My Genealogy Hound

A. C. Rhodes, farmer and stock-raiser, Barkada, Ark. The parents of the subject of this sketch, Joel A. and Elizabeth (Dantzler) Rhodes, were natives of South Carolina, and both were of German descent. The maternal grandmother was born on the ocean, while her parents were crossing to this country. The paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and was killed by the Tories while home on a furlough. Joel A. Rhodes was the owner of about 2,300 acres of land and forty or fifty slaves. He represented Drew County (to which he had moved in 1849) in the convention which adopted the secession ordinances. He moved to the Lone Star State during the war, and served in the Home Guards of the same, but took part in no engagements. Returning to Drew County at the close of the war, he followed farming until his death, which occurred in 1868, one year after the death of his wife. They were the parents of ten children, five of whom are now living: Elizabeth (now the wife of Mr. Carr, of Camden, Ark.), A. C., Addella (now Mrs. Coates, of Dallas, Tex.), Emma (now Mrs. Lawhann, of Drew County), and Franklin (in the railroad business in Texas). A. C. Rhodes enlisted on May 10, 1861, when sixteen years of age, in the Third Arkansas Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war. He participated in the following battles: Sharpsburg, Chickamauga, battle of Gettysburg, siege of Petersburg and Richmond. He was three times wounded, first at Sharpsburg, by a bullet wound in the left knee, which disabled him from service for nine months, and he was there taken prisoner and carried to Baltimore, Md., where he was exchanged, in about two months. The second time he was wounded in the shoulder, at Chickamauga, and the third time was wounded in the left wrist, at Richmond. He was taken prisoner while home on a furlough, in the spring of 1865, and after being released was engaged in farming in Drew County, for a number of years. Ho moved to his present farm, which consists of 120 acres, with thirty acres under cultivation, in 1880, and is considered one of the first-class farmers of the county. He was married in 1869, to Miss Tennessee Barker, a native of the State for which she was named, and who died in 1886, leaving four children: Horace, James, Ernest and Roy, all now living. Mr. Rhodes’ second marriage occurred in October, 1889, to Mrs. Lulu P. (Brown) Wright, the widow of William Wright, and the daughter of Rev. James M. Brown, of Drew County, and a minister in the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Rhodes was born in Tennessee, in October, 1860, and is a worthy and consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Rhodes is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., K. of H. and the Wheel. In his politics he affiliates with the Democratic party, and is one of the first class citizens of the county.