The Rhoads family is one of the oldest in Berks county, where it was planted in the early day of the eighteenth century — some accounts give the year 1710 — by several brothers of the name, one of whom was John Jacob Rhoads.  His nationality is uncertain, and in the early tax lists and record his name is also spelled Roth and Roads.  In 1753 he was a taxable resident of Amity township, Berks county, and owned considerable land.  He was a man of affairs and operated a paper mill in Amity township.  Tradition has it that one of the sandstone tombstones east of Amityville church, whose inscription has become illegible by time, marks his grave.  His children were:

(1) Lena married Henry Baum.

(2) Jacob in 1778 was a captain in the Revolutionary army.  He married Susanna Yocum and their children were: Hannah, Daniel, John, Jacob, Samuel and Elizabeth.

(3) Matthias was a lieutenant colonel in the Revolution.  He
married Elizabeth Gotterin and had children: Mary, Esther, Capt. Jacob, Joseph, Abraham and John.

(4) Daniel married Magdalena Kerst and they had twelve children: David, Peter, Samuel, Jacob, John, Solomon, Adam, George, Daniel, Henry, Abraham and Mary.

(5) Mary married Maj. George Lorah, a Revolutionary soldier.

(6) Elizabeth married Maj. George Lorah after the death of her sister Mary.

(7) Samuel is mentioned below.

(8) Christina married Jacob Griesemer.

(9) John married Catharine Greiner and had children: Jacob, Hannah, John, Catharine, George, Mary, Eleanor, Elizabeth, William and Samuel.

Samuel Rhoads, son of John Jacob, married Elizabeth Auvenshine, and they became the parents of children as follows: William, John, Daniel, Samuel, Abraham, Elizabeth, and two sons that died young.

Samuel Rhoads, son of Samuel and Elizabeth, married Sarah Ludwig and they had children as follows:  William L. married Lydia Hine; Jonas married Rachel Hunter; Abraham L. married Harriet Straub; Frederick lived in Dayton, Ohio; Sarah married John Nein and lived in Chester county, Pa., where she is buried; Eliza married Samuel Sands and both are buried at Boyertown; Benneville married Rebecca Lewis.

Benneville Rhoads, who married Rebecca Lewis, was born at Amityville, Berks Co. Pa., and for many years lived in Ohio. Among his children was a William, father of Walton F. Rhoads.

William S. Rhoads, son of Benneville, was born May 25, 1835, in Berks county, Pa., and came to Sunbury, Northumberland county, in 1866, spending the remainder of his life at that place.  He moved hither from Paxtonville (earlier known as Beaver Furnace), Snyder Co., Pa., where he had been engaged as a bookkeeper, and he followed the same work in Sunbury, where he died March 13, 1891. He is buried in Pomfret Manor cemetery.  He became a highly esteemed citizen of Sunbury, where for fifteen years he served as a member of the school board from what was then the Third ward, serving many years as secretary of the board.  Politically he was a Republican, in religion a Lutheran, and socially he belonged to the Knights of Pithias and the Odd Fellows.  Mr. Rhoads married Hannah Koch Francis, who was born May 25, 1835 and died Feb. 28, 1907.  They were the parents of the following children:  Mary C. (deceased) married Elwood P. McConnell; Adelaide F. married Charles A. Sensenbach, of Sunbury; Joseph W. died when eleven years old; Walton F. is a resident of Sunbury.

Walton F. Rhoads was born Sept. 22, 1860, at Hecla, Schuylkill county, and received his literary training in the Sunbury schools, going to the Sunbury high school.  Later he entered the military academy at West Point but resigned in 1881, after one year's attendance, and returning to Sunbury became employed as bookkeeper in Whitmer & Foster's general store.  There he remained one year, when he became connected in the capacity of bookkeeper with the First National Bank of Sunbury, with which he has since been associated.  This was in 1883.  From bookkeeper he was promoted to the position of teller, then to assistant cashier, and on Feb. 1, 1909, he became cashier, succeeding George W. Deppen.  This bank was established in 1831 and is one of the substantial and reliable financial concerns of Sunbury and the adjacent territory.  Mr. Rhoads long and honorable career in its service has given him the highest standing among business men in this section, and his personal reputation is equally enviable.  Fraternally he is associated with True Cross Commandery, No. 112, Knights of Malta, and Maclay Lodge, No. 632, F. & A.M., both of Sunbury, and he also belongs to the Temple Club and to Good Intent Fire Company, No. 1, of Sunbury, of which latter organization he has been treasurer since 1895.  He and his family attend the Lutheran Church.

On Nov. 4, 1883, Mr. Rhoads married Mary C. Cooper, daughter of Thomas G. and Mary Elizabeth (Rohrback) Cooper, who lived in Sunbury.  Children as follows have been born to them:  Florence Edna, wife of Bruce G. Frick, who is employed in the treasury department at Washington, D.C.; Bertha Irene; Alma Catharine, who died March 27, 1906, at the age of fifteen years; Thomas W.; Mary Cooper; Walton Francis Jr.; and Martha Elizabeth.

Family Group Sheet of Samuel ROTH & Elizabeth ABENDSCHON

Family Group Sheet of Samuel RHOADS & Elizabeth LUDWIG

Family Group Sheet of Abraham Ludwig RHOADS & Harriet H. STRAUB

Family Group Sheet of Jonas RHOADS & Rachael HUNTER