1916 :: Death of Mrs. M.J. Orr

Mrs. M.J. Orr died at the residence of her son-in-law, H.D. Brodnax, on Brushy Creek, last Tuesday morning at 11 o'clock, after an illness of several weeks. Decedent was eighty years old, and was one of the pioneers of this section, and a much-loved Mother-in-Israel who passing will be sincerely mourned by a wide circle of true friends. The funeral was held at the Odd Fellows cemetery in Rockdale at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Rev. H.B. Smith, pastor of the Methodist church, officiating. The Reporter joins in expressions of sympathy to those bereaved. The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger, Thursday, May 18, 1916

1930 :: J.J. Hairston Dies

Rockdale, Texas, June 11. -- J.J. Hairston, 82, died at his home in this city Monday. Mr. Hairston was a pioneer citizen of Milam County and Rockdale. He was engaged in the cattle business for many years but retired several years ago on account of declining health. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. J.J. Hairston, and the following children: Commissioner R.A. Hairston of this precinct, Miss Martha Hairston, Mrs. R.L. Orr of Rockdale, Mrs. George A. Marsch and Miss Alma Hairston of Shreveport, La. A granddaughter, Mrs. James Lanning of Rockdale and a grandson, Kenton K. Hairston of Denver, Colo., who were reared by the grandparents, and Postmaster H.H. Turner and other grandchildren of Rockdale and over the State survive him also. Funeral services were held Tuesday. Dallas Morning News, June 12, 1930

1997 :: Homecoming's Deep Roots

Rockdale Reporter, Thursday, June 5, 1997. Homecoming's Deep Roots Traced to '33-'34 Gatherings. 

Rockdale's annual homecoming . . . has some mighty deep roots. Franklin D. Roosevelt had been in office less than three months and not too many people outside Germany had even heard of a fellow named Hitler when the Rockdale Home Coming (that's the way it was chartered) Association was formed on a sunny Sunday in 1933. . . .

Rockdale's annual homecomings are the brainchild of Ira Perry, a rancher and former Rockdale resident who settled in the Pipe Creek area of Bandera County but never lost contact with Milam County. Under Perry's guidance, a small group gathered at Fair Park in June 1933, for the first homecoming.

They elected officers and planned a 'full-fledged' homecoming the next year. That's the meeting where it was decided to hold the annual homecoming on the second Sunday of June. Marion Burck Smith of Austin was named the first association president with Mrs. C.M. Sessions of Rockdale vice-president, Perry as secretary, and Mrs. D.H. Sanford of Rockdale and Mrs. W.A. Morrison of Cameron as historians.

The Rockdale Reporter termed the 1933 gathering "a rather impromptu affair" but had praise for Perry. "The fact that he was named to the key position of the organization is a guarantee that the next annual meeting will be largely attended," John Esten Cooke, Reporter editor, wrote.

FIRST TRAIN. Rockdale roots don't come much deeper than those of Mrs. Smith, first homecoming association president. She was the daughter of A.A. Burck, Rockdale's first mayor. Burck brought his family to Rockdale on the first International & Great Northern (I&GN) train that chugged into the new town in 1874. Rockdale's official founding is traced to that year, when the bustling new community was the railroad's western terminus.

Mayor E.A. Camp called the first homecoming to order and delivered a speech. "An hour or two was then spent in general conversation and the relating of reminiscences of the 'good old days.' Miss Polly Smith of Austin, the attractive daughter of the president, and an expert photographer, took several pictures of the group." In addition to Rockdale, Cameron, Austin and Pipe Creek, the first homecoming drew participants from Dallas, Rocksprings, Taylor, Palestine, San Antonio, Bastrop and Houston.

MOMENTUM. Perry began the next day to seek addresses of "all former Rockdale citizens" for the next event. Having decided to hold each reunion on the second Sunday in June, the new association used an interesting 1934 calendar and scheduled the next homecoming for June 3.

Nevertheless, over 60 persons participated including E.H. and W.A. Richardson of Dallas, sons of Rockdale's first lumber dealer, and C.G. Green of Hamlin, Rockdale school superintendent for almost two decades. City Secretary Branch Lewis, R.L. Orr and Mayor Camp helped organize the meeting. 

Names of those attending form almost a litany of Rockdale history and include Marrs, Isaacs, Sessions, Baxter, Phillips, Bullock, Williams, Baggerly, Mundine, Porter, Henry, York, Wallace and, as the Reporter noted, "probably others who failed to register."

The 1933 and 1934 meetings provided the momentum for all future homecomings. . . .

1897 :: Death of V.B. Orr

Dallas Morning News. Veteran Crosses Over. Was Member of Jeff Davis' Regiment in the Mexican War. 

Rockdale, Tex., Nov. 28. -- Mr. V.B. Orr died at his residence in this city yesterday evening at the age of 71 years. Deceased was a veteran of both the Mexican and confederate wars, having served through the Mexican war in in Jeff Davis' Mississippi regiment and in the confederate war in Col. H.L. Muldrow's regiment in the western army. He emigrated to Texas from Tuxilo, Miss., in 1882 and settled in Rockdale, which place he made his home up to the time of his death. He leaves a large family connection and a host of friends in this county. He was an honored member of the Knights of Honor and will be buried with the ceremonies of that society.

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.