| Notes |
- Steen Family, p. 54: Thomas Wilson Rhoades...was born near Winchester, Adams County, Ohio... and spent his early life in that region. He was apprenticed to William Sharp, under whom he learned the brickmason's trade. He early became quite proficient in his work, and molded all the bricks and assisted in building near Mount Leigh, Ohio, the large brick residence of his uncle, Aaron F. Steen, in 1849, when he was only a youth of 17 years.
In 1850 he removed to Berlin, Sangamon County, Illinois, and two years later caught the California fever, and with many other emigrants crossed the plains, expecting to make a fortune. For some time afterwards he was superintendent of mason work in the erection of some Government buildings in Los Angeles, for which he received six dollars a day. After several years in California he became a traveling agent.
In 1857 he located in Portland, Oregon, and for about fifteen years worked there at his trade, and in Boise City, Idaho. About 1875 he removed to Oregon City, and opened "The Cliff House," a hotel, of which he continued to be the genial proprietor until his death. He was well known in Oregon City and throughout Clackamas County, and always had a pleasant word for everybody.
In 1884 he made an extensive journey in the Eastern States, visiting many relatives and friends in Ohio whom he had not seen since his boyhood days, in 1850. On returning to Oregon, he brought with him his sister's daughter, Miss Anna Josephine Day, who afterwards made her home in his family. He died of pneumonia after a short illness in Oregon City...
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The Back Rhodes of Our Genealogy
1833 - 1885 (51 years)
