Commemorative Biographical Record of Kent County, Ontario, J.H. Beers & Co., Toronto, 1904, pg. 150-151:
James R. Rhodes, a prominent retired farmer of Raleigh township, belongs to an old English family which has been established in Yorkshire for many generations. James Rhodes, his grandfater, with other members of the family, engaged there in the manufacture of woolen goods. He lived to the age of eighty-six years. He was the father of the following named children: John and Thomas, who died in England; James, father of James R.; Joseph, who died in Bristol, England; Samuel, who came to the city of New York, representing the manufacturing interests of the family, and died there; William, who died at Chester, Pennsylvania; Abraham, who represented the woolen concern at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he died; Ann, who died in England; Sarah, who married a Mr. Wilson, at Manchester, England; Mary, who married J. Wright, an officer in the British army; and Elizabeth, Mrs. Ingraham, of Manchester.
James Rhodes was born in 1799, at Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England, and in 1827 came to Montreal as a representative of the great Rhodes woolen house. There, in 1832, he married Jane E. Kerrison, who was born in 1815, in London, and died aged sixty-five years. In 1842 James Rhodes left the woolen business and went into the employ of Gilmore, in the buying of wheat at Port Hope. In 1853 he came to the County of Kent, where he passed the remainder of his life, finally retiring, and he died there in 1887. In politics he was a Conservative. His family consisted of two children: James R., born in 1833; and Clara, born in 1835, who is the widow of Urotes Slater, and resides in Oakland, California.
James R. Rhodes came to Raleigh township, County of Kent, in 1853, and located on property owned by the Reynolds family. From time to time he acquired land until he had a large acreage. In 1869 he bought 121 acres from the Canada Company; in 1874, fifty acres; in 1878 he added twenty-five adjoining acres; in 1885, sixty acres; in 1893, fifty acres. From 1853 to 1900 Mr. Rhodes carried on farming extensively, but in the latter year he retired, having given each of his sons a farm. He carried on a general line of agricultual work and used methods which brought him continued success. In one year he raised and sold as much as 3,000 bushels of wheat. His sons have adopted his methods and are proving themselves also practical and progressive farmers.
In 1860 Mr. Rhodes married Dorothy Stover, daughter of Peter Stover, one of the early settlers of Raleigh township, who was born in Pennsylvania, of German descent, and in young manhood moved to Nova Scotia. In the early thirties he came to the County of Kent with Col. Talbot, locating at Morpeth, Howard township, where he took up a Col. Talbot grant of 200 acres, James Stover now living on a part of it. Peter Stover married Martha Bury, who died aged seventy-six; he died in 1846, aged sixty-nine. Their children were: Elisha, who was drowned in Lake Erie; John, who served in the Civil war in the States; Jane, now deceased, who married Richard Lark; Elizabeth, a widow, living in California; Richard, now deceased; William, deceased, who was a farmer of Chatham township; Dorothy, wife of Mr. Rhodes; Joseph, of Sombra, Ont.; James, of Raleigh township, and Edward, a farmer of Raleigh township.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes are as follows: Laura is the wife of Charles Keil, a farmer on Concession 8, and has three sons, Charles, John and James. William;? James, who is a farmer opposite the homestead, married Lena Keil, and they have two sons and two daughters, Nettie, Mena, William and Robert. Annie is the wife of George Laur?? a thrift farmer on Concession 8, and they have one son, Wilfred. Orlando, who is one the homestead, married Bertha Ritchie, and they have one son, Cecil. John, a farmer on Concession 7, married Bertha Buthroyd, and they have one daughter, Dorothy. Eva married J. J. Morrison, of Detroit, and they have two sons, Bryce and James.
Both Mr. Rhodes and his wife are very prominent, active members of the Methodist Church, of which he is one of the trustees, and he gave very material assistance toward the building of the beautiful church which was completed in 1901. In politics he is a Conservative. The Rhodes family is one of the leading ones in the township. Mr. Rhodes is well and widely known and enjoys the esteem and respect of his fellow citizens in a marked degree.
Dorothy
Rhodes
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