1966 :: Mrs. Alma Lewis Dies Friday at Local Hospital

Mrs. Alma Lewis, 81, daughter of one of the first early-day residents of Rockdale, died at 1:35 p.m. Friday in Richards Hospital. She had been in failing health the past three months and in the hospital four weeks.

Funeral services were held Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Phillips & Luckey Chapel with burial in Oak Lawn Cemetery. The Rev. D.D. Simpson and the Rev. Allen Cearley, Baptist ministers of Rockdale and Milano, officiated. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Rockdale.

Born in Rockdale on Feb. 9, 1885, she was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Scott, both deceased. She was one of 12 children. Her father, a photographer, was a passenger on the first train that came to Rockdale when the railroad extended its line this far west. He was one of the first city councilmen in Rockdale.

She and Valdie Lewis were married here in 1902 and six children were born to them, an infant preceding her in death. Her husband died Oct. 3, 1947.

Survivors include a son, C.D. Lewis of Lufkin; four daughters, Mrs. E.A. Tucker of Houston, Mrs. V.B. Douglas of Los Angeles, Mrs. Alvie Blackmon of Milano, and Mrs. D.E. Taylor of Milano; two sisters, Mrs. Sue Hill of Longview and Mrs. Billie Neal of Longview; nine grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and one great great grandchild.

Pallbearers were Gordon Mason, Holice Mason, Arnold Mason, Wayne Tucker, Michael Johnson, and Charlie Tucker. Rockdale Reporter and Messenger, December 08, 1966

1874 :: News from Rockdale

Milam County. -- The Messenger says : "The claim of Jesse Stancel, as attorney in fact for Media Thompson, to the William Allen survey, upon which the greater portion of Rockdale is situated, is spurious and illegal. 

We have fully investigated the matter and find that the International Railroad Company has a perfect chain of title to the land in question, and deem it our duty to warn the public against this unjust, unwarranted and shameless resort of these unprincipled land sharks, to deprive them of their legally acquired rights and property. There is not the slightest cause for alarm, and no one, unless sadly demented, would either make or accept an offer of compromise." 

The writer is not half so emphatic about the "Jesse" as was J.B. Simpson when he wrote of him. . . . A snake, nicely coiled in one of the cases of the Messenger office, and which had been out of use for several days, was discovered by one of the compositors, who was looking for a certain style of letter. The reptile immediately died a violent death. Galveston Daily News, July 7, 1874