"This and That"

"THIS AND THAT" BY MARY ROCKWELL HOOK MARY ROCKWELL HOOK SIESTA KEY, FLORIDA-MAY 1970 I, IT WAS BURTON ROGERS, HEAD OF THE PINE MOUNTAIN SETfLEMENT I SCHOOl... IN HARLAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY, WHO KEPT ASKING ME, " HAVE I YOU WRITTEN CHAPTER ONE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY?" WRITING IS NO PROBLEM FOR BURTON, A MASTER OF BEAUTIFUL ENGLISH. THEN KATHLEEN WILSON, WHO ALSO HAS AN ENVIABLE COMMAND OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, PROMPTED BY HER HUSBAND DALE, ONE NIGHT AT DINNER OFFERED ADVICE AND HELP. BOTH KATHLEEN AND DALE HAD GRATITUDE FOR HELP AND ENCOURAGEMENT BEEN ON THE STAFF OF THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL BUT NOW LIVE IN SARASOTA, FLORIDA. FROM: DALE AND KAntLEEN WILSON BURTON ROGERS SAID, "BEGIN WHEN YOU LAID OUT THE PINE MOUN BURTON AND MARY ROGERS TAIN SCHOOL IN 1913". MRS. WILSON SAID, "START WHEN YOU DIS COVERED FLORIDA IN 1935 AND THEN GO BACK. 11 AND THEY ALL AGREED: ALAN AND JEAN MARY BLACKMAN START WITH A TAPE RECORDER. THIS WAS ALL GOOD ADVICE BUT A PERIOD COVERING NINETY-TWO YEARS IS TOO DIFFICULT TO KEEP IN ORDER, TO EUGENE AND LIBBY HOOK RECITE TO A TAPE RECORDER. I FELT I MUST BEGIN WITH THE EARLIEST ELEANOR GELLHORN RECORDED HISTORY OF MY PARENTS' FAMILIES AND THIS IS WHAT I HAVE DONE. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST I SHALL NEVER FORGET MY FIRST LESSON IN ANCESTRY. I WAS A JUNIOR AT WELLESLEY AND MY COUSIN, BILLY CLARK, A JUNIOR AT YALE, INGHRAM D. HooK HAD INVITED ME TO THE YALE JUNIOR PROM. WE WERE TO SPEND WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE NIGHT WITH ntE CHARLES ROCKWELLS IN MERIDAN, CONNECTICUT. ABOUT 4:00A.M. I HAD FALLEN INTO BED MORE DEAD MARY ROCKWELL HOOK THAN ALIVE. MY AUNT, WHOM I HAD JUST MET, TOOK UP HER POSITION 4940 SUMMIT STREET AT THE FOOT OF MY BED AND BEGAN A DISSERTATION ON THE ROCKWELL KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI GENEALOGY. I KEPT DROPPING OFF TO SLEEP BUT SHE KEPT RiGHT ON, BEGINNING IN NORMANDY IN THE 1 fTH CENTURY, Wlnt RALPH DE AND ROCHEVI LLE. 34 SANDY COVE ROAD SARASOTA, FLORIDA THE ANCESTORS I COULD NOT APPRECIATE TI:IAT NIGHT HAVE SINCE BECOME VERY INTERESTING. THERE IS A PRETTY SUBURB OF THE FRENCH CITY OF CAEN IN NORMANDY CALLED ST. JULIEN, THE TERRI MAY 1970 TORY OF WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY DEPENDENT ON THE FIEF OF MONSENAY. 1 • DOWN SO MANY TIMES DURING THE WAR WOULD BE THE DISTRIBUTOR OF THIS PROPERTY BELONGED TO RALPH DE ROCHEVILLE WHO HAD FEUDAL GRAIN TO THE WORLD, RIGHTS AND POWERS SIMILAR TO THE NORMAN KNIGHTS OF ENGLAND. HE WAS ONE OF THE KNIGHTS WHO ACCOMPANIED THE EMPRESS MAUDE THERE WAS A LITTLE TOWN CALLED JUNCTION CITY AT THE Jl(NCTION (MATILDA OF ENGLAND) INTO ENGLAND WHEN SHE CLAIMED THE THRONE OF TWO RIVERS - THE SMOKEY HILL AND THE REPUBLICAN- THAT FORMED OF THAT REALM, SIR RALPH ULTIMATELY JOINED HENRY II OF ENGLAND, THE KANSAS RIVER; THIS FLOWED INTO THE MISSOURI RIVER AND ULTI AND HAD A GRANT OF THREE KNIGHT'S FOES OF LAND IN THE COUNTY OF MATELY INTO THE MISSISSIPPI, AFTER LOOKING OVER THE SMALL SETTLE YORK, UPON WHICH ESTATE THE ROCKWELLS HAVE CONTINUED TO THE MENT, BERTRAND DECIDED THAT JUNCTION CITY'S REQUIREMENTS WERE PRESENT DAY, JAMES ROCKWELL, EsQ. 1 OF ROCKWELL HALL,BOROUGH DEFINITELY THE NECESSITIES OF LIVING, HE BUILT THE B. ROCKWELL BRIDGE, COUNTY OF YORK, BEING THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FAMILY I I; MERCHANDISE AND GRAIN COMPANY. FOR BUILDING SUPPLIES HE HAD TO . IN ENGLAND.; RETURN TO LEAVENWOR11-I. THERE HE BOUGHT LUMBER A WAGON AND 1 HORSES, BY DRIVING, AND WALKING, TO EASE THE LOAD, HE MADE IT THE FIRST OF MY PATERNAL ANCESTORS APPEARED IN CONNECTICUT BACK THE 150 MILES TO JUNCTION CITY, BEFORE HE WAS THROUGH, HE IN 1639. THOMAS HAWLEY ROCKWELL, BORN IN 1776, PLANTED THE WAS HEAD OF A LARGE MERCANTILE COMPANY, A GRAIN ELEVATOR AND · ELMS ALONG THE MAIN STREET IN RIDGEFIELD. HIS SON GEORGE, MY WAS PRESIDENT OF THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF JUNCTION CITY. GRANDFATHER, LEFT CONNECTICUT AND WENT WEST TO WARSAW, ILLINOIS. ONE ROCKWELL LEFT FRANCE, ONE LEFT ENGLAND, AND ONE BEFORE '-ONG A CAPTIVATING YOUNG WOMAN STEPPED INTO THE PICTURE, LEFT CONNECTICUT TO SETTLE IN WARSAW, ILLINOIS. JULIA MARSHALL SNYDER, WHO WAS TO BE MY M011-IER, WHEN THE CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT, MY FATHER, BERTRAND ROCKWELL, 1 MY M011-IER S FATHER'S FAMILY CAME TO AMERICA FROM HAMBURG WHO WAS SEVENTEEN AT THE TIME, LIED ABOUT HIS AGE AND JOINED THE AM-MEIN IN GERMANY AND SETTLED IN PHILADELPHIA. MY MOTHER'S NORTHERN ARMY AS A PRIVATE. HE B6CAME A CAPTAIN AND SAVED HIS MOTHER'S FAMILY HAD SETTLED IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA. HER MONEY TO GO TO HARVARD TO STUDY LAW, WHEN HE RETURNED TO WAR NAME WAS MARY LOVE SCOTT AND SHE MARRIED GEORGE SNYDER. MY SAW, HE FOUND THAT HIS FATHER'S LUMBER YARD HAD BURNED, AND MOTHER WAS BORN IN PHILADELPHIA ON MAY IT WAS MOTHER'S THAT HIS FA11-IER, A COLONEL, WAS STILL IN SERVICE. HIS MOTHER 5 1 1850. GRANDFATHER, GUSTAVUS HALL SCOTT, WHO STARTED THIS FAMILY WEST j WAS LEFT WITH FIVE CHILDREN TO RAISE, SO BERTRAND TURNED OVER HIS PRECiOU-S- SAVINGS TO HER. THEN, FOLLOWING THE ADVICE OF TO INDIANA IN 1837 WHEN HE LEFT VIRGINIA. HE HAD A BEAUTIFUL ~.,. """""',..~ ~oRACE GREELY, "Go WEsT-, YOUNG MAN," HE HEADED FOR KANSAS. ESTATE NEAR ALEXANDRIA CALLED MULBERRY HILL • . HE WANTED TO FREE 1 HIS SLAVES, DECIDED TO DO SO AND JOIN HIS BR011-IER WHO HAD GONE TO CRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA, AND BOUGHT A FARM. MY FATHER WENT TO THE VERY FRONTIER OF KANSAS IN 1865, WHERE THERE WERE STILL INDIANS ,BUFFALOES 1 PRAIRIE DOGS ,AND TUMBLE WEED. AT 11-IAT TIME, RAILROADS HAD NOT YET REACHED THIS TERRI IN PREPARATION FOR THE JOURNEY WEST HE HAD THE SILVER BUCKLES TORY • . THE ARMY HAD COME TO FT. LEAVENWORTH, FT. RILEY AND FT. ON THE HARNESS PAINTED BLACK TO AVOID THEFT ON THE TRIP AND TOOK HARKER. ONLY A FEW SLAVES TO MANAGE THE HORSES, PART OF THE JOURNEY WAS BY BOAT ON THE OHIO RIVER, ALL PIONEERING STARTS W111-l 11-IE NECESSITIES OF LIFE. THERE MUST. BE FOOD AND CLOTHING, WHEAT AND CURRENCY. SO THIS YOUNG IT MUST HAVE BEEN ABOUT 1855 WHEN MY M011-IER'S PARENTS, RETIRED CAPTAIN STARTED IN AND ESTABLISHED ALL THREE. GEORGE AND MARY SNYDER, LEFT PHILADELPHIA AND SETTLED IN CRAW FORDSVILLE, INDIANA., THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF CRAWFORDSVILLE HAD HE HAD FIGURED OUT 11-IAT KANSAS WOULD BE THE GRAIN BASKET OF NO ORGAN AND GEORGE SNYDER WAS USED TO TRAINING CHOIRS AND PLAY THE WORLD; THAT 11-IE MISSISSIPPI RIVER WHICH HE HAD BEEN UP AND ING THE ORGAN, CONSEQUENTLY, ON SATURDAYS HE WOULD PUT HIS 3. 2. MELODIAN IN HIS WHEELBARROW AND WHEEL IT TO THE CHURCH, BRING JULIA'S PARENTS LATER CAME WEST AND SETTLED AT CHAPMAN CREEK, ING IT BACK ON MONDAYS THE SAME WAY. HIS MELODIAN AND MUSIC FOR KANSAS. THIS WAS A 12 MILE DRIVE FROM JUNCTION CITY WHICH APPAR THE CHOIR - BEAUTIFULLY INSCRIBED ON A BEDSHEET BY HIM, WITH ENTLY WAS NOT TOO FAR FOR BERTRAND ROCKWELL TO DRIVE TO COURT EVERY~ LINE STRAIGHT AND EVERY NOTE PERFECT- ARE NOW IN THE A CHARMING YOUNG LADY, THIS HISTORY, ALSO, IS TOLD IN MY ,MOTHER'S MUSEUM AT FT. RILEY, KANSAS, I THINK THE NAME "SHEET OF MUSIC" LIFE STORY WHICH SHE WROTE AT 97 AND WHICH WAS REPRINTED BY THE MUST HAVE DEVELOPED FROM INSCRIBING MUSIC IN THIS MANNER UPON JUNCTION CITY UNION ON THE tOOTH ANNIVERSARY OF niE STATE OF BEDSHEETS. KANSAS, JANUARY 3 1 , 1 961 , WHEN FT.RILEY WAS STARTED, AN UNCLE OF MY MOTHER, DAVID IT WAS HERE IN JUNCTION CITY THAT JULIA AND BERTRAND WERE SCOTT, HAD BECOME QUARTERMASTER FOR THE ARMY. HE HAD BUILT A MARRIED AND IT WAS HERE THAT FIVE DAUGHTERS WERE BORN TO THEM LARGE STONE HOUSE ON A HILL, WHICH WAS CALLED OGDEN. JULIA'S FLORENCE, BERTHA, MARY, KATHERINE AND EMILY, WHENEVER ANOTHER SISTER, ANNA, HAD ALREADY COME OUT TO VISIT IN THIS HOUSE WHICH CHILD WAS BORN, A ROOM WAS ADDED TO THE ONE-STORY HOUSE, MOTHER BECAME THE CENTER OF SOCIAL ACTIVITIES. THE LIVING ROOM WAS ALWAYS INSISTED THAT WE WERE "FIVE PERFECT DAUGHTERS"; LATER ON ALWAYS FILLED WITH MUSIC AND APPARENTLY THE BASEMENT WITH THIS PHRASE NEVER FAILED TO BRING LOUD LAUGHTER FROM OUR FIVE CHAMPAGNE. AUNT ANNA HAD THE SINGING VOICE OF A BIRD, AND GOLDEN PERFECT HUSBANDS, HAIR IN BRAIDS TO HER KNEES. SHE MARRIED DR, WILLIAM FINLAW 1 AN ARMY SURGEON, AND LATER MOVED TO SANTA ROSA, CALl.FORNI A. LIFE WAS SIMPLE IN JUNCTION CITY. FOR WATER, A WINDMILL HAD BEEN BUILT• INTO THE HOUSE, FOR MILK, THE FAT, GOOD NATURED MILK SOON IT WAS JuLIA'S TURN TO COME OUT FROM CRAWFORDSVILLE 1 MAN DROVE TO THE ALLEY ENTRANCE AND RANG A BIG HAND BELL. THE INDIANA,TO VISIT HER UNCLE AND TO FILL THE PLACE WITH MERRIMENT. COOK TOOK OUT A MILK PAN TO BE FILLED, INSTEAD OF A GATE THERE SHE AND THE YOUNG OFFICERS WOULD RACE THE DAILY UNION PACIFIC WAS A STILE, TWO BIG STEPS U-P AND TWO DOWN, AS MY NAME WAS TRAINS ON HORSEBACK. AN INTERESTING INCIDENT SHE RECOUNTED IN MARY, OUR GENIAL MILKMAN THOUGHT I SHOULD HAVE A LITTLE LAMB • HER LIFE'S STORY WAS AN OBSERVATION TRIP AND BUFFALO HUNT WHICH THIS TINY BUNDLE WAS IRRESISTABLE, MOTHER HAD TO FEED IT WITH A THE DIRECTORS OF AN EASTERN RAILROAD (LATER TO BECOME THE UNION BABY BOTTLE AND Nl PPLE.

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