1929 :: Death of young Preston Perry

Rockdale, March 20. -- Preston Perry, only child of Ed Perry of the Salty community, was accidentally killed last Tuesday by the discharge of a .22 calibre rifle in the hands of his playmate, Alvin Duett, aged 10 years. Duett had gone to the Perry home to spend the night. In the afternoon, the Perry boy handed Duett the rifle, telling him to shoot the rabbit in the thicket nearby, he having gone ahead to direct the way, when the gun was discharged, taking off the back of Perry's head. He was rushed to Taylor sanitarium but died before an operation could be performed. Waco News-Tribune, March 21, 1929 

1898 :: Death of Elder W T H Beezley

Rockdale, Tex., Oct. 14. -- Elder W.T.H. Begely [sic, i.e., Beezley] died in this city on Wednesday, Oct. 13, in his 76th year. He had been a minister of the Baptist denomination for forty-two years, and for all that time had preached the gospel in Milam, Burleson and adjoining counties. He was one of the pioneer preachers of this county, having settled here in 1848, when the buffalo were plentiful here as jack rabbits are now. He was widely known throughout central Texas for his sterling qualities and his uncompromising religious faith.


There never was a time in his ministry that he would not have gone to the stake rather than compromise one tenet of his faith. He was an ex-confederate soldier, having served through that war in Greene's brigade. After the war ended he with a colony of others went to Brazil to escape the reconstruction regime of the federal government. He was not pleased with that country and returned to his old home in Milam county at the end of four years. He leaves a widow and one son and an adopted daughter. His son lives in Temple, Tex., and his adopted daughter, Mrs. J.M. Alexander, lives in Rockdale. Dallas Morning News, October 15, 1898