From “Proud Heritage Volume II ” by DCPA. This 317 page hardcover book is now available online.
Robert Arons (1854-1933) was born in Lubz, Mecklenburg, Germany, and left the port of Hamburg in 1872 as an 18-year-old seaman aboard a freighter bound for Galveston. He was in Dallas by 1874 and appeared on deed records here in 1878. He was Postmaster at Ten Mile Creek on the Merrifield farm in Dallas County in 1878. He then became an itinerant salesman, moving his store of goods on a pack animal in the Colorado City area of the westward-building Texas & Pacific Railroad. He next became a miner in New Mexico, and was back in Dallas in 1882 as a clerk at Mayers Garden and Saloon at Akard and Marilla streets.
In 1886, Robert married Matilda Jacoby (1860-1941) of Fort Worth.The wedding was performed in Dallas by Rabbi Edward M. Chapman of Temple Emanu-El. The couple lived near Fair Park, and had three children: Harry, Lena, and Frediricke (Reka). Robert operated grocery stores at several changing locations. One was at 594 Elm Street, near the Dallas County courthouse. In 1912, he was at Lafayette and Washington streets. Son, Harry, delivered groceries by horse and wagon. In 1914, the store was at 409 Augusta Street.
Harry Arons (1887-1952) was in military service at Love Field during World War I. In 1924, he married Rose Zimmerman, while operating the Browne Garage at 2612 Main Street (and later at Main and Exposition). He had a hearing problem, and later worked as a bookkeeper, and managed his mother’s real estate.
Reka (1892-1978) attended Fair Park School and Dallas High School, where she graduated in 1911. She became a stenographer at the Pathe Film Exchange in Dallas. In 1920, she married Lloyd Brown Patrick (1892-1967), a salesman for the Yuba Tractor Company. Lloyd had been an Army Tank Corps captain in France in World War I. He was later part owner of the F. C. Crane Company, dealing in road building equipment and other heavy machinery.
Lloyd and Reka had children: Leah Octa, Frances Marie, and Robert Lloyd. They lived in a new brick home at 703 Monte Vista in Dallas in 1928, having moved there in a Model T truck. In 1939, they moved to Reno, Nevada, where Lloyd managed his family’s property. They moved back to Dallas in 1959, and both parents are buried at Restland Cemetery. Son, Robert Lloyd, became a Hughes Aircraft consultant in California. Leah Octa (1921-1966) married Houston Lewis (1915-1965) and they had three children: Houston, Jr. (1940-1988), Kinda Merle (born 1941), and Cynthia Anne (born 1954). Leah and Houston are buried at Restland Cemetery. Frances Patrick (Reece) James, granddaughter of Robert and Matilda Arons, is a well-known Dallas County area historian, and an officer of the Dallas County Pioneer Association.
By Frances James, Dallas, Texas
