A Guide to the Roy Wilkinson Aldrich Papers, 1858-1955

Biographical Note

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 (The Life of Captain R. W. Aldrich, by Virginia Duncan, Sun Ross State Teachers College, Alpine Texas, 1942) to characterize him as a life-long bachelor.

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.

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Scope and Contents

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 Pony Express, devoted to the life of Roy W. Aldrich; and a 1955 publication on the Genetics Foundation of the Department of Zoology at the University of Texas at Austin, citing the contributions and containing a photograph of Roy Aldrich. The miscellaneous personal printed materials include travel souvenirs from South Africa and Plymouth, England; mild erotica from the 1920s and 1930s; and a historical summary from the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936.

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 DPS News, containing an article entitled, "Saluting Capt. R. W. Aldrich," inscribed to Dudley R. Dobie by Aldrich; a 1942 report on the "Driver Improvement Section of the Driver's License Division"; and a 1950 membership roster of the Texas Rangers.

The newspaper clippings and magazine articles include two 1891 obituaries of Joseph W. Aldrich; a March 9, 1914, report from the Laredo (Texas) Times, on the recovery from Mexico of the body of Clemente Vergara; and numerous articles on activities of the Texas Rangers between 1914 and 1947, with the greatest number of articles dated between 1927 and 1930. In addition, a number of clippings describe the life and career of Roy Aldrich, including articles dated 1923, 1927, 1931, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1954, and 1955.

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) Citizen, printed on wallpaper; two issues, May 10 and June 7, 1935, of the Houston tabloid, The Texas World; and issues of two newspapers published for the Black community of Saint Louis, Missouri, in May of 1943.

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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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Unrestricted access.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Roy Wilkinson Aldrich Papers, 1858-1955, Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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