de Rodes, aka, the first Rhodes’ of England
The de Rodes Coat of Arms
The “de Rodes” family is first recorded in England when they came over with the Earl of Flanders and Tofti, Harolds brother, to assist William the Conqueror in his campaign of 1066. Already hereditary knights of Flanders, they were assured great rewards in England for their part in William the bastards claim on the kingdom. Willemus and Hugh were granted, doubtless as a reward for their services, the Moiety of Rodes, This estate was founded where the little village of Rode is now situated, in the County of Chester. Willemus had a son, Michael, who was known as Michael de Rodes, and his descendants may be traced through the Domesday book, tax rolls, civil and court records, to the present time. Hugh returned to France and established the family of the Counts de Rodez. The French family sent its descendant, Baron Gerard de Rodes, back to England and through him an English branch was established.
Being of great antiquity; the family of Rodes flourished for several centuries in the Counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, York and Derby. The first settler on record in England, of this family, Gerard de Rodes, was a feudal baron, the capital seat of whose barony was Horn Castle in Lincolnshire. Horn Castle was a soke or seignory of thirteen lordships and Gerard De Rodes was consequently one of the greater barons, his absence as ambassador will account for his name not occurring on the Roll of Magna Charta, he having been sent by King John, 29th March, in the 9th year of his reign, ambassador to foreign parts. Baron Gerard de Rodes received from Richard I the lordships of Langar and Barneston, in Nottinghamshire. They were confirmed in him by King John. Baron Gerard also owned the estates of “Clifton and Wilford,” of Nottinghamshire, previously owned by William Peverill. They came to him during the reign of King John. They passed to Ralph de Rodes, his son, “a very great man,” who owned them during the the reign of Henry III. Clifton and Wilford passed to Gerard, Lord of Melles, at the end of Henry’s reign or at the beginning Edward I’s, and he granted them to Sir Gervase de Clifton, Steward to Sir Ralph de Rodes. Langar was granted to Sir Gerards other son, John de Rodes
Brothers in Trouble at Rufford abbey
An apparent outrage was participated in by two of the monks of this house in 1317, as to which we have only the statement of complaint. On 10 December 1317 a commission was appointed to inquire into the charge made against Andrew le Botiller, Richard de Balderton, John de Rodes, Thomas de Rodes, together with Brother William Sausemer and Brother Thomas de Nonyngton, monks of the house of Rufford, of gathering to them a multitude of men and seizing Thomas de Holme, as he was passing between the abbey of Rufford and the grange of Roewood (Rohagh), robbing him of his goods, and taking him to some unknown place and there detaining him until he should satisfy them with a ransom of 200 pounds
A measure of the character of the De Rodes family some might say!
Bannockburn
In the 14th century the De Rodes` had prospered by always being at the beck and call of the Kings and princes of England. In 1314 Sir John de Rodes had come back from Flanders to serve in King Edwards army against Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn and died in the service of his legitimate monarch.
Crecy
A Sir John Rodes, knight, was appointed master of the household to Edward the Black Prince of Wales. Sir John was at Crecy in 1346 and Poictiers in 1356. He lived in Aquitaine, returning to England shortly before his death, in 1381, in the service of King Richard II.
“He was a splendid example of the virtues and vices fostered by the spirit of chivalry”
Todate, no record has been found of the Rodes` at any other major campaigns during the Hundred Year War, but it can be assumed that, because of their status, they would have been present and taken part at some level. A few generations later, the Rodes estates seem to have been disposed or divided of in Nottinghamshire, and others retained in Yorkshire and Derbyshire where a branch of the family moved. This was founded by William Rodes who married Emme, daughter and heiress of John Cachehors of Staveley Woodthorp in Derbyshire. This remained the family seat until Barlborough Hall was built By Francis Rodes Esq, justice, in about 1583. Sir Francis took part in the trial of Mary, “Queen of Scotts” His son, Sir John Rodes, knight, sold Staveley and made Barlborough Hall the family residence.
This information came from the great folk at: http://modernchivalry.org/knights/view/Baldrick
I’ve be doing some research into my family and fine this very fascinating . In a very amateurism way, I believe that I may be a direct descendant of Sir Francis Rodes, son of John Rodes and Attelina Hewet.
That is awesome, I wish I could make that connection!
Then we must be family. I have traced my Rhoads heritage all they back to Francis Rodes as well!
Hi Wendell,
I have just discovered to the same. I am a Rhodes who still lives in Derbyshire
Hi Phil. It is very, very possible we are cousins and I have been looking for another RHODES from the area my family came from. My name has the ‘a’ in it. I believe it to be GGGgrandfather who added it due to family in the news and he didn’t want to be associated.
I, too, descend from Francis Rodes. I was born in West Virginia where there is a large number of RHODES/RHOADES’
My direct email is rawnrhoades63@gmail.com. I would enjoy connecting with you!
S. Rawn Rhoades
Hi!! My Rhodes are from west virginia as well, my grandfather was from there. I’ve traced the Rhodes back to this line. Crazy thing about it all, is king bruce of Scotland was my 21st great grandfather. So these 2 didn’t appreciate each other lol.
HI Phil
My line is very clear back to when my line came to the USA… Then to me it gets a bit cloudy as my line, my ancestor Hezekiah Rhodes was born on the Isle Of Guernsey, Channel Island whose ancestor I have read was Sir John Rodes, MP, of Barlborough. I am not sure how accurate this is… Still I plan to visit Barlborough area sometime next year… would love to hear from you … I am in South Carolina and live less than 20 miles from where my family moved to in the early 1770… Have a great one.
Keith Rhodes
My email is bynikon@yahoo.com
I have 2 Hezekiahs on my family tree. I match to this line.
hi i am a michael roydes my father was from barnsley yorkshire his father a george altered the surename when regersted my father birth he added the e. thanks
This is my family, these are all my great grandfather’s. But king Bruce is also my 21st great grandfather. So the Rhodes is my mother’s dad, and the Bruce side comes from my 4th great grandfather. It’s sad because both side’s of my family fought for thier countries. But my scottish Irish heritage was over run by the English settling. I’ve been doing a lot of ancestral healing and connecting spiritually, and my wiccan side hurt’s due to loosing our way of life. Funny what you learn, and how you can heal in life when you truly know who you are ❤
Am a direct descendant of Sir John Rodes Knight of Barlborough. Sir John Rodes Knight of Barlborough is my 12 great grandpa
They didn’t have television, so they had plenty of time to make babies. There are probably 100s of Grandchildren not to mention the Royal Bastards a la carte.
I am a grand daughter (many generations hence) of Charles Rodes who settled in Nelson County, VA. I still live on the same land in Nelson County, VA (United States) that my ancestors owned. I still have the Rodes surname as well.
That is awesome, I wish I was so fortunate!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and will have a great new year!
Good hunting and all the best,
Carl Rhodes
carl.rhodes@gmail.com
http://www.rhodesfamily.org : Our Back Rhodes Genealogy Pages, the website for Rhoades, Rhoads, Rhodes, Rhodus, Roads, de Rodes, Rodes etc. family genealogy. “I hope you find your missing link among my links.”
http://carl.rhodesfamily.org/register.php?personID=I1&tree=Carls&generations=4 : my web page dedicated to William & Susannah Rhodes and their descendants.
http://www.carl.rhodesfamily.org : is the site dedicated to all of my ancestors, (Carl) and my wife’s (Elaine (Grove) Rhodes).
“Read up on what happened before you were born; dig into the past, understand your roots. Ask your parents what it was like before you were born; ask the old-ones, they’ll tell you a thing or two.. Deuteronomy 32:7”
As much as I can tell, I am a direct male descendant of Charles Rodes who migrated to Virginia in 1676 and eventually settled in Albemarle County. My ancestors migrated to Kentucky and I was born and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky.
I have done a big Y DNA test and I am interested to find out if any male descendants of Charles Rodes would be interested in comparing DNA results.
Don
As much as you can tell, you are a direct male? That’s a great start. I’m a direct female. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Pilgrim.
RhondaVooVilleBurgSteinVanRomaDieKuster
Don, I would love to trade DNA info with you. I have also done my bigY-700. I have been trying to track many Virgnia Rodes/Rhodes branches/ families hoping to confirm my line with dna data. I’ve not found many with our surname that have done deep DNA testing. I can be reached at rawnrhoades63@gmail.com.
Is this information appurtenant to the surname “DeRhodes”?
My maiden name is DeRhodes. I am 32yo. My father is from North Carolina. No surviving direct DeRhodes relations to my knowledge.
Sincerely,
Caroline
carolinederhodes@gmail.com
My brother John and I (John has done all the hard work!) have been searching our ancestry and he had initially got back to Robert Rhodes 1470-1510 but we have now gone back further to Gerard de Rhodes (1154-1189) which is fascinating. We now live in New Zealand after emigrating in 1973 from Manchester in England (also previously lived in Salford) our father was born in Wigan in 1910. Great to find this website. Greetings to you all!
Phil, are you descended from one of the 4 Rhodes Brothers who first settled New Zealand, William, Robert, George or Joseph?
I am a descendant of the four brothers in nz. Joseph is the youngest, he settled in Hawkes Bay. Cecil and his siblings in South Africa are the same generation of brothers. William their oldest brother arrived in Sydney in 1790. 2 generations before him came to Australia. 2 brothers to Australia (from memory) and three brothers to America.
Rhodes in Australia is named after us.
We still have one of the original Australian farms which is about 2 hundred years old.
hi have you managed to find the two brothers who took there name from the village of Rode in Cheshire there names where Willemus and Hugh would love to know there family name where they came from Hugh went on to settle land in France his surname became Rodez my farther was a Roydes from Barnsley the surname had been changed by his father from Royds to our name Roydes. any help you can give me would be great Mike
Gerard de rodes is my 10th grandfather. Pretty awesome to read some family history.
Following my Rhodes family bloodline dates back to Sir Willemus de Rode of Cheshire, England. Continuing Ancestry down to Henry Rhodes 1608-1675 of Lancashire, England where he died in Lynn, Massachusetts, and closer to me my great great grandfather Hamilton Rhodes. Southwest Michigan is where my closest Rhodes family live.
I believe the very earliest ancestors came from Normandy, France.
My email is ccole6559@gmail.com
Anyone else have Rhodes ancestors who were Puritans, leaving England and settling in Lynn, Massachusetts?
Cynthia Jeffrey (mother’s maiden name Rhodes)
I have just found out that Sir Thomas I De Rode is my 12th great grandfather on my paternal side.. Ive had no Rhodes in my family since Ruth Rhodes 1633 -1716. However this is really strange 40 years ago I met my husband and we married in 1983 and his name is Alan Rhodes. We’ve had 7 sons and 1 daughter and so far have 5 grandchildren and with 2 being boys the name will carry on from them. Such a coincidence.
Hi,
I’ve been doing my tree – the Rhodes family is from my grandmother’s side (Ada Rhodes).
There’s a tree on GENI that takes the family right back to 747 Milo de Narbonne – he seems to be my 44th great grandfather!
Keeley
Hi Cynthia!
I was able to find the Barlborough estate that Sir Francis Rhodes built in 1500s is still standing and is now a private school! I also found some interesting info!
Francis Rhodes a son named Sir John Rhodes, who had a son named John Rhodes (no more sir!). It turns out that John Rhodes was disinherited by his father Sir John Rhodes, and subsequently the Rhodes baron-line ended due to the estate being split amongst Sir John Rhodes’ daughters.
The John Rhodes who was disinherited ended up dying in Virginia, US!
ahhhhh Interesting, so Hence the “wealthy Aunt” who gave the brothers that went to South Africa and New Zealand money to get them started.
their father was a reverend who built several churches and the school of diocese, he also the turned lamb farm in London into Hackney. Hackney is was made up of three farms. he also designed his own brick, which he had a patent on.
The New Zealand coat of arms is the same as the Barlborough Hall Baron. the only difference is the NZ one, the hand holds the Silver Fern, and in England the hand holds the oak tree.
I was told a long time ago that we are all related.
My dad mom is a Rhodes do any of yall have and family that live in rich hill Missouri if so we might be cousins my email is auntapple30@gmail.com
My maiden name is Rhodes
I’ve been working on my family tree for almost a year now.
I’ve traced the name back to Gerard De Rhodes (14th Century) and that is the furthest I’ve gotten.
I’m looking forward to uncovering more information about my ancestry. I’m glad I found fellow Rhodes/Rodes on the same task!
Hello Cousins, my maiden name is Rhodes and it seems we all share the same lineage. I’ve been able to trace this lineage to the Merovingian Dynasty.
I descend from Francis (Rodes) Rhodes, brother of Charles (Nelson County, Va). They came to Maryland at different times, then one time together from England. Francis came to Maryland and had a son named John. All the Rhodes, Rodes are on my Maternal side.
I would like to talk to Roxanne who posted on Dec. 14, 2020. Her descendant is Charles, (Nelson County, Va).
Is it possible to talk with her?
Thank you for your Blog on Rhodes.
My mum was able to trace her ancestry back to Ralph de Rode (Viking Leader), born between 1155 and 1175, but we’re unable to go any further back on his line.
We know he was granted the manor house at Carlton Rode (not a small gesture at the time), but we have no idea how this came to be. We’re also intrigued by his moniker “Viking Leader” as we was born 300 years after the Norse and Dane migration to England.
Any additional information would be appreciated.
Hi Joe – Though my name is Livingston, Y-DNA has proved that our family was actually a Rode. We descend from William Rode Alias Syver of Mirfield, WR Yorkshire (B:1485-1558) s/o Robert Rode. The Y-DNA (father to son) shows that the Rode DNA is purely Scandinavian. I was also able to trace the Scandinavian roots to a small town on the North Sea called RODENESSE (spelled RODENASE with umlat over A) right on the border between Denmark and Holstein/Schweg Germany. I have a English document that dates from 1342. All other DNA matches to us (and there are several 100) all have first names like SEVN, ANDRES, GUNTHER, etc that come from Scandinavian and Baltic Countries. The original Flemish Rode family’s name was SCHELDERODE and their town is right on the Scheld river that flows directly into the North Sea that Vikings would have had access to. All this to say that Rolfe was most definitely of Viking origins.
It would be very cool to have a trip where Rhodes families whose ancestors originated in England. Have a tour guide to take us around to see places where the earliest Rhodes families originated and lived. Places like churches, cemeteries, castles, and talk with historians. I would go!
So my sister and I had a look at this (well, my sister anyway)
Our story starts with Sir John DE Rode (1360-1430)
Then his son Sir Richard De Rode (1400-1470)
It continues down through 16 generations until we appear ????
It’s all very interesting and no doubt will have some distant relatives out there.
C
My late wife Kelly Rhodes is descended from Hugues DE RHODEZ he was born in 900 in France. that is as far back as we have been able to go, we have the line through the family with the same ancestry as all many of the previous posters Kelley was from Pennsylvania, USA.
Hello ,
I’m Claudia B. from Germany and I also took a DNA test at my Heritage. My strongest match was a Mr. Edward Rhodes (born 1960), my second cousin. On the way to my research I keep coming back from West Virginia to England and then the search comes to nothing. At the same time, I found an emigrant list from the 1800s and 6 of my direct ancestors are listed there, 4 in 1853 and 2 more in 1844. That explains a lot, but not completely. I would like to find out more. Can anybody help me further ? Warm greetings from Germany
In the description of the Rode genealogy for this site, it says that Willimus de Rode and his son Michael of Chester were the father/grandfather of Gerard de Rode. I find there is documentation that Willimus and Michael exist, but I find no documentation that ties them to Gerard de Rode. I believe you have two different lines of Rodes here. The Chester Rodes and the Yorkshire/Derbyshire Rodes were two separate families. In my many years of researching the Rodes I have found zero connections between the two families. Could you please provide the citations for believing Michael was father of Gerard? I do have evidence from Belgium medieval archives that show Gerard de Rode’s father was IRDERUS (Rodolf) of Ghent (Flemish) and his mother was Gertrude de Scalda (Escalt). I would like to unscramble the discrepancy. BTW Gerard’s full name was Gerard Schelderode and he was Lord of Melle, Flanders. He received Melle through marriage to Hildegarde, Lady of Melle. You can find the town of Schelderode in today’s Belgium south east of Ghent on the Schelde River.
Hello Laura,
First of all, thank you very much for your comment. I’ve only been researching for about 6 weeks and am nowhere near as far along as you are. But there might still be some things that could help you. At first I looked for you in my matches and couldn’t find you, that means we are not related and you are right about the two different Rhodes families. On the other hand, Yorkshire was already shown to me during my research, as was Gertrude de Scalda in the family tree of my strongest DNA match on my Heritage. And my DNA estimate also includes a part of Belgium, which would confirm your research. I hope this helps you a bit? Please let me know if you find out anything else. Greetings Claudia
Good morning from Cambridge UK.
Thank you for the detail concerning Joseph Pike, 3 generations, the most recent of which was my paternal great great grandfather. He was born in 1820 and became a cabinet maker. His home in Hooley Hill, Audenshaw, Manchester, Lancashire is where the subsequent Pike generations began.
I have almost completed a substantial history of my wife’s ancestors Garstang/Peel/Cawley and my own Schofield/Howarth/Pike.
Incredible insights with the help of DNA.
Happy to share
Hello everyone,
My patrilineal ancestry traces back as far as Sir Gerard Rodez, born about 1154 in Lincolnshire. He would be my 22nd great-grandfather.