The Rothrock family has a long history in southern Indiana that dates back to 1818. The first Rothrocks to make the journey to Indiana were Peter, his wife Margaret, and their children Soloman, Sally, Henry Peter, and Mary. They traveled overland and on boat down the Ohio River eventually settling along the Blue River in Harrison County, Indiana. Peter’s oldest son Soloman was the first Rothrock to build a mill along the Blue River at Wyandotte, eventually moving up stream creating a new mill and leaving his old mill to his brother Henry Peter. The family later purchased 4,000 Acres of land along the Blue River where Soloman’s son Philo (the first Rothrock to have been born in Indiana) built the Rothrock Lumber and Grist mill in 1856.

Philo would go on to marry twice and have twelve children, Mary, Soloman, Emily Ann, Martha Jane, Lydia, Sarah, John Amos, William Henry, George Luther, Gordon, Ernest, and Raymond. Philo’s son Soloman would go on to serve in the army during the Civil War, and died at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky while fighting as a private with the 81st Regiment, Indiana Infantry. Two of Philo’s other sons, William Henry, and George Luther, took over the mill sending their goods down the Blue River to the Ohio River, then down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River, and down the Mississippi River to New Orleans where everything would be sold. George Luther and William Henry later built a second mill from the foundation of the first mill replacing the old wooden pillars with ones made from quarried stone in 1909.

George Luther would go on to get married twice having seven children, Harry, Kenneth, Charles Ray, Shelby, Paul, and Belle, along with an infant who was stillborn. Charles Ray (universally known as Ray) and his family worked the mill until its closure in 1949 and was the last operational mill along the Blue River. The Indiana Department of National Resources dismantled the mill in 1986. Only the stone pillars remain of the mill. Ray married Cora Thevenot in 1908 and had six children together, Nolena, Nolan Ray, Willard Ross, Ralph, Harry Loran, and Robert.

My grandfather, Robert L. Rothrock was born on January 1, 1929 in Depauw Indiana. Once he was older he wanted to leave his family’s farm and go to the nearby city of Louisville, Kentucky to become a cabinet maker since he loved woodworking. However he never moved to Louisville, as he joined the Air Force in 1950 due to the outbreak of the Korean War.