three and a half miles north of town at 2:40 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. His condition had been critical since he suffered a stroke Saturday before last.
A native Texan, he had made his home in Hays County near Kyle and Buda before moving to Bishop 26 years ago. He was married at Kyle on Nov. 11, 1896 to Margaret Cleveland and the couple celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary here at the home of their daughter, Mrs. D.W. Miller. Most of their last 26 years has been spent on farms near here except for a short residence in Klngsville.
Burial was in the Bishop cemetery under direction of Cage-Piper Funeral Home, and prior to the services at the church the body lay in state at the Cage-Piper chapel here, the first to use the new chapel.
He is survived by his wife; four sons, Luther of Sinton, Roy of Corpus Christi, Elmer C. of Kingsville and Edward L. of Bishop; three daughters, Mrs. E. T. Harvey of Mirando City, Mrs. Cecil C. Witt of Raymondville and Mrs. Miller; nine grandchildren; and four sisters, Mrs. B. H. Rylander of Buda, Mrs. J. R. Stewart of Dilley, Mrs. J. J. Franks of Amarillo and Mrs. W. T. Hargis of Oxford, Miss.

I'll sure get these copies to you after Mike sends them to me. I'll wait to copy these newspaper articles until then & mail then all at the same time.

I have some pictures of my Dad when he was a baby and also a picture of Dad as a young man. My cousin Margaret had an artist copy a picture of our Folling from Nell Adair Lewis, granddaughter of Maggie Adair:334

Grandparents wedding picture, and Margaret's Mom gave it to me after Margaret died. I have two pictures taken at their 50th anniversary reception..........one of them cutting their cake & another picture of them with their grown children. I'll ask some of the other cousins & see if they don't have some other pictures. My Dad was the eldest child that lived. Maybe the girls left some pictures to their children. I'll ask, but I haven't seen any myself.

Mack & I have many pictures of our other families, that's why I think descendant's of the Adair daughters might have a lot of pictures stashed away somewhere. Some of our old ones were getting in bad shape so I took them all to our photographer and ask him to make negatives of the pictures. Then I had him make a print of each negative, then took those copies to our copy place & had laser copies made for me to keep at hand and then put the negative & original pictures in our safety deposit box. They are all in archival plastic so at least they will be saved for others as years go by.

Thinking of these pictures, brought to mind a funny story about Grandmother [Margaret Cleveland Adair] that I'll always cherish, at least now that I've matured a bit more. About 51 years ago she was visiting us when Mack and I had just started to date. [Granddaddy died in 1947 while I was still at Auburn Univ. & I couldn't come home for the funeral.] By 1950 Grandmother was making the rounds visiting all her children. Now Grandmother was a very stounch member of her Baptist church. I've since learned that her family had a very long family history of Baptist preachers going back to before the Rev. War when my 4th Great Grandfather served as a Chaplin under the command of his brother Benjamin Cleveland during the Battle of Kings Mountain and the Battle of Cow Pens . I don't think that Grandmother even knew this herself. If I'd known that at the time I could have been more understanding & toLerant of of her ways, I think.

The first time Mack was invited to Sunday dinner at our home, Grandmother was visiting all her children and it was time for our visit. In the middle of dinner Grandmother turned to Mack and said, "Young man I think you should know that Nell is most likely to have at least one set of twins when she gets married." Being a well brought up young lady that I was, I was horrified that Grandmother would spring that on a guy I'd only had a few dates with. Mack looked at my Dad and smiled but Grandmother hadn't finished. "Yes, I had two sets myself so I know what I'm talking about. My doctor told me that twins skip a generation so I'm expecting one of my grandchildren to give some to me." [Yes, Edward & Margaret had 2 sets of twins. The first set were their first children born in 1897 and they both died and are buried in Hays Co. Their 2nd set of twins were born in 1907, Eula & Lula. Eula died but Lula lived until 1885. Needless to say, I was not a happy granddaughter by this time Grandmother finished talking that day.

Then Grandmother hit another blow, "Luther, lately I've been thinking. I've always told you that you were born in 1899. I think that it must have really been in 1898 and you are really a year older than I thought." Now it was time for Dad to be the one to be unhappy with his Mother. I'm happy to say, that I proved Grandmother wrong about being the grandchild to give her twin great grandchildren, but my cousin John Harvey, son of Aunt Opal Adair Harvey, did finally give her a set of twin great-grandchildren. To this day we still don't know which year my Dad was born, but he always claimed it was in 1899. I never dreamed that my very straight and narrow minded Grandmother could embarass us like she did, and I believed that she enjoyed every minute of it too. It didn't take long for all of us to laugh about "dinner the day Grandmother visited us". It sure was one that I never forgot. Dad would always laugh and say "it was just her 'Cleveland blood' coming out in my Mom".