Carl S. Rock was born in Hancock county on January 12, 1879, the son of William H. H. and Rebecca (Reeves) Rock. William H. H. Rock was born in Henry County on June 22, 1844, and died on March 25, 1910. He was educated in Spiceland Academy and later engaged in the general-store business in Charlottesville. He quit this to take up the milling business for awhile in the same town. In 1899 he left Charlottesville and went to Greenfield, where he entered the grocery business, in which he was active for ten years, but retired in 1909, only a short time before his death. His wife Rebecca Reeves, was born in Brown township, in Hancock County, on January 20, 1851. She was raised and educated in Hancock County. Her parents were farmers. She was married to William H. H. Rock in August of 1872. They were the parents of the following children, Mrs. Bertie Leamon, who is now a resident of Greenfield; Guy D., who is a resident of Indianapolis; E. P., who is a resident of Greenfield; Mrs. Zula B. Pierce, who is a resident of Greenfield; Mrs. Ellis Jackson, who is a resident of Greenfield, and Carl S., who is the subject of this sketch.

Carl S. Rock was educated in Charlottesville. After he left school he played professional baseball with the International League of London, Canada, for a period of three years. He later went into the grocery business, in which he remained until 1911. He next went on the road as a salesman for a prominent firm and remained in this work for two years and he then engaged in the Jewelry business in January of 1914, in which business he has been very successful.

On October 15, 1907, Carl S. Rock was married to Nelle Stoner the daughter of Elmer E. and Matilda I. Stoner both natives of Hancock County. Elmer E. Stoner was state agent for the Home Insurance Company of New York. He was a Republican in politics and was prominent in his party. He was the unsuccessful candidate of his party for state auditor in 1905. He was a thirty-second degree Mason, and both he and his wife were prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died on April 6, 1907. His wife is still living in Greenfield. Nelle Stoner was born in Greenfield on February 7, 1886. Her earlier education was received in the Greenfield schools, but she later graduated from the Shortridge High School at Indianapolis, in 1903. She spent the following two years at Indiana University, and the year following at a woman's college at Baltimore. She has only one brother, Karl W. Stoner, now a student at Purdue University.

Carl S. Rock allied himself with the Progressive Party when it was founded and was the county chairman of that party for the years 1912 and 1913. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge, and is vice-president of the Brooklyn brick factory at Brooklyn, Indiana. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Greenfield.

Transcribed from History of Hancock County, Indiana, Its People, Industries and Institutions by George J. Richman, B. L., Federal Publishing Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916. Pages 863-864.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI September 12, 2001.

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