Pioneers of Ellis County Robert Aycock First Postmaster at Italy, Texas The Italy News Herald, Friday, July 17, 1936 Contributed by Tom Wardlaw   Born near Marietta, Ga., Dec. 20, 1850, Robert Aycock came to Ellis County in 1871 with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Bradford Aycock. In 1879, Robert and his brother, T. J. , built the first building in what is now the town of Italy and opened a general mercantile business. A short time later a post office was established and Robert was appointed the first post master - a position he held for 19 years. He married Miss Rebecca Agnes Harris in 1883. She was a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Peter Harris, pioneer settlers from Tennessee, and a niece of the late Civil War Governor of Tennessee, Isham Harris, a brother of her father. Mr. Aycock is a cousin of ex-Governor Charles Aycock of North Carolina. Both Mr. and Mrs. Aycock have been blessed with good health and have lived to see the town of Italy grow from one store to a thriving little city known as widely as any town its size in the Southwest. Mr. Aycock has never aspired for political preferment, though there have been but few years in his life that he has not held some position of trust in his church, his town and in the ranks of the Democratic party. At present, he is a member of the Ellis County Democratic Executive Committee.   Copyright © 2004-2016, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved. This page was last modified: Thursday, 01-Jul-2021 13:29:48 MDT