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The Back Rhodes of Our Genealogy

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From: History of Kent County, Michigan
Published: Chas C. Chapman & Company, Chicago 1881

Hiram Rhodes (deceased). Among the countless names of men whose records honor the history of Kent county, none do it greater credit than that here presented. Mr. Rhodes was born in New Berlin, Orange Co., New York, Sept. 3, 1804. He was married in 1829, 'and in 1831 caine to Salem, Washtenaw Co., and entered 240 acres on sec. 18. He disposed of this and in June, 1839, caine to lonia and "took up" 160 acres on sec. 17. The following August he moved here, driving his team through, while his wife and child came down the Grand river from Ionia in a canoe with another family. Their first night in the county they spent in the log shanty of Mr. Crow. In 1840 Mr. Rhodes entered 160 acres additional on sec. 17, afterward increasing his estate by purchase. He was identified with all the early improvements of the tp. of Ada; assisted in the construction of its first highways, school houses, etc., etc. He made his record also in public life, was always radical and incorruptible; in his early life he was a tenacious Whig and adhered to his views until the organizaticn of the Republican party, when he transferred his allegiance to that body and supported its principles to the end of his life with the same steadfastness that characterized all his purposes. He frequently served as delegate to District and State conventions, and in 1850 was nominated as a candidate to the Legislature. He strove to secure for his children the advantages of instruction, of which he was deprived, and was actively interested in all educational and religious movements, and although not a member of any Church, he lent support and countenance to the promotion of the gospel. He kept open house for the itinerant ministry, and the needy never left his door without substantial sympathy. He died Oct. 22, 1856, in the prime of his manhood, leaving a wife and five children, three of whom have followed him to the unseen world. His oldest son, Hiram A., was born in Salem, Washtenaw Co., Nov. 2, 1834; was married May 17, 1870, to Ellen L., daughter of Thomas and Eliza Russel, born in Chautauqua Co., N. Y., Aug. 7, 1838. They have two children - Mandana E., born June 25, 1871, and Anna L, born June 22, 1875. Lamira Rhodes was born Oct., 3, 1836, and is now the wife of A. L. Bayard, of Bureau Co., Ill. H. A. Rhodes is a member of the Masonic fraternity and is a Republican. He owns 340 acres of the old homestead and is engaged in agricultural pursuits and in raising live stock.

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