Looscan, Adele Briscoe, 1848-1935

The Adele Looscan Texana Collection was derived from documents located in the Adele Briscoe Looscan Collection which could not be directly related to a specific group of records. The previous arrangement of the original collection, chronological without regard to creator or series, destroyed any provenance which may have indicated the original order of the documents. The Adele Looscan Texana Collection holds documents with no identifiable relationship to members of the Harris-Briscoe-Looscan families.

From the guide to the Adele Looscan Texana collection MC059. 50121323., 1826-1928, (Albert and Ethel Herzstein Library, )

From the description of Adele Looscan Texana collection, 1826-1928. (San Jacinto Museum of History). WorldCat record id: 50121323

Adele Lubbock Briscoe, the fifth child of Andrew and Mary Jane Harris Briscoe, was born February 5, 1848, in Harrisburg, Texas. She founded the Ladies' Reading Club, and was a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Houston Pen Women, the Texas Woman's Press Assoc., and the Texas State Historical Assoc. (president 1915-1925.) She helped organize the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Adele began to publish articles in the 1880s under the name "Texan." In 1881 she married Michael Looscan, who died in 1897. She died in 1935.

From the description of Adele Briscoe Looscan papers, 1633-1935, (bulk 1881-1920). (San Jacinto Museum of History). WorldCat record id: 50151388

Adele Lubbock Briscoe Looscan, the fifth child of Andrew Briscoe and Mary Jane Harris Briscoe was born on February 5, 1848, in Harrisburg, Texas. When only 20 months old, her father died of yellow fever in New Orleans and the family moved to her grandfather Briscoe's plantation near Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi. Her mother returned to Texas in 1852 and Adele grew up in Anderson, Galveston, Harrisburg, and Houston. She graduated valedictorian from Miss Mary B. Brown's Young Ladies' School at Houston in 1866.

In 1885 Adele Looscan began her long career as a club woman when she founded the Ladies' Reading Club and became its first president. Devoted to the study of history and literature, the club was one of the first women's clubs in Texas. In 1891 she helped to organize the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) and served as historian and chairman of the executive committee for nine years. In 1907 during the annual meeting in Austin, the DRT split into two factions over the control of the Alamo. Adina De Zavala, Adele Looscan and the other women on the executive board were successfully sued by the DRT. Looscan continued to oppose the DRT's proposed use of the Alamo and her argument eventually won. She was also a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a charter member of the Houston Pen Women, the Texas Woman's Press Association, and the Texas State Historical Association. Looscan served as president of the TSHA from 1915-1925.

Looscan expressed her interest in history, genealogy, and travel in her writing. She began to publish articles in the 1880s in newspapers and magazines under the pseudonym Texan. She contributed three articles to Dudley G. Wooten's A Comprehensive History of Texas (1898) and wrote several articles for the Southwestern Historical Quarterly including Harris County, 1822-1845 much of which was drawn from original documents in her possession. In 1905 Looscan self-published a tribute to her mother: A Brief Sketch of the Life and Characteristics of Mrs. Mary Jane Briscoe: Showing the Estimation in Which She Was Held By Her Friends and the Public Generally.

In 1881 Adele Briscoe married Major Michael Looscan, a Houston attorney and Confederate veteran. They had no children. After her husband's death in 1897, she moved into her mother's home. After the death of Mary Jane Briscoe in 1903 and of her brothers Parmenas in 1906 and Andrew Birdsall in 1912, Looscan assumed a matriarchal role within her extended family. She assumed financial responsibility for an aunt of her husband's after his death and maintained a correspondence with his niece for 23 years. Looscan continued an active correspondence with her nieces and nephews and cousins well into her later years. She became an invalid in 1929 and died in 1935.

From the guide to the Adele Briscoe Looscan papers MC041. 50151388., 1633-1935, (Bulk: 1881-1920), (Albert and Ethel Herzstein Library, )