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The Back Rhodes of Our Genealogy

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From: Centennian History of Rush County, Indiana
Edited by: A. L. Gary and E. b: Thomas
Historical Publishing Company Indianapolis 1921

John M. Beaver, who died at his home in Union township in the fall of 1918 and whose widow is still living there, was for years one of the well known and influential men of the Glenwood neighborhood and at his passing there were many expressions of regret on the part of his hosts of friends. It is therefore but fitting that in this volume of biography relating to the old families of Rush county some modest tribute should be paid to his memory, for the Beavers are one of the real pioneer families of the county, having been represented here since the year Indiana was admitted to statehood and five years before Rush county was erected a separate unit among the counties of the Boosier state. The first of the name to come here was Michael Beaver, who left his home in the vicinity of Georgetown, Ky., in 1816 and with his family came up into Indiana, later "entering" a tract of land in what afterward became Noble township in Rush county, where he established his home in the then wilderness, one of the first permanent settlers in that vicinity. His son, Elijah Beaver, father of the late John M. Beaver, was born in the Georgetown neighborhood in 1808 and was thus but eight years of age when he came here with his parents in 1816. Be "grew up" on the pioneer farm in Noble township and in due time became a farmer on his own account and a man of substance, the owner of an excellent farm and living in a way that gave him a position of influence in the community. In 1831 there came into that community in Noble township the Rhodes family from Virginia, John and Margaret (Knox) Rhodes and their children, who had left their home in the Old Dominion and had come down the Ohio with their belongings on the flatboats of that period, stopping at Cincinnati, whence they outfitted with teams and wagons and came on up into Indiana, settling in Noble township, this county. One of the children of this Virginia family was Ann Elizabeth Rhodes, who was born in 1816 and was thus a girl of fifteen when she came here with her parents. Not long after her arrival she and Elijah Beaver met and it was not long until there was mutual recognition of the romance that had come into their lives through this meeting. They presently were married and after their marriage established their home on a farm in Noble township, where they reared their family and spent the remainder of their lives, both living to a "ripe old age," Elijah Beaver having been a resident of this county eighty years at the time of his death. The late John M. Beaver, son of Elijah and Ann Elizabeth (Rhodes) Beaver, was born on the farm in Noble township above referred to, on January 19, 1842, and there grew to manhood. He received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and remained at home assisting his father in the development of the home farm until his marriage at the age of twenty five years. For a year after his marriage he made his home in Wabash county, this state, and then moved down into Fayette county, locating on a farm in Fairview township in that county, where he remained until 1876 when he returned to Rush county with his family and located on the farm on which his widow is still living in Union township and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on October 31, 1918, he then being in his seventy seventh year. In addition to the farm of eighty acres in Union township of which he died possessed, Mr. Beaver owned a farm of eighty acres over in Fayette county. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Glenwood, as is his widow, had served for some time as a member of the board of trustees of the church and was generally active in community good works. Mr. Beaver's first presidential vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln and he remained an ardent Republican, ever interested in the success of the party to which his youthful allegiance had been given, an allegiance which continued steadfast throughout his life. It was on October 23, 1867, that John M. Beaver was united in marriage to Mary E. Stewart, who was born in the neighboring county of Franklin, and to this union were born four children, namely: Orphia E., who married O. J. Cook, and has four children, Willard, Wallace, Emma and Evalyn; Hugh, who married Adaline Gray; Chester, who married Blanche Murphy, and has five children, Lucille, Belva, Hall, Calvin and Mary Elizabeth; and Raymond, who married Edna Tinder, and has three children, Robert, Margaret and Marjorie. Besides her twelve grandchildren here enumerated, Mrs. Beaver has one great grandchild, her granddaughter, Emma Cook, who married Ray Compton, having one child, a daughter, Mary Estelle Since the death of her husband Mrs. Beaver has continued to make her home on the place where she has resided for forty five years and where she expects to continue to reside. This house is located on R. F. d: No. 1 out of Glenwood and is very pleasantly situated. Mrs. Beaver also is a member of a pioneer family in Indiana, the Stewarts having come over here from Ohio about the year 1829. She is a daughter of James and Ann Elizabeth (Waites) Stewart, the latter of whom was born in Missouri. James Stewart was born at what is now known as Goshen, Ohio, in 1817, and was twelve years of age when he came with his father, Samuel Stewart, to Indiana, the family settling in Franklin county near Mt. Carmel. James Stewart's mother, who was a McClearney, died in Ohio and his father later married Margaret Earheart. James Stewart grew to manhood in Franklin county and was there married to Ann Elizabeth Waites, who was born in the vicinity of Lexington, Mo., and who was left an orphan at the age of twelve years. In 1855 James Stewart moved with his family to Wabash county and the rest of his life was spent there, his death occurring in 1888. His widow survived him until in April, 1897, her death also occurring in Wabash county.

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