Rhome: A Pioneer History

Rhome, A Pioneer History is the end result of the author's search for her roots. This volume could easily be called, A History of the Pioneers of Rhome, but Catherine Gonzalez plowed the soil of Rhome deeper, and her story encompasses not only a people but also an era and a lifestyle that is a part of all our heritage. The author covered the story of the Rhome area from the Prairie Point days of the 1800s to the post-war years of the 1940s. Her research began with the establishment of the town in the 1850s by Samuel Sheets and carries the reader forward to the coming of the railroad, drawing up of the plat for the townsite, the building of the community, and its growth and development through World War II. Also included is information about the surrounding communities of Aurora and Fairview. The heart of the history is the family genealogical section with histories of 125 Rhome pioneer families. The book is fully referenced and has an ex­tensive index of family names as they occur throughout the history section. Mrs. Gonzales, a long-time public school teacher in Rhome and the surround­ing area, used considerable material taken from the microfilm of the Wise County Messenger and The Decatur News, dating as far back as 1882. The book also includes 113 historic photographs and a copy of the orig­inal plat of the townsite of Rhome.