An advertising rolling pin
by Tim Campbell · first published 10 December 2017 · his original post
I ran across this old advertising rolling pin from the Blooming Grove Mercantile Company in Blooming Grove, Texas several years ago on an auction site and shelled out some fairly serious bucks, at least for me, to bring it home to the Grove. If you were a housewife in BG in 1901, you probably would have used one of these on a daily basis. There were no such thing as canned biscuits so you mixed up your dough with flour and shortening and rolled it out with a rolling pin and stamped out your biscuits with a biscuit cutter. And every time you did, you were reminded that Blooming Grove Mercantile Company was the place to buy your groceries.
The Blooming Grove Mercantile Company was granted a state charter in Texas in May of 1901. It was probably in existence prior to that, and 1901 is likely just the year of incorporation. I originally thought this business was a dry goods store but apparently the sale of groceries was its main focus. It was still open as of 1921 because there is a wedding announcement in the Corsicana Daily Sun for Berry Banks and Myrtle Wright, and Berry's employer is listed as Blooming Grove Mercantile Company.
Reviewing a map of Blooming Grove dated in 1905 I see 4 grocery stores in the downtown area, one facing the railroad on S. Main St., and 3 on Fordyce St. in the downtown area. I am not sure which of the 4 locations was BG Mercantile.
Stephen Absolom Roberts was listed as the president of Blooming Grove Mercantile in 1914. Perhaps he was involved in the founding of the business. Stephen was born in Livingston Parish, Louisiana in 1850 and was the son of Absolom Charles Roberts and Mary Moore. By 1870, Absolum Roberts had moved to the old Gradyville area in the vicinity of White Church. On the 1870 census Absolom is listed with numerous children, including Stephen, and living next to Richard Gowan, who gave the land for White Church Cemetery.
In addition to being listed as the president of Blooming Grove Mercantile, Stephen A. Roberts is also listed as president of one of the cotton mills in Blooming Grove, and additionally is listed as one of Blooming Grove's early postmasters. He was also a dealer in livestock. Suffice it to say Stephen was one of the early pioneer business leaders of the day that helped put the Grove on the map. He married Lydia Moore and they had numerous children and were together over 60 years before Stephen's death in 1933 at the age of 83. He is buried at Rose HIll Cemetery in BG.
This piece was published without a title. The one above was written here; the words below are his.