By Caroline Clemmons
No matter where we
live, most of us admire strong women whose accomplishments shaped history.
Since I live in Texas, many of the women I admire were or are Texans. One of
these is preservationist Adina Emilia De Zavala.
Adina
was the eldest of six children born to of Julia (Tyrell) and Augustine De
Zavala on November 28, 1861. She was the granddaughter of Lorenzo De
Zavala, first Vice President of the Republic of Texas. The family lived at
Galveston before moving to a ranch near San Antonio about 1873. Adina attended
Ursuline Academy at Galveston from 1871 to 1873, was enrolled at Sam
Houston Normal Institute at Huntsville in 1879, from which she graduated in
1881, and later attended a school of music in Missouri. She taught school at
Terrell from 1884 to 1886 and later in San Antonio.
About 1889 she and other San Antonio women met to discuss Texas and its heroes. This group became one of the first societies composed of women organized for patriotic purposes in the state. In 1893 members of this society became affiliated with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. One of Miss Zavala's greatest contributions to Texas was the preservation of a portion of the old San Antonio de Valero Mission, better known as the Alamo.
The
state had purchased the chapel of the Alamo from the Catholic Church in
1883, but in 1886 Hugo and Schmeltzer Company, a wholesale grocery firm, bought
the Alamo mission convent, also known as the monastery, long barracks, or
fortress. The long barracks was the scene of the major resistance by Alamo
defenders against the Mexican forces headed by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in
1836. As early as 1892, before her historical group affiliated with the DRT,
Adina De Zavala extracted a verbal promise from the grocery firm to give her
chapter first chance at buying the property.
A
grocery wholesaler was interested in a portion of the Alamo grounds and Adina
De Zavala was determined to keep it from falling into corporate hands. In a
last ditch effort, Adina attempted to meet with the proprietors of the Menger
Hotel in downtown San Antonio. They were out of town, but the hotel personnel
informed her that Miss Clara Driscoll was a guest at the hotel. Clara Driscoll
was a dedicated preservationist and took an interest in Adina’s crusade. Clara
Driscoll used her personal money to purchase the Alamo. Both ladies worked
tirelessly to preserve historical sites around the state, but are remembered
most for their role of saving the Alamo. Although it is Clara Driscoll
who retains the title “Savior of the Alamo,” it was the work of both she and
Adina De Zavala that kept the Alamo from being razed.
Clara
Driscoll and others in the DRT expressed desires to destroy the dilapidated
Hugo and Schmeltzer building in the mistaken belief that it was erected after
the 1836 battle. Adina De Zavala led the opposition in a resolute and voluble stand
against any such move and was instrumental in the preservation of portions of
the original wall of the convent. She barricaded herself inside the north
barrack of the Alamo for three days without food or water in February 1908 to
protest its destruction. She believed that this section of the mission had more
historical value than the Alamo chapel. She and the DRT renewed the feud over
historical questions revolving around the Alamo at intervals, and time has
proved that Adina De Zavala was correct in most of her historical contentions
concerning the mission.
In 1912 she organized the Texas Historical and Landmarks Association, which placed thirty-eight markers at historic sites in Texas. She probably did more than any other one person in stirring interest in the preservation of the Spanish Governor’s Palace in San Antonio, which was finally purchased in 1928 by the city and restored. In the 1930s she helped establish the location near Crockett of sites of the first two missions established in Texas by the Spanish.
In
1923 Governor Pat Neff appointed her to the Texas Historical Board,
and she was one of the original members of the Committee of One Hundred appointed
to plan for a state centennial. She also served on the advisory board of the
Texas Centennial Committee. She was a charter member of the Texas State
Historical Association and a member of the executive council of that body
beginning in 1919. In 1945 she was elected an honorary life fellow of the
association.
Adina De Zavala was a member of many organizations. She was the author of a book, History and Legends of the Alamo and Other Missions in and Around San Antonio in 1917. She wrote pamphlets, including The Story of the Siege and Fall of the Alamo: A Résumé in 1911 and was a contributor to the Handbook of Texas in 1952.
Adina
De Zavala made certain we would "Remember the Alamo". She died on March 1, 1955, and was buried
at St. Mary's Cemetery in San Antonio.
