ROSCOE NORWAY "EARL" ADKINS, son of Andrew Jackson Adkins and Olevia Jane Ward, was born February 5, 1887, near Whitesboro, Grayson County, Texas. He moved to Marshall County, Oklahoma (Indian Territory) when a small child.

Roscoe married Pearl Jessie Lathem in Chattanooga, Comanche County, Oklahoma, April 8, 1909. Their daughter, Ora (later changed to Oreaka by Ora herself) Lillian Adkins was born January 17, 1910, in Chattanooga, Oklahoma.

It is believed that Roscoe married Ala (Allie)F. Johnston about 1911. They had one son, Glenn F. Adkins, who was born in 1912 and died in 1982.

It is believed Roscoe married Kathleen Simpson about 1916-1917. They were the parents of two sons: Bill Simpson Adkins, 1917-2003, and Jesse Earl Adkins, 1920-1987. Roscoe Adkins lived in South America and/or Mexico for about 8-10 years, between 1920-1928; he was out of touch with his family for most of that period of time.

Roscoe met Izora Mabel Lewis about 1928. Mabel was a buyer for a clothing store when she met Roscoe Adkins, who was an advertising salesman, doing business with the store. One family story is that the store was owned by the Lewis family. Mabel's family objected to her association with Roscoe Adkins and threatened to disown her if she continued her relationship with him. There is no evidence of any contact with her birth family after she left with Roscoe. Earl R. W. and Mabel I.M. Adkins were listed in the 1930 census of Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, with their son Billy Earl (Billy Earl Adkins was born 1928 in Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas). According to the 1930 census, Roscoe and Mabel had been married about 2 years. In January of 1931, they were in Harlingen, Cameron County, Texas, where their daughter, Mabel Christine, was born. Patricia (Patsy/Patty) Lorraine was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in March of 1933 and Louis Delano ‘Dale' Adkins was born in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, in November of 1934. Roscoe's job as an advertising salesman kept the family moving. Mabel died of hepatitis on November 2, 1935, in St. Paul's Hospital in Dallas, Texas, leaving her husband and four small children. She was buried the next day in the Dallas City Cemetery, Dallas County, Texas. Unable to care for their four children, Roscoe placed them in St. Joseph's Orphanage in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Eulala Alma McDonald was Roscoe's fifth wife. She was a school teacher. They were married in Oklahoma County OK on June 28, 1941 and they were divorced when Roscoe died in 1966. There was no issue of this marriage. Eulala Adkins died in 1981 in Hillhaven Hospital, Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas. She was a resident of Portland, San Patricio County, TX at the time of her death.

Roscoe died in a Whitesboro, Grayson County TX nursing home, July 3, 1966. He was buried in Willis Cemetery, Marshall County, Oklahoma, with his parents.


NOTE: Family Bible of Andrew Jackson and Olevia Jane Adkins listed his name as Roscoe N. Adkins. His brother, Ben F. Adkins, and sisters, Bessie Adkins Blakely and Nora Adkins Anderson, said his middle name was Norway. He may have added an initial of "W" to his name, as most later records list him that way. He also went by the name of "Earl." The Texas Online Birth Record for his son, Billy Earl Adkins, listed Roscoe as "Billy Earl Adkins, Sr." He was known to have used several different names at times during his life.