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Little is
known of Robert King Blackshear, while he
and his family lived in Coleman, but from
the article about his business closing
(see below), they must have arrived about
1905. He was born in Palestine in
1876, married Carrie Carroll in 1905 in
Anderson County, moving to Coleman soon
after his marriage. A clipping of
their wedding from the Palestine newspaper
states, "Yesterday at Tennessee Colony,
this county, at the hour of 4:30, Mr.
Robert K. Blackshear, formerly of this
city, but now of Lufkin, and Miss Carrie
Carroll, daughter of Mr. John Carroll, a
prominent citizen of that community, were
united in the holy bonds of wedlock; Rev.
H. O. Willis of this city officiating. The
happy couple came to the city last
evening, and took the 10 o'clock train for
Lufkin. Mr. Blackshear is with the Singleton dry goods
tirm of that place. His many friends here
wish him great success and happiness,
while the fair bride has thousands of
friends who wish for her the greatest of
blessings."
While in
Coleman from about 1905 to 1911, he appeared
to be very busy with his tailor - hatter
business. The earliest newspaper
advertisements available were in 1908, as
there are few existing issues of the
newspaper before this time due to a fire in
the newspaper office. As well as large
ads, him ran small inserts, usually several
in each issue. He advertised a lot and
often. Some of these small ads were
somewhat humorous, such as "We are dying for
your business."
Blackshear was running front page
advertising in late 1908 through early
1910. Shown below are a few examples:
August 21,
1908, The Coleman Voice
October 23, 1908, The
Coleman Voice
September
1908, The Coleman Voice
His
business advertised in other ways as well,
such as sponsoring the baseball team shown
below.
Blackshear
Tailor Sponsored Baseball Team,
thought to be taken about 1910,
from Brent Kitchens.
This picture is
from Brent Kitchens, great great
grandson of John
Lester Monsey. He
says, "John Lester Monsey is in
the center. I think it is
his twin brother, Tom Lester
Monsey at top right with the
hat. It was in 1915 in
Coleman, Texas. R. K.
Blackshear was the tailor that
sponsored the team and may be in
the picture. (Note
from Ralph Terry: the
picture was probably taken
before 1911, as Blackshear had
gone out of business by then,
unless two of the member of
this team were wearing old
shirts when they posed for
this picture. The member
in the top row is wearing an
old shirt with "B. H." on
it. This was the Howe
Community Black Hawk team, who
played about 1905. The
Howe Community was south of
Burkett.)
(A
side note about John and
Retta Monsey from Brent
Kitchens: John Lester
Monsey was born in Mills
County in 1883. He
married Retta Peevy, who was
14, in 1904 in Callahan
County. She was the
great granddaughter of
Michael David Sessom, a
Texas Ranger and co-founder
of San Marcos, Texas.
They moved to Oklahoma, but
back to Texas in 1908.
They
were living at Burkett in
1910, but had moved to Jones
County by 1920. He
died at Stamford in 1923, at
age 39. Retta lived to
be 94 years old. Brent
says he was lucky enough to
know her and has a lot of
recordings uploaded to
YouTube with her speaking of
those early years.)
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In the December 9, 1910 an article in the
Coleman Voice states, "Yesterday the West
Texas Tailor Shop was sold under the
hammer and was bid in by Mayor J. A. B.
Miller. The West Texas Tailor Shop
was, when it was in operation, one of the
largest business establishment in the
city, that is for the number of parties
employed, and carried with it a monthly
pay roll that fed and clothed quite a
number of, people. The shop had a state.
wide reputation and made clothes for
hundreds of people outside of Coleman. The
business was built up by R. K. Blackshear
and was the result of a small cleaning and
pressing shop that he started in the town
some five years ago. Hard times and
his inability to borrow money this fall in
order to shift his debts as heretofore
forced him to make an assignment and Mr.
Miller being the largest creditor bought
the establishment to protect
himself. He tells as that he will
have the shop running again in a few days
and under competent management and he
hopes to keep up the reputation of the
shop and soon have the old patronage back
where it was when Mr. Blackshear closed it
up."
By October 1911, Coleman
Voice, advertising was showing "Gates, Hardeman & Allen -
Everything Men or Women Wear" - We are now located in the
Blackshear building next door to First
National Bank." I assume Blackshear
had closed his store by this time.
He registered for the draft in 1918 in
Corsicana in Navarro County, where he
remained the rest of his life. The
family is shown there in the 1920
census. He died in Corsicana in 1929
at age 53. He was apparently engaged
in a number of businesses after leaving
Coleman. His obituary from the
Corsicana Sun reads:
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ONE OF
DRILLERS OF DISCOVERY WELL IN
CORSICANA POWELL FIELD
R. K. Blackshear,
53, native Texan, and well-known
resident of Corsicana for many
years, formerly engaged in the oil
and insurance business, died at
his home 1404 West Fourth Avenue
Monday morning at 9 o'clock after
only a few minutes illness with a
heart attack. He had arisen
Monday morning and dressed,
preparatory to coming down town
when he was stricken, dying a few
moments later. He was born
near Palestine, Anderson county,
but had been in Corsicana for a
number of years. He was one
of the owners and drillers of the
"Discovery well' in the
Corsicana-Powell deep oil field
which came in Jan. 8, 1923, and
opened the field. He was in
the insurance business for a
number of years and at the time of
his death, was the representative
of a clothing concern. He
was identified
with a paint manufacturing company
here several years ago.
Surviving are his wife, four
children, Miss Louise Blackshear,
Miss Elizabeth Blackshear, Bob
Blackshear and Miss Mary
Blackshear, all of Corsicana; one
brother, Joe Blackshear, Wichita
Falls, and other relatives.
Mr. Blackshear was a member of the
First Methodist Church here.
The funeral will be under the
direction of the Sutherland
Funeral Home.
Mr. Blackshear was a soldier in
the Third Infantry, U.S. Army and
saw service in the
Philippines. The funeral
will be held from the family
residence, Tuesday afternoon at 4
o'clock with burial in Oakwood
cemetery. The services will
be conducted by Rev. F. P. Culver,
pastor of the First Methodist
Church.
Miss Elizabeth Blackshear, student
in C. I. A., Denton, arrived
Monday afternoon and a cousin of
Mr. Blackshear, Mrs. Zuletha Hicks
of Dallas, came here Monday
afternoon to attend the funeral. |
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