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Ad (Adam)
Lawrenece’s leap
from the Frontier Times
Reissued: Vol. 3 No. 2 November, 1925
From James T. DeShield's "Border Wars
of Texas"
In the summer of 1832 occurred an
adventure that as told by the hero in his home-spun phrases,
affords the mind's eye a glimpse of the Texas of old, and its
inhabitants of renown.. The hero in question was Adam or "Ad"
Lawrence. a gift of Tennessee to Texas I believe. and who first
settled on the headwaters of the Trinity river in 1829.
Certainly no man could have been by
nature, better adapted to the profession he had chosen. Though
modest, simple and unaffected in manner and language and of a
kind and gentle disposition, he athletic in body, undaunted in
spirit, and inured to hardships, was especially fitted to risk
the dangers of frontier life. About 1838 or 1839 he settled on
the south side of Brushy Creek about four miles west from what
was known as the "Hole in the Rock" in Williamson county, where
he died in 1880 at the ripe old age of ninety years. He was not
only a brave and daring Indian fighter but the most expert
mustang roper that ever threw a lariat in Texas. Ad Lawrence was
said to have been the first white man who crossed Brushy Creek
at the place since known as "Lawrence's Crossing.” On the
occasion referred to, Lawrence and three companions went out "mustanging."
Far out in the broad prairie a herd of about one hundred
mustangs were sighted feeding on the tall luxuriant grass. As
they cautiously approached the mustangs showed no signs of
flight. Coming nearer the hunters prudently halted, being much
surprised that the animals exhibited no signs of alarm. Says Ad:
"The long grass of the prairie suddenly became alive with
Indians. There was one to each pony, and they all mounted at a
jump and made for us at full speed coiling their lariats as they
rode. There was no time for swapping horses so we all turned
tail and made a straight shoot for the nearest settlement on the
Trinity, about ten miles off. Our animals were all fine, but
the nag I rode was a black mare a little ahead of anything in
the country for speed and bottom. We rather left them the first
three miles but then their ponies’ began to show themselves.
I'll tell you you've no idea how much an Indian can get out of
these mustangs. Instead of being a weight to them, they seem to
help them along, and they kept up such fearful yelling, 'pears
like you could have heard them to Red River. We noticed that
they divided, one-half striking off to the left, and we soon'
found out the reason for we quickly came to a deep gully or
ravine, which had to be headed; it could not be crossed. They
knew every inch of the ground and one party made straight for
the head of the ravine, while the balance struck in below to cut
us off 'Twas no use talking, we had to ride about a quarter of
a mile to the left, right in their very faces and head that
branch. My nag was tolerably fresh, the others were beginning
to blow light smartly. I rode just fast enough to keep in the
lead. I didn't care particularly to save myself without knowing
what became of my companions. Just as I came to the head of the
hollow the Indians were within a hundred yards, and yelling
awfully.
"They thought they had us sure. I
gave my mare the rein, just touched her with the spur and turned
the corner with about fifty arrows whizzing about my ears. One
stuck in my buckskin jacket, and one in my mare's neck. You may
believe she didn't go any slower for that-for awhile I thought
she cleared about twenty feet at a jump. Soon as I got headed
right again, I looked around to see what had become of my
companions. One look showed me. They were everyone down. About
half the red skins had stopped to finish them, and the balance
were coming after me like red hot lightning. I felt kinder
dizzy-like for a minute and then straightened out, and
determined to get away if I could. I didn't much fear, if I
didn't have to head another branch. I could see the timber of
the Trinity three miles away and I gave my mare her head. She
had been working too hard, and was puffing a good deal. I
managed to pull out the arrow that was sticking in her neck.
Then I worked off my heavy buckskin coat, which was flapping
about with the arrow sticking in it, catching a good deal of
wind, and threw it away. I kept on about a mile further without
gaining or losing much. Then I made up my mind to stop and let
my nag blow a little, because I knew if didn't she could not
hold up much longer. So I pulled up and alighted and looked
around. Seemed as if the whole country was alive with Indians.
About forty in a bunch a few hundred yards behind and one not a
hundred yards off. I loosened my saddle girth so she could
breathe good, took my handle in my left hand, and pulled my
butcher knife with my right. It was the only weapon I had, I
dropped my rifle when I got dizzy. He never stopped until he
got within ten feet of me. Then he throwed away his bow, jumped
off and came at me with a long knife like mine. There was no
time for a long fight. I had my calculations, and. he was too
sure he had me. He ran full against my knife, and I left him
lying there. I beard an awful howl from the others, and I pulled
off my heavy boots tightened my girth, and mounted. A few
minutes more and I struck the timber of the Trinity, and then
made the rest of the way to the river.
"I knew that for miles up and down
the river banks were bluffs, fifteen or twenty feet high. I knew
my mare would not take the leap; I had to do it without her. She
stopped an instant and snorted once or twice, but hearing the
savage yell close behind, she took the jump, went full fifteen
feet plump into the water. We both went down for the second
time, then she arose and struck out for the opposite bank, with
me on her back. Poor creature, she got about two-thirds across
and gave out under me with a groan. I tell you I fairly loved
that animal at that moment and hated to leave her as bad as if
she had been human.
"I
swam the rest of the way and crawled out on the bank pretty well
used up. But I was safe. I saw the howling and disappointed
savages come to the bank I had left. But not one of them dared
to take the leap. The distance was too great for them to shoot.
So I rested awhile and then made the rest my way to the
settlement.
Adam Lawrence (also spelled
Laurence)
of New Year Creek
Historical narrative by JOHN P. LANDERS
from the Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Adam (Ad) Lawrence (Laurence)
was born in Logan county, Kentucky, on October 16, 1799,
[1] the son of Joseph Lawrence and the grandson of Adam
Lawrence, [2] a North Carolinian, who was one of the
first settlers of Kentucky during the late eighteenth
century. This elder Adam Lawrence had participated in
the American Revolution during his residence in North
Carolina. The Lawrence family had immigrated to America
from Saint Albans, England, during the seventeenth
century and had settled on Long Island. Distinguished
members of this line were William Lawrence, a prominent
landowner and patentee of Flushing in the seventeenth
century, and Adam Lawrence, high sheriff of the Queens
and member of the New York legislature in the eighteenth
century. [3] Joseph Lawrence began the North Carolina
branch of the family in the eighteenth century.
According to family tradition, Adam Lawrence was
dissatisfied with a second marriage of his father,
Joseph Lawrence. As a result, it is thought that he left
his Kentucky home with the connivance of his sisters in
1815, going at the age of fifteen to live with his
uncle, Adam Lawrence, at the point where Jonesboro later
developed on the Red River. [4] Adam Lawrence, the
uncle, was definitely in residence there as early as the
winter of 1815, being the first Anglo-Saxon settler to
move across the Red River into the present area of
Texas. His place site Kiamichi Creek, in a region
vaguely defined and consequently disputed for some time
between Arkansas and Texas. [5] Because there was
danger that the United States government might give the
land to the Cherokee Indians, the settlers of the area
sent various petitions to Congress requesting the right
of preemption. On Cum appeared the names of many early
Arkansas and Texas pioneers including that of Lawrence.
[6] Numbers of these people later became acquainted with
the plans of Moses and Stephen F. Austin, likewise
residents of the region, for a colony in Spanish (later
Mexican) Texas. Lawrence attached himself to the family
of Simon Miller, one of Austin's Old Three Hundred
Colonists, and traveled with him to the area of present
Washington County, Texas, in December, 1821. [7]
Lawrence and Miller camped on New Year Creek with Austin
on the last day of 1821. Adam spent some time at the
Miller home in Fort Bend County on the San Bernard River
and was listed in the census of 1825 as a farm worker in
Miller's household. [8]
As was his wont because of a restless spirit, Adam
Lawrence made a trip to North Texas to visit his uncle
Adam in the spring of 1826. While they were hunting wild
horses with relatives and friends along the Washita
River on April 17, they were attacked by a large body of
Indians, supposed to be Osages, dressed in soldiers
clothing and armed with bows and arrows and shot guns.
Adam Lawrence and his son John Lawrence, were in company
with young Adam Lawrence, a nephew of the former. They
were attacked on horseback, and pursued a considerable
distance before the two former were overtaken and
killed. The latter with great difficulty made his
escape, after a long pursuit, in the course of which he
received six shot holes through his hunting shirt, but
fortunately sustained no other injury. Henry Lawrence,
son of George Lawrence, was killed about the same time,
while in another direction, in company with Mr. Dewall.
[9]
In about 1830, at San Felipe, Lawrence married Sarah
Lucinda Miller, the daughter of his old friend Simon
Miller, then returned to Washington County and obtained
on February 25, 1831, the grant of a quarter of a league
of land from the Mexican government. [10] This land was
located near the Brazos River on New Year and Cedar
creeks adjacent to the lands of Samuel Miller, a
brother-in-law of Simon Miller, who also had removed to
Washington County by that time, and Gibson Kuykendall.
The Kuykendall family, also quite prominent in early
Texas annals, had, like the Lawrence's, originated in
colonial New York and migrated first to North Carolina,
thence to Henderson County, Kentucky, thereafter to
Arkansas, and finally to Austin's colony. Thus the two
families, often connected by marriage, had lived in the
same communities for over two hundred years. Adam
Lawrence, like his forbears, was every inch the classic
American pioneer. His name is frequently mentioned as
being at the head of a group of Indian fighters in the
colonial days of Texas and later during the republic. In
1823 and 1824, a severe drought prevailed over much of
Texas, and it was Lawrence who was instrumental in
organizing hunting parties to range towards the
northeast in search of game to supply the grievous
deficiencies in the colony. [11] In 1828, he engaged in
a battle with Comanche Indians about two miles below the
present site of Taylor. [12] Again in 1830, he was the
leader of a group of eleven men organized in the
neighborhood of San Felipe to pursue a band of Waco
Indians. The eyewitness account of one of the
participants paints the encounter in vivid colors:
In the month of November 1830, a Chickasaw Indian
brought intelligence from the frontier that a party of
eleven Wacoes were on their way to the neighborhood in
which I resided (22 miles northwest from San Felipe) for
the purpose of stealing horses. ... We learned late in
the evening, [that they] were encamped near the
residence of James Stephenson, on Caney creek [within
the present limits of Austin County]. ... At the dawn of
next day, with a force of eleven men, precisely that of
the Indians—we stole upon their camp. ... The Indians
ran and were pursued a short distance by our leader,
Adam Lawrence, who reloaded and fired at them again—but
further pursuit was prevented by the fall of Young
Cooper. ...
Of the eleven men engaged in this affair only the
following names are recollected, viz.: Adam Lawrence,
Thomas Stevens, [13] Adam Kuykendall, Charles Gates,
George Robinson, William Cooper, B. Kuykendall. [14]
In 1832, there occurred an exploit for which Lawrence is
more widely known than for any other in his long career.
He was again hunting mustangs in East Texas near the
Trinity River when he and his group were astounded to
see the "prairie become alive with Indians" who had
concealed themselves behind the apparently grazing wild
horses. Surprised, the white men took flight, but soon
Lawrence, who was ahead of the others, looked back to
see that all his companions were down and in the process
of being "finished." With an arrow in his own shirt and
one in his horse's neck, Lawrence spurred his mare
towards the timber of the Trinity three miles distant.
Stopping to let his horse breathe, he killed one
attacking Indian with his only remaining weapon, a
butcher knife. The others continued in hot pursuit until
Lawrence had reached the high banks of the Trinity. His
own words best describe the rest of the story.
I knew that for miles, up and down, the banks were
bluffs and fifteen or twenty feet high. Where I struck
the river they were fifteen. I knew if my mare wouldn't
take the leap I had to do it without her. She stopped an
instant and snorted once or twice; but, hearing the
savages yell dose behind, she took the jump. Down, down
we went, full fifteen feet, plump into the deep water.
We both went under for a second, then she rose, and
struck out for the opposite bank with me on her back.
Poor creature, she got about two-thirds across, and then
gave out under me with a groan. I tell you I fairly
loved that animal at that moment, and hated to leave her
as bad as if she had been human.
I swam the rest of the way and crawled out on the bank
pretty well used up. But I was safe. I saw the howling
and disappointed savages come to the bank I had left.
But not one of them dared to take the leap. And the
distance was too great for them to shoot. So I rested
awhile and then made the best of my way to the
settlement. [15]
A unique experience is attributed to Lawrence in 1833.
An old Spaniard came to the Lawrence home stating that
he was sick and asking to rest there a few days. After a
month of somewhat wary hospitality on the part of the
family, the partially recovered Spaniard informed his
host that he had been one of Lafitte's buccaneers. He
explained further that, during Lafitte's "capture on
Galveston Island by the U. S. Marines," he and two
companions, who had been guarding the treasure, had
escaped notice and had subsequently hidden the spoils in
two old cannons, one for gold, and the other for silver,
which they then buried under a hack-berry tree.
The old Spaniard, being the sole survivor, offered to
divide the loot with "Senor Lawrence" and eventually
make him his heir if Lawrence would provide him a home
until his death. The journey in search of the treasure,
to which Lawrence agreed, commenced soon thereafter, but
on the second night "Senor Adam," after gazing upon the
sinister, scarred visage of his sleeping companion and
hearing the howling of wolves and the hooting of an
owl, looked heavenward and saw the "stars falling in
showers." This phenomenon of November 3, 1833, convinced
him that his companion was a diabolical visitant,
leading him to destruction; consequently, he fled in
terror. Sometime later a man who witnessed the
Spaniard's death brought Lawrence a package addressed to
the pirate's "heir." His wife, Sarah Miller Lawrence,
put the bundle away and promptly forgot its location,
but Lawrence, having examined briefly the map it
contained together with pieces of Spanish gold, set out
with his brother-in-law, Lindsay P. Rucker, a surveyor,
to find the treasure. This and several other trips were
unavailing. At the time of Lawrence's death, however,
twenty-eight Spanish gold pieces were found among his
possessions. [16]
With the possible exception of the above-mentioned
expedition, Adam Lawrence was nearly always accompanied
by his devoted old slave Jim, who cooked and acted as a
body servant. When the Negro died, he was buried in
Lawrence Chapel cemetery next to the place where his
master was destined to rest. Another old slave often
mentioned in Lawrence's annals was Sella, a Negro woman
who was brought as a child from Virginia by Simon
Miller." Sarah Miller received Sella as part of her
dowry when she married Lawrence, and the old Negress
lived until after Lawrence's death in 1878. The clouds
of discontent were gradually gathering during the early
1830's, and when the first rumblings of revolution broke
out, Lawrence was in the forefront of the fray. In 1835,
he joined the volunteer scouting company under the
command of William B. Travis and, after various
horse-catching forays, took part in the historic siege
of Bexar, in December of that year. [18] He was with
Houston's army at Gonzales, and, when he heard of the
massacre at the Alamo, in which his wife's half brother,
Thomas R. Miller, was killed, [19] he hastened home to
aid his family in preparations for that great flight
before the Mexican advance known as the Runaway Scrape.
While they and the slaves remained at Groce's
plantation near Hempstead, he took part in the
victorious Battle of San Jacinto, in which his
half-brother, Joseph Lawrence, was also a combatant.
[20]
Thereafter he re-enlisted in Captain Henry Reed's
company and served therein from June 4 to September 4,
1836. [21]
Besides the headright augmentation of three quarters of
a league and a labor of land, which he received in
Washington County on January 13, 1838, [22] Lawrence was
awarded various grants for his revolutionary services.
He received 3,273.74 acres of land in Madiso County in
1844 and 499.71 acres in Trinity County as a first c ass
augmentation to the former in 1845; in 1848 he was
awarded a bounty of 320 acres in Calhoun County.
[23] Subsequent to the revolution he had lived for
about a year and a half in Burleson County, but in 1838
he followed Yegua Creek to its source in Milam (present
Williamson) County and settled at a place known soon
thereafter as the Crossroads and later as Lawrence
Chapel. [24] The land on which he settled consisted of
three fourths of a league and a labor which had been
granted to his father-in-law, Simon Miller, in January,
1838. Miller died during the following month, however,
and some dispute arose. The Republic of Texas awarded
the disputed land to Adam Lawrence's brother-in-law,
Simon Miller, Jr., on November 20, 1845. [25] In the
meantime Lawrence had been living thereon. This was a
region of which he was quite fond, and it is said that
he was the first white man to cross Brushy Creek at the
point later known as Lawrence's Crossing. [26] There,
with the aid of his slaves, he constructed a large
double log house of hewn beams, the size of which shows
that the trees of his day were much larger than the post
oak presently growing in the area. The building still
stands and is used as a barn by a descendant. On October
12, 1848, Simon Miller, Jr., made a formal transmission
of 2,00o acres of this "Miller League" to Lawrence. [27]
Soon the locality began to thrive because of its site
and well-watered, arable land. Lawrence, being a devout
Methodist, set aside land for religious worship and soon
built a log church on it for the use of early circuit
riders. A frame church, about the third to be erected on
the spot, is still in use. [28] The first person to be
buried in the adjacent cemetery was, according to
tradition, a child of some travelers who spent the night
at Lawrence's home in the late 1840's.
Lawrence was also an active Mason and, in addition to
his range brand, which is registered in the courthouse
at Georgetown, [29] used as his trail brand an unusual
Masonic emblem, [29] which was later used by his
son-in-law, Henry Inlo Layne.
About 1848, Lawrence's aged father, Joseph, came from
Kentucky and was reconciled with his son, who had so
bitterly opposed to his second marriage. Joseph spent
the remaining years of his life at Lawrence Chapel and
was buried in the cemetery when he died about 1853 .
[31]
At first there was no school in the area, and the
children were sent back to Washington County for their
education—in later times to Salado Academy. After about
1850, however, Lawrence hired a teacher to instruct the
younger children of the community in the church
building. [32]
Lawrence became a prosperous farmer and stock raiser in
the years preceding the Civil War. In 1860, he owned
over three thousand acres of land in Williamson County
valued at $3,500, whereas his personal property was
evaluated at $4,000." He owned four slaves, a large
number of cattle, and also had acquired about 1,000
acres of land in Comanche County.
His discouragement at the failure of the Southern cause,
in which his children and sons-in-law participated, and
other changes together with the crowding of newcomers
into the area caused him to adopt in 1866 a bold plan
which Captain F. S. Wade describes in his recollections:
His children, some of them married, his brethren in the
church, and hosts of friends tried to dissuade him from
moving in his old age from a good home and an abundance
of this world's goods. All was unavailing. In less than
a month he had traded his land for one thousand cattle,
having about the same number in his own brand. In ox.
wagons he started for California. [34] At El Paso he
sold all his cattle except his teams at twenty dollars a
head in gold, bringing over forty thousand dollars. That
fall he reached Los Angeles and bought several sections
of land between the then small town and the Ocean on the
San Gabriel River, establishing a stock ranch. Since
then this has proven the most valuable land in the U. S.
But in a few years the same old trouble overtook him.
Settlements began to thicken around him. So he sold
again and moved to a lofty valley 8o miles north of Los
Angeles and that distance from any neighbor. He moved
his cattle. This was in the Cascade range of mountains.
Here trouble and misfortune followed him. His cattle
strayed off; frost came every month in the year; his
remaining children married and left him, and worst of
all, his loved and trusted wife dear old Aunt Sallie
sickened and died. His property was gone and he was left
desolate."
After the failure of his California venture, Lawrence
returned to Texas, and, at the suggestion of Captain
Wade, applied for a Revolutionary veteran's bond. [36]
In about 1875, he lived at Lawence Chapel in the home of
his daughter, Mrs. H. I. Layne, who had remained in
Texas because of her previous marriage. The other
children stayed in California after his return. Lawrence
died on October 2, 1878, at the Layne home and was
buried in Lawrence Chapel cemetery. [37]
Soft-spoken, generous, proud, loyal to friends and
family, but quick to anger and restless under restraint,
Adam Lawrence was the embodiment of the pioneer type
that characterized Texas in the mid-nineteenth century.
Of his courage and daring there is no need to speak
further.
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(for
footnotes view the PDF version)
view PDF for narrative with the footnotes
Adam Lawrence was a
Texas Revolutionary Soldier
1836
and Indian fighter
(read about fighting
the Injuns and Mexicans)
his old log cabin
relocated to Lawrence Chapel
and being restored by the
Adam Lawrence's family
as of 5-6-2012
note hew marks left by ax
 |
end joints
note gun ports for fighting off
Indians
as of 5-24-13
note doors and widows are
complete along with chinking
also note the Memorial Obelisk
that
was moved from the
old site of
Washington Bower house .
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Williamson County 