Samuel Rhoades/Rhodes of Ohio

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Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on August 17, 2009 at 12:22pm

Welcome, Karen! :)

First off, I see that in 1900, Ida and Andrew Shuster had been married circa 1888(12 years), and Harley is 14, so he was born approx. in 1885. They are in Concord, Ross, Ohio.

ETA: I just found the marriage information for Ida and Andrew, they were married February 9, 1888 in Ross County, OH.

I'm wondering if you have Samuel on the 1880 census? Or Ida?

Do you know where Andrew Rhodes was in 1900?

Permalink Reply by Karen Rhodes on August 17, 2009 at 1:30pm

I have the 1900 census with the Shusters. (Just didn't look at it to determine the marriage year . . .)

I don't know where Andrew Rhodes was in 1900, not from the census. But in 1903 he was in Akron, Ohio, according to his RRB file.

I've been unable to locate Samuel in the 1880 census. However, I found a solid possiblility in the 1870 census.

Household of Levi Rhoades, 1870 census, Benton Township, Pike County, Ohio, dwelling 190, family 191.

Levi age 36, farmer, born Ohio, cannot write.
Catherine, age 38, keeping house, born Ohio, cannot write
William E., 13, farm laborer, born Ohio
Samuel H., age 9, attending school, born Ohio
Nancy J., age 6, attending school, born Ohio
Jacob D., age 4, born Ohio
John C., age 2, born Ohio

The maddening thing is that I can't find Samuel in the 1880 census, and I can't find Ida in the 1870 census! Ida's family is in Benton, Pike County, Ohio in 1880. I looked for both of them in the entire U.S., and can't find them or their families. I think I'm going to send to Ohio and see if there is a marriage record for Samuel Rhoades and Ida Mae Dewey in Pike County around 1880. I could not find a listing in any of ancestry's indexes (in the library edition; I don't have the home edition).

In 1880 she was 15 and Samuel would have been 19. Young to marry, but probably not in those days. We have a photo of him, and he looks like he could be anywhere from 28 to 40! He is seated, and there is another man, not identified, who appears to have something on his hat which might be a badge. My husband's grandfather had written on the back of the photo that the seated man was his father, and that he received the photo from his mother. He never talked about his birth family, only his adoptive family, the Shusters.

The standing man's badge is too indistinct in the photo for us to determine any details, but its shape most closely resembles that of a New York Central Railroad detective. But we have nothing to go on.

I wish I could go to Ohio, but I live in Florida.

Thanks for the input.

Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on August 17, 2009 at 1:50pm

Hi Karen-

I just looked at FamilySearch again and found Ida Mary Dewey marry Samuel H Rhoads on Sept 5, 1881 in Pike County, Ohio. It is from an extracted record so might be worth ordering?

Permalink Reply by Karen Rhodes on August 17, 2009 at 8:19pm

Oh, lovely. This is a lot to go on. Thanks for looking. I just hadn't had the time, and only this summer have been able to do any hunting. I did find some of my own family with ties to Green (or Greene) County, Ohio. That's on my mother's side. Y'know, when we try to do our own genealogy, it's like the shoemaker's kids - no shoes!

Thank you for all the leads!

Permalink Reply by Karen Rhodes on August 17, 2009 at 2:52pm

GeneJ, I do have the 1900 census with the Shuster family and Harley Rhodes. Harley came down to Florida, as did Andrew, later on. Andrew got down here to Florida about 1918, in Tampa, where he met my husband's grandmother, Della Mae Marshall. As if that middle-name coincidence wasn't enough (Ida Mae Dewey . . .), when Andrew Rhodes brought his family (wife Della and son Leonard Marshall, my husband's father) to Jacksonville, they ended up living on Dewey Place! Harley died in Florida in 1947, Andrew in 1966.

I don't know exactly when Ida was born, but if she was 15 years old in 1880, she was probably born around 1865. I do have her in a pre-marriage census, that of 1880. Her parents were Martin and Eliza (I don't know her maiden surname). Ida is buried near Chillicothe, Ohio (in Roxabell, I think).

I know Andrew Lewis Rhodes's birthdate from his RRB file -- 23 September 1882 in what has been characterized on different forms in the RRB file as Morgan Fork or Morgantown, Pike County, Ohio. (I'd like to know more about that town and it's morphing name!)

I'll see if I can come back with more specifics later, because right now I have to go pick up our grandson from day care.

Thanks and a big hug! Wow -- I hear the sound of a brick wall coming a-tumbling down.

Permalink Reply by Karen Rhodes on August 17, 2009 at 8:39pm

Andrew Lewis Rhodes died at Jacksonville, Florida, 12 March 1966. We do have a copy of his death certificate. I need to look at the 1900 census probably in Akron or nearby for him, because he was in Akron in 1903, according to his RRB file, which we also have. He is buried at Oaklawn Cemetery, Jacksonville, Florida. He married Della Mae Marshall 14 October 1918 in Lakeland, Florida, where her family lived. Della Rhodes is also buried at Oaklawn Cemetery, as is their son Leonard Marshall Rhodes (my f-i-l) and his wife, Margaret Hargrove. My grandmother, aunt, and mother are also interred there.

Of course, there is the possibility that he is not in the 1900 census if he was in transit from one place to another. That's what I think happened to my grandfather and grandmother. I have looked for them in the 1920 census in Illinois, in Indiana, and in Florida, under all conceivable spellings of their names (Perry Wilmer Reed and his wife Mary) but nothing. I think they were in transit, though, from Indiana to Florida. My mother was in Indiana with her birth mother, but the Reed family took her away because her father (their son) had been killed in a railroad accident. I think they were on their way from Indiana to Pensacola, where they lived, with my mother when the census was taken.

I think it's probably close enough to put Andrew Lewis (the name has been seen as spelled as Louis in censuses, I have noted) Rhodes in Akron in 1903. He came to Florida in 1912, according to the RRB file.

Wow. I'm really blown away by all the leads that have been produced here!

Thanks to all of you, especially GeneJ!


Harley's wife was named Vaughnie. I don't know her maiden name, either. I need to investigate whether he met her in Florida. The nearby FHC has microfiche records of Florida marriages going pretty far back to the early 20th century. Harley J. and Vaughnie (her name is listed as Daughnie in this census) are in the 1945 Florida State census in Fort Myers, Lee County, Florida. he is 60 years old, and Vaughnie/Daughnie is 50. He was born in Ohio and she in Michigan. He is shown as having an 8th grade education and being a city employee; she has a high school education and is listed as being in civil service (doesn't state whether city, state, or federal). There is an entry in the Florida death index for a Harley John Rhodes who died in Lee County in 1947. Vaughnie H. Rhodes died 13 March 1995; she was born 31 January 1885. She died in Fort Myers.

This is one of those instances where I wish I had had information earlier. If I had known she was still alive in early 1995, we'd have more information, wouldn't we? That's like me finding out in 2008 that I had a grand-uncle on my mother's side who died at the age of something like 104 in 2004!

It would help if I had the money to sign up for ancestry at home! I think I'll save up!

Permalink Reply by Karen Rhodes on August 17, 2009 at 2:44pm

Wow! I don't know where to start!

Kate, "Mary" Dewey might very well be a mistaken entry for Ida Mae. I certainly think it might be worth my while to order the record, and thank you.

GeneJ, thanks for the link. I got a "service not available at this time" error message, but I'll come back and try again. Thanks also for the FHL film number. That will make it easier to search when I do get to take a look (when the site is back up . . .) Thanks also for the 1880 image - the age and other information is in line with Samuel and his family, and I was going to check alternate spellings. I doubt, however, that I would have thought of Simpson for Samuel! Wow! I'm not sure I would have thought of Levy for Levi, either, really. Great! Many, many thanks. You got any kin in Florida I can research for you? (grin)

More below after individual replies.

Thanks to all!

Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on August 17, 2009 at 3:55pm

If this isn't Andrew Lewis Rhoades, one thing to keep in mind is that he could be under Louis or Lewis-

Permalink Reply by Sally Nelson on August 17, 2009 at 9:06pm

Hi. Does anyone have Martha I (or J) Rhodes in their lines? She was born 22 Feb. 1857 in Nelsonville, Hocking County, OH and died 1 June 1897 in Good Hope Township, Ohio. She was married to Isaac Messick Carey (Carbon Hill, Hocking County, OH)

I have a picture of her tombstone if anyone is interested.

Permalink Reply by Karen Rhodes on August 17, 2009 at 9:37pm

I don't know of any Martha J. Rhodes. Could the spelling have been Rhoades? I'm dealing with the situation that my husband's great-grandfather spelled his name Rhoades (at least most of the time) and his grandfather spelled it Rhodes. In grandfather's Railroad Retirement Board file, great-grandpa's name is spelled either way!

It gets confusing. But these good folks here have been really helpful.

Try Hocking County Cemeteries for information on where she might have been buried if you don't already know. We have a photo of my husband's grandmother's tombstone, but there is no indication as to where that tombstone is located (other than it's probably in Ross County, Ohio, probably in or near Roxabell).

There are three vital records sources you might check:

THIS

AND THIS

AND THIS

(Now, let's see if I did that right . . .)

Permalink Reply by Karen Rhodes on August 18, 2009 at 9:14am

Well, GeneJ, you've done it again. FamilySearch Labs? There is so much going on with that whole FamilySearch thing right now that it is phenomenal, and I haven't been keeping up (family matters, the vicissitudes of advancing age, and all that)! I will definitely check it out.

I spent an hour or so on the Family History Library Catalog, and now I have a whole slew of films to order!

I went looking also on what looked like a volunteer site concerning such locations as Ross County Cemeteries, but it turned out to be nothing more than a funnel toward a paid site -- I'd have had to sign up and pay to get the cemetery information which may or may not have had any relevance to me. Phooey on that, and if the site (which had the appearance of a volunteer site, like those put up on the USGenWeb) is nothing more than a funnel to a paid site, they could at least be honest about it.

I didn't have time to explore USGenWeb itself on the subject -- it was past my bedtime! By a couple hours! LOL!

Lee Shuster is my husband's granduncle, so you have probably found the right line here.

This has been amazing. Now I want to go get in my car and head to Ohio, but that isn't going to happen this year. Maybe next summer.

Thanks again!

Note added in editing: Found it! Printed it! But it's Andrew, not Alexander (grin). That's a start.

Wow. The explosion in the digitization of documents and mounting of them in the web is leading us into an incredible new age, isn't it?

Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on August 18, 2009 at 9:35am

Hi Karen-

I've had good luck with RAOGK, here is a link that has includes some volunteers for Ross County:
http://www.raogk.org/ohio5.htm

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