1918 :: Living in Gaither cottage

R.L. Scarbrough has sold his mercantile business at Hicks to J.S. Armstrong, late of Chilton, and has moved back to Rockdale and is living in the Gaither cottage just east of Mineral Park. Lee says he is going to have such a big crop this year he wont have time to sell goods. The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. [46], No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 4, 1918

1901 :: Death of Mrs. Katie Wise

Rockdale, Texas, November 15. -- Mrs. Katie Wise, wife of Arthur A. Wise, the latter a popular salesman in the employ of Scarbrough & Hicks here, died this morning at 5 o'clock of pneumonia. Deceased was a native of Georgia. She was a most excellent lady, and besides her husband, leaves four small children to mourn her loss. Houston Daily Post, November 17, 1901

1902 :: Death of George Wallis

Death - Geo. W. Wallis of Rockdale was taken with a severe hemorrhage last Friday evening and died in a very short while. He had been in ill health for a year or two. Burial was at the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. The Thorndale Thorn, May 23, 1902

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On the 16th of this month Geo. W. Wallis died at his home in Rockdale after months of declining health, the spark of life gradually becoming extinct. Deceased was 41 years of age and was born at Mountain Home, Arkansas. He came from that state to Texas and settled at Rockdale in 1884. For a number of years he held a position as salesman with the large mercantile house of Scarbrough & Hicks, and in this capacity he formed an extended acquaintance and was held in the highest esteem by all. Fourteen years ago he married Miss Mattie Hale, who survives him. He severed his connection with Scarbrough & Hicks to engage in business for himself, embarking in the drug business. He was the senior member of the firm of Wallis & Giesecke and afterwards of the firm of Wallis & Hale. For a time he was sole proprietor of the business, but ill health forced him to abandon it entirely. He then engaged in the fire insurance business with his brother-in-law, G.M. Ryan, and was thus associated at the time of his death. He was for years a consistent member of the Baptist church, being zealous and active. He carried a number of life insurance policies and left his little family well provided for. We knew George Wallis almost during the entire life of his residence in this county, and admired his true nobility of character. He was always genial and happy and it was ever a pleasure to grasp his hand in friendship's greeting. We join a host of friends in extending condolence to his bereaved family. Cameron Herald, May 29, 1902

1899 :: Sons of Confederate Veterans

Appointed Sponsor-at-Large. Cameron, Tex., Sept. 30. -- Lieut. Gen. Brant H. Kirk, commanding the trans-Mississippi department of the United Sons of Confederate Veterans, has appointed Miss Alice Antony, daughter of ex-Congressman E.L. Antony, a sponsor-at-large to represent the entire west for the Sons of Confederate Veterans at their reunion to be held at Dallas Oct. 4. Miss Antony has selected Miss Imogene Hicks of Rockdale, Miss Margie Robinson of this city, Miss Sallie McCullough of Mooreville as maids of honor to attend the reunion with her. They will leave Monday for Dallas. Dallas Morning News, October 2, 1899

1942 :: Death of J.O. Newton

J.O. Newton, 67, Ex-Official, Dies. Rockdale, Texas, Feb. 1 (AP). -- J.O. Newton, 67, who was Adjutant General of Texas under the administration of Gov. Thomas Campbell, died early Sunday at his home here. He was in business in Rockdale. Since 1920 he had been connected with Scarbrough & Hicks Co., and was identified over a long period of years with numerous central Texas business enterprises. Funeral services will be held Monday. The wife and three sons, J. Boswell, C.T. and Carter Newton, are survivors. Newton died after a lengthy illness. Dallas Morning News, February 2, 1942. his findagrave memorial page

1925 :: Reporter looks back at 1888

The Rockdale Reporter. 1925. Old Paper Gives Account of Epochal Event in History of Rockdale. 37 Years Ago Mundine Hotel Burned in Rockdale. Through the kindness of Y.A. Gjedde the Reporter editor has been privileged to peruse a copy of the old Rockdale Messenger, published by Enoch Breeding, of date June 7, 1888, in which is printed an account of the burning of the Mundine Hotel in Rockdale. The fire occurred at 4:00 a.m. on Monday, June 4, 1888, and eleven people lost their lives in the flames, as follows:

• Isaac Crown, Rockdale business man
• Pemberton Pierce, a traveling man
• J.F. Brisco, wife and two children. Brisco was a barber and with his family was to have moved to Taylor the next day.
• Mrs. W.A. Brooks and four children. Mrs. Brooks is described in the story as being "a lady who had been a kind mother to all of us for lo, these many years, until we had all learned to love her."

Of the thirteen people sleeping in the hotel that night only two escaped, one being D.M. Oldham, a traveling man, who got out through an upstairs window, and Dr. Brooks, who was rescued by D. Sanford. The account of the fire is written in a somewhat flamboyant style, and the writer was evidently much agitated, the story being rather incoherent. It is not made plain just who Dr. Brooks was. His rescue and the account of the death of Mrs. Brooks and children are treated in separate paragraphs and no connection established between them. 

The style of the writer is entirely different from present-day newspaper style. The story gives little details of property loss, merely stating that the post office and store of T.B. Kemp were destroyed, and that an adjoining building owned by J.R. Rowland was damaged by the falling walls of the hotel. V.B. Orr, a jeweler, is mentioned as having sustained a heavy loss. The story closes with the following paragraph:

"If we have not told all this terrible story, let the conditions and circumstances under which we write suffice. There was only one of those who perished, but was an intimate and a friend of ours. The pen fails to transcribe the words we would write."

Other items contained in this copy of the Messenger, printed 37 years ago, included:

• an account of the marriage of Mr. C.A. Duffy to Miss Dedie Wilson. Mr. Duffy was described as the representative of the Missouri Glass Works, and Miss Wilson as one of Rockdale's most esteemed young ladies
• the death of a child of N.P. Crump
• the birth of boy babies in the homes of Luther Davis and T.J. Woody
• the removal of the post office to the Messenger building, "around the corner"
• the return from Wooten Wells of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Isaacs [findagrave]
• the visit of R.H. Hicks and G.B. Randle to Galveston
• the receipt by the editor of a 29-inch turnip and six Irish potatoes weighing near four pounds

A perusal of the advertisements showed that:

• bottle beer was for sale at the Rockdale Saloon at 5¢ a glass
• Hawkes' spectacles could be purchased at Douthit's drug store
• board and lodging could be had at J.H. Simmons, six miles south of town, at the rate of $10 per month or $3 per week by those who desired to stop there and drink the mineral water from the well on that place
• Wallace & Company handled lumber
• John G. Brown sold all kinds of good whiskey
• Isaacs & Lockett were dealers in general merchandise
• J.P. Heywood sold millinery and fancy goods
• T.B. Kemp dealt in dry goods and groceries
• Geo. W. Williams sold farm implements
• Wolf & Winterberg were house and sign painters

Another display ad on the front page announced the democratic ticket of Cleveland and Thurman, giving woodcut engravings of each. Among the professional cards were those of:

• Dr. E.W. Allen, dentist
• Dr. J.H. Wilson, physician
• Thos. A. Pope, physician
• Henderson, Henderson & Mcalla, attorneys
• A.G. Wilcox, attorney
• A.C. Walker, G.A. Trott, B.F. Lee, P.A. Horton and J.B. Stone, physicians

Advertising rates were quoted at one dollar per single column inch. (Present-day advertisers take notice.) T.B. Kemp's produce quotations were as follows:

• Butter 12½¢ per pound
• eggs 7¢ per dozen
• chickens, each 10¢ to 16¢
• turkeys, per dozen, $3 to $7
• hides, 3¢ to 5¢ per pound
• corn 60¢ per bushel
• sweet potatoes 40¢ per bushel
• pecans 5¢ pound
  
• J.H. Hill was mayor
• J.R. Arthur, city marshal
• Solon Joynes, R.H. Ames, J.G. Brown and Joe Lowenstein were aldermen
• H.C. Travers was postmaster
  
• Rev. J.H. Stribling pastor of Baptist church
• Rev. N.F. Law, pastor Methodist church
• Rev. T.C. Brittle, pastor Episcopal church
• Rev. W.E. Copeland, pastor Cumberland Presbyterian church

No less than nine separate and distinct lodge directories were given. The paper consisted of four pages of six columns each, and much of the inside space was devoted to politics, including a two-column interview with Harry Tracy on the subject of the Farmers Alliance.


The brittle and yellowed original of the above 1925 newspaper clipping belongs to Iola Avrett nee Christian of Rockdale.