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Page 10 text:
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History of Milam County City of Rockdale Rockdale Public School GllG tEDITORlS NOTE: The history of Rockdale and the Rockdale Public School, has been presented in as clear and true a manner as possible. This would have been impossible had it not been for the information furnished me by a few of the. pioneer settlers and friends who have been associated with the town since its early beginning. For co-operation in this work I am indebted to the following: Messrs. L. H. Porter and W. Hill Marshall, and Mesdames C. K. Stribling, R. H. Hicks, A. M. Dunnington, J. E. Longmoor, Lorena Kevil Bradley, J. L. Lanning. In the extensive history of Milam County all credit goes to Mrs. Hubert Dennis, a very efiicient history teacher of the Rockdale School, who is also Sponsor of the Annual. The history is gotten up entirely on research work of Mrs. Dennis in various Texas histories, assisted by information from Mrs. Jeff T. Kemp of CameroneVIRGINIA HALE, EditorJ
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Page 11 text:
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Milam To the eye Milam County presented the appearance of a vast stretch of undulating country, threaded at intervals by clear streams of running water All kinds of game, such as buffalo, deer. antelope, bear. wild hogs, and turkeys were there and divided almost equally between timberland and prairie. in abundance, while the climate was almost ideally perfect. It was the hunter's home. the pioneer's paradise, and the poet's dream of breathing beauty. The territory along the banks of the San Gabriel and the Brushy was occupied by various small tribes of Indians, probably akin to the East Texas tribes. The Spanish found them here and have given their names as the Mayeyes, the These names are found in Dr. H. E. Bolton's articles on the subject of the San Gabriel missions. Deadoses, the Yohuanes, Bidai, Cocos, Orcoquizas, and others. The impression one gains from studying the meagre sources of information on these tribes is that they were not of the semi-civilized, more stable type of Indian, but more or less of a wandering and restless nature. They spent their days hunting in the woods along the Gabriel, fishing in its waters or chasing buffalo on the slopes. In summer they feasted and in the winter they shivered and starved. In summer they often followed the buffalo north and west to the plains and here they came into conflict with their hereditary enemies, the Apaches. Periodically they organized themselves into raiding bands and went on the warpath with murderous intent in search of Apaches. Thus their lives were one long idyll of savage existence, in cycles of war, the chase, orgies of feasting, and religious festivals, until the arrival upon the distant horizon of an undreamed of menace to their peace of mind- the Spanish conquistadores. About 1714-1715 Spain became suddenly interested in settling Texas, for the French were settling on the Mississippi and Red Rivers, and were getting too close to the Spanish claims for Spain to rest comfortably. The first mention to be found of Spain in Milam County is in the reports of Captain Ramon. who told of crossing the San Andres tLittle Riverl on May 31, 1716, just above its confluence with the Brazos, and of naming another stream which emp- tied into it. the San Francisco Xavier. This name. Xavier, tpronounced Hav- yer' in Spanishl was corrupted into Gabriel, and the stream has since been known by this name. On one of Austin's early 08291 maps he names the stream the 'lSan Javriel. In 1720, Aguayo, a Spanish governor from San An- tonio, traversed Milam County and crossed Little River on June 12, after a delay of seventeen days on account of high water. In 1732, Bustillo, traveling from San Antonio on a campaign against the Apaches, reached Little River. also. In his party were one hundred and lifty-seven Spaniards, sixty Indians, one hundred and forty pack loads of supplies, and nine hundred horses. In 1744, Fray Francisco de los Dolores y Viana, a missionary from the Alamo, on tour in search of Indians, found a large village of them near the junction of the San Gabriel and Brushy Creek. He tried to coax them to join him and enter the mission at San Antonio, but they refused, promising, how- ever, to visit the Alamo at a later date. Soon four chiefs appeared in San An- tonio with a request that the priests establish a mission in this country. It was later found out that their real purpose in asking for a mission was to secure the aid of the Spanish and their guns against the Apaches. Father Ortiz was dis- patched to Mexico City to ask permission of the Viceroy to found the mission, and in 1746 permission was granted for the construction of three missions on the San Xavier. In 1748, thirty soldiers were sent to protect the priests, while in the meantime Dolores had, on his own initiative, established a mission on the Gabriel, the first foundation before Dec. 26, 1746. were carried out and two missions were added to this one the same year. The The viceroy's orders three were placed at some distance from each other along the Gabriel and were named San Francisco Xavier de Horcasitas. San Ildefonso, and Nuestra Senora de la Candelariafk In 1751 there were three hundred and forty-nine Indians in the three missions. These missions suffered heavily from the attacks of the Apaches, and in 1751 a fort was built and more soldiers sent to guard the tAttordinyz to Mr. L. H. Porter, San Xavier was on the Kolb place. lldefonso on the fork of Brushy and Gabriel. and Candelaria on the Porter farm. County settlement. Smallpox reduced the population. many Indians ran away to join a campaign against the Apaches, the priests and the officers at the fort quarreled, and finally friction produced a tragedy in 1752 that demoralized the whole organization of the missions. One of the priests was killed, probably by a soldier. and after three more years of struggle against overpowering odds. the missions were deserted tl7551 and left to decay and crumble. Time has erased them from the scene, for, like other missions of this part of Texas, they were constructed of logs and rotted away under the work of the elements. Traces of this settlement are still found scattered up and down the river, but nothing whole is left as a monument to the work of the faithful and unselfish Spanish padres. Some traces of a dam may be seen on Ditch Valley farm, faint marks of irrigation projects may be found, some stones used in the construction of the missions may be located, and even the bones of some of those connected with the missions have been unearthed. Many legends are related in connection with happenings in the vicinity, but we are interested in facts only in this account. Interest in settling Texas waned soon after, for France ceded Western Louisiana to Spain in 1762, and no further effort to inhabit Milam County was made by Spain. From 1755 to 1823 seems to be a blank in the history of Milam County. It is probable that during this time the country was visited at various times by other Spaniards or by the American filibusters of the period, but no authentic data are to be found of such occurrences. In 1823 a venturesome young American. who had spent some time in Mexico after its struggle for independence from Spain was over. and there had heard of Texas and its opportunities. decided to visit the land; so, in his home town, Nashville, Tennessee, he organized a company to explore the wild country. Sterling C. Robertson, the son of a wealthy planter, was born in Nashville, October 2, 1785, and was reared there. He was a well-educated young man and had served as a major in the War of 1812. The company from Nashville reached the Brazos in 1823 and formed a camp at the mouth of Little River. From this headquarters they spent several months hunting, hshing, and exploring the adjacent territory, and, during the time, Robertson visited Austin's colonies and others. gathering information with the idea of obtaining a grant of land and bringing in families from Nashville and Tennessee. Upon his return home, he arranged to purchase a contract tdated April 25, 18251 with the Mexican government that had been made by Robert Leftwich, for the settlement of eight hundred families on the Brazos, Little River, and the San Gabriel. The contract gave him six years to settle the eight hundred families. Late in 1829, at his own expense, Robertson introduced one hundred families into Texas; but they were held up at Nacogdoches by the Mexican military authorities, who had received false reports in regard to Colonel Robertson and his colonists. It was not until 1830 that the Nashville Company reached the Brazos, and this only after having led the authorities to believe that they were going to join one of Austin's colonies. It was not until April 29. 1834. that Robertson finally cleared up the matter with the govern- ment in Mexico and the contract reinstated. 1n the summer of 1834 Robertson made his headquarters on the west bluff of the Brazos, tfwe miles from Marlinl near the falls. and laid out a town called Sarahville de Viesca. There was a ford on the river at this point, which. in part, accounts for this choice of a site. The name Viesca was in honor of the Spanish governor of the time. Alexander Thompson, Robertson's right-hand man. established another settle- ment down the river as a distributing point for settlers This site was on the west bluff of the Brazos just below the junction of the Little River and the A fort of cedar logs was constructed and business was transacted here and records pre- Brazos t'near Hearnel. The place was known as Fort Nashville. served. Nashville later became the most important settlement in the colony and the capitol. Also. when a discussion arose in the time of the Republic over the selection of a permanent capital for Texas. Nashville came within a few votes of winning the honor. The 111'SE land ofhce was opened about October 1. 1834. and in 1835 Robertson made a trip back to the States to induce settlers to follow him to Texas.
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