David Odem, Jr.: A Legacy of Leadership in San Patricio County (1857–1925)

David Odem, Jr., sheriff, farmer, rancher, banker, and businessman, was born near Gussettville (other sources state near Campbellton) in Live Oak County, Texas, on February 14, 1857. He was the son of David Odem and Elizabeth (Timon) O’Hara Odem. His father, a veteran of the battle of San Jacinto, died when he was three, and young Dave began working in the stockraising business as a boy. Elizabeth Odem remarried in 1861, to Matthew Goodwin. Young Odem was educated in private schools in Live Oak County. In 1874 he enlisted as a private in the Frontier Company for Nueces County and the Rio Grande country under Capt, Warren Wallace. Odem only served with company for three months, mainly in the pursuit of cattle rustlers and bandits. On October 2, 1878, he married Adeline Gertrude Gallagher. The couple had eight children: Elizabeth Mary, Hubert Edward, Margaret, David Charles, Carolina, James Francis, William Thomas, and Bryan Sylvester.

Around 1880, Odem moved with his family to San Patricio County and became involved in ranching. He was elected sheriff of San Patricio County on November 4, 1882, and served two terms until November 2, 1886, before refusing reelection. That year he sold his cattle and moved back to Live Oak County. In 1892 he returned to San Patricio County after ranching leaders and citizens there petitioned him to return and resume his duties as sheriff. He was reelected multiple times and served until November 3, 1914, serving as sheriff for a total of twenty-six years. Due to his lawman reputation, it was not uncommon after a crime was committed in San Patricio County for Sheriff Odem to issue letters or telegrams ordering the criminal’s peaceful surrender. More than 95 percent of Odem’s arrests were handled in this manner, and his conviction rate was unequalled. Odem also served San Patricio County as county tax assessor collector at various times during the 1890s and early 1900s.

In the early 1890s he became a partner in the Sinton Townsite Company, which laid out the town of Sinton in central San Patricio County. The Sinton Townsite Company was organized on April 23, 1894, to promote the development of the new railroad town of Sinton. The original incorporators were George W. Fulton, Jr.; L. N. Schofield; John J. Welder; Sidney G. Borden; S. W. McCall; David Odem; and Darius Rachal. Local merchant David Odem, one of the founders of the townsite company, established himself as a prominent landowner and businessman in Sinton. He purchased the Sinton general store of L. N. Schofield in 1901 and operated it until 1907, when it was chartered as a stock company under the name Sinton (Odem) Mercantile Company. Sheriff Odem was put on trial in October 1903, after the killing of Romaldo Rosales, but the sheriff was exonerated after the trial concluded the killing was in self-defense. In 1906 he became one of the principal stockholders in the newly-organized Sinton State Bank. In 1909 the Sinton State Bank Building, also known as the Odem Building, was built, and it would operate in this structure until it closed due to the Great Depression in 1934. In 1908 Odem and several others founded a newspaper, the San Patricio County News, which operated for three years; Odem served as president.

Over the years Odem acquired a large amount of land, some of it through sheriff sales. Near the railroad flag stop Dofin, a switch and siding in the southern part of the county, he had a 110-acre site platted as a townsite in 1909 with John James Welder and with the assistance of the Sinton Townsite Company. The town was named Odem after him. In October 1909, when President William Howard Taft visited the Taft Ranch in San Patricio, Odem and ten of his deputies served as a security detail under strict order that no one should disrupt the president. When former lieutenant governor Thomas Benton Wheeler arrived at the ranch, Sheriff Odem introduced him to Charles P. Taft, President Taft’s half-brother. In April 1911 David Odem and fellow Sinton resident, Eli J. Gardner, applied to the United States Patent Office for their “Grub-Plow,” which was granted Patent Number 1,000,507, on August 15. 1911. The “Grub-Plow” was “particularly adapted for grubbing and cutting out roots.” Odem was a colorful character, and there are many stories about his days as sheriff. Though he was known for not wearing a gun, he commanded the respect of county residents. Odem worked cases of forgery, livestock theft, murders, and robberies, but was also known for his long-standing opposition to the Ku Klux Klan. Odem was a faithful Democrat and Catholic and an active member in the Knights of Columbus in Beeville.

After the recent settlers, largely Protestant, in the county began to gain political power in county politics, Odem resigned his position as sheriff on November 3, 1914. In retirement, he managed various business ventures in both Live Oak and San Patricio counties. In 1918, during World War I, he was issued a commission as an unpaid Loyalty Ranger from May 31, 1918, to February 24, 1919. The Loyalty Rangers were recruited to watch their communities for anti-war sentiment during the last few months of World War I. He was president of Sinton State Bank in 1918 and also served in that office in Odem State Bank and had interest in State National Bank of Corpus Christi.

David Odem, Jr., died at sixty-eight years old on November 10, 1925, at Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio after an operation. His body was shipped to Corpus Christi and was buried at a cemetery at Hubert’s Switch on Odem’s ranch. Hubert’s Switch was named for his son Hubert Odem. After some of Odem’s ranchlands were sold outside the family, David and Adeline Gallagher Odem were reinterred at Rose Hill Memorial Park in Corpus Christi on November 11, 1942. The city of Sinton honored the Odems by naming David and Adeline streets for them as well as the Dave Odem Learning Center.