Hidalgo County New Mexico


Effie Dow Sowell Adams - January 31, 1908 - May 19, 1999
Effie was born in Duncan, AZ, January 31,1908 to John William Sowell and Amanda Katherine (called Minnie) Thomas Sowell of San Angelo, TX. (I believe there is some doubt about whether the actual year was 1907 or 1908.) She was one of 10 children, 6 boys (Wesley, Earl, Johnny Lee, Luther, Monroe, and Jack) and 4 girls (Lena, Alma, Effie, and Mary Ellen). The family lived in several places, eventually settling in Hachita, NM, where Minnie ran a hotel until 1914. The family fled Hachita and went back to Texas because of Pancho Villa’s bloody raids on neighboring farms and villages.

The family lived a number of years in and around Merkel and Abilene, TX. They remained poor, and the children helped provide subsistence by doing odd jobs and picking cotton. This meant that schooling was almost non-existent. The family finally moved back to Clifton, AZ, where some of the older boys found work in the mines. The rest of the family eventually ended up in Douglas, AZ, where Effie’s father worked as a carpenter.

In 1925, Effie Dow Sowell met her future husband, Walter Leonard Adams, in Animas, NM, a town near where he and his parents owned a sheep ranch. Their courtship resulted in marriage in Lordsburg, NM, on November 2, 1925. They lived on the Animas ranch until their first daughter, Verna Jean who was born in 1929, was of school age. They then bought another ranch on the other side of the mountains near enough to Rodeo, NM, for Verna Jean to attend school. Effie’s dad and some other brothers came over and helped Walter and his dad build a house for the family and Walter’s parents to share. Two more children were born of this union, Leonard Dow Adams born in 1938, and Gloria Jannine Adams born in 1945.

Effie was a hard working rancher’s wife. She helped with both the sheep and the cattle; rode the range; cared for livestock; milked cows; fed chickens; helped with other outdoor chores; planted and cared for flowers and trees; smoked, canned, and preserved foods to include meat; and somehow kept up with the inside work that included cooking, canning, cleaning, sewing, being an excellent mother, and providing intensive care to her elderly in-laws as their health declined. Ranch life was hard, especially in lean years. Some years, there was lots of rain and the ranch prospered. Other years, drought would bring hard times. Coyotes eventually put the sheep in such jeopardy that Walter finally had to change to cattle. When needed, Effie could be depended upon to find creative ways of supplementing the family’s income. She was very talented in sewing and making various crafts that could be sold for a little extra money.

In 1952, the ranch was thriving. Verna Jean was grown, married, and living on a ranch near Hachita, NM. Word reached the family that a terrible accident had critically injured Walter, and he was fighting for his life in the Douglas hospital. He died a short time later, and Effie was left with the two younger children to raise alone. Since she could not run the ranch, she sold it in 1953 and moved the family to Douglas, Arizona, where she purchased a house with insurance and ranch money. She then worked a variety of jobs that included sewing in a shirt factory, cooking in a cafeteria, and working as a waitress. Not too many women worked in that day and time, and the jobs that were available did not pay well. She eventually used her ranch background to secure a meat cutting job in a packing plant which paid a little better. She also learned skills that she was able to use in later years in a grocery store meat counter in Sierra Vista. She worked hard and provided for her children.

Leonard married and moved out. Effie and Jannine spent a year in Oregon in 1960, then they moved to Sierra Vista in 1961, and on to Tucson in 1964. After two years, Effie retired from a job at the Tucson Medical Center, and moved in with her son’s family who had just moved to Tucson. Since that time, she has provided all kinds of assistance, mothering, grand-mothering, nurturing, and help to every member of her family. When times are hard, she was there.

She was the proud grandmother of eight and great grandmother of seven.