The Back Rhodes of Our Genealogy
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Taken from: Anonymous, Book of Biographies: This volume contains biographical
sketches of leading citizens of Berks County, Pa. (Buffalo: Biographical
Pub. Co., 1898), p. 657.
J. Newton Rhoads, the efficient court stenographer of Berks County, is
widely known over the state as a reporter of prominence. He is a son of
John P. and Eliza (Flickinger) Rhoads, and was born November 2, 1856, in
Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pa. His grandfather was a farmer of that
county and died at Newburg in 1838, at the age of thirty-seven years, when
just entering the prime of manhood.
John P. Rhoads, the father, was also a native of Cumberland County, having
entered this life in 1820. He was an attorney and practiced at Carlisle,
but afterward drifted into the banking business, accepting the position of
cashier of the First National Bank of Newville, that county. He occupied
the position for fourteen years, when his failing health necessitated the
abandoning of such confining work, and he again turned to his profession
as a means of employing his time. This work he was following at the time
of his death, in October, 1884. He was a strong Democrat and took an
active part in the affairs of the party. He served as a member of the
Pennsylvania Legislature in 1861 and 1863, when the Legislature saw some
pretty stormy times. He married Eliza Flickinger, daughter of Jacob
Flickinger, and had a family of three children: Alfred M., who resides in
Pittsburg, and is a journalist' Mattie E., who is unmarried and lives with
the subject of this sketch; and J. Newton.
J. Newton Rhoads was educated in the common schools of Carlisle, and
graduated from Dickinson College in 1879, after which he was engaged in
the newspaper business in Carlisle for a time. He was then offered a
position on the reportorial staff of the Philadelphia Times by Alex.
McClure, who desired a reporter who could do the work in shorthand. He
studied stenography in order to fit himself for this position, and soon
began reporting for the Legislative Record in Harrisburg in 1881 and 1883,
and from that became a reporter of court proceedings. He then entered the
employ of Mr. Demming of Harrisburg, an official stenographer, and
remained with him about four years. In 1885, he was appointed official
court reporter for Cumberland County. While in the employ of Mr. Demming,
he did considerable reporting through the fifteen counties of the state,
besides some counties in New Jersey. In 1887, he became assistant
stenographer in the Berks County courts, and in 1889, became the official
court stenographer at the same time holding the same position to the court
at Carlisle. In 1895, he resigned the latter position, and has since
devoted his whole time to reporting for Berks County, having an assistant
in the work. He has done some work in taking arguments before the Board of
Pardons, and also before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. While with
Col. Demming in Harrisburg, he did some work before the senate committees
and for the attorney general of the state, and has also reported a number
of conventions.
Mr. Rhoads was united in matrimony with Susie E. Rheem, a daughter of
Jacob Rheem of Carlisle. They were married May 30, 1892, and have an
interesting family of two bright children: Edith, born October 20, 1893;
and Marion, born June 19, 1896. Mr. Rhoads is an energetic, industrious,
capable man, and has a host of friends to congratulate him on his
successful achievements.
