The Los Angeles Herald
December 18, 1898
May Live in Three Centuries
WACO, Tex., Dec. 17—Isaac Brock is 110 years old. Isaac is a citizen of McLennan county, and no longer hunts' deer and wild turkeys, owing to dimness of vision which has afflicted him for about two years. He is getting old, he says, and cannot hold his rifle steady nor draw a fine bead as he did until a few years back.
His old rifle still hangs on the buckhorn rack, and he likes to take it down and clean it up. Once it was a flintlock, but in 1846 he had it altered and now it shoots with a percussion cap. He talked in 1805 about changing it to a breechloader, but his sons bought him a Winchester, and with the new fangled weapon he manages to be patient. He always preferred the old deer rifle, for with it he was infallible as a marksman until his eyesight weakened. Uncle Isaac was born in Buncomb county, North Carolina, March 1, 1788; therefore he is 110 years old. Recently he remarked: “If I live until 1900 I will have lived in three centuries.”
He grew up among the soldiers who won the independence of his country. He saw Washington and Light Horse Harry Lee. He was a mere boy when he met the living heroes of the American revolution, and his heart grew full of zeal from such associations. When the second war with Great Britain commenced he enlisted and saw the redcoats in battle array on more than one occasion. He condemns the proposed Anglo-American alliance, remarking that France is the original and only true friend of this nation.
After the war of 1812 Isaac moved to Georgia and engaged with limited success in gold mining. Being a good blacksmith, he earned a little money at repairing tools for the miners and farmers. With his Georgia friends he concluded to try his luck in Texas, and hither he came with a small colony when Texas was a Spanish possession. The Georgians and North Carolinians settled in the Nacogdoches district and had thrilling experiences with the lawless element, who practiced kidnaping slaves and occasionally murdered settlers. Uncle Isaac was the hunter for the colony of ten families, all depending on his rifle for meat.
During that dramatic period of his life he married Lucinda Caroline Hill, a frontier belle, who shared with him his hunter's lodge and bore him four children. He was a scout in the Texas war for independence, and was thrown frequently into company with Davy Crockett, whom he regards as one of the world's greatest heroes. He was a personal friend of Sam Houston and had the confidence of that warrior and statesman.
In 1861 he was in Rusk county, Texas, and was impressed into service by the agents of the Southern Confederacy, for, although far past the age of exemption, his skill in iron and steel was regarded as indispensable and he was put at the head of an armory. A cannon he cast for the southern army was used in more than one battle. Uncle Isaac was at heart a Union man, and got into trouble with Mr. Davis' government on more than one occasion. He is nearer being a typical southerner now than he was during the war. He is proud of his country and favors territorial expansion.
In the Indian wars occurring since 1865 to protect Texas settlers from Lipans, Comanches and Apaches he was conspicuous for skill and gallantry. His woodcraft, horsemanship, iron constitution and ability to endure all the vicissitudes of frontier life made him an invaluable ranger under Rip Ford, John B. Jones, Sul Koss, George B. Erath and other great leaders in those dark and troublesome days.
In the double cabin on the Bosque, quivers full of war shafts, Indian hand-made saddles, shields, bows, spears, feather headwear and other war toggery of the savages are preserved and will pass down to future generations as proofs of the prowess of Isaac Brock, when the old man, who is still in good health, shall have passed away.
The Indian encounters he engaged in for defense and rescue would give a theme to a writer which would need no embellishing. Every page of the old man's history is thrilling.
After the death of his first wife he fell in love with Sarah Jane Sparks, a lovely Texas girl, courted her, and the couple were united in wedlock in a primitive meeting-house, by an old pioneer preacher. The second wife still lives, the happy mother of five children, making sixteen children born to the old ranger.
For many years he resided at the Bosque Falls, near China Springs, eighteen miles west of Waco. He now resides with Ed Drahn, who married his daughter. The home of the Drahns is near Valley Mills, Bosque county, about twenty miles from Waco, and there he will end his days.
Last week, at the request of President J. C. Deane of the Texas Photographers' association, Uncle Isaac came to Waco and sat for his picture. ln his hand he held a stick cut from the grave of General Andrew-Jackson, which has been carried by him ever since when occasion seemed to call for the use of a cane.
Uncle Brock is a dignified old gentleman, showing few signs of decrepitude. His family Bible is still preserved, and it shows that the date of his birth is written 110 years ago. He is modest and retiring. He does not relish being made the subject of a newspaper article. He said: “When I lived at the Falls I caught trout frequently, and a newspaper editor who wrote about me made my fish too heavy. lt caused my neighbors to laugh.”
ln the trip from Valley Mills to Waco Uncle Isaac rode in a farm wagon, accompanied by his son, and when he got here he was able to walk around the city and return the next day. When he was 99 years old he shod a horse all around, and he says he thinks he could shoe a horse now by taking his time at the job.
He fought, as has been stated, in the war of 1812, the war between the Texas republic and Mexico, and the war between the United States and Mexico. In the civil war he was gunner in a battery at Galveston, and was under fire of the United States gunboats. He is, therefore, a soldier of four wars. In addition to having fought in the four wars mentioned, he fought' Indians on the Texas frontier for six years, and slew one in a hand to hand combat.
Attention was called to him recently when he was in court as a witness to testify in a land suit. The question of his age came up, and he deposed that he was 110 years old. It did not surprise any one, for the lawyersand spectators knew Uncle Isaac Brock's age. Many of them had seen him when the annual fish frys took place at the Bosque Falls, and they knew his wonderful history. He is held in reverence by the hunters, as was the old arrow-maker, whose daughter, Hiawatha, wedded.
It was considered a great privilege to sit with Uncle Isaac on a log and fish for trout, and when he took the tourist under his patronage the fish always allowed themselves to be caught. A standing injunction of his in parting with a guest, was: “Don't tell the editor that you caught a nine-pound fish. Trout don't grow that big. If you say nine pounds, mention that it was a cat fish.&rduo;
Uncle Isaac Brock may live far into 1900. He is still a useful citizen, enjoying life, and possesses a hopeful heart. He says he hopes and expects to see his grandchild, aged 2, a grown man.
May Live in Three Centuries, The Los Angeles Herald, December 18, 1898, Page 6.