Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Volume I and Volume II, Lewis
Publishing Company, 1904, pp. 68-69.  McCracken Co.

GEORGE ROCK

     George Rock, the veteran shoe merchant of Paducah, has resided in this
city since 1858.  Mr. Rock was born in 1835, in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany,
the second of three children born to John and Barbara Rock.  His father
died in Germany in 1848, and the following year, the mother and her three
children, Elizabeth, George and John, left the fatherland and came to the
United States.  They located in Cleveland, Ohio.
     In that city George Rock served a three years' apprenticeship at the
trade of shoemaking.  To shoemaking and dealing in shoes he has since
devoted his business life.  Learning his trade, he became a journeyman
somewhat after the manner of custom in his native land.  To Louisville,
Kentucky, he drifted, and there worked for some time.  In 1857, he opened a
shop of his own in the village of Lafayette, Christian county, Kentucky,
but the following year he came to Paducah, where he has led a remarkably
successful business career beginning as the proprietor of a small custom
shoe shop, now conducting one of the largest shoe establishments of western
Kentucky, and ranking among the wealthiest merchants and citizens of the
city of Paducah.  From a poor young man of a humble trade he has risen in
the business and commercial world, and for many years Mr. Rock has held
conspicuous rank among merchants of the flourishing city of Paducah, to the
material upbuilding of which he has by no means been a small contributor.
His store is one of the many excellent business houses of which the
citizens of Paducah justly boast, and his residence is among the largest
and handsomest of the city.  Much credit is due Mr. Rock for the success he
has achieved in life, and his success should be an inspiration to the young
man who has no capital nor favorable circumstances with which to begin the
solution of life's business problem.
     In 1856, Mr. Rock was married in the city of Louisville to Miss
Catherine Seigel, and into his home eight children were born.  Mr. Rock and
family are communicants of the German Evangelical Church, and for years he
has been a member of the Masonic order.  He has never sought political
preferment, for his business has required his full time and attention, and
besides he has preferred to lead the life of a business man only.  Well and
favorably known, Mr. Rock stands among the most respected citizens of
Paducah, and justly entitled to mention in a work of biography devoted to
men who have been identified with the founding, growth and development of
his city, county and state.

Rock Seigel
=
Hesse_Darmstadt-Germany Cuyahoga-OH Jefferson-KY Christian-KY

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/mccracken/rock.g.txt