1899 :: A Well Known Lady Dragged to Death Near Rockdale

TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.

A Well Known Lady

Dragged to Death Near Rockdale.

 

 

 

Austin American-Statesman
Austin, Texas
31 Oct 1899, Tue  •  Page 4

 

Special to The Statesman.

ROCKDALE, Tex., Oct. 30. -- A horrible accident occurred near here Saturday, which resulted in the death of Mrs. W. P. Henry, a well known and most estimable lady, wife of a farmer. She was alone in her buggy, and from some cause her horse ran away. She was thrown from the buggy and her hair coming down, caught in a wheel and winding around the axel of the buggy, Mrs. Henry's neck was broken and she was horribly injured in other ways, having been dragged about two miles. She leaves a husband and several children.

 

 

1822 :: Death of Joseph Kimball

 

On this date in our extended family history . . . the 28th day of October . . . in the year 1822 . . . ninety-one year old Joseph Kimball dies in New Hampshire, and is laid to rest in the Gilkey Cemetery . . . more than a month later, his death is reported in a Vermont newspaper . . . this Joseph is a third cousin eight times removed to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .

This is a 19th century sketch* of cousin Joseph . . . Joseph's future grandson-in-law, Dr. Elias Frost, had moved to the neighborhood ca. 1808 . . . and it is recorded that it was Elias who convinced Joseph to have his portrait done . . . it is written of cousin Joseph that . . . "He was a soldier in the Revolution, and took part in the battles of Fort Ticonderoga and Bennington. . . . He settled first in the town then known as Plainfield Plain, and later removed to a farm near the village of Meriden, New Hampshire, where he lived until his death."

 

 

*Unfortunately, various versions of this portrait [with the name cropped off] have been widely distributed in the genealogy community as representing the image of the RICHARD KIMBALL who died in 1675 in Ipswich, Massachusetts . . . e.g., more than 250 versions of this portrait are now attached to hundreds and hundreds of trees on Ancestry dot com and incorrectly identified as RICHARD KIMBALL . . . this RICHARD KIMBALL is my 10th great-grandpa . . . and the extent of this case of misidentification came to my attention just recently when somebody posted a version of Joseph's portrait to RICHARD KIMBALL's findagrave page, which I currently manage . . . findagrave admins have since removed that portrait of Joseph from Richard's page . . . source of the portrait . . . Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire . . .

 

Appreciation for Hometown Newspapers

Just wanted to take a minute to share something I received in my email today . . . it talks about today's final issue of a small town newspaper [i.e., the Journal Tribune] . . . and is from a library in Biddeford, Maine . . . where I have spent many pleasurable hours looking for tidbits about the lives of Mom's New England kith 'n kin while digging thru their newspaper archives . . . both onsite and online . . .

Which prompted me to write a little about how much I enjoy and appreciate both the current Rockdale Reporter as well as the archives of . . .

• The Rockdale Messenger [est. 1873] 
• The Rockdale Reporter [est. 1893]  
• The Rockdale Reporter & Messenger 

For more than a century, the Reporter family has memorialized countless tidbits about our kith 'n kin, e.g., there was . . .

• the tragic death of Mom's paternal great-grandma in 1899 
• the surprise birthday party for Dad's maternal grandma in 1936 
• the write-up about the marriage of our Mom and Dad in 1950 

And the numerous reports thru the years from the little communities of Bethlehem and Cole Springs and Tanglewood give us a delightful snapshot of their day-to-day lives . . . which we would not have if not for the Reporter, so . . .

To all of the Reporter family . . . both past and present . . . I will quote from the McArthur Library blogpost . . . 

"Thank you for being a part of my story." 

P.S. . . . and just as an additional FYI . . . some of the HERNDON ancestors of the COOKE family were / are near neighbors [both in life and in death] of some of Dad's kith 'n kin who came to Texas from Alabama and Mississippi . . . to wind up living and dying, and resting for eternity, in a little country cemetery in Tanglewood . . . 

1899 :: Just because it is carved in stone does NOT make it true!

Josephine

She was lying across the axle dead, with her hair and clothing wound around the spindle of the buggy. . . .

It was the autumn of 1999, and I was on the phone with my Mom, listening to her read these words from her handwritten notes . . .





As you can see in the tombstone rubbing shown here, it is "carved in stone" on this grave marker that Josephine W. Henry died on the 28th day of the month of January in the year 1899 . . . this Josephine is a 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . and this date of death is the one that has been recorded in every family history record I have seen for generations in our family . . . 

I grew up hearing stories of how "our Josephine" died by being dragged to death by the hair of her head . . . I always figured if there was even a kernel of truth in that story, then there should at least be a mention of it in the local newspaper . . . the little town in Central Texas where I grew up . . . and near where Josephine and her family lived in the last quarter of the 19th century . . . actually has copies of the area's 1899 newspapers available on microfilm at the local library . . . but no matter how many times I looked at that microfilm, I could find no mention whatsoever of Josephine's death in January or February of 1899. . . .

Shortly before her 1899 death, Josephine and William and all of their living descendants posed for a family photo . . . based on the babies appearing in this photo (born in March and September of 1898) . . . as well as the babies who are not present in the photo (born in May and July of 1899 . . . it is currently assumed that the image of this family gathering was captured sometime during the winter of 1898-1899 . . . March of 1899 would have marked their 35th wedding anniversary . . . mayhaps the gathering was to mark that occasion? . . .

Sooo . . . one hundred years later . . .




It was decided that the centennial anniversary of the family gathering documented in that late 19th century family photo was the perfect time for a gathering of descendants of Josephine and Wm. P. Henry . . . there had been a few reunions during the preceding century, but none in quite a while . . . a mailing list was put together . . . invitations went out . . . multiple displays were assembled to showcase the family history of the descendants of Josephine and Wm. P. Henry . . . and on a stormy Saturday in the fall of the year 1998, approximately seventy-five of our kith 'n kin gathered at the Minerva Community Center in Milam County, Texas (very near where the ca. 1899 photo was taken) . . . the reunion was a surprising success, so another year later, as I was preparing for the final such gathering of the 20th century . . .



In September of 1999 I received an email from a Henry cousin (Peggy) who had found a yellowed and crumbling newspaper clipping in some papers she inherited . . . about a 1931 Henry Reunion . . . and in that clipping was the following eye-opening statement . . .


Grandmother was killed Oct. 28, 1899.
October!?! Not January?!? . . . as carved in stone on her gravemarker . . . sooo . . . I called my Mom in our hometown . . . and prevailed upon her to make a trip to the local library for me . . . and lo and behold . . . right there in the grainy black and white of that microfilm were multiple newspaper accounts of the tragic death of our Josephine . . . once I knew the correct time period, I even found a mention of the tragedy in an 1899 edition of The Dallas Morning News . . . the multiple newspaper accounts of our Josephine's death all support the fact that she actually died on 28 October 1899, i.e., 10-28-1899 instead of 01-28-1899 . . . 

Dallas Morning News
Dallas, Texas
Monday, October 30, 1899, page 4
A Very Sad Accident

Rockdale, Milam Co., Tex., 29 Oct – A very sad accident occurred about three miles north of Rockdale late yesterday [Saturday] afternoon in which Mrs. W.P. Henry, a lady about 60 years old lost her life. While driving home from her son’s her horse became frightened, ran away and smashed the buggy into kindling wood and when found Mrs. Henry was dead. It is supposed she was killed instantly. She leaves a husband, a large family of children and many friends to mourn her untimely death.

Josephine

The Rockdale Reporter
Rockdale, Texas
Wednesday, November 1, 1899

Deplorable Tragedy
Estimable Lady Meets Death Through an Accident

Last Saturday news reached Rockdale that Mrs. W.P. Henry had been killed by her horse running away with her.

When she was found between her home and that of George Banzoff, near the gate that leads to Dr. Isaac’s home, she was lying across the axle dead, with her hair and clothing wound around the spindle of the buggy.

One of the wheels was broken, and the rim of this broken wheel was found near the Murray school house, from which place she was dragged to where she was found.

The road indicated that the horse had been frightened and ran away. The wheel showed that the rim of the wheel had received a wrench and broke it loose from the spokes.

Her funeral took place Sunday at Murray school house, and a large procession of friends and relatives witnessed the ceremonies that consigned her body to its last repose.

She was the wife of W.P. Henry, one of our most substantial and upright farmers and the mother of five children, all grown [plus three who died young].
The Reporter extends sympathy to the bereaved family.

Later Developments

Since the account of the tragic death of Mrs. W.P. Henry, on another page of this paper, was printed, we learned the following details in regard to her death.
As she was nearing the house of Geo. Banzhoff, her buggy ran into a wagon in which were two young men*, Messrs. Bradley and Jenkins.

This collision broke the rim off the wheel referred to in the other account, and evidently she was thrown out of the buggy at that time, as when found her head was caught between the wheel and the shaft, on the side opposite the broken wheel.

The road over which she went showed where her limbs had been dragged from the point where the collision occurred to the place where she was found.
The men state that she was in the buggy as far as they could see, but in this they were mistaken.

The buggy top was raised and it was impossible for them to see a person in the vehicle, and as they saw no one on the ground, they naturally supposed that she had not fallen out.

It is indeed unfortunate that these men did not follow her and rescue the body, when they found out the wheel had been broken.

While they doubtless thought she was unhurt, they should have gone to her and rendered what assistance seemed necessary.

Her neck was doubtless broken by the fall, and while they could not have saved her, they could have carried the body home when the accident happened.

The Rockdale Messenger
Rockdale, Texas
Thursday, November 2, 1899

Accident - Mrs. W. P. Henry who has lived on the Cameron road, 3-miles from Rockdale for over 20-years left her son’s home on the Dr. A. C. Isaacs farm, about 3-miles beyond her home, to come home and as was her habit, she pushed her buggy animal, a gray mare that she has driven for several years, into a lope.

She drove over the hill at the home of George Banzhaf and turning down the hill, Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Bradly were going from Rockdale to their home beyond Minerva in a light spring wagon, seeing the vehicle coming down the hill near them, pulled their team, a pair of young mules, to one side to give the road, but before the left wheel had cleared the track to the right fore wheel of Mrs. Henry’s buggy struck the hub of the wagon wheel and smashed it.

The woman had probably never seen the wagon or saw it too late to stop, and she was pitched foremost and fell with her head between the left fore wheel of the buggy and shafts and was so held that her hair was wound around the buggy hub and spindle and she was held there until some young man, met the buggy at the gate near the old Ferguson place, more than a half-mile this side of where the accident occurred.

She was dead when found as her neck was broken. She was buried at the Pleasant Grove cemetery Sunday evening. She leaves a husband and five grown children, three sons and two daughters, all married. Brother Henry does not blame the drivers of the wagon for the accident but thinks they should have ascertained the results before driving home.

Wm. P. HENRY born Feb. 19, 1836 died Feb. 10, 1912 To angel from thy spirit grown Thy God hath claimed thee for His own FATHER

Josephine W. HENRY born May 10, 1842 died Jan.Oct. 28, 1899 Her happy soul has winged its way To one pure, bright eternal day MOTHER

On this date in our family history . . .

the 28th day of October . . . in the year 1899 . . .

Josephine Wingfield Henry nee Davis
is dragged to her death . . .

by the hair of her head . . .

And remember . . . 
just because it is carved in stone

does NOT mean it's true!

UPDATE

As of February 2016

some issues of

The Rockdale Reporter

are now available online.

The Rockdale Reporter. (Rockdale, Tex.)

Vol. 06, No. 41, Ed. 1

Wednesday, November 1, 1899 Page: 8 of 12

The Rockdale Reporter. (Rockdale, Tex.)

Vol. 06, No. 41, Ed. 1

Wednesday, November 1, 1899 Page: 9 of 12

Rockdale Messenger. (Rockdale, Tex.)

Vol. 27, Ed. 1

Thursday, November 2, 1899 Page: 1 of 6