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Portrait and Biographical Record of Madison and Hamilton Counties, Indiana.
1893. Chicago. Pages 507-508.

Daniel Rhoads, an enterprising prominent agriculturalist and stockraiser, and active member of the Anderson Dressed Beef Company, is a representative businessman of Anderson Township, Madison County, Ind., and has long been identified with the progressive interests and rapid advancement of the state. Our subject, a native of Montgomery County, Ohio, and born November 8, 1839, is the son of Benneville and Mary Rhoads, who for years made their home in the Buckeye State. The father and mother were both natives of Buck County, Pa., and were descendants of lines of sturdy ancestors who from the early settlement of the United States had been numbered among the self-respecting upright and industrious citizens materially aiding in the preservation of national existence and prosperity. Spending the days of boyhood in his native state and country, Daniel Rhoads attended the district schools the Montgomery County, Ohio, and reared on his father's farm, was thoroughly trained in the practical knowledge of the pursuit of agriculture, and day after day through the spring, summer and autumn was busy sowing, plowing, reaping and harvesting, and when he could be spared, well improving the golden moments in the public schools of the neighborhood.

Our subject was a boy of ambitious enterprise from his earliest years, and carefully supplemented the limited education he received at school with the knowledge gained by observation. He was an intelligent and quick witted youth, and at maturity was self-reliant and courageous, ready to win his upward way to assured success. He learned the business of a butcher, but has almost his entire life devoted himself to farming duties. Upon April 24, 1862, in the state of Ohio, were united in marriage Daniel Rhoads and Miss Catherine Geyer, a native of Ohio, but the remote descendant of a long a line of German ancestry. This estimable lady bore her husband a family of children, of whom three survive. John F. was the eldest born; Joseph is deceased; the others are Charles C. H. and Emma b: The estimable wife of our subject, after walking the side by side with her husband for thirty years, and ever a most faithful and loving helpmate and mother, passed away mourned by all who knew her October 28, 1892. She was a woman of exemplary character and a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1874, following the tide of immigration to the farther west, Mr. Rhoads journeyed to Indiana and located in Anderson Township, where with his family he has continued to reside.

Our subject owns seventy-seven valuable acres of land and brought up to a high state of profitable cultivation and further improved with excellent and substantial buildings. Aside from his occupation as a teller of the soil, Mr. Rhoads buys and selects the stock for the Anderson Dressed Beef Company, in which he holds a one-fifth interest. Managing the work of his department with executive ability and clear judgment, our subject is recognized as one of the leading business men of Anderson Township. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and as efficiently served as Steward of that religious denomination for many years. Politically a Republican and intelligently posted on all the vital questions the day, he is ever ready to do his full duty as a man and citizen. During the civil war Mr. Rhoads enlisted in the hundred-day service and was actively engaged in altimore
and other parts of Maryland. Our subject is identified with the Grand Army Post at Anderson. General Rhoads, the brother of our subject, is the manufacturer of the celebrated Rhoads wagon, made at Anderson. The business of the Anderson Dressed Beef Company, from the first an assured success, has met with popular favor and now commands an extensive trade covering a large territory. Mr. Rhoads handles his line of work with a touch of an expert and greatly contributes to the success of the venture.