1896 :: Death of J.E. Baumgarten

Dallas Morning News. Rockdale, Tex., Nov. 20. -- The dead body of J.E. Baumgarten, with the top of the head blown off and a shotgun beside the body, was found in his room this afternoon by the man's two motherless boys, 9 and 11 years of age. The aged father and two children had lived together and kept a small grocery store. Austin Weekly Statesman, November 26, 1896 

1915 :: Death of T.S. Bryant

Austin Statesman. Milano, Texas, June 28. -- T.S. Bryant, aged 60, unmarried, who has been residing with his sister for several years, committed suicide by hanging himself this evening in a barn. No cause known. -- Austin Statesman. Rockdale Reporter and Messenger, July 01, 1915

1882 :: Respect for H.P. Hale

Dallas Morning News. The Rockdale Messenger turns its column rules as a mark of respect for General H.P. Hale, of Rockdale, who died on the 28th of May. Austin Weekly Statesman, June 8, 1882

1884 :: Death of E. Ensheimer

Rockdale, April 29. -- I. Ensheimer, recently employed by A. Steinberg, of this place, but for some time out of employment, committed suicide this morning by an overdose of morphine. He left an open letter, on which was written: "Disappointment in man has brought me to the long sleep. Please bury me decently." Deceased was quiet and steady, and generally respected. Austin Weekly Statesman, May 1, 1884

1889 :: Witcher is made Postmaster

Washington, March 23. -- The president sent the following nominations to the senate to-day: . . . Also, a number of fourth-class postmasters; among them John C. Witcher, at Rockdale, Texas. . . . Austin Weekly Statesman, March 28, 1889

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John C. Witcher was made Postmaster as of the 26th of March. The Witcher family was prominent in the early days of the city. John C. Witcher located here in 1883 [sic?], as a contractor and builder. When the town was incorporated in June 1874, he was elected city marshal and served four years during which there were some turbulent times.

1874 :: Rockdale at Two Weeks of Age

. . . The new line has only been finished to Rockdale since the second day of February, and the company has not had time to complete the extensive stock yards which it is erecting; yet application has already been made by owners for the transportation of over 50,000 head of cattle. The yards, I understand, will be finished within the next week, when Rockdale must necessarily become a busy place and a great cattle centre. In fact, I see nothing to prevent its becoming one of the most important cities in the State. 

It has already, in its short two weeks' existence, become a lumber market for a region of 100 miles around. The International Road runs, through the heart of the great pineries of Eastern Texas and brings to this place about twenty car-loads of lumber a day. There are already three lumber yards here doing a thriving business. 

The people in this section have had heretofore nothing but oak lumber, which has cost them from $35 to $40 a thousand. Now, since the completion of the railway, they can get the best pine for $25. The result is that the planters are putting up elegant residences and abandoning the old log cabin of two rooms and a passage way between, in which they have spent their lives. 

The professional wagoners, who haul the cotton from the plantations, sometimes fifty miles, instead of returning empty handed, buy a load of lumber and sell it on the way back, thus doubling their income of the ante-railway time. This place must become a considerable lumber market, as well as a centre of supplies for the rich counties that lie northwest of here, there being no other railway point within their reach.

Rockdale is situated in Milam county, thirty-five miles west of the Brazos, and in the heart of the cotton region, known as the Brazos uplands, which average a bale to a bale and a half to the acre. It is in the most thickly settled portion of Central Texas, the famous lands and wealthy population of Bell county lying on the north, and whose market and outlet Rockdale must be. 

From 9 o'clock until noon to-day I counted 160 odd bales of cotton brought by wagons into the town and sold for shipment over the International and Great Northern to Galveston. And the town not two weeks old! 

The cotton planting interest of the region, which must make this a shipping point, will alone be sufficient to maintain a considerable city, leaving out the cattle and lumber handling, which must be its main business. 

I am not writing up a mushroom town. I am telling what I see as I go along; and I think I see another Denison, though I don't own any corner lots. When Texas becomes a great and populous State, as she must within the next few years, I am satisfied that Rockdale will be one of the big lettered names on her map. Enoch. Austin Weekly Statesman, March 19, 1874

1874 :: Death of Mrs. Dorcas Groce

The Rockdale Messenger announces the death of Mrs. Dorcas Groce, on the eighth instant, aged seventy-four years, five months and two days. Austin Weekly Statesman, November 19, 1874 

1874 :: Death of J E Featherston

The Milam Messenger has an account of the sudden death of Mr. J.E. Featherson, an agent of Glenny & Wagoner, live stock dealers, New Orleans. "He retired to his room Monday night, complaining of a slight indisposition from the effects of a disease of the heart, to which he was at times subjected. Early the next morning he was discovered in an unconscious and dying state, and died about 2 o'clock Monday evening. Austin Weekly Statesman, October 29, 1874