S. T. Rhode Family of Randolph, Iowa

Some of the Rhode family history below was compiled by Ellis G. Rhode in 1959 and took him years of research and personal time. In July of 2001, Dr. Robert T. Rhode and Ann Miller Carr took on the tedious task of updating and correcting Ellis’s book. The rich family history has been refined and verified by over fifty genealogists making this collection a worthy resource on the history one of Randolph’s early residents and community leaders.

You will also find below erupts form a book titled Biographical History of Fremont and Mills Counties which is biographies based largely on oral history. In the the text you will find notes from Dr. Robert T. Rhode correcting some of the the documents misrepresentations of the Rhode family history.

From local newspaper “The Enterprise” ( later changed to “The Randolph Enterprise” ) you will find news clips from the newspaper which include S.T. Rhode’s obituary and  “Interesting Historical Facts Revealed in Sketch of S. T. Rhode's Early Experiences” written by Rev. Peter Jacobs, long time friend and pastor of S. T. Rhode.

If you enjoy what you read here about the S. T. Rhode family of Randolph please go to the Rhode Family Web Site and read about their rich family history.

The Randolph Enterprise May 30, 1935 “Interesting Historical Facts Revealed in Sketch of S. T. Rhode's Early Experiences” (By Rev. Peter Jacobs) More than eighty years a resident of Fremont county, a citizen of Randolph  ever since its beginning, a son or Fremont county pioneer who came the year Sidney, the county seat, was started; a member of the Masonic order for more than a half century; one of the first members of the "Diamond" class of the pioneers of southwest Iowa, these are some of the outstanding facts in the life Seymore T. Rhode of Randolph, who died May 19th. Mr. Rhode was born eighty-two years ago, on June 23, 1852, in a log cabin a few miles southwest of Tabor. The Oberlin colony that had come west to found a new educational center in the mid-west, dissatisfied with conditions at Civil Bend on the Missouri River, because of floods, mosquitos and malaria selected the present sight of Tabor and began the building of that new community the same year. Sidney was but a year old when he was born. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Rhode, had come here the year it was started, 1851. The log cabin, a one room structure in which he was born, was typical of the simple rude shelters that housed the earlier pioneers of this part of the state. There were no windows, skins at first were used for doors and an old fashioned log fireplace provided the heating facilities. After the birth of another of the children, a few years later, a terrific snow storm filled the attic of this cabin with snow. A bushel basket was filled twenty-one times before all of it was removed. This was argument enough for the need of a new shelter and a house was built in 1859 which still stands on the old homestead. The log cabin was his home for seven years. Wild deer were still to be hunted. Wild turkeys provided meat for the Thanksgiving dinner and for the winter. Roaming bands of Indians were often seen. While the red men had been moved to reservations in Kansas and Nebraska they often came over to this aide of the river to hunt and trap. One day when his father had gone hunting,  leaving his mother alone with the children. Daniel Rhode, oldest brother of his father, who had come to Fremont county late in the forties, seeing some Indians coming across the hills and fearing for his brother's wife and family, hastened to the cabin and found that the Indians had tied her hand and foot trying to scare her into telling where the meat was stored. She refused to divulge its secret hiding place. Her fearlessness, her calm and probably hearing some one approach made them go on their way.

His mother spun, wove and made all the clothes of the family. Home duties demanded every moment of her time. She planned on going to town but once a year. Sidney was their trading center at first. It was her great shopping event. So careful was she of her meager household equipment that she expected her sewing needle to last her a full year and on this annual visit to the village purchased a new one.

Joseph Rhode, with his brother, John, came overland from Indiana in the spring of 1851 in covered wagons drawn by oxen. It was a rainy season. They brought some cattle with them. It required three months to make the journey. They followed the trail of the earlier pioneers. They had learned something of the fertility of the soil through their brother, Daniel. Joseph Rhode was active in the politics of the county and became a state representative. He had a large family. Besides the fourteen children of his own, nine others found a home with them. They were regular attendants of the Congregational church at Tabor. It required two spring wagons to bring them to church. When the first of the family were ready to be seated in their pew the last ones would be coming up the church steps. Much of the time the rural school roster was entirely made up of the children belonging to the Rhode families.

S. T. Rhode's great grandfather served under Gen. Marion in the Revolutionary War. As master of a southern plantation he was an owner of slaves. He became disgusted with the slave traffic and disposed of his interests and went into a free territory. His grandfather, a native of Ohio, was a member of the Society of Friends. These Quaker characteristics are evident in the family. His mother was Elizabeth Gray and his grandfather on her side was killed at the battle of King's Mountain in the Revolutionary War. On both sides of the family his ancestors were active in the development of this great republic.

After farming a few years Mr. Rhode went to Tabor where he was in partnership in a drug store. Then he worked with hardware and groceries. The new railroad down the Nishna Valley from Hastings to Sidney being completed Nov. 10, 1878, on the seventeenth of the following month he took up his residence in the newly forming village and worked for Barbour and Lawrence. Later he became associated with Isaac Johnson then ventured into business for himself. Hardware, lumber and implements were his line during the earlier years and later he handled grain and coal. He had been associated with its business interest from the beginning. Every community enterprise found in him a most enthusiastic supporter.

He was a forward looking progressive citizen. For many years his home was the largest, most modern in the village. He was a generous contributor to every worthwhile community movement or building enterprise. He was a charter member of Crown Lodge No. 43 A. F and A. M. His membership in the local Masonic order dated back more than fifty years. He had been active in the order in Tabor when in the early history of the community it was under the ban of the church. From Oct. 24, 1880, until April 6, 1906. Violet Allensworth shared life's pioneering trail with him. Six children joined the family circle. Edward died when a young man. The living are Mrs. R. E. Parker of Strahan, Mrs. H. V. Dodd of Randolph, Mrs. H. C. Edwards of Detroit, Mich.; Joseph Rhode, Detroit Mich.: and John Rhode of Audubon, Washington.

The text below was taken Rhode Family Web Site: http://home.earthlink.net/~case65/index.htm

Seymour T. Rhode was born on 23 June 1852 near Tabor, Iowa, and died 10 May 1935. He was buried at Randolph, Iowa. He was married on 24 October 1880 to Violet Allensworth, who died 6 April 1906. 

Seymour was the first child to be born in the log cabin on the Rhode homestead near Tabor, Iowa, his parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Rhode, with their four small children, having made the trip overland from Indiana to Iowa the previous summer. He attended the Rhode country school nearby. Game was plentiful, and, as young men, he and his younger brother Charles, spent much of their spare time in providing game for the family table.

Seymour made two trips to visit the relatives at the first Rhode settlement in Indiana; first in 1870 as a young man of 18 and later in 1910. He had a great interest in family history and wrote long letters, which have been quoted from in this history. He copied dates from the tombstones in the family graveyard in Indiana. His father's old family Bible was turned over to him.

After farming for a few years on the home farm, Seymour went to Tabor, where he was in partnership in a drug store. He then worked in a hardware and grocery store. In 1878 he moved to Randolph, Iowa, a town opened up near Tabor on a new railroad from Hastings to Sidney, where he started a hardware and implement business. Later he added grain and coal. When automobiles were first offered to the public, he took the agency for the Overland car.

He was a forward-looking, progressive citizen. Every community enterprise found in him a most enthusiastic supporter. He served for years on the Randolph School Board and was instrumental in establishing the Consolidated Schools.  He was a charter member of Crown Masonic Lodge of Randolph, his membership dating back more than fifty years. He was a pioneer citizen of this community. He had a wide acquaintance in southwest Iowa and was held in esteem by his large circle of friends. He lived to be nearly 83 years of age. There were six children born at Randolph, Iowa:

Elsie Rhode, who was born on 20 November 1881 and who died on 30 August 1956.  She was married at Randolph, Iowa, on 22 March 1922 to Roy E. Parker, who was born on 26 February 1882 and who died on 22 January 1956. Elsie and her husband lived on Wildwood Farm, Malvern, Iowa, which is near Randolph. They carried on general farming operations, including the raising of registered Percheron horses, Shorthorn cattle, purebred Leghorn chickens and turkeys. There were no children.

Ethel Rhode, who was born on 5 July 1883 and who died on 24 December 1938 at Randolph, Iowa. She was married at Tabor, Iowa, on 15 March 1923 to H. V. Dodd.

• Ethel and her husband resided in the old home place in Randolph. Her husband engaged in farming activities. Ethel was very active in church and Red Cross activities in Randolph. She was a prominent southwest Iowa club woman. She served a term as Mayor of Randolph. She was a member of the Methodist Church. There were no children.

Joseph Rhode, who was born 6 August 1886; he was married to Belva Dutton, but the couple later became divorced. Joseph was employed by the Edison Telephone Company in Fowlerville, Michigan. There was one child:

• (1) Joseph Rhode, Jr., who was born on 25 January 1915 at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In World War II he served in the United States Naval Reserves; from April 1943 to January 1946, he was a Pharmacist's Mate, 3/C, and then he became a clerk in the Salvage Office of the Briggs Manufacturing Company in Detroit, Michigan.

John Rhode, who was born on 22 March 1888 and who died on 28 March 1951 in Kent, Washington. He was married at Nebraska City, Nebraska, on 15 July 1915 to Els Huberly, who was born on 5 August 1890 and who died on 25 January 1945 at Auburn, Washington. Since about 1916, John was engaged in auto repair work near Seattle, Washington In 1947-1951 he was traveling over the state, having charge of maintenance of equipment of the Washington Asphalt Company, a large paving concern. He lived at Kent, Washington Two children were born at Auburn, Washington. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge and was a 32nd Degree Mason & Shriner. He was married (2nd) on 30 September 1949 to Nina ____________. There were no children from the second marriage.

Edward Rhode, who was born on 28 June 1892 and who died on 13 August 1913 at the age of 21 from an accidental pitchfork wound.

Dorothy Rhode, who was born on 22  September 1896 and who died on 24 June 1959; she was buried in Randolph, Iowa. She was married at Randolph, Iowa, to H. C. Edwards

• 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.

Below was taken from the book Biographical History of Fremont and Mills Counties; Published by Lewis Publishing Company – 1901

In the text below you will find corrections

The following paragraphs are from Biographical History of Fremont and Mills Counties pages 317 - 319

The history of Randolph would be  incomplete without the mention of Seymore T. Rhode, who is a representative of an honored pioneer family and is one of the most prominent and influential business men of the town, being the senior member of the firm of S. T. Rhode & Company. His birth occurred on the 23rd of June, 1852, in the county which is still his home, his parents being Joseph and Elizabeth (Gray) Rhode, both of whom were natives of Warren county, Indiana, in which place they were reared and married. The paternal grandfather, Jonathan Rhode, was born in Ohio and was of German descent, his father having come from Germany to America. He located first in South Carolina, where he served under General Marion in the commissary department in the Revolution. He was a farmer, operating his plantation by the aid of the slaves that he owned, but becoming disgusted with the slave traffic he disposed of his interest in the south and went to Ohio.

Corrections from Dr. Robert T. Rhode:

• The above mentions that our John Rhode is said to have worked for a commissary department during the American Revolution.  Ellis Rhode included a similar assertion in his book, but only in a numbered list of arguments that he attributed generally to descendants of John Rhode; in other words, Ellis was careful not to offend any of his contributors but sent a signal that all of the numbered points should be taken with a reasonable amount of suspicion.  There was no official commissary department in the Revolutionary War.  General Marion and his band were true guerillas and had no commissary operation.  At least one man named John Rhode did sell some supplies to General Marion, but there were at least two and possibly three men in South Carolina by that name during the Revolutionary War; and, as yet, there is no firm documentation that our John Rhode was the man--or one of the men--who did this.  The John Rhode of this anecdote might not be an ancestor of the Rhode family that Ellis was researching, and, some might say, the selling of supplies barely qualifies the seller to be considered a patriot. 

• The above phrase “disgusted by the slave traffic” is curious when it is presented without the proper context.  The biography does not mention that John Rhode was a Quaker. John and Mary Lewis Rhode were Quakers, agreed with the Quaker anti-slavery tenets, left the South around 1806 in the Great Quaker Migration, and moved to a Quaker community in Warren County, Ohio.

Seymore T. Rhode has spent his entire life in Fremont county. He remained under the parental roof throughout the period of his minority and acquired a common school education. He afterward rented a farm for two years and then purchased a half interest in a drug store at Tabor conducting the enterprise for eighteen months, when he sold out and became an equal partner in a hardware and grocery store of that place. Again, after two years, he sold out and then came to Randolph, where he spent a year and a half as a salesman in a general store, owned by Mr. Barbour. On the expiration of that period he went to Silver City, Mills county, Iowa, where he followed clerking for a year and a half in a hardware and grocery store. He was married in 1880, and the following year he came to Randolph where he purchased an interest, with Mr. Ashbaugh, in a hardware and implement business. The following year that association was discontinued and Mr. Rhode entered into partnership with Isaac Johnson, in the conduct of a hardware, lumber and agricultural implement business, which they carried on until 1893, when Mr. Rhode purchased Mr. Johnson's interest and incorporated the business under the style of S. T. Rhode & Company. The firm now buys and ships grain and does a general trading business of considerable volumes.

On the 24th of October, 1880, Mr. Rhode was united in marriage to Miss Violet Alensworth, who was born in Ohio, February 17, 1854, a daughter of John and Mary Alensworth, who came to Mills county, Iowa, in 1875.

Mrs. Rhode is a consistent and worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal church; while socially Mr. Rhode is a Mason, belonging to both the blue lodge and the chapter. In politics he is a stalwart Republican, unwavering in his allegiance to the party, but he has never sought office. His attention has been exclusively given to his business affairs, and through the legitimate channels of trade he has acquired a handsome competence. There are no startling or exciting chapters in his life record, but his history is that of a man who has ever been faithful to his duty, to his family, to his neighbor and to his country.