Mildred Mary (Burch) Rhodes (1785 - 1861)

Born 14 Aug 1785 in Maryland

Ancestors

Wife of William Rhodes — married 19 Oct 1814 in Washington, District of Columbia

Died 6 Jan 1861 at age 75 in Washington, D.C.

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Biography

Mildred was born on August 14, 1785, probably in Prince Georges county, Maryland, the daughter of Benjamin Burch and his wife, Rebecca Barron Burch.

She married widower William Rhodes, a prominent Washington hotel-keeper, on October 19, 1814 in Washington.^[1]

The newlyweds apparently did not stay in Washington long. Even prior to the marriage, on the 28th of April, 1814, William was advertising his interest in his most recent hotel venture.

PUBLIC SALE Will be sold, on Thursday the 28th of April at William Rhodes' on Capitol Hill, all his household and kitchen furniture, consisting of ten feather Beds and Furniture; Tables; Chairs, Carpeting, Knives and Forks, Plates and Dishes &c &c. Sale to commence at 11 0'clock -- Terms of sale, all sums under fifty dollars cash, all sums over fifty, four months credit, with approved indorsers. N.L. Queen, Auc't.^[2]

It was sometime after this sale that William, his bride, and his two sons by a previous marriage left Washington for Kentucky, where most of William's siblings had already located. The settled in the area of Bardstown, Nelson county, Kentucky.

William apparently died in late 1817. By December 22, 1817, a listing of chattel from the estate of William Rhodes, sold by William Rhodes (his eldest son) appears in the Nelson county probate books.

Mildred stayed in Kentucky for at least a year. On May 1 1818, there was a sale of more of her late husband's estate and on September 19, 1818, she signed the consent for the marriage of her nephew Cornelius Rhodes to Elizabeth Cissell.

By March 31, 1823, however, she had moved back to the District of Columbia, when it is recorded in Kentucky that she has given her power of attorney to her stepson, William. The document was signed in the city of Washington in the presence of William Hewitt, her brother-in-law and was recorded in Nelson county.^[3]

Mildred spent several years winding down her late husband's affairs in Washington. In the May 1825 term of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, William Rhodes, Jr., acting on her behalf filed suit against George Hadfield,a well-known Washington architect, over $132 owed to her late husband for lodging eleven years prior in one of his hotels.^[4]

Mildred was also active in her own family's affairs. On January 21, 1837, her sister Martha Mary Burch Cain died. Martha's husband, George Jones Cain, had died previously leaving her children, Catherine Rebecca Cain, Jonathan Fendall Cain and George Russell Cain, orphans. In her will, Martha appointed Mildred the children's guardian and also executor of her estate. The children were to live with their grandmother, Rebecca Barron Burch.^[5]

On Feb 20, 1839, Mildred's mother, Rebecca, filed for a widow's pension based upon her husband Benjamin's Revolutionary War service. Mildred filed an affidavit in her mother's behalf.

In April, 1846, Rebecca Barron Burch died, filing a will which mentioned all of her remaining living children and grandchildren. Mildred is among those mentioned.^[6]

Mildred died on January 6, 1861 in Washington D.C. and was buried two days later in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Her obituary appeared on January 7, 1861, in the National Intelligencer:

Departed this life, on Sunday morning, in the 77th year of her age, Mrs. Mildred M. Rhodes, after a lingering sickness, increased by the infirmities of age, which she bore with the most edifying fortitude and resignation to the will of God. Her death may truly said to have been the natural and appropriate sequel to a long and most exemplary Christian and pious life. Most of her contemporaries of this city have preceded her to the tomb, and but few remain of her age. Many, however, remain who have known her well, and those who have known her longest have revered and loved her most -- her associates and friends for the mildness and excellence of her disposition, and the poor for her sympathies and charities.

In the separation by death from such a friend there is a consolation which cannot fail to soothe the hearts of those she held most dear, and that is that they entertain a confident faith that their loss is her eternal gain. H.

The corpse of the deceased will be removed from her late residence by her relatives and friends to St. Aloysius church, where a requiem will be said, at 10 o'clock on Tuesday morning, and where the acquaintances and friends of the family are invited to attend: after which the funeral will proceed from the church to the Mount Olivet Cemetery.^[7]

Timeline

August 14, 1785 - Birth - Probably Prince George's county, Maryland.

October 19, 1815 - Marriage - Married to William Rhodes in Washington, D.C.

January 6, 1861 - Death - Died in Washington D.C. She was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery on January 8.

Sources

1. ↑ Ancestry.com. Washington DC Marriages to 1825 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 1997. Original data: Dodd, Jordan R, et. al.. Early American Marriages: Washington D.C. to 1825. Bountiful, UT, USA: Precision Indexing Publishers, 19xx.
2. ↑ National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C., April 28, 1814, pg. 1
3. ↑ Nelson County, Kentucky, Deed Book 16, Pages 157-160.
4. ↑ Circuit Court, District of Columbia, Rhodes vs. Hadfield, 0 F. Cas. 653; 1825 U.S. App. LEXIS 394; 2 Cranch C.C. 566.
5. ↑ Pippenger, Wesley E., District of Columbia Probate Records Will Books 1 through 6 1801-1852, Arlington, VA., Willow Bend Books, p. 208
6. ↑ Pippinger, Wesley E., District of Columbia Probate Records: Will Books 1 through 6 1801-1851and Estate Files 1801 - 1852, 1996. Family Line Publications, Westminster, Maryland, p. 321-322.
7. ↑ Deaths," National Intelligencer, 7 Jan 1861, p. 1; digital images, GenealogyBank.com (http:www.genealogybank.com: accessed 18 Mar 2012), Historic Newspapers.