Moses Rhodes (1801-1882)
Nancy Keith Rhodes (1804-1857)
Mary H. W. Gay Rhodes (c.1812-1882)
Charles E. Rhodes (1838-1866)
Harrison P. Rhodes (1830-1907)
Moses Rhodes was born in 1802 to Moses Rhodes and Lavina Littlefield Rhodes. On May 13, 1824, Moses married Nancy Keith. She was the daughter of John and Prudence Keith and had been born in Walpole. Moses and Nancy had seven children: Harriot, Elizabeth, Harrison, Ellen, George, Charles, and Mary. Moses Rhodes made his living as a wheelwright; he made and repaired wooden wheels.
Nancy Keith Rhodes died on March 17, 1857 of sciatic rheumatism. She was 54.
On August 20, 1857, Moses Rhodes married Mary H. W. Smith Gay, whose parents were Robert and Mary Smith. This was the second marriage for each.
Moses Rhodes died on January 25, 1882. The cause of his death was paralysis. He was 80 years old. His son, Charles E. Rhodes, had predeceased him. Charles, who was also employed as a wheelwright, died of phthisis (pulmonary tuberculosis) at 28. He was unmarried.
After his father’s death in 1882, Harrison Rhodes, a laborer, continued to make his home at 1239 Washington Street with his stepmother. He died on February 19, 1907 of pneumonia; he had been in failing health for a number of years. He too never married.
Less than a week after Harrison’s death, on February 24, 1907, the widow of Moses Rhodes, Mary H. W. Smith Gay Rhodes, died of senile exhaustion at the age of 94. Although they were interred in the family lot, the names of Harrison Rhodes and Mary H. W. Rhodes do not appear on the stone.
The family’s last name is variously spelled Rhodes, Rhoads, and Rhoades. It is engraved on the gravestone of Moses Rhodes as RHODES. Thus, that spelling was used for this account. When Harrison died, the newspaper identified him as Harrison P. Rhoads.
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