Chapter 2
DESCENDANTS OF JOHN RHODE
[Page 3 of 3]
(Jonathan Rhode and descendants are covered in Chapter 3.)
5. MARY RHODE AND DESCENDANTS
BIRTHPLACE
Mary Rhode was born on the John Rhode plantation near St. George, South Carolina, on 3 February 1796 and died at St, George, South Carolina on 21 December 1836. She was married on 29 August 1813 to William Murray, Jr., who was born on 15 September 1782 on his father's 3000-acre plantation at Murray's Crossroads near St. George, South Carolina. He died on 19 March 1836. Both are buried in the Hughes family cemetery on the west side of Indian Fields swamp on the Hughes plantation, near St. George, which they operated.
William Murray, Jr., was married (1st) on 2 November 1802 to Mary Hughes, the daughter of David Hughes and Suzannah (Eberly) Hughes. The couple moved to the Hughes plantation. There were four children: David Murray, Elizabeth Murray, William Murray, and Suzannah Murray. (Annie Dash Moorer of Walterboro. who in 1948 furnished the data on Ester and Mary Rhode, is a descendant of William Murray.) Mary (Hughes) Murray died on 12 September 1812.
Mary Rhode married William Murray, Jr., after the death of his first wife. Their home during their lives was on the old Hughes plantation consisting of some 3000 acres, which was located near the old John Rhode plantation. This marriage is listed in South Carolina Marriage Records by Clement on page 205 as follows: "William Murray, Jr, on 29 Aug. 1813 married Mary Rhodd." (Note the misspelling of Rhode.) William Murray, Jr., died in 1836 at the age of 56. Mary (Rhode) Murray died six months later at the age of 40. (William Murray's sister Sarah married William Rhode, who was the brother of his second wife Mary.) There were three sons born to William and Mary (Rhode) Murray:
I. JOHN SIMMONS MURRAY, who was born on 6 January 1819 and who died on 7 November 1882. He served in the Confederate Army in the Civil War and was ordained a minister in the Methodist Church. He was married on 24 December 1839 to Mary Caroline Moorer. They had six children:
(1) Joahna S. Murray [Dr. Rhode suspects a typographical error in the name, which perhaps should be Jonathan S. Murray.], who married married Alice Utsey.
(2) Augusta Murray, who married Susan Weathers.
(3) William Murray, who was born in 1850 and who died on 20 September 1884. He married Mary Collier.
(4) Mary E. Murray, who was born on May 28, 1852, and who died in 1872. She married William T. Bowman.
(5) Theresa Anne Murray, who was born on September 11, 1856, and who died in 1879. She married Thoman Collier. [Again, Dr. Rhode suspects a typographical error in the name, which perhaps should be Thomas Collier.]
(6) Jefferson Murray, who married Henrieta Utsey.
II. JOSEPH MURRAY, a physician, who was born on 25 May 1824 and who died in 1897 or 1898. He married Mary Anne Murray. He was a surgeon in the Confederate Army in the Civil War. They had six children:
(1) William Murray, who married Sally Judy.
(2) Melissa Murray, who married William Westbury. They had four children:
1. Olin Westbury.
2. Evelyn Westbury.
3. Mary Westbury.
4. ?
(3) Victoria Murray, who married L. Westbury.
(4) Hampton Murray.
(5) Dora Murray, who married ____________ Owens.
(6) Emily Murray, who married Dr. Josiah Minus. They had three children:
1. Nancy Minus.
2. Paul Minus.
3. Dorothy Minus.
III. THOMAS JEFFERSON MURRAY, who was born on 5 April 1832 and who died on 6 September 1862. He married Eliza D. F. Moorer, a cousin. In 1860 he was elected to the South Carolina legislature from the Colleton District near St. George. He entered the service of the Confederacy in the Civil War, forming with others Company C of the 24th Regiment, in which he was 1st Lieutenant. He contracted typhoid fever, from which he died. He left three children:
(1) Joseph Daniel Murray (1853-1876), who was never married.
(2) William Jacob Murray (1855-1929), who married Mary Conner. William graduated with a degree in medicine from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He returned to St. George and operated a drug and general store with Dr. P. L. Moorer. In 1920 he organized the Murray Drug Company in Columbus, South Carolina, of which he was president. This company united with McKesson & Robbins, a large national firm, in the 1920s. William had four children:
1. Jamie Murray (1885-1909), who married H. H. Harris. His children were:
a. Henry Murray.
b. Jean Murray.
2. William Jacob Murray, Jr., who was born in 1888. He married Minnie Blaylock. He graduated from the South Carolina Military College. He served in various positions in the McKesson-Robbins Drug Company, finally as president and, in 1944, as chairman of the board. He lived in New York City.
3. Thomas Lewis Murray, who was born in 1892. He married Katherine Patterson. They had one child:
a. Thomas Murray.
Thomas Lewis Murray married (2nd) Margaret Glenn. They had two children:
a. Margaret Murray.
b. William Murray.
4. Mary Eliza Murray (1897-1918), who married Arthur Tomkins; they had three children:
a. Mary Tomkins.
b. Arthur Tomkins.
c. ?
(3) Thomas Jefferson Murray II (1856-1914), who married Jessie Fields. He graduated in law from the University of Virginia. They had three children:
1. Olive Murray.
2. Thadis Murray.
3. Nell Murray.
(The Murray family history came from Annie Dash Moorer of South Carolina.)
6. THOMAS RHODE AND DESCENDANTS
BIRTHPLACE AND MARRIAGE
Thomas Rhode, son of John and Mary Rhode, was born in South Carolina on 26 April 1797 and died at Salem, Iowa, on 8 November 1867; he was married on 25 December ? to Mary Ballard, who was born in Virginia on 9 January 1798 and died at Salem, Iowa, on 12 January 1872. Both are buried near Salem, Iowa.
Thomas Rhode accompanied his parents, John and Mary (Lewis) Rhode, and his four brothers when they left South Carolina in about 1814 for the west, finally settling in Warren County, western Indiana in 1826. Here his father John Rhode and his sons William and Jonathan took up government land, which they farmed the rest of their lives. Whether the other three sons, Thomas, Caleb and Seymour, took up land is not known, but later all three moved west. The U. S. census shows that Thomas Rhode was living in Warren County in 1830.
In 1848 Thomas Rhode and his family moved from Warren County, Indiana, to Salem in Henry County in southeast Iowa, where they took up land and engaged in farming the rest of their lives. This was the third permanent settlement made by the Rhode family in America. Many of the descendants of Thomas Rhode still live in this area. Thomas Rhode was one of the organizers of the Quaker Church of Salem, Iowa. There were twelve children:
I. SARAH RHODE (1818-1846), who was married in 1840 to Amos Barnett.
II. ESTER RHODE (1820-1861), who was married in 1844 to Thomas Pickard, a farmer near Salem, Iowa. They had three children:
(1) Thomas Elwood Pickard.
(2) Catherine Pickard, who married Henry McDowell.
(3) Sarah Pickard, who married David McDowell.
III. JOHN RHODE (1823-1900), who was married in 1844 to Catherine Pickard and who died in 1888. John Rhode's occupation was farmer and stock buyer at Salem and Earlham, Iowa. They had two children:
(1) J. W. Rhode, lawyer, Earlham and Des Moines, Iowa, who married Lydia. They had three daughters:
1. Hallie Rhode.
2. Myrtle Rhode.
3. ?
(2) Henry Rhode, Mt. Pleasant, lowa, who married and had one child.
1. Fred Rhode.
IV. ELIZABETH RHODE (1824-1849), who married Campbell Mote in 1844. She was buried in Quaker Cemetery near Attica, Indiana.
V. MARY RHODE (1825-1851), who married Perry Mote in 1845.
VI. JOSEPH B. RHODE.
VII. SUSANNA RHODE (1830-1861).
VIII. ALMEDA RHODE (1830-1912), who married Richard Wroe in 1858; Richard was a farmer and shoemaker at Earlham, Iowa; they had no children.
IX. CALEB RHODE (1834-1863), who married Virginia Hayes in 1856. Caleb lived at Salem, Iowa. He was killed in the Civil War. He left two children:
(1) J. W. Rhode (1857-1923).
(2) Daughter, who married ____________ Barnett.
X. RHODA RHODE (1837-1926), who married J. J. Wilmoth, who was a farmer at Salem and Hillsboro, Iowa. [Dr. Rhode notes that Ellis G. Rhode spells the last name of this family three ways. Thus, it could be J. J. Wilmoth, J. J. Wilmeth, or J. J. Wilment.] They had eight children:
(1) Charles Wilmoth or Charles Wilmeth or Charles Wilment.
(2) William Wilmoth or William Wilmeth or William Wilment.
(3) Julia Wilmoth or Julia Wilmeth or Julia Wilment, who married Keck.
(4) Adalaid Wilmoth or Adalaid Wilmeth or Adalaid Wilment.
(5) George Wilmoth or George Wilmeth or George Wilment.
(6) Fannie Wilmoth or Fannie Wilmeth or Fannie Wilment.
(7) Richard Wilmoth or Richard Wilmeth or Richard Wilment.
(8) Grace Wilmoth or Grace Wilmeth or Grace Wilment.
XI. JULIA RHODE (1839-1860).
XII. REBECCA RHODE (1841-1922), who married Isaac Matthews (1839-1902), who was a farmer near Salem, Iowa. They had six children:
(1) Ella Matthews (1861-1933), who married Benton Crew in 1884. They had two children:
1. Milo Crew, who was born in 1884 and who married Winnie Phillips in 1914. Milo was a hardware salesman in Sioux Palls, South Dakota. They had two children:
a. Phillip Crew, who was born in 1916.
b. Dudley Crew, who was born in 1919.
2. Paul Crew, who was born in 1887 and who married lone Simmons in 1913; Paul was a newspaper editor. They had one child:
a. Donald Crew, who was born in 1916.
(2) Belle Matthews, who was born in 1863 and who married Frank Bennett (1891-1920). He was a mining salesman in Colorado Springs; they had one child:
a. Bertha Bennett, deceased.
(3) John Matthews (1867-1871), who died at the age of four.
(4) Kate Matthews, who was born in 1869. She attended Tabor College; she was a teacher in Salem, Iowa. She was never married.
(5) Jackson Matthews (1875-1941), who was a stock buyer in Salem, Iowa.
(6) Edger Herbert "Bert" Matthews, who was born in 1878. He married Anna J. Bell, who was born in 1877. He was a farmer in Salem, Iowa. They had six children:
1. Wilbur A. Matthews, who was born in 1903. Wilbur was a farmer and painter. He was married in 1929 to Marjory Widdlefield and was divorced in 1936. They had two children [additional information available].
2. Lucile Matthews (1905-1927).
3. Anna Bell Matthews, who was born in 1907 and who married Edwin Hite, an oil station operator and mechanic, in 1937. They lived in Washington, Iowa, and had two children [additional information available].
4. Maurine Matthews, who was born in 1910 and who married Gilbert Mills, a mechanic and garage owner, in 1936. They lived in Washigton, Iowa, and had two children [additional information available].
5. Doris Matthews, who was born in 1913 and who married O. E. Nordyke, a mechanic, in 1940. They lived in Washington, Iowa. They had one child [additional information available].
6. Harold Matthews (1917-1939), who was a farmer.
(Thomas Rhode information came from Edgar Herbert Matthews.)
7. SEYMOUR COBB RHODE AND DESCENDANTS
BIRTHPLACE AND MARRIAGE
Seymour Cobb Rhode, the last child of John and Mary Rhode, was born on 18 December 1802 in South Carolina and died on 19 November 1861 near Hamburg, Iowa. He is buried in Hamburg Cemetery. According to Ann Miller Carr, he was named for his uncle Semer Cobb, who married Mary Lewis Rhode's sister, Esther Lewis Cobb. He was married in Ohio to Rebecca Hurley, who was born in 1805 in Ohio and who died on 12 November 1838 in Warren County, Indiana, at the age of 33. She was buried in Quaker Cemetery near Attica, Indiana.
In 1855 Seymour Rhode went to Fremont County, Iowa, where he lived with or near his son Jonathan and wife on their farm near Hamburg, Iowa. Seven children were born to Seymour Rhode and wife Rebecca: [Dr. Rhode points out that Ellis G. Rhode lists by name only six children.]
I. WILLIAM RHODE, who was born on 14 February 1827 and who died in infancy.
II. JONATHAN RHODE, who was born on 30 May 1830 in Warren County, Indiana, and who died in 1895. [In Chapter 4, Ellis G. Rhode refers to Jonathan Rhode as Jont Rhode.] He was married in Warren County on 23 November 1855 to Dorothy Gray, who was a daughter of William and Sarah (Cobb) Gray and granddaughter of John Gray. In 1856 they were living on a farm near Hamburg, Iowa. (See the excerpt of a letter from Dorothy later in this chapter.) In 1883 they were living in Benton County, Indiana, and later on a farm near Pine Village in Warren County, Indiana. (See below a photograph of a Chicago & Eastern Illinois train on the trestle bridge north of Pine Village at about the time that Jonathan died. Dr. Robert T. Rhode's paternal great grandmother, Magnolia Somerset "Nolia" Fenton Cobb, took the photograph.) They had seven children:
Jonathan and Dorothy Gray Rhode were second cousins. Their marriage is just one example of the cousin marriages that occurred in the Rhode–Gray–Cobb–Murray–Easterling lines mentioned in Ellis Gray's book titled John Rhode and His Descendants and on this website. Photos and identifications courtesy of Rhoda Watson
(1) Elizabeth Lillis May Rhode, who married Floyd D. Stotts.
(2) Rebecca Arvilla Rhode, who married Isaiah Edwards.
(3) Sarah Esther Rhode, who married John C. Messner.
(4) Arthur Jonathan Rhode.
(5) Mary Jane Rhode, who married Marion Lee Ritenour.
(6) Martha Kate Rhode, who married (1st) William Morton Huff and (2nd) Edward Heath.
(7) Charles Seymour Rhode, who married Sylvia Nettie Reed.
[In 2001, Ann Miller Carr provided the following updated and corrected information on Jonathan Rhode and Floyd D. Stotts and their descendants.]
Descendants of Jonathan Rhode
Generation No. 1
1. JONATHAN4 RHODE (SEYMOUR COBB3, JOHN2, PETER1)1 was born May 04, 1830 in Warren Co., Indiana1, and died April 20, 1893 in Benton Co., Indiana. He married DOROTHY GRAY1 November 23, 1854 in Warren Co., Indiana1, daughter of WILLIAM GRAY and SARAH COBB. (See a photograph of William Gray below.) She was born February 13, 1836 in Warren Co., Indiana1, and died June 17, 1900 in Benton Co., Indiana1.
More About JONATHAN RHODE:
Burial: Gray Cemetery, Warren Co., Indiana
Medical Information: Nearly blind1
Notes for DOROTHY GRAY:
Dorothy Gray Rhode is said to have been a prolific letter writer. The following is a verbatim letter Dorothy wrote on July 27, 1856 to her parents, William and Sarah Cobb Gray, back in Warren Co., Indiana, where both Dorothy and her husband, Jonathan Rhode (Seymour, John) were born. Jonathan and 19-year-old Dorothy were homesteading in Fremont Co., Iowa, with other members of the Rhode clan. The homesickness is apparent in every line. In 1860, Dorothy would get her wish; she and Jonathan and their two small daughters Rebecca Arvilla (b. 1855) and Sarah Esther (Sadie, b. 1858) returned to Warren Co.
"Dear Mother,
"I thought I would write you a letter this morning because I don't know what els to do. I have rote so much that I am ashamed, but I do like to hear from you all so well, and it is the most satisfaction I see, to get a letter from in there. I am tolerable well today, though I have not bin very well all the week. All the rest of us is well I believe. Arvilla grows very fast, and I can't keep her in the house a minute if I hant holding her. We are living in a little Irish shanty that Jont [Jonathan] put up for us, and we had a fine rain this morning and our house is not very good watter proof. Jont's eyes is getting well as fast as they can, and he is in mity good hart about them. Jont's eyes has not bin as well since we got here. they have had two bad spells. I think it was caused by his working so hard in the heat. Jont is up at Uncle Joes (Joseph Rhode, Jonathan's older first cousin) today and they are going to start out there next Sunday if they can get ready, but I dont expect they will for they want to see the house raised before they start. There is three carpenters at work at it and they say they can raise it by the middle of next week. I guess that we are going to live here and we will have to build the house, there will be four rooms in it and a poarch I think I could live here very well if it was not for these awful high hills but we can't help that it looks like nature has tried its self. I think there is is very good watter here and the pirtiest springs that ever was. I can sit in the cool and see the steamboats booming along the old Misouri, and I can get up on the hill and see Nebraska City. there is a mity prity view over the bottom, the lake runs in about a have mile of here and we can catch as many fish as we want and the boys is gone down there now. We don't have much to eat only corn bread and meat and coffe. we have not got much garden stuff, but we will have lots of watter mellon prity soon, everything is high here and we paid thirty dollars for a cow and calf. She is a good cow for milk and I have a little place in the spring branch to keep it. It will keep sweet always. I believe we could have the greatest milk house fixed there in the wourld. the watter is so cold it will make your hand ake. Flour is 5 dollars and a quarter a hundred here and hard to get at that. Chickens is 2 dollars a dozen and I give my old tea cittle and a skain of yarn to Miss Pillips for a dozen old hens and I sowed for Aunt Betsa [Elizabeth Gray Rhode, wife of Joseph Rhode and sister of Dorothy's father, William Gray] and old hen and chickens. Mis Phillips is a very clever woman she gives us a chicken once in a while to fry. There has not bin any flies here yet, and I am in hops there wont be. there was a strange affair hapened at Slusher with there beas about 2 weeks ago. they live in about a mile and half of here. they have about sixty stands of beas and there was two men come along there with a team and stoped to let them drink and the beas came out of the hives and stung the horses and they couldent get the horses away till they werre almost stung to death one of the horses died and its eyes bursted out before it died. Slusher weent out to help the man get there horses away and they stung him very bad the doctor almost gave him up he was just like a crazy man and they picked two hundred and sixty stings out of his head. He is getting well now but it was a tight race for him, and the other men was very bad sick, there has been several bit with rattlesnakes here. Slusher has a boy about eleven years old that was bit when he was binding wheat, but they think that he will get well. there has been some accidents with lightning here. There was a man breaking prairie up at Kainsville with five yoke of cattle and the lightning killed nine out of the ten, and riped the mans brichs but it did not hurt him it is supposed that the chains drawed the lightning it hardly ever lightens here without it strikes something. Well I have nearly filled up the sheet and hant sayed haff I want to say. I wish I could go down to them June apple trees and get an apple. I thnk it would refresh my memory but I guess I will wait till I get done wrighting. If Emily was here we would go get some graps and goosberrys and could have more fun a washing at the spring that we had that day at the creak. Tell her that little Dorth was mity pleased with that plate she sent her. I will now tell you that the boys has got back from fishing and they have got a fine lot. I think some of them is two foot long, wish dady was here alittle while to kill a deer for they are thick--there is a deerlick close here and Johns dady has killed three this spring. He killed two since we come. I want you to tell Aron and John that they nedent look for a letter from Jont for I can't get him to commence a letter atol. He says he promised them he would rite but he says if he was to rite, he would just say he had nothing to say. I want you to rite to me as soon as you get this, I want to give my love to grandfather and Uncle William and Aunt Martha and Uncle Bill and Aunt Elice and Bettsa and Hessa and Seam and all yes everyone of the rest. I think we have got a very good cooking stove it is one of those double oven stoves and we got a nice set of cooking vessails with it. Tell little Hit to rite to us, she has not sent one word to us yet and tell Buck and uncle Billy he's to rite and not be so saving of there paper. I want to know how you and dady is getting along and I want to know how all the rest is. I could rite a whole sheet to Betsa and Hessa but I will wait until another time. I must tell you that Aunt Betsa and her girls is the finest ladyes in Iowa, she has got Mary and Harriet fine silk bonnets and two fine dresses a peace. (here is a fine letter for Charles to give to his girl if he is got any) so no more this time. Look over any bad wrighting and I will do better next time. (So farewell from your child.)
More About DOROTHY GRAY:
Burial: Gray Cemetery, Warren Co., Indiana
Lilly May Rhode Stotts Copsey and her siblings; identification above from right to left.
Children of JONATHAN RHODE and DOROTHY GRAY are:
2. i. ELIZABETH LILLIS MAY5 RHODE, b. August 19, 1861, Benton Co., Indiana; d. March 15, 1936, Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana.
3. ii. REBECCA ARVILLA RHODE, b. October 10, 1855, Warren Co., Indiana; d. May 24, 1923.
4. iii. SARAH ESTHER RHODE, b. August 13, 1858, Fremont Co., Iowa; d. March 18, 1939, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana.
iv. ARTHUR JONATHAN RHODE, b. October 07, 1863, Benton Co., Indiana; d. March 27, 1868, Benton Co., Indiana.
More About ARTHUR JONATHAN RHODE:
Burial: Gray Cemetery, Warren Co., Indiana
v. MARY JANE RHODE, b. November 23, 1865, Benton Co., Indiana; d. October 24, 1944; m. MARION LEE RITENOUR.
More About MARY JANE RHODE:
Burial: Fort Worth, Texas
vi. MARTHA KATE RHODE, b. March 23, 1868; m. (1) WILLIAM MORTON HUFF; m. (2) EDWARD HEATH, June 01, 1887, Benton Co., Indiana. (See a photograph of Willilam Morton Huff, Martha Kate Rhode, and William's son by his first marriage above.)
More About MARTHA KATE RHODE:
Burial: Riverside Cemetery, Attica, Warren Co., Indiana
5. vii. CHARLES SEYMOUR RHODE, b. September 10, 1872, Benton Co., Indiana; d. October 27, 1956, Benton Co., Indiana. (See a photograph of Sarah, Lilly or Arvilla ?, Jane, and Kate Rhode below.)
Generation No. 2
2. ELIZABETH LILLIS MAY5 RHODE (JONATHAN4, SEYMOUR COBB3, JOHN2, PETER1)1 was born August 19, 1861 in Benton Co., Indiana1, and died March 15, 1936 in Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana1. She married FLOYD D. STOTTS January 04, 1882 in Benton Co., Indiana. He was born 1857 in Ohio, and died January 26, 1898 in Oxford, Benton Co., Indiana. (See a photograph of Elizabeth Lillis May Rhode Stotts below.)
More About ELIZABETH LILLIS MAY RHODE:
Burial: Gray Cemetery, Warren Co., Indiana
More About FLOYD D. STOTTS:
Burial: Gray Cemetery, Warren Co., Indiana
Children of ELIZABETH RHODE and FLOYD STOTTS are:
i. VERNA6 STOTTS, b. October 04, 1882.
ii. MARY RUTH STOTTS, b. 1889.
iii. CHARLES P. STOTTS, b. December 30, 1887; d. December 20, 1888.
iv. JONATHAN P. STOTTS, b. March 24, 1894; d. August 14, 1894.
3. REBECCA ARVILLA5 RHODE (JONATHAN4, SEYMOUR COBB3, JOHN2, PETER1) was born October 10, 1855 in Warren Co., Indiana, and died May 24, 1923. She married ISAIAH EDWARDS December 25, 1873 in Benton Co., Indiana. He was born August 22, 1844, and died April 27, 1897. (See a photograph of two of Rebecca and Isaiah's daughters above.)
More About REBECCA ARVILLA RHODE:
Burial: Gray Cemetery, Warren Co., Indiana
Children of REBECCA RHODE and ISAIAH EDWARDS are:
i. ROSALIE EDWARDS, born 1874 in Madison County, Ohio. (See a photograph of Rosalie and her children above.)
ii. ORIEN "ORA"6 EDWARDS, born 1876 in Pine Village, Warren County, Indiana.
iii. LILLIE EDWARDS, born 1876 in either Floral, Cowley County, Kansas, or Madison County, Ohio.
iv. BLANCHE EDWARDS, born September 1883 in Madison County, Ohio.
v. GRACE EDWARDS, born November 1887 in Madison County, Ohio.
vi. ELLEN EDWARDS, born May 1890 in Madison County, Ohio.
vii. MINNIE EDWARDS, born September 1892 in Madison County, Ohio.
viii.ARTHUR EDWARDS, born April 1895 in Madison County, Ohio.
4. SARAH ESTHER5 RHODE (JONATHAN4, SEYMOUR COBB3, JOHN2, PETER1) was born August 13, 1858 in Fremont Co., Iowa, and died March 18, 1939 in Tippecanoe Co., Indiana. She married JOHN C. MESSNER October 07, 1877 in Benton Co., Indiana. (See a photograph of Sarah "Sadie" Rhode Messner and her grandchild Lorene Carr Rosemond [Mrs. Joseph] above.)
More About SARAH ESTHER RHODE:
Burial: West Cemetery, Oxford, Benton Co., Indiana
Notes for JOHN C. MESSNER:
John Messner was the son of Daniel Messner, the owner of the legendary pacer, Dan Patch. Dan Patch is considered by many harness racing experts as the greatest horse ever to pull a sulky. Dan Patch's trainer and first driver, John Wattles, was the husband of Elizabeth Gray Wattles, a sister to John Messner's mother-in-law, Dorothy Gray Rhode. (See a photograph of Elizabeth Gray Wattles below.)
The Messner family owned the largest department store in the area.
More About JOHN C. MESSNER:
Occupation: Merchant
Residence: Oxford, Benton Co., Indiana
Children of SARAH RHODE and JOHN MESSNER are:
i. BESSIE6 MESSNER, born June 1881.
ii. CLINTON MESSNER, born October 1885.
5. CHARLES SEYMOUR5 RHODE (JONATHAN4, SEYMOUR COBB3, JOHN2, PETER1) was born September 10, 1872 in Benton Co., Indiana, and died October 27, 1956 in Benton Co., Indiana. (See a photograph of Charlie Rhode and his family above.) He married SYLVIA NETTIE REED March 14, 1897.
More about CHARLES SEYMOUR RHODE:
Burial: West Cemetery, Oxford, Benton Co., Indiana
More about SYLVIA REED RHODE:
Died on 15 January 1951 in Benton County, Indiana
Burial: West Cemetery, Oxford, Benton Co., Indiana
Children of CHARLES RHODE and SYLVIA REED are:
i. DOROTHY6 RHODE, born 18 January 1898 in Benton County, Indiana; married Ralph Simmons.
ii. FOREST RHODE, born 8 October 1899 in Benton County, Indiana; died 13 December 1969 in Benton County, Indiana; was married on 15 March 1922 in Fowler in Benton County, Indiana, to Mabel Floy Lindsey, born 2 February 1900 in Fountain County, Indiana.
iii. ALBERT RHODE, born 15 August 1901 in Benton County, Indiana.
Endnote
1. Ann Miller Carr, Carr Family Tree.FTW, Date of Import: Oct 10, 2000.
Descendants of Floyd D. Stotts and Elizabeth Lillis May “Lillie May” Rhode
Generation No. 1
1. FLOYD D.4 STOTTS (JACOB H.3, JOHN2, ABRAHAM1) was born September 12, 1857 in Huron Co., Ohio, and died January 26, 1898 in Oxford, Benton Co., Indiana. He married ELIZABETH LILLIS MAY RHODE January 04, 1882 in Oxford, Benton Co., Indiana, daughter of JONATHAN RHODE and DOROTHY GRAY. She was born August 19, 1861 in Benton Co., Indiana, and died March 15, 1936 in Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana. He was the son of Jacob H. and Mary Holmes Stotts.
Notes for FLOYD D. STOTTS:
Floyd and his family had just moved from the farm to the town of Oxford the autumn before his death so that the girls could "enjoy the privileges of a good school," according to his obituary in the Oxford newspaper. They were living with his mother at the time.
More About FLOYD D. STOTTS:
Burial: Gray Cemetery in Warren Co., Indiana
Cause of Death: Typhoid Fever
Education: Battle Ground (Indiana) Collegiate Institutes
Membership: Knights of Pythias, Oxford Lodge 187
Occupation: 1881, Worked at a carriage makers
Notes for ELIZABETH LILLIS MAY RHODE:
Lilly May was an expert seamstress who loved to make quilts; she belonged to at least one quilting society or club in Lafayette in her latter years.
More About ELIZABETH LILLIS MAY RHODE:
Burial: Gray Cemetery in Warren Co., Indiana
Occupation: Seamstress
Children of FLOYD STOTTS and ELIZABETH RHODE are:
2. i. VERNA D.5 STOTTS, b. October 04, 1882, Benton Co., Indiana; d. August 21, 1947, Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana.
ii. CHARLES P. STOTTS, b. December 30, 1887, Benton Co., Indiana; d. December 20, 1888, Benton Co., Indiana.
More About CHARLES P. STOTTS:
Burial: Gray Cemetery in Warren Co., Indiana
3. iii. MARY RUTH STOTTS, b. October 14, 1889; d. 1949.
iv. JONATHAN P. STOTTS, b. March 24, 1894, Benton Co., Indiana; d. August 14, 1894, Benton Co., Indiana.
More About JONATHAN P. STOTTS:
Burial: Gray Cemetery in Warren Co., Indiana
2nd Marriage
Elizabeth Lillis May Rhode Stotts married Charles Copsey in June 1907 in Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana. They had no offspring. Charles Copsey, a blacksmith, died about 1927 in Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana.
Generation No. 2
2. VERNA D.5 STOTTS (FLOYD D.4, JACOB H.3, JOHN2, ABRAHAM1) was born October 04, 1882 in Benton Co., Indiana, and died August 21, 1947 in Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana. She married JAMES FRANKLIN CARR September 05, 1904 in Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana, son of JOSEPH CARR and SARAH DAVIS. He was born October 07, 1871 in Carroll Co., Indiana, and died April 22, 1951 in Martinsville, Morgan Co., Indiana. (See a photograph of Verna Stotts Carr below.)
More About VERNA D. STOTTS:
Burial: Washington Park Cemetery, Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana
Occupation: 1903, Telephone operator
More About JAMES FRANKLIN CARR:
Appointed: 1917, President, Board of Police Commissioners, Lafayette, Indiana
Burial: Washington Park Cemetery, Indianapolis, Marion Co. Indiana
Occupation: 1890, Conductor, Monon Railroad
Residence: 1882, Pittsburg, Carroll Co., Indiana
Marriage Notes for VERNA STOTTS and JAMES CARR:
Marriage was announced in the September 10, 1904 edition of Carol County Citizen.
Children of VERNA STOTTS and JAMES CARR are:
i. ROGER BURNETTE6 CARR, b. July 31, 1906, Otterbein, Benton Co., Indiana; d. May 16, 1996, Danville, Hendricks Co., Indiana; m. (1) FLORENCE KATHRYN ROOT, August 05, 1929, Greenfield, Hancock Co., Indiana; b. November 08, 1910, Chenoa, McLean Co., Illinois; d. November 26, 1969, Boone Co., Indiana; m. (2) RUTH, 1972; d. 1999, Hendricks Co., Indiana.
More About ROGER BURNETTE CARR:
Burial: Floral Park Cemetery, Indianapolis, Marion Co. Indiana
Education: Purdue University (one year)
Occupation: Personnel manager, Link-Belt Corp.
Residence: 1909, Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana
More About FLORENCE KATHRYN ROOT:
Burial: Floral Park Cemetery, Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana
ii. MARY ELIZABETH CARR, b. June 11, 1908, Otterbein, Benton Co., Indiana; d. 1973, Alameda, California; m. DR. WILLIAM ORSINGER, 1935; b. 1914 in Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana; d. 1982 in Alameda, California
Notes for DR. WILLIAM ORSINGER:
Dr. Orsinger was the dentist at the Alcatraz federal penitentiary at from the late 1940s until the prison closed.
More About DR. WILLIAM ORSINGER:
Education: Purdue University and Northwestern U. School of Dentistry
Occupation: Dentist
Residence: 1946, Bremerhaven, Germany
[At this point, we return to Ellis G. Rhode's manuscript.]
3. MARY RUTH5 STOTTS (FLOYD D.4, JACOB H.3, JOHN2, ABRAHAM1) was born October 14, 1889, and died 1949 in Detroit, Michigan. She married FREDERICK AURENZ June 12, 1912, son of DANIEL AURENZ and FRANCES BUGLE. He was born March 29, 1887, and died 1971 in Detroit, Michigan.
III. THOMAS RHODE, who was born in 1834 and who died on 20 December 1864 at the age of 30 years; he was buried in Hamburg (Iowa) Cemetery. He married Elizabeth ____________. He was killed while following a horse thief. (See History of Fremont County, Iowa, published 1884, page 484.) Thomas is buried in Hamburg, Iowa. He had three children:
(1) Infant daughter, who died on 15 July 1862.
(2) Infant son, who died on 7 April 1863.
(3) Nathan Rhode, who died in infancy on 25 July 1864.
IV. HESTER "BESSIE" RHODE, who married Seymour Gray, a brother of Dorothy (Gray) Rhode, the wife of Hester's brother Jonathan. They had six children:
(1) Will Gray.
(2) Duncan Gray.
(3) Vesta Gray.
(4) Thomas Gray.
(5) Elwood Gray.
(6) Becky Gray.
V. CALEB RHODE, who was born in 1836 and who died on 1 September 1882 at the age of 36. He was buried in Tabor, Iowa. He married Jemima Wolf, who was born in 1839 and who died on 28 January 1874 at the age of 34. [In Chapter 4, Ellis G. Rhode refers to Jemima Wolf as Elizabeth Wolf.] She was buried in Hamburg, Iowa. After the death of Caleb Rhode, the three living children were raised in the Joseph Rhode home. Caleb Rhode married (2nd) Mrs.Schwartz, and there was one child:
(1) Gertrude Rhode, who married O. C. Matux. They had three children.
Caleb's five children from his first marriage were:
(1) Infant daughter, who died on 21 October 1860 and who was buried in Hamburg, Iowa.
(2) Mary Rhode, who died in 1863 at the age of two months and was buried in Hamburg, Iowa.
(3) Aletha Rhode, who was born in 1865 and who died on 23 January 1960 at age 95. She married Jack Booten, a farmer. They had one child, who died at birth in 1887.
(4) Semer J. "Little Seym" Rhode, who married Birdie Astrope. For many years he was a prominent banker in Fort Lupton, Colorado. [Hal Hatcher found in the Glenwood Mills Co. Tribune for November 15, 1900, an announcement of the marriage between Mr. S. J. Rhode and Miss Birdie Aistrope. Ann Miller Carr gives "Little Seym's" name as Seymour J. Rhode. Note the spelling of "Aistrope" in the newspaper.] They had one child:
1. Helen Rhode (1903-1918).
(5) Thomas Rhode, who was born in 1869 and who died in 1948 at Randolph, Iowa; he married Etta Reid. For about thirty years he worked for Seym T. Rhode in the hardware and grain business in Randolph, Iowa. Later he moved to Fort Lupton with his brother Seymour. Finally he retired to Randolph. He had three children:
1. Alvin Rhode, who died from drowning on 13 June 1905 at the age of twelve years.
2. Hazel Rhode; who married Harold McCand and who lived on a farm near Randolph. Iowa. They had two children [additional information available].
3. Gladyth Rhode, who married Howard Ford, who operated a service station at Randolph, Iowa, in 1948. They had two children [additional information available].
VI. MARY LILLIS RHODE, who died in infancy in 1839 and who was buried in Quaker Cemetery in Warren County, Indiana.
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