1936 :: Re-interrment of Major Sterling C. Robertson

The remains of Major Sterling C. Robertson, founder of the Robertson Colony, the first settlement in Milam County and known as Old Nashville, were recently disinterred from the old cemetery at that point and on last Saturday were re-interred in the State Cemetery at Austin with appropriate honors. . . . The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 2, 1936 Page: 1 of 12 [near bottom of left column]

1916 :: Mrs. Ferguson to State Asylum

Sheriff Allen Hooks was here yesterday morning on his way to Austin with Mrs. Ferguson from the southern portion of the county. The unfortunate lady had been declared of unsound mind and Mr. Hooks was taking her to the state asylum at Austin. The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 12, 1916 Page: 7 of 8 

1916 :: Just following the flag

"Just following the flag," was suggested at the sight of one 87-year-old ex-slave, Alfred Booker, who in hickory shirt and overalls voluntarilly brought up the rear carrying an American flag. He sawed the postoak block that supported the first raw-hide house in Rockdale, and drilled by hand out of Granite Mountain the 24-foot columns that support the state capitol. The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 6, 1916 

1943 :: Death of Nellie Clement

Funeral services for Mrs. W.K. Clement were held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Salty with burial in the Clement burial plot near Thorndale. Mrs. Clement was the daughter of the late Judge W.L. Davidson and widow of the late W.K. Clement, a pioneer lawyer in Milam county, and a member of the law firm of Clement, Garnet & Clement in Rockdale. Mrs. Clement died suddenly at her home in Austin. She was 71 years of age. Services were held in Austin on Monday. Cameron Herald, February 11, 1943

1915 :: Thanksgiving Day

Today is being generally observed in Rockdale as a holiday. Practically all the stores are closed and business suspended for the day. Union religious services were held this morning at the Christian church, Rev. B.B. Blaylock delivering the Thanksgiving sermon. Many are spending the day out of town, and many others are enjoying turkey with friends and relatives in Regal Rockdale. Quite a crowd went over to Austin, drawn by the big football game there between Texas U. and Notre Dame. The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 25, 1915 Page: 2 of 8 

 

1923 :: KKK in Rockdale

ROCKDALE, Texas, Sept. 3. -- There were 167 masked men in the Ku Klux Klan held here Saturday. The parade drew a large crowd and traffic officers were necessary to keep the parade line open. The best of order prevailed. There was a barbecue at Tourist Park. . . . A speaker from Austin who did not unmask addressed the crowd at the city fountain. The 167 marching klansmen were reported as being from Taylor, Bartlett, Cameron, Granger, Gause, Hearne, Thorndale, Austin, and towns between here and Austin. The Eagle, September 3, 1923

1881 :: Entertainment at Mundine Hotel

Dallas Morning News. Rockdale, August 13. -- Quite an enjoyable entertainment at the Mundine Hotel last night was given by the young gentlemen. Old Bender, Johnny Austin and old Burch seem to have migrated from Rockdale. A thanksgiving proclamation will probably be issued. Your correspondent does not know whether they went to Temple, Belton, or Valley Mills, or Cisco, but our loss has probably been the gain of some one of them. Weekly Democratic Statesman, Austin, Texas, August 18, 1881

1886 :: Lynching in Rockdale

Cameron, Tex., Jan. 22. -- Mr. Sam Ford, a respectable citizen of this county, was in Rockdale Wednesday afternoon trading. Returning home late in the evening, he took in his wagon a negro man named [Sidney] Brown*. During the journey the fiend, watching his opportunity, made an attack on Ford, shooting him through the head and beating him over the head with a pistol, knocking out his eye. Believing his victim to be dead, the negro robbed him and left him. Ford was not dead but lived long enough to get home and tell his family of the attack made on him by Brown. The negro was arrested and jailed at Rockdale yesterday morning. Last night a mob of indignant citizens quietly went to the lock-up, and securing the prisoner took him to the edge of town and hung him. This act of Judge Lynch relieves the courts of the time of dealing with this inhuman being. The Standard, Clarksville, Texas, January 29, 1886

*Keven McQueen wrote that . . . The press reported that Brown was "supposed to have been implicated in the Austin murders." We will never know to what extent Brown was involved in the Servant Girl killings, if at all . . . 

1874 :: Name derived from Rock Prairie

. . . After a pleasant run of three hours over one of the best railroads in the South, at 12 m. we arrive at our destination, the terminus, Rockdale. At first sight of the town the stranger is disappointed; but after a careful survey he is agreeably surprised to find such a live town in the woods. Sixty days ago this place was a post oak forest, and to-day it is a living town of seventy houses, two hotels, one livery stable, depothouse, six restaurants (so-called), one banking-house in contemplation, and stores of all descriptions. Like all terminal towns, the population is a floating one, and as high as two thousand people have been seen on the streets in one day. From good authority, the population of the town is about 1000 to 1500.


It is astonishing with what rapidity this town has sprung up. The first train reached this pace on the third of February last, and now there are four trains daily. The houses are built and [paper damaged] . . . good deal of cotton coming into town, and selling at low figures for want of competition. The lumber trade is an important feature here. There is a great demand for it, and I heard that lumber men have shipped to this point at the rate of . . . a day. There are already two or three brick houses here, . . . . The town derives its name, Rockdale, from Rock Prairie. It is desirably located on a hill. Town lots are the property of the railroad company, and are selling for from $50 to $300 each, and very rapidly, as many strangers are moving in. No postoffice is established as yet, but a petition for one has been sent on.


There is some talk of having a stage line from this point to Austin, a distance of fifty miles. Two newspapers are also spoken of, and there is a large schoolhouse to be completed soon. I find merchants establishing themselves here from Galveston, Bryan, Calvert, Hearne and Cameron. Our friend Dr. Conger, from Bryan, has opened a find stock of drugs here, and I predict will do well. I was pleased to find a desire to obtain the News here, and the citizens are a liberal-minded and reading community. Success attend their efforts at the flourishing town of Rockdale. Galveston Daily News, February 26, 1874

1932 :: Report of 1882 Bids for Capitol Lands

Dallas Herald, December 31, 1882. The bids for the Capitol lands were opened yesterday. Walter Scheill of Rock Island, Ill., offered to erect the building for 3,000,000 acres. A.A. Burck of Rockdale offered to build for 2,970,000 acres. Both bids were backed by syndicates. Fifty Years Ago. Dallas Morning News, December 31, 1932

1953 :: Polio Victim Buried

Mrs. Raymond Elliott, Polio Victim, Buried. Special to The News. Rockdale, Texas. -- Funeral services for Mrs. Raymond Elliott, 26, polio victim who died in an El Paso hospital, were held from Phillips & Luckey Chapel here, with burial in Oak Lawn Cemetery. Mrs. Elliott, the former Bertha Mae Seelke of Rockdale, was stricken two weeks ago while with her husband, Staff Sergeant Elliott, who is in the Air Force at Las Cruces, N.M. Besides her husband, she is survived by two small daughters, Marsha Carroll and Patricia Lee, and her mother, Mrs. Dora Hunt Seelke of Austin. Dallas Morning News, October 21, 1953

1899 :: News from Rockdale

Rockdale Messenger, May 4, 1899. B. Loewenstein, A. Wolf and Gus Backhaus went to Austin to attend the meeting of the grand lodge of the Sons of Hermann. . . . J.B. Hamilton, Joe Loewenstein, Jr. and C.K. Stribling left Tuesday for Paris, Texas, where they will attend the State Fireman’s convention as representatives of the Rockdale fire dept.

1874 :: Railroad Nearly Finished to Rockdale

Galveston Daily News. January 11, 1874. The grading on the International and Great Northern Extension, southwest from the Brazos River, is nearly finished to Rockdale, twenty-five miles from the river and thirty miles from Hearne, Texas. The temporary bridge over the Brazos is completed, and track-laying is being pushed forward rapidly. Rockdale is about fifty miles northeast of Austin.

1921 :: Funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Simms

Dallas Morning News. December 20, 1921. SIMMS. -- Rockdale, Texas. Dec. 19. -- The funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Simms, who died Saturday, was held at the family residence Sunday afternoon, with a large concourse of sorrowing friends and relatives in attendance. Funeral services were conducted by the Rev. E.D. Hamner of Austin, a former pastor, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Weaver, present pastor of the Christian Church, of which Mrs. Simms was a member. Mrs. Simms was married to E.C. Simms and moved to Milam County in 1899, living on a farm near Tracy, but later removing to Rockdale, where she has since resided. She was a daughter of J.A. Hargrove and was born near Chappell Hill, Washington County. She leaves seven children, all living, all of whom were present at the funeral. her findagrave page

1960 :: Death of Johnny Horton

Dallas Morning News. November 6, 1960. Singer Dies In 2-Car Collision. Milano, Texas. (AP) -- Singer Johnny Horton, 30, who became famous for his recording of "The Battle of New Orleans," died as two cars collided head-on here Saturday.

The accident on an overpass here in Central Texas also injured guitarist Gerald D. Tomlinson, 30, of Shreveport, La., reported in serious condition; Tilman Franks, 46, also of Shreveport, who was Horton's manager, and James E. Davis, 19, of Brady, a Texas A&M student who was alone in the other car.

The injured were taken to a Cameron hospital. Franks and Davis were believed to have escaped serious injury. A doctor said Tomlinson suffered compound fractures of both legs and might lose one of them.

Horton was at the wheel as he and his companions left Austin, where he filled an engagement Friday night. He was en route to Shreveport to discuss plans for a movie.

The singer, a former star of the national radio program "Louisiana Hayride," originating in Shreveport, had made his home in the Louisiana city the past eight years. He was born in Hollywood, but spent most of his early life in Rusk.

Horton was the husband of Mrs. Billie Jean Horton, who was the wife of Western singer Hank Williams until his death from a heart attack in 1953.

Other survivors are the couple's two small daughters, Zanina and Melody; his step-daughter, Jerry Lynn, and his mother, Mrs. John L. Horton of Rusk.

The funeral service will be held in Shreveport. Arrangements were incomplete.

• His Find-A-Grave Memorial Page
  
• His bio page at tshaonline.org
  
• The eerie demise of Johnny Horton by Clay Coppedge
  
• Honky Tonk Man by Archie P. McDonald

1932 :: Mrs. Mary L. Perry Is Buried at Austin

Mrs. Mary L. Perry Is Buried at Austin. From the Austin Bureau of The News. Austin, Texas, April 14. -- Funeral services were held Thursday for Mrs. Mary Lucinda Perry, 89. She was born in Starkville, Miss., April 7, 1843, and married to J.W. Perry Oct. 25, 1866. After her marrige she moved to Texas and settled at Lexington, Lee County, and later in Caldwell and Rockdale, where she lived for thirty-nine years. Fourteen years ago Mrs. Perry moved to Taylor, where she made her home with a daughter, and nine years ago she came to Austin. Surviving are six children, Ira Perry and Mrs. John Landis of San Antonio and E.H. Perry, Mrs. L.B. Baker, Mrs. E.E. Shropshire and Miss Rosalie Perry, all of Austin. Six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren also survive her. Dallas Morning News, April 15, 1932 

1944 :: Death of Elizabeth H. Sitman

Dallas Morning News. February 4, 1944. Mrs. Sitman, 88, Dies at Her Home. Mrs. Elizabeth H. Sitman, 88, a resident of Dallas for thirty years, died at her residence, 612 Sunset, Thursday following a brief illness. A native of Louisiana, she attended school there and lived at Rockdale, Milam County, and Austin before moving to Dallas. She was the wife of the late Joseph Sitman, cotton buyer. Christian Science services will be read Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Guardian Funeral Chapel. Burial will be at Hillcrest Memorial Park. Surviving are two daughters, Mrs. S. G. Bell and Mrs. Minnis M. Lasater, both of Dallas; five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. findagrave