William Rhodes: 1745-1825

William was born in Virginia about 1745. His parentage is only speculation, but is believed to be linked to the Rhodes family of 18th Century Stafford, Fairfax, and Loudoun County, Virginia. We also have a genetic links to the Rhodes family of early Middlesex County, Virginia. This deduction comes from when William enlisted into the army in Fairfax county, Virginia, in 1775. At that time one of his sons was named Sanford, which happened to be an early Rhodes’ spouse surnames. Sanford is also used as a first name with one of these Rhodes families from that area.

Little is known about his early life, but it was said he had extraordinary athletic ability in his youth, and through his military life in the Revolution. On September 1st , 1775 at Alexandria,Virginia, he enlisted as a private soldier in the 2nd Virginia Regiment commanded by Colonel Wm Woolford. The regiment were ordered to the town of Norfolk,VA, to stop the attacks and drive the British forces and loyalists under Royal Governor Lord Dunmore out of Virginia. The battle with Dunmore's men was at Great Bridge,VA on December 3,1775. Published in Purdie's Virginia Gazette, December 15, 1775: “This was a second Bunker's Hill affair, in miniature; with this difference, that we kept our post, and had only one man wounded in the hand.”

In 1777 William was recorded being in the Light Infantry which was the equivalent to the special forces of today. A detachment of the 2nd VA Regt. fought as part of Maxwell's Light Corps, a provisional formation made up of drafts of 100 men from each brigade, under Lt. Colonel Richard Parker at the battle of Cooch's Bridge on September 3, 1777. The following was printed about William's regiment in the newspaper Virginia Gazette on October 17, 1777: ”The heroism and gallantry of the second Virginia regiment I cannot help particularly mentioning; they would do honor to any country in the world. It is universally believed they behaved the best of any troops in the field." The image of the soldier is how a private of the Second Virginia Regiment would have appeared at that time in 1777. . . . .

 

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The Chosen

We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again. To tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us.". How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am, and why I do the things I do.

1876-1932
Married John Ramey
Had 5 children.