W. R. Rook, retail liquor dealer and proprietor of a livery and feed stable at Dyersburg, was born in Marshall County, Miss., July 23, 1862, and is the son of John and Tennessee C. (Watson) Rook. John Rook, who was born in Tennessee in 1825, was a farmer and merchant. At the time of his marriage, which occurred in 1860, he lived in Marshall County, Miss., from which, about 1864, he moved to Dyer County, Tenn., where he died in 1866. His wife was born in November, 184, in Dyer County. To their union were born three children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only survivor. Upon the death of his father he was taken by his maternal grandfather, Richard Watson, with whom he lived until 1876. He then went to his native county in Mississippi, where he worked for his uncle for two years, and afterward was engaged in farming upon his own responsibility. In 1880 he returned to Dyersburg and established a retail liquor store, in which business he has since continued. In August, 1885, he established a livery and feed stable in Dyersburg, which he still conducts in connection with his saloon business.