We have
given a great deal of attention to Bertrand and Julia Rockwell’s story in the
past. As the primary owner of the B. Rockwell Merchandise and Grain Company and
the donor of the Ladies’ Reading Club building, Bertrand had a very visible
presence in Junction City, but today we are going to share the story of George
Arthur Rockwell, the younger brother of Bertrand.
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| Advertisement for the B. Rockwell store 1896 |
George
Rockwell was born in 1851 in Warsaw, IL and came to Geary County with his
family as a young child. After running his own general store in Abilene, Kansas
for eight years, George returned home to Junction City to help his father and
brother at the B. Rockwell Merchandise and Grain Company. Together they acted
as president, vice president and co-vice president until the early 20th
century. When Bertrand and his family moved to Kansas City, to ensure their
children received a cultural education, George took over the business as
president.
In 1870,
George met Annie Clark of Collinsville, Kansas after she came to Junction City
to visit her sister, Mrs. Howard, whose husband was serving at Fort Riley. After she returned home, Annie and George
began a correspondence, which they continued for five years before they were
married. In these sweet letters, which start out in the spirit of friendship
and progress over the years to declarations of love, George shares local
Junction City stories to his sweetheart among surprisingly candid reports of
his feelings throughout their long courtship. Following is a letter written by
George Rockwell to Annie Clark on December 31st, 1873.
My own
sweet darling Annie,
Here I am again with my old pencil attempting to answer your
dear sweet letter which I received this Eve. It is now 10.30 P.M. and this is
the last letter that I shall write in the year 1873 and I am sure I should not
be writing now if it was not for my own darling Annie whom, as the year begins
to close, I find myself loving more and more and with the new year I will renew
my vows of Love and Constancy to you my darling and if you have had nay doubts
of my love for you in the past year, dear darling Annie, I want you to throw
them away with the old year. Of course the year 1873 can never be recalled so
let all your doubts of my love be left with it, never to be recalled and let us
both enter this new year with determination to love and stand by each other
even unto death.
Yes darling
Annie I will do anything in the world for you that I can, if I think it is for
your good and I will not willingly do anything that I think would cause you in
the future any sorrow or regrets, for I do dearly love you my darling more than
I do my life.
If I could
only have you here tonight to hold in my arms and kiss and caress you as much
as I like I would be the happiest person in all the world. But no! Fate is
against me and I am compelled to be here all alone, poor miserable feeling
fellow whose only hope and love is far far away from him. Nevertheless in my
mind my own precious treasure, you are always with me when I am not busy at
work and I hope the time will soon come when you can be with me in person
instead of mind at all times when I am not busy. I wish I did not have to work
at all for then I could be with the “Idol of my heart” all the time…Please wipe
off all the old kisses and let us begin again. Just kiss yourself 999 times for
me and remember that you and you alone fill up my whole heart.
George
George and
Annie Clark married in 1875. After working in his shop in Abilene or the first
years of their marriage, they moved their family of four children back to
Junction City where George, his son, and eventually his grandson all worked at
the family store. When the Rockwell store closed in the 1920s, George moved his
family to Florida.
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| B. Rockwell store circa 1896 |
If you’ve ever wondered about your
own local family history, stop by the Geary County Historical Society. We might
be able to help you with our collection of local family histories, obituaries,
wedding licenses and other historic documents. Museum open Tuesday- Sunday
1pm-4pm, Research Room open Tuesdays and Thursday and the Second Saturday of the month, 1pm-4pm.
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