My Sacred Places: Waynesville, Ohio (Last Installment in This Series)

Beginning in 1809, my Quaker ancestors emigrated from Charleston, South Carolina, to Warren County, Ohio. Opposed to slavery and believing in peace, they journeyed to Ohio, the state boundaries of which had been approved only six years earlier. John Rhode, his wife Mary Lewis, and the Cobb clan that often married into the Rhode line found themselves farming along Caesar’s Creek. In 1959, Ellis G. Rhode published a book on the genealogy of my Rhode line; in it, he commented, “From all accounts John Rhode was a man of a great deal of push and energy. He was one of those individuals having that trait of wanting to get something ahead for a rainy day, a trait noticeable in his descendants. … The route followed by John Rhode was probably the main route the Virginians and South Carolinians followed, which passed from the Valley of the Shenandoah through the mountains into Kentucky, whence they and the Kentuckians reached southwestern Ohio. No doubt a number of wagons were taken, drawn by oxen.”

Building from 1811 in Waynesville, Ohio, Where

My Quaker Ancestors Attended Monthly Meeting

I can only imagine such “push,” as Ellis described the character trait. Would I have the stamina to climb into the seat of a wagon drawn by oxen and to travel from South Carolina to Ohio by such means? I doubt it. As is often said, our pioneer ancestors were made of sterner stuff than we are.

In 1826 and 1827, another Quaker migration involving my Rhode and Cobb ancestors occurred, this time to western Indiana. John was 75 years old, and Mary was 63. Now, I truly cannot imagine being in what we call “retirement age” and traveling by wagon from southwest Ohio to Indiana to a farm that had been cleared only the year before! The couple lived for many more years, so apparently the trek did them no harm. They are buried in Quaker Cemetery in Warren County, Indiana.

By a circuitous route, I returned to Caesar’s Creek. That route took me to the famed school of music at Indiana University, through a PhD in English there, to a position at Northern Kentucky University, and through several moves until I fell into the predicament of needing a barn to store my agricultural steam traction engine. I signed the mortgage for a property having such a barn, and my new home was not terribly far from Caesar’s Creek.

Believing That Souls Have No Gender

But Women Need a Separate Door

To Overcome Cultural Bias So As to Speak Freely

During Quaker Business Meetings

When I brought my engine and other belongings to my new place, I had almost forgotten my family’s connection to Caesar’s Creek. One day, I was driving through Waynesville and happened to pass by the Quaker monthly meeting house. All at once, I put the proverbial two and two together. It dawned on me that I was living near the farmland to which my ancestors had immigrated to escape the pressures of slavery. Suddenly, my hair stood up on the back of my head. Had I been in charge of my life, or had a destiny been making my decisions for me?

John Rhode and Mary Lewis Rhode Markers

Quaker Cemetery, Warren County, Indiana

I have since discovered that, when John and Mary left Ohio for Indiana, they may well have taken the road that runs in front of my house. As I drive along the smoothly paved surface, I often contemplate wooden wheels rolling up and over rocks and a husband and wife so devoted to one another, to their family, and to their principles that they made more than one difficult expedition.

Anyone wishing to know more about my family history can read Ellis G. Rhode’s book, now fully updated, here.