1917 :: Take a Dip in the Surf

GALVESTON and RETURN [to Rockdale] $3.95

The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger

(Rockdale, Tex.)

Vol. 45, No. 12, Ed. 1, Page 7

Thursday, May 24, 1917

 

1912 :: Bon Voyage

Mr. and Mrs. A. Wolf leave today for Galveston where they will take passage for Europe, their native states of Germany and Austria being their destination. They will remain abroad for several months. All of Milam wishes them bon voyage. Rockdale Reporter and Messenger, April 04, 1912

1850 :: The Census Taker

On this date in Milam County, Texas . . . the 21st day of October . . . in the year 1850 . . . T.J. Allen is acting as "the census taker" and is busy visiting residents of Milam County . . . this particular Mr. Allen just happens to be the third husband of Matilda Connell Allen Allen nee Roberts . . . who is an older sister of our Mahala . . . who is a 3rd great grandma to the Keeper of this Rockdale history blog . . . regarding the job of "the census taker" it has been written that . . . 

It was the first day of census,

and all through the land;

The pollster was ready,

a black book in hand.

He mounted his horse

for a long dusty ride;

His book and some quills

were tucked close by his side.

A long winding ride

down a road barely there;

Toward the smell of fresh bread

wafting up through the air.

As an enumerator for Milam County, one of the households Mr. Allen documented on this date contained the following family members . . .

Charlotte Dougherty 47

Lucinda Dougherty 3 [sic]

Elijah Goodnight 17 [sic]

Elizabeth Goodnight 16

Charles Goodnight 14

Cyntha Goodnight 12

The woman was tired,

with lines on her face;

And wisps of brown hair

she tucked back into place.

She gave him some water

as they sat at the table;

And she answered his questions

the best she was able.

He asked of her children

Yes, she had quite a few;

The oldest just turned nineteen,

the youngest is still two.

He noted the sex,

the colour, the age.

The marks from the quill

soon filled up the page.

They came from Illinois,

of that she was clear;

But she wasn't quite sure

just how long they'd been here.

They spoke of employment,

of schooling and such;

They could read some and write some,

though really not much.

When the questions were answered,

his job there was done;

So he mounted his horse

and he rode back toward home.

We can only imagine

his voice loud and clear -

"May God Bless you all

for another ten years."

As it turned out, by the time the next census is taken (1860), T.J. Allen has died of yellow fever while working as editor for The Galveston Journal . . . most of the members of this branch of the Goodnight and Daugherty family have moved on to other parts of Texas . . . and the above mentioned "Charlie Goodnight" has been a member of the Texas Rangers (1857) . . . 

Before another census comes around in 1870, Charlie has been involved in a near state-wide round-up of feral Texas longhorn cattle that have been roaming free during the years of the war between the states . . . he has invented the "chuck wagon" . . . 

and he has used that early version of a "food truck" when he and Oliver Loving drove their first herd of cattle northward out of Texas along what would become known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail (1866) . . . 

Now picture a time warp -

it's now you and me;

As we search for the people

on our family tree.

We squint at the census

and scroll down so slow;

As we search for that entry

from long, long ago.

Could they only imagine

on that long ago day;

That the entries they made

would effect us this way?

If they knew, would they wonder

at the yearning we feel;

And the searching that makes them

so increasingly real.

We can hear if we listen

the words they impart;

Through their blood in our veins

and their voices in our heart.

Slightly adapted

from

original poem

by

Darlene Stevens

P.S. . . . as an additional tidbit . . . on this date in the year 1899 . . . Noah Smithwick dies in California . . . but back in 1850 he was also living in Milam County, Texas . . . and on the 11th day of September in that year, he was also enumerated by T.J. Allen . . . this Noah Smithwick is the author of Recollections of Old Texas Days . . .

1960 :: Galveston Accident

Walter Davenport, a Galveston ambulance driver, answered an accident call and recognized one of the dying victims as his own daughter. While pulling the two victims from the wreckage of their automobile, Davenport suddenly cried, "Good Lord, that's my daughter." 

The girl, Elizabeth Sue Davenport, 17, and her escort, Edgar Lee Henry, 20, both died at a hospital several hours after the two-car collision at an intersection. Henry's family lives in Rockdale, Texas, but he had been living in Galveston for some time. 

Driver of the other car involved in the wreck was indentified as J.... T P.... of Houston. Police said skid marks indicated Price ran a stop sign. He was charged with two counts of neglicent homicide and one of failure to yield right-of-way. 

Davenport, after finding his daughter and her companion in their wrecked car, continued with his work, placing them in his ambulance and taking them to the hospital. El Paso Herald-Post, Courier Gazette, Pampa Daily News, June 6, 1960

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

1900 :: Travers Deaths in Galveston Hurricane

The person identified in the following 1900 report as "Sister H.C. Travers" . . . aka Sheldon H. "Della" Raby . . . was the wife of Herndon C. Travers, who was postmaster in Rockdale in the 1880s . . . a Baby Boy Travers is buried at the Old City Cemetery in Rockdale . . . he is their son . . . 





Advent Review and Sabbath Herald
Battle Creek, Mich.
November 13, 1900

"When Galveston is mentioned, the minds of the Review readers will instantly revert to the awful destruction brought upon our Texas coast by the great hurricane of September 8. . . . The storm was terrific here at Houston . . . The storm was much harder east and south of here, seeming to center about Galveston. It is impossible to describe the destruction brought upon that city by the wind and waves.

The results of the storm are horrifying in the extreme. Nine of our people perished in Galveston. Their names are as follows: Sister H.C. Travers and little boy . . . We deeply mourn the loss of these dear sisters and these little lambs, but we hope to meet them again when the sea gives up her dead. . . .

Being very anxious about our people in Galveston, I went there as soon as the strict martial law would admit me into the city. On my journey I found that the prairie for twenty miles inland was covered with all kinds of valuable property and debris, interspersed with carcasses. The human bodies along the public route had been previously buried, though there were still hundreds on the prairie. Some were picked up even a month later. . . .

It is impossible to imagine the force of the waves. Think of railroads being swept from their beds, the rails being snapped and twisted as if they were cords! It would be useless for me to enter into details." Felix Conway.

1887 :: First Bale at Rockdale

Dallas Morning News, July 23, 1887. Rockdale, Tex., July 22. -- The first bale of new cotton came in last night. It weighed 532 pounds, classed strict middling and was purchased by A. Steinberg for straight $50 and was shipped to Galveston. This cotton was raised on the plantation of Dr. A.C. Isaacs, about five miles north of town, and the owner received an additional $50 as a bonus from the town. This bale is in ten days earlier than the first bale last season. The weather here has been intensely hot for some time and vegetation generally has suffered, but a msot refreshing shower fell this evening, cooling the atmosphere and laying the dust. Cotton is still looking well in this section, but this evening's rain north, south and east has doubtless helped it.

1899 :: Loewstein Travels

Joe Loewenstein, Jr., one of the most popular and worthy young men of Rockdale, left Monday for a pleasure and business trip to Houston, Galveston and New Orleans. Rockdale Messenger, March 16, 1899

1899 :: Visitors at Loewenstein Mansion

Marriage - Mrs. J. McKenzie of Galveston and her son, Donald McKenzie, were guests at the Loewenstein mansion this week. The lady was a friend of Mrs. Loewenstein’s in her girlhood days in Fayette county and attended the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Loewenstein some 28-years ago and the families have been warm friends ever since, so she and her son came up to attend the nuptials of Robert Loewenstein and Miss Bertie Loper. Donald McKinzie acting as best man in the ceremony. Rockdale Messenger, February 23, 1899