ANDREW JACKSON ADKINS, son of Bennett Adkins and Lucinda Wilson, was born November 03, 1849 in Bennettsville, Clark County, Indiana. He and Olevia Jane Ward was married December 25, 1870 at Birds Mill, Clark County, Indiana.

Andrew and Olevia Jane grew up in the southern part of Indiana, north of the Wabash River and Louisville, Kentucky. In the summer of 1876, Andrew and Olevia Adkins banded together with relatives and friends to begin their move to the western lands. By now they had two children, Lula and Bert. Following the east bank of the Mississippi River to the area near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the group crossed the river into Arkansas and moved westward into North Texas. After a long journey, the group stopped in the eastern part of Grayson County, Texas, where Andrew Jackson and Olevia Jane established a home at Nance Prairie. They farmed there for several years. Four more children were born during this time. They were Charlie, Ben, Claudie, and Roscoe.

On December 8, 1888, the family moved from Texas to Indian Territory. When they crossed the Red River at Lark, their wagon became stuck in the mud on the north side of the river. A man named Amos Kaney, who lived near the river, came to their assistance and pulled them out of the mud. This chance meeting proved to be valuable for both Adkins and Kaney. Adkins was looking for land to farm and since all land belonged to the Indian Nation, it could only be leased or rented from an Indian. Kaney, a full-blood, wealthy Indian leader and landowner in the southern part of what is now Marshall County, could control as much land as he could cultivate, so the two men soon came to an agreement. Adkins leased land southeast of Kingston, belonging to Kaney, and turned the land into a productive farm. Two more children were born during this time, Bessie and Nora.

There were very few white settlers in the Indian area when the Adkins family first came to Kingston, and there were no stores in the area to buy necessities. The Adkins family went to Pottsboro about twice a year to buy groceries and other supplies. Of course, most of their food was homegrown.

After a few years, Andrew Jackson built and operated a cotton gin in the community of Amos (now Enos), Marshall County, Indian Territory, (now Oklahoma). The gin was built near the area where the Enos Baptist Church is now located. After two seasons of operation, it was destroyed by fire. Andrew Adkins then built another cotton gin one-quarter mile south of the present Enos Baptist Church, in Enos, Oklahoma. He operated the gin for eight years before it was destroyed in 1900 by an explosion of the steam boiler that supplied power to operate the gin equipment. Andrew Jackson Adkins died six days later (November 14, 1900) of injuries received in that explosion.

He is buried in the Willis Cemetery, Marshall County, Oklahoma. The cemetery where he was buried was relocated when Lake Texoma was built, as the original cemetery location is now under the lake. A group of grave movers were hired to move the cemetery. The tombstone on the grave site of Andrew Jackson Anderson was moved to the new location, in what is now the Willis Cemetery, about a mile north of the the Roosevelt Bridge (Willis Bridge), spanning Lake Texoma. His widow was buried there also in 1948.

Descendants of Andrew Jackson and Olevia Jane (Ward) Adkins have gathered annually for a family reunion for many years. They were the parents of eight children: (1) Lucinda Mariah "Lula" Adkins Baker, 1871-1900 (Find-A-Grave Memorial 104671315); James Elburtas "Bert" Adkins, 1874-1951 (Find-A-Grave Memorial 104830019); Charles William Adkins, 1878-1962 (Find-A-Grave Memorial 103521583); Bennett Franklin Adkins, 1882-1960 (Find-A-Grave Memorial 24295998); Claudia May Adkins Locke, 1884-1933 (Find-A-Grave Memorial 21129801; Roscoe Norway "Earl W." Adkins, 1887-1966 (Find-A-Grave Memorial 104673567); Bessie Irl Adkins Blakely, 1890-1986 (Find-A-Grave Memorial 21282826; and Nora Sylvestia Adkins Anderson (Find-A-Grave Memorial 21170679).