Individual Details

1900 Census. Decatur, Ward 1, Wise Co, TX, Hh 321
William Adamson, b. Apr 1864, 36, married 8 years
Mollie, wife, b. Oct 1872, 27, no children
Mollie Williams, servant, Black, b. May 1887, age 13

1910 Census. Dallas Ward 9, Dallas Co, TX, Hh 170
William H. Adamson, 44, married once for 19 years, b. TX
Mary, wife, 37, no children, b. MS
Wilma Lester, niece, 25, b. MS

1920 Census. Dallas Prec 30, Dallas Co, TX, Hh 2
William H. Adamson, 54, b. TX, Principle, Public School
Mary, wife, 48, b. MS
Bluford H. Webster, father-in-law, 71, widowed, b. MS
Herman H. Webster, bro-in-law, 32, single, b. TX, Agent, Real Estate
Mildred Stovall, servant, Black, age unknown, widow, b. AL
Cassie Richards, servant, Black, 19, b. TX

W. H. Adamson High School, 309 E. 9th Street, Dallas, Texas, is named for this man. The school is in the Oak Cliff section of the city. He was named superintendent in 1891 before the school was completed. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places in Dallas County.

Texas Death Certificate #22815
William H. Adamson died in Dallas, Dallas Co TX on 26 May 1935. His Residence was 127 N. Mt. Clair. He died of carcinoma of the stomach. He was married - his wife Mary Adamson. Born 26 Apr 1864 in Texas and was a School Principal for 33 years. Parents listed as John Adamson, born in Missouri, and Margaret Huffman, born in Illinois. J. W. Adamson of Denison, TX was the informant. He was buried Laurel Land Cemetery in Dallas on May 28th.

"William Harden Adamson, 71, known as the Grand Old Man of the Dallas public school system and idolized by the hundreds of boys and girls who have attended the Oak Cliff schools, with which he was connected for thirty-four years died at the residence at 5:30 a.m. Sunday. He had been an educator in the State for an even fifty years.
"The body will lie in state at the Lamar & Smith funeral chapel Monday and Tuesday. Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Cliff Temple Baptist Church with Dr. Wallace Bassett, pastor Cliff Temple Baptist Church officiating. Burial will be in Laurel Land Memorial Park. Pallbearers will be J. C. Morrison, J. J. North, Howard A. Allen, L. O. Donald, E. B. Cauthorn, and R. D. Webb.
Mr. Adamson, who had been on a leave of absence from his school duties since December, became a superintendent of the Central High School in 1901, in the days before Oak Cliff became a part of Dallas. His pupils of those early days, who are now members of the school parent-teacher association groups, remember the superintendent as a tall man in a frock-tail coat, high silk hat, having a long red beard and driving a sulky.
"When the Oak Cliff system was divided with elementary and high school buildings under the Dallas school board, he became the first and only principal of Oak Cliff High, where he remained the chief figure in the traditions that grew up in that institution for the last thirty-one years.
"When classes were over and the student body moved to the football field the beloved principal was in the midst of the rooting section. During the halves of the game he was often seen in the huddle of players, either giving words of praise or telling his team just what he thought about their being on the wrong end of the score.
"Around his birthday there grew up a celebration, the close of which found his office filled with flowers and the school giving the appearance of the setting for a floral exhibit. The bouquets, which he prized so highly, came from the homes of his pupils and ex-pupils, and not from hothouses. His stories of those flowers --- of who sent them, of the places to which he distributed them after the day's work was done --- were many, yet the incident prized by that well-known educator was that of a boy with whom he could not make friends until the youth walked into his office on last year's birthday with a single rose which he had grown. The two then discovered they had the same hobby, for the Adamson garden is noted for its many bulbs and species of flowers.
"The tributes to one of the city's most popular principals have been many. In 1930 the school athletic field was named for him, the plaque reading, "Adamson Field, 1930, William Harden Adamson, an Institution in Himself." Another honor that came to him during his lifetime was the W. H. Adamson Child Welfare Award, a loving cup donated by E. M. Cain, R. D. Suddarth and King Duggan, and awarded annually to the person in Oak Cliff who contributes most to child welfare.
"Mr. Adamson was born a mile and a half from Collinsville, Grayson County, April 26, 1864, living there with his family until he reached the age of 9. His family then moved to Collinsville with a team of sixteen horses, the lumber for their home having been brought from Jefferson with a team of oxen. He taught in Collinsville, Decatur, and Alvord before coming to Dallas.
"Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Mary Webster Adamson, a native of Collinsville, and three brothers, Maj. George E. Adamson of Washington, D.C., secretary to Gen. John J. Pershing; T. W. Adamson of Brownsville, and Jake W. Adamson of Denison, a member of the State Legislature, and two sisters, Mrs. F. J. Armstrong of Ada, Ok, and Mrs Mollie Robertson of Los Angeles, Cal."
-Dallas Morning News

Shortly after Mr. Adamson's death, Oak Cliff High School was named W. H. Adamson High School in his memory.

Birth	26 Apr 1864	Grayson County, Texas
Marriage	1881	Mary Evelyn Webster
Death	26 May 1935	Dallas County, Texas

Spouse

Mary Evelyn Webster (1872 - 1937)

Father	Jonathan Adamson Jr. (1835 - 1896)
Mother	Margaret Evangeline Huffaker (1843 - 1902)
Sibling	Joseph Clarence Adamson (1860 - 1944)
Sibling	Jonathan Quincy Adamson (1862 - 1931)
Sibling	Jacob Walter Adamson (1866 - 1957)
Sibling	Mary "Mollie" Adamson (1867 - )
Sibling	Thomas W. Adamson (1872 - 1940)
Sibling	Alpheus Adamson (1873 - 1894)
Sibling	George Edwin Adamson (1875 - 1957)
Sibling	Mandy Maud Adamson (1877 - 1961)