Thomas Rhoads (1799 - 1854)

Born 28 May 1799 in Randolph, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Hannah Jane (Freeman) Rhoads — married 22 Nov 1828 in Randolph, Indiana

Husband of Elizabeth (Freeman) Rhoads — married 3 Mar 1842 in Randolph Co, Indiana

Descendants

Died 18 Mar 1854 at age 54 in White River Township, Randolph, Indiana, United States

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Biography

Thomas Rhoads was the youngest son of William Rhoads and Ann Underwood. He was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, where his father had purchased a small farm in 1794.^[1] His parents lived at the junction of three North Carolina counties: Orange, Randolph and Chatham.^[2] During the Revolutionary War, these counties all fell under the Hillsborough District. Today, the area is at the junction of Alamance, Randolph and Chatham Counties:

Site of the Rhoads and Underwood Farms

In 1802, when Thomas was about 4 years old, his father died.^[3] His mother had ten children to raise on a small widow's lot. It would have been quite a difficult circumstance for the Rhoads family. ^[4]

When Thomas Rhoads was about 7 years old, the Rhoads family wagon-trained west into Ohio.^[5] Evidence indicates that that Ann Rhoads became a member of the Waynesville Quaker Settlement, an area known for involvement in the Underground Railroad. [1] The widow Ann Rhoads requested a certificate for the Miami MM at Waynesville, Warren County in 1805 from Cane Creek MM in North Carolina.^[6] Shortly after that, Fall Creek Monthly Meeting opened, and Ann Rhoads transferred there. Thomas Rhoads would have grown to adulthood in the area near the Highland and Ross County, Ohio county line. It is unknown whether he shared the sentiments of his abolitionist mother. However, he spent his entire life surrounded by Quakers dedicated to helping escaped slaves. There is no evidence that he was a member of any of his mother's congregations. His father was definitely not a Quaker.

Requests Quaker Certificate to move West

In 1820, Ann Rhoads requested a Quaker church transfer from Fall Creek MM to New Garden MM in Wayne County, Indiana. The family was settled near Richmond, Indiana for a brief time. Although he was an adult of age 26, there is plenty of evidence that Thomas joined his mother and siblings in their journey to the wild frontier at Randolph County, Indiana. Thomas Rhoads had 4 older sisters who married into the Cox family. Benjamin Cox, a Quaker abolitionist, was instrumental in founding Randolph County, Indiana in 1818. Benjamin Cox was married to Thomas Rhoads's sister, Anne Rhoads. The Rhoads family followed the Cox family west, eventually settling near the White River in Randolph County, Indiana in the 1820's.

On August 30, 1828, Thomas Rhoads's first land deed was recorded. He purchased a piece of land from his sister Jemima's widower, Jeremiah Cox, and his third wife, Catharine Morrison Cox. His sister Margaret's husband, Curtis Voris, certified the deed as Justice of the Peace, and siblings Rachel Cox and John Rhoads served as witnesses to the document:

Thomas Rhoads Land Purchase From Jeremiah Cox

Old Randolph County Indiana history books paint an interesting picture of the landscape that the original settlers first beheld. The area had previously been occupied by the Adena Hopewell Indians. The largest Hopewell Earthwork in Indiana is located at WInchester, Indiana.^[7] Evidently, when the first Quaker pioneers arrived in the area, they were amazed by Indian mounds and relics of an ancient culture that seemed to have abandoned the place. Young Thomas would have seen these sights before the white man turned many of the mounds into plowed fields, as they are today. There is a legend of finding a femur bone that was held up against the thigh of the tallest man. The bone extended four inches beyond the knee!^[8]

Randolph County, Indiana was known to have been very active in the Underground Railroad. In fact, there is evidence that Randolph County, Indiana was a destination where education and freedom were offered to runaway slaves from the Carolinas. There were two free black communities in Randolph County (Cabin Creek and Snow Hill) long before the Civil War.^[9]

Thomas Rhoads married Hannah Jane Freeman, the eldest daughter of Daniel Freeman and Mary Wells, on November 22, 1828.^[10] His sister Margaret's husband, Curtis Voris, performed the wedding ceremony as Justice of the Peace. Although the Freeman and Wells families had relatives who were members of the North Carolina Quaker settlement at Paoli, Indiana, they were not Quakers themselves. Mary Wells had been born to an ex-communicated Quaker who had raised her Methodist Episcopal and Daniel Freeman had been ex-communicated in 1809 for marrying her. The marriage of Thomas Rhoads and Hannah Freeman was a civil ceremony and not a religious one.

Rhoads / Freeman Marriage

On June 20, 1829, Thomas and Hannah Rhoads sold some land to his brother John Rhoads.^[11]

On June 15, 1839, Thomas Rhoads purchased some land from William and Mary Brown in Randolph County, Indiana.^[12]

Thomas and Hannah (Freeman) Rhoads had seven children when she died in 1841. It is likely that Hannah died in childbirth with their son, Thomas Jefferson Rhoads. (Although his mother was named Elizabeth on his tombstone, his birth date was before the marriage of Thomas and his second wife.)

Hannah Freeman Rhoads' sister, Charity Freeman, married a man named Benjamin Cox in Randolph County in August of 1829.^[13] His relationship to the abolitionist Benjamin Cox (Thomas's sister's husband) who was instrumental in the formation of Randolph County is unknown. However, he was most certainly related. This marriage was also a civil ceremony. The only marriages that Quakers recognized were marriages sanctioned by the church. So, it is likely that the Benjamin Cox who was brother-in-law to Thomas Rhoads via his wife's sister Charity was probably disowned for marrying out of unity. No church record of either marriage has been found.

Shortly after his wife Hannah's death, Thomas Rhoads was married to Hannah's much younger sister, Elizabeth Freeman.^[14] Five more children were born. The two groups of children were half-siblings and cousins. Thomas and Elizabeth (Freeman) Rhoads named their eldest daughter Hannah, after Thomas's first wife, who was Elizabeth's sister.

Thomas Rhoads appears on the Randolph County, Indiana Censuses for 1830,^[15] 1840^[16] and 1850. His stated occupation on the 1850 Census was "farmer."^[17]

Thomas Rhoads died in 1856 at the age of 59 years. He is buried at the White River Cemetery in Randolph County, Indiana.^[18]

Sources

1. ↑ Randolph County, NC Land Grant Files, Ancestry.com Repository: William "Roads" entered a claim for land in Randolph County NC on 30 Jun 1794.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHRD-9LQ : accessed 23 August 2018), William Roads, Hillsboro, Randolph, North Carolina, United States; citing p. 338, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 32; FHL microfilm 337,908.
3. ↑ "North Carolina Estate Files, 1663-1979," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJ8G-M9PL : 20 November 2015), William Rhodes, 1802; citing Randolph County, North Carolina, United States, State Archives, Raleigh; FHL microfilm 2,078,996.
4. ↑ A thorough search of online Randolph County, North Carolina court records has not located an Orphans Court or Guardianship file for the young Rhoads children.
5. ↑ William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy, Vol I, North Carolina, Cane Creek MM, p 417.
6. ↑ Quaker Monthly Meeting Records of Cane Creek, Orange County, North Carolina, 1805 request by Ann Rhoads to move her Quaker certificate to Miami MM in Ohio. Ancestry.com Repository. Copy in Images Section of this file.
7. ↑ http://www.apmagazine.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=844
8. ↑ Ebenezer Tucker: History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Publication date 1882, page 14.
9. ↑ http://www.ohiorivernationalfreedomcorridor.org/a-free-black-settlement.html
10. ↑ "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5PM-9SH : 21 January 2016), Thomas Rhoads and Hannah Freeman, 22 Nov 1828; citing Randolph, Indiana, United States, various county clerk offices, Indiana; FHL microfilm 1,654,838.
11. ↑ Randolph County, Indiana, Deeds, Family History Library Film Number 008069590, Image 673 of 825.
12. ↑ Randolph County, Indiana, Deeds. Family History Library Film Number 008069592, Image 115 of 777.
13. ↑ "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5PM-3M7 : 21 January 2016), Benjamin Cox and Charity Freeman, 16 Aug 1829; citing Randolph, Indiana, United States, various county clerk offices, Indiana; FHL microfilm 1,654,838.
14. ↑ "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5PM-QSB : 21 January 2016), Thomas Rhoads and Elizabeth Freeman, 03 Mar 1842; citing Randolph, Indiana, United States, various county clerk offices, Indiana; FHL microfilm 1,654,838
15. ↑ "United States Census, 1830," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHPY-126 : 18 August 2015), Thomas Rhoda, White River, Randolph, Indiana, United States; citing 26, NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 29; FHL microfilm 7,718.
16. ↑ "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHYG-RJK : 24 August 2015), Thomas Rhoads, White River Township, Randolph, Indiana, United States; citing p. 9, NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 92; FHL microfilm 7,729.
17. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHV3-H1B : 9 November 2014), Thomas Rhoads, White River, Randolph, Indiana, United States; citing family 616, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
18. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50320810/thomas-rhoads: accessed 01 November 2023), memorial page for Thomas Rhoads (28 May 1799–18 Mar 1854), Find a Grave Memorial ID 50320810, citing Whiteriver Cemetery, Randolph County, Indiana, USA; Maintained by Suzanne Stamper (contributor 46843377).