Martha Adams Runnels

Martha Caroline Adams married Howell Washington Runnels on October 1, 1859, at Harrison, Texas, according to the Handbook of Texas. That is late in the 1857 to 1859 years the plaque gives for her duties as hostess in the Governor's Mansion, which is worth knowing before taking those years at face value. H. W. Runnels had represented Bowie County in the Sixth and Seventh legislatures, from 1855 to 1859. In 1870 the couple lived in Boston with five children, he a store clerk. They moved to Texarkana about 1876, and he died in 1895.

What the plaque says

Martha Adams Runnels (March 26, 1836 - July 19, 1907) A first lady of Texas. Wife of H. W. Runnels, member of legislature 1857-59. During these years she and husband lived in Governor's Mansion, where she was the official hostess for her bachelor brother-in-law, Gov. Hardin Richard Runnels. Recorded - 1969 Incise on base: Erected by Lone Star Chapter Daughters of American Revolution and Bowie County Historical Survey Committee.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of Regional History — 0.9 mi
  Texarkana's oldest museum, in an 1879 brick building on State Line Avenue, with Caddo pottery, one of Scott Joplin's pianos and a research library of city directories and photographs.
• Atlanta State Park — 17 mi
  A shoreline park on Wright Patman Lake, leased from the Army in 1954, where Caddo ancestors farmed the Sulphur River and wagon traces such as the Bobo Ferry trace still cross the woods.

More markers nearby

• Rose Hill Cemetery — steps away
• World War I Memorial — 1.1 mi
• First Disciples of Christ in Texas — 1.1 mi
• The French in Texas — 1.1 mi