Anonymous, Book of Biographies: This volume contains biographical
sketches of leading citizens of Berks County, Pa. (Buffalo: Biographical
Pub. Co., 1898), p. 515-516.
Dr. Reuben b: RHOADS, one of the distinguished and skillful physicians of
Boyertown, who has not only won a wide reputation throughout his immediate
district, but throughout the county, was born on the old homestead in
Boyertown, October 29, 1831, and is a son of John and Catherine (Boyer)
Rhoads, grandson of Jonathan Roth and great-grandson of Mathias Roth.
About the beginning of the present century [19th century] the family name
was changed from Roth to Rhoads.
Mathias Roth was a native of the Palatinate, Germany, and emigrated to
America in the early part of the eighteenth century. Soon after he became
a resident of Colebrookdale township; he located on the Furnace property,
where the village of Morysville is now situated, having purchased the land
of Rutter and Potts, who were the owners long before the Revolutionary War
broke out. Mathias Roth erected a grist mill upon the property, which he
operated the greater part of his life. He was the father of three sons,
Solomon, John, and Jonathan; Solomon farmed a part of his father's farm,
and was the father of two children: David and Molly. David remained on the
old homestead the most of his active life and was the progenitor of two
sons - John and Solomon; Molly the only daughter of Solomon, married a Mr.
Gresh, a well-to-do farmer of Greshville, Berks County, Pa. John, the
second son of Mathias Roth, died in infancy.
Jonathan, the third son of Mathias Roth and grandfather of our subject,
inherited the property upon which the grist mill stood, and carried on
milling and farming to a large extent. He married Dorothy Elizabeth Linn,
by whom he reared three sons: Jacob, John, and Henry. Jacob was the father
of four sons: Jacob, Deiter, Samuel, and Daniel, all of whom were farmers
and their descendants are all living in Montgomery County. Henry, the
youngest son of Jonathan, was the father of three sons: Elam, Jacob and
Samuel. Samuel died at the age of twenty years. Elam Rhoads was a
millwright by trade, and followed that a number of years, then moved to
Boyertown, where he engaged in farming. Upon his death he left the most of
his large fortune, which he had accumulated by his own perseverance, to
different charitable institutions, churches, and for the old cemetery. He
also left a large portion toward the establishment of an orphan's home for
the Lutheran Church of Boyertown. Jacob is residing upon his father's farm
in Montgomery County.
John Rhoads, the second son of Jonathan Roth and father of our subject,
was born on the old homestead June 28, 1788, and passed from this earth
July 4, 1860. During his early manhood he engaged in farming, and later
carried on mercantile business in connection with farming; he also
operated a distillery for a number of years. In 1818 he was united in
wedlock with Catherine Boyer, daughter of Henry Boyer, who was one of the
founders of Boyertown. To Mr. and Mrs. Rhoads were born the following
children, namely: Jonathan was proprietor of the Keystone Hotel at
Boyertown, later he conducted the Great Western Hotel at Philadelphia, and
later he moved to Reading, where he entered the world of rest; Henry B.,
deceased, was a school teacher in his early life, and married a Miss
Gilbert, by whom he had two sons, Irwin and Richard - he was elected
constable of his community and later served as justice of the peace and as
member of assembly; Beneville B., who died at the age of twenty-five
years; Loretta, the wife of William K. Grim of Boyertown, whose sketch
also appears in this Book of Biographies; Sarah, deceased, was the wife of
William Bird, late of Boyertown; Elizabeth, widow of the late Charles
Weaver of Boyertown, who was one of the leading attorneys in Colebrookdale
township, was killed in the iron works September 22, 1861, while
experimenting with an explosive cannon ball; Mahella, the wife of Daniel
McCormick of Pottstown; Reuben B., the subject of this personal history;
Julius, deceased; Catherine, widow of the late Charles Bird of Boyertown;
Emma, who was drowned in a spring at the age of two years; Dr. Thomas J.
B., whose sketch also appears in this Book of Biographies; and Angeline,
widow of Solomon Erb of Boyertown.
Reuben b: Rhoads was brought up on the old homestead and was educated at
the Mt. Pleasant Seminary of Boyertown. He engaged in teaching school
until 1855, when he commenced to study medicine under Dr. Henry W.
Johnson, a well known physician of Boyertown, and later entered Jefferson
Medical College of Philadelphia, and upon his graduation he located at
Zeiglersville, Montgomery County, where he was engaged in the practice of
his chosen profession until the breaking out of the Civil War. He then
entered the army as assistant surgeon, and was first assigned to the
small-pox department of the hospital of Camp Curtin at Harrisburg, and on
November 22, 1862, he was transferred to Pittsburg, where he took charge
of the hospital at Camp Howe until December 1, 1862, and was again
transferred to Fort Keyes, Gloucester Point, at Yorktown, where Brig. Gen.
Tyndale was in command, and was appointed by him brigade surgeon. In July,
1863, he returned home and engaged in his practice until 1882, when he was
elected as prison warden of Berks County, which office he held for three
years. Prior to 1882, he became interested in the cultivation of fruit
trees, and for sixteen years he carried on an extensive nursery at
Amityville, Berks County. In 1886 he moved to Boyertown and conducted a
lumber and coal business for a term of six years, and became widely known
as one of the thrifty and energetic business men of Boyertown.
Socially, he is a charter member and second commander of the General
George Crook Post, No. 597. G.A.R., of Boyertown. Politically, he is an
avowed Democrat. He was joined in marriage, May10, 1859, with Kate
Gilbert, daughter of Adam R. Gilbert, a miller residing in Douglass
township. Two sons and three daughters resulted from this happy union, as
follows: Ben J., postmaster of Boyertown; Laura, the wife of Harvey
Breidenbach, a conductor on the Rich avenue line of the Philadelphia city
railway; John G., clerk in the county commissioners' office at Reading;
Mary Ella, wife of George Guldin, a conductor on the Rich avenue line of
the Philadelphia city railway; and Maggie Elizabeth, who died of scarlet
fever January 29, 1882, aged twelve years, eleven months, and twenty-one
days.
The Doctor has retired from active life and is living near the old
homestead in the southwestern part of the borough. His portrait is shown
on a preceding page.
