At the time of his death in 1955, Roy Wilkinson Aldrich had served in the Texas Rangers longer than any other man, 32 years, from his enlistment in 1915 to retirement in 1947 at the age of 78. From the days of the horseback Ranger of the frontier to the modern era of automobile and airplane, Aldrich built his career upon the major law-enforcement issues of Texas in the early Twentieth Century: The violence along the Mexican border stemming from the Mexican Revolution, from World War I, and from the smuggling of liquor during Prohibition; racist and other mob violence; and the problems associated with the oil boomtowns, the gambling, prostitution, illegal liquor, unethical officials, and general lawlessness, all challenged the abilities of the Texas Rangers through the 1930s.
Born in Quincy, Illinois, September 17, 1869, Aldrich was raised in Golden City, Missouri, the son of a wealthy banker, Joseph Wilkinson Aldrich. Though he attended school only six months, Roy Aldrich was well educated at home by his mother, Georgia Ann Wakeman Aldrich, and he enjoyed a widely varied and highly adventurous life before joining the Texas Rangers.
Leaving home in 1888, Aldrich journeyed first to the Idaho Territory, finding work as a miner and lumberjack. The next year he made his first trip to Mexico, delivering a load of pigs by train from Kansas City. In 1890 he returned to Golden City, where he and his younger brother, Jules Wakeman Aldrich, after the death of their father, took over the bank for three years, becoming the youngest bankers in the state. During this period, Roy Aldrich served as deputy sheriff of Barton County, Missouri.
In 1893 he traveled to Oklahoma (Indian) Territory, trading horses with the Cherokee Indians and participating in the land rush in the Cherokee Strip. The sale of the Aldrich Banking Company in Golden City allowed Aldrich to purchase a coffee plantation in the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where he lived comfortably for several years, until 1896, when he joined the Missouri National Guard as a second lieutenant. In 1898 and 1899, during the Spanish-American War, he served as first lieutenant in Company C of the Second Regiment of Infantry, stationed in Georgia and Kentucky.
After his coffee plantation was ruined by severe frosts, Aldrich traveled in 1899 to Arizona Territory, where he mined for copper in Pima County and drove a stage coach near Tucson, where his grandfather, Mark A. Aldrich, had lived from 1856 to 1874.
Early in 1901 Aldrich contracted to deliver 1100 horses from Kansas City to New Orleans, for the British Cavalry's Remount Service, and then agreed to oversee the difficult transportation of the horses by sea to South Africa for service in the Boer War. Returning to this country late that same year after travels in Europe, Aldrich moved to Hobart, Oklahoma Territory, where he worked as a bank cashier, was elected city treasurer, and served as deputy sheriff.
In 1903 Aldrich married Della Dunlap, the daughter of Andrew Judson Dunlap, president of the Hobart National Bank. The marriage, marked by long periods of separation and Dell's ill health, lasted until 1913 or 1914, when it ended in divorce in San Antonio, Texas. Aldrich seldom mentioned his marriage and allowed numerous articles and a master's thesis (
With his brother Jules (called "Tod"), Roy Aldrich went into the real estate business in 1907 in Corpus Christi, Texas, building the first pleasure resort there. In 1909 they moved their partnership to San Antonio, Texas, where they were soon joined by their mother.
The violent turmoil in South Texas stemming from the Mexican Revolution drew Roy Aldrich, then past the age of 45, to enlist in the Texas Rangers in March of 1915. After two years in the Rio Grande borderlands with Company A, he was transferred to Austin and promoted to the rank of sergeant. During the First World War, Aldrich served as Chief Inspector for the Selective Service in Texas, and in 1918 he was promoted to captain of Company H of the Texas Rangers and made quartermaster, a position he called "the ramrod of the force." His brother Jules also joined the Texas Rangers, serving until his death in 1940. For the last years before his retirement in November of 1947, Roy Aldrich was in charge of drug and narcotic law enforcement.
Outside the Texas Rangers, Aldrich was known for his interests in Texas history, botany, and natural history. After the death of Georgia Aldrich in 1920, he purchased a 20-acre farm on Manor Road, near Austin, at the site of the present Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. His gardens of desert plants, menagerie of native animals, collections of Indian artifacts and other objects from the Old West, and his 10,000-volume library of rare books were famous throughout the state. After his death in 1955, his books and many of his manuscript materials were purchased by Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, and the artifact collections went to the Big Bend Museum there.
The Roy Wilkinson Aldrich Papers were purchased by the Barker Center from the estate of Dudley R. Dobie, rare book dealer, Texana collector, and a long-time friend of Aldrich. From 1955 to 1958 Dobie had served as agent for Aldrich's heir, Mrs. Edna Riley of Austin, in the sale of Aldrich's books and other materials to Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. Many of the papers in this collection bear handwritten notes made by Dudley Dobie after 1955.
Approximately three-quarters of these papers pertain to Aldrich's private life and reflect his interests outside law enforcement: his family, his numerous friends, his travels, regional history, his menagerie and gardens, his collections of Western artifacts, and his valuable library of rare books. The remaining one-quarter of the Aldrich Papers relates to the Texas Rangers and Aldrich's 32-year career with that organization.
Correspondence, which comprises almost half of this collection, has been placed first in the arrangement. Letters to and from members of the Aldrich family between 1858 and 1918 make up the first seven series. Letters exchanged between Roy Aldrich and 27 principal correspondents from 1915 to 1954 have been placed next, arranged alphabetically by the correspondents' names, preserving Aldrich's original order. Some of these correspondents were members of the Texas Rangers, while others were not. Following these series, other personal letters to and from Roy Aldrich have been arranged chronologically into six series. Within all series in this collection, all materials have been placed in chronological order.
Other letters concerning the Texas Rangers, written between 1906 and 1954, many of them to or from Roy Aldrich, have been arranged to follow the personal correspondence. Correspondence concerning Aldrich's joint appointment with the Selective Service during World War I has also been placed here. Of great interest is the 1914 correspondence concerning the kidnapping and murder of Clemente Vergara, an American citizen killed in Mexico, and the subsequent retrieval of his body by Company A of the Texas Rangers, under Captain J. J. Sanders. Investigations, including a 1929 inquiry by the federal government, exonerated the Rangers of violating international law by entering Mexico, but an envelope marked "Clemente Vergara Case, Sanders," and "Crossed River," perhaps contradicts the official conclusions.
The miscellaneous Texas Ranger manuscript materials include receipts for property; a statement and a witness's oath from Desdemona, Texas, in 1920; a Ranger's oath of membership; an undated membership roster; and several notes and memoranda.
Further information about Roy Wilkinson Aldrich's early life is reflected in the scrapbooks, diary, and financial records, arranged after the correspondence. The first scrapbook, composed primarily of newspaper clippings concerning members of the Aldrich family, includes personal accounts by Roy Aldrich of his experiences in the Pacific Northwest in 1888, his participation in the 1893 land rush in the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma, and his adventures in Mexico in the 1890s. The diary recounts his observations of Mexico during an 1894 train trip.
The certificates, licenses, passes, and memorabilia document many of the activities and interests of Roy Aldrich. Included are papers relating to fraternal organizations, banking, military service, political activities, social occasions, hunting and collecting, the Texas Rangers, and other business and professional matters.
Personal records and notes include newspaper advertisements of the Aldrich Brothers real estate company and undated sketches and diagrams of several houses made on stationery from the Aldrich Banking Company of Golden City, Missouri, between 1891 and 1893.
The literary productions include three items by Roy Aldrich: "The Texas Rangers," a 13-page typescript dated 1937; an undated composition entitled "The Peyote Aldrich Letter," consisting of a five-page typescript directed to Mrs. Howell W. Jones of San Antonio, a photograph of Aldrich with two Kiowa Indians, a photograph of a printed reproduction of six peyote plants, plus a 12-page reprint of "Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise," by Havelock Ellis, 1898; and an undated three-page mimeographed typescript entitled "Brief Sketch of Ranger History."
Other literary productions deal with the death of Roy W. Aldrich (a poem) and a fictional hunting incident.
The printed materials on floriculture reflect Aldrich's interest in gardening. Printed materials on books include advertisements; title pages and prospecti from the Texas State Historical Association, 1945-1947; and an undated, bound, rare-book catalog from Gammel's Book Store in Austin. Printed materials related to Roy Aldrich include a 1945 reprint of "Noteworthy Plants of Texas," by B. C. Tharp, containing a biographical sketch of Aldrich; the April 1954 issue of
The printed materials related to the Texas Rangers and the Texas Department of Public Safety include a 1920 "wanted" poster from Desdemona, Texas; a 1923 publication entitled, "Report of State Ranger and Martial Law Activities of the National Guard of Texas, 1921 and 1922"; a 1927 list of "Special Orders"; a "Voluntary Statement" form from the 1940s; a March 1942 issue of the
The newspaper clippings and magazine articles include two 1891 obituaries of Joseph W. Aldrich; a March 9, 1914, report from the Laredo (Texas)
The two books by Charles Egbert Craddock contain miniature photographs of Georgia Ann Wakeman Aldrich, pasted inside the front covers. One is inscribed to "Mama" from "Roy," and dated Christmas 1886.
Two broadsides, one advertising the sale of household goods by J. W. Aldrich, undated, and the other advertising "rare curios" from Wisconsin in 1925, are located in the oversize box.
Pictorial materials, including 515 separate photographic images and 13 reproductions of Western art, have been separated from the papers for storage. A description of the content and arrangement and a list of these materials accompanies this inventory, beginning on page 12.
Ephemera, newspapers, books, and artifacts included in this collection have been routed to more appropriate locations for storage. Significant items among these materials include two issues of the Grand Opera House Publication of San Antonio, Texas, from December 1895; labels from liquor bottles and U. S. tax stamps from the 1930s and 1940s; the July 4, 1863, issue of the Vicksburg (Mississippi)
Autographs found on correspondence in this collection include the signatures of several Texas governors and other politicians; over a dozen Texas authors, educators, historians, and photographers; and numerous persons associated with the Texas Rangers. In addition, the signatures of cattleman Robert Justus Kleberg and cowboy film star Tom Mix can be found here.
Other collections at the Barker History Center related to the Roy Wilkinson Aldrich Papers include the Dudley R. Dobie Papers, which contain correspondence and notes pertaining to Aldrich's life and to the sale of Aldrich's book, manuscript, and artifact collections to Sul Ross State Teachers College in 1958. Also housed with the Dobie materials is the list, prepared by Dobie, of the more than 10,000 volumes in the Aldrich library at the time of the sale.
The description and inventory of the Roy W. Aldrich Collection in the Archives of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas, are appended to this inventory.
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Roy Wilkinson Aldrich Papers, 1858-1955, Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
Papers of Aldrich (1869-1955), Texas Ranger from 1915 until 1947, primarily document his early careers and his interests outside law enforcement: his experiences as lumberjack in the Idaho Territory in 1888; his participation in the 1893 land rush in the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma; his adventures in Mexico in the 1890s; his early career as banker in Missouri and as owner of a coffee plantation in Mexico; his military service in the Missouri National Guard during the Spanish-American War; his experiences as a miner in Arizona Territory in 1899; his family and friends; his interest in Texas history, botany, and natural history; his collections of Western artifacts, and his valuable library of rare books. A portion of the collection also pertains to his long career as a Texas Ranger and the major law enforcement issues of Texas in the early 20th century. The collection consists of correspondence, scrapbooks, financial records, diary (1894), literary productions, printed materials, certificates, and newspaper clippings.
Images of Aldrich; his homes, family members, and friends; landscapes; scenes of late 19th century lumberjacking and fishing in Idaho Territory; copper mining in Arizona Territory; Indians in Arizona and Oklahoma Territory; Mexico; and Missouri National Guard camp during the War of 1898; scenes of late ninteenth and early twentieth century Texas, especially South and Southwest Texas, related to law enforcement, Mexican Revolution, bootlegging and smuggling during Prohibition, oil boom towns, crime and criminals, Texas Rangers; reproductions of Western art.
The pictorial materials of the Roy Wilkinson Aldrich Papers have been arranged into series for storage in two regular boxes and one oversize box. The first box contains photographs related to Aldrich's life before his move to Texas in 1907 and his enlistment in the Texas Rangers in 1915.
The first series contains photographs of Aldrich as a boy and as a young man wearing Shriner's regalia and a deputy sheriff's badge and gun. It also includes pictures of his family home, of the Aldrich Banking Company, and of the train depot in Golden City, Missouri. The second series comprises photographs of Aldrich's father, mother, paternal grandfather, brother, and wife. The third series consists of a group of
Series four contains 20 photographs which were probably made in the Idaho Territory in 1888. Subjects include forest, lake, and mountain landscapes; canoes and fishing; lean-tos, log cabins, and a dam; and lumberjacking.
Series five reflects Aldrich's years in Mexico as a coffee planter in the 1890s. Subjects include Aldrich and friends in Mexican dress, the village of Jilitla in San Luis Potosi, and scenes of travel and daily life.
The sixth series reflects Aldrich's life as a member of the Missouri National Guard during the Spanish-American War. Subjects include Aldrich in uniform, camp life in Georgia and Kentucky, and travel scenes in Kentucky.
Series seven consists of 84 photographs made in Arizona in 1899. Subjects include mountain and desert landscapes, mining camps, mining equipment, Aldrich and friends, Tucson street scenes, buildings, and Yaqui and Papago Indians.
The eighth series includes photographs made in Oklahoma Territory. Subjects include Kiowa and Apache Indians, Roy and Della Dunlap Aldrich, and members of the Dunlap family.
In oversize storage are several photographs of African animals, hunting scenes, and camp life in Africa.
The second box contains 12 series of photographs pertaining to Aldrich's years in Texas and his career with the Texas Rangers, as well as two series devoted to other media and reproductions.
The 63 photographs made in the lower Rio Grande Valley and South Texas include 31 made for a 1915 album of scenes in Rio Grande City. Subjects include Texas Rangers and Ranger camps, U. S. soldiers and Fort Ringgold, Rio Grande (river), Aldrich in chaps and on horseback, street scenes, Mexican transportation and houses, King Ranch and other ranches, snakes, brush country landscapes, and flora.
The second series, depicting scenes from the Big Bend Area and Southwest Texas, contains 89 photographs. Subjects include canyon, desert, and mountain landscapes; ranches; Indian pictographs; Rio Grande (river); buildings and street scenes in Terlingua, Alpine, Marfa, Presidio, San Vicente, Fort Davis, Glen Spring, Langtry, Lajitas, and Ruidosa, Texas; houses of brush and adobe; U. S. soldiers and Fort Davis; Texas Rangers and Ranger camps; Sul Ross State Teachers College; Chisos Mountains; Davis Mountains; Lewis Peak, Mount Locke; Bloys Camp Meeting; Roy Aldrich; Judge Roy Bean; Jerry Gray; Texas Rangers.
The photographs pertaining to the Mexican Revolution include General Luis Terrazas welcomed to the U. S. in 1914; other Mexican refugees in camp in Texas; Mrs. Susan Moore's house in Columbus, New Mexico, in 1920; and an armored train car.
Series four contains photographs made at Camp Mabry, Austin, Texas, probably in 1918. Subjects include Roy Aldrich in U. S. Army uniform, Joe B. Brooks and other friends, buildings, cannons, railroad tracks and car, wagons, and an automobile.
The fifth series reflects law enforcement issues of the 1920s and 1930s, which involved the Texas Rangers. Subjects include bootlegging equipment, contraband liquor and smuggling, oil derricks, and scenes in Borger, Brownsville, Desdemona, Gander Slu, Glen Rose, Groveton, Brackettville, Longview, and Relotas, Texas.
The sixth series consists of photographs of Texas Rangers posed singly or in groups at the Texas State Capitol, Camp Mabry, the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas, on the street in Houston, on shipboard in Galveston, and at other locations in Texas. One photo, of Captain J. J. Sanders on horseback, is stored in an oversize location. Portraits of Roy Aldrich made during his service with the Texas Rangers comprise the seventh series.
The photographs of outlaws, lawmen, and lynchings include images of William Clark Quantrill; Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger; Jesse and Frank James; Belle Starr; Clell Miller and Charley Pitts (after death); J. Frank Dalton (who claimed in 1947 to be Jesse James); Roy Mitchell, hanged in Waco in 1923; and the Black man burned to death by a mob in Sherman in 1930 (before and after death).
Many of the 33 photographs of Old West reunions and reenactments were probably taken on Armistice Day (November 11), 1937. Included are pictures of Al Jennings, J. Frank Norfleet, Elfego Baca, Kit Carson III, Roy Aldrich, unidentified Indians, and others in costume.
The tenth series contains many photographs of Aldrich, age 69 and over, his friends, his gardens and menagerie, and the interior and exterior of his home on Manor Road in Austin, called "Hillcrest." Several pictures show his artifact and book collections, and the last depicts the double headstone at the grave of Roy Aldrich and his brother Jules.
The photographs of female friends include several of Josephine Giesler (later Wilson). Two of these, dated 1915, were inscribed on the pasteboard frames; these frames have been stored with the Wilson correspondence. Two photographs of Daisy (or Daisye) Dean were inscribed to Jules Aldrich in 1914. One photograph, possibly of Evelyn Snider, was inscribed, "Lovingly, Evelyn." Some photos in this series have been stored in an oversize location.
The miscellaneous photographs include unidentified people and scenes, as well as an assortment of identified subjects of minor interest.
Works in other media include a reproduction of an undated drawn caricature of Roy Aldrich and an original etching entitled "Nude," by Pierre La Vete.
The last series includes five monochromatic halftone reproductions of paintings by Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remington, Charles Schreyvogel, and Irving Couse, published in 1915, with text on the reverse sides. An explanatory booklet entitled
Other pictorial materials can be found on letterheads in this collection. These include renderings of a number of hotels, publishing companies, and other businesses in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, and other towns in Texas between 1914 and 1942. Portraits of Richard King and J. Frank Dalton (who sometimes claimed to be Jesse James) and a map of Raymondville, Texas, in 1926, adorn other letterheads. Other subjects include oil derricks, cacti, rattlesnakes, cattle, horses, and mules, in attractive and interesting depictions. In addition, 15 different patriotic and military designs in several colors are found on letters written in 1898 by Roy Aldrich to family members. Several of these letterheads refer specifically to Cuba or to the Spanish-American War, with one bearing the slogan, "Remember the Maine."