RHEA-L Archives

From: "Frank Myers" <>
Subject: [RHEA-L] Frank H. Rhea to Elizabeth Rachel (Rhea) Clair, 17 June 1916
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 21:33:01 -0600

This is the third of three letters written by Frank H. Rhea to his cousin
Elizabeth Rachel (Rhea) Clair during 1916. The original was in the
possession of the late Florence Elveretta (Mills) Pratt as late as 1976, but
its whereabouts now are unknown. I am Frank D. Myers, a great-great-grandson
of James Wayne and Elizabeth Rachel (Rhea) Clair.

Some caution is required when using information found in these letters: (1)
Frank H. Rhea apparently did little if any research among the records of
Kentucky and Virginia, so later research may have countered some of his
conclusions; and (2), we have no way of knowing how his correspondents
responded to the questions he asked them. Information contained in questions
actually may have been countered by responses, long-since destroyed.

The first two letters in this series were posted to this list during December of
1999 (obviously, I'm a little behind).

Springfield, Ill.,
June 17, 1916

Dear cousin Elizabeth:

It has been nearly a month since I received your second letter and I feel that it is high
time to answer it. I have more questions and am so glad that I have not tired you
out by my long letters. I will first tell you about myself and my father's family.

I am thirty-nine (ah, vanity; Frank actually was 45. F.D.M.) and have been for a number
of years a public school teacher. At present I am teaching in the city schools
of Springfield. I am a graduate of the state university at Champaign, Ill. I never
married. The girl I was engaged to, died suddenly just before we were to be
married - about a month before. I have never found anyone who could replace her.

Page 2:
My father, Thomas Foutch Rhea, and my mother, Margaret Cosgrove, were
married at Jacksonville, Ill., where mother was attending school. After their
marriage, father and mother lived at Island Grove, and in 1860 Father moved
to Saybrook, McLean Co., Ill., where the rest of the brothers and my sister
were born. Father was in the hardware business in Saybrook about 10 years
and then moved to Bloomington, Ill. Mother died Nov. 9, 1904, but father
and my sister and brothers excepting one brother are still living in Bloomington.
The names of my brothers are (1) William, (2) Wallace, (3) Joseph, (4) Leon
and Harry, sister Adella. Leon is the one besides myself not living at home.

Page 3:
He lives in Los Angeles, California. My sister's name is Adella. She never
married and she and father live in the home place at Bloomington (It was
Adella who unceremoniously burned nearly all of Frank H. Rhea's research
following his death. F.D.M.).

My brother William married Elizabeth Ramage and has one child, Howard.

My brother Wallace married Sarah Saltzman, and has two boys, Thomas
and Walter. Brother Jo married Dora Shrigley and has two girls, Louise
and Florence, who are pretty as pictures. Brother Leon married a
Springfield girl, Lucy Jones. Leon is a college graduate also and during
Governor Tanner's administration was appointed by him as chief clerk,
one of the best paying positions at the statehouse here. Leon has been
compelled to live in California on account of a serious throat trouble. He
has no children. Harry married Mamie O'Neil and has three children,

Page 4:
Margaret, Grace and Fred. My brothers in Bloomington, except Harry,
are all in business. Harry is a locomotive engineer and runs between
Chicago and St. Louis. He is the baby of the family and is a big fine
looking fellow - strong as an ox. My brothers as well as myself are big
men and we make a house full all by ourselves when we get together
at family reunions. Father for many years was a salesman for Deere
Nansur and Co., at Moline, Ill. Deere Nansur & Co. are makers of farm
machinery. Father had the reputation of selling more machinery for this
company than any man ever employed by them, which is saying a great
deal, since the company has agents all over the world.

Page 5:
Before mother's death they wanted to send him across the water to
England to establish an agency in London, but mother was not willing
to cross the ocean, so father declined to go.

The old log cabin you mentioned in your letter - Great grandfather's
cabin is no longer there. It was as you say, two stories high and a big
apple tree stood near. there is somewhere a photograph of the old
cabin among the relatives (F.D.M. has a photo of said cabin). I have
tried to get a copy of it but so far have not been able to do so. If I
ever do succeed in getting copies I will send you one. The rail road
you mention is now called the Wabash Rail Road and was the first
steam road built in Illinois. It ran back of the old Rhea farm.

Page 6:
It might interest you to know that the first Baptist church to be
organized in this section of Illinois was organized in your
grandfather Rhea's log cabin. This was in 1830. In 1865 a brick
church was built in the present town of Old Berlin about two miles
east of the old Rhea farm. The first members of this old church were
nearly all Rheas. The records of the church state that your father
(Richard Rhea, F.D.M.) was ordained as a Baptist minister
in 1838 and installed pastor of the church in January 1839. It also
shows that he was pastor till his death, Nov. 17, 1839. Grandfather
William Rhea and his brothers John and Thomas are buried in the
cemetery back of the church. Grandfather's sister Mary and your
father were buried on the old farm.

Page 7:
I will tell you in this letter something about Jehoda Rhea and
her descendants. Jehoda Rhea, you father's sister, born Oct. 11, 1813,
in Barren county, Kentucky, married John Foutch, brother of my
grandmother Susan Foutch Rhea, Dec. 13, 1827. They had four children,
(1) James, (2) Francis, (3) Henry (4) and Charlotte Foutch. Soon
after her marriage Jehoda settled with her husband in Fulton County,
Ill., about four miles west of the present town of Havana. James
Foutch, your cousin, married
Nancy S. Leadman and has seven children, (1) Samuel, (2) Carrie,
(3) James, (4) Joseph, (5) Addie, (6) Hugh and (7) Minnie. Francis
Foutch, your cousin, married Elizabeth Leadman and had five
children, (1) Eliza, (2) Charles, (3) William, (4) Samantha, (5)
Frank. Jonn Foutch and his wife are dead long ago and are buried in
what is now called the Foutch Cemetery in Fulton Co. Your cousin
Harry Foutch died in infancy. Your cousin Charlotte Foutch
married Ezereah Thomas and died years ago leaving no children.

Page 8:
Your cousins James and Francis Foutch are also gone but their
children are all wealthy farmers of Fulton County. I shall be glad to
tell you from time to time things that may interest you and will surely
answer your questions if I can. As to Amos Hixon, I found him through
the county clerk of Lucas County. (Amos Hixon was the husband
of Elizabeth Rachel Rhea Clair's half-sister, Lucinda (Etheredge)
Hixon, and lived in Cedar Township, Lucas County, Iowa. F.D.M.)
The date of your brother's (James M. Rhea's) death was taken
from the army records at Washington and sent to me. The Washington
record states that he was wounded in the left leg, that the leg
was cut off and that he died near Vicksburg, Miss.

Page 9:
Now my questions:

(1) Was your son William Richard married?
(2) Where did your son William Richard die?
(3) Can you give the date (day, month and year) of your marriage?
(4) Just where (county and near what town) did your mother and
Thomas Etherege (her second husband, F.D.M.) settle when
they moved to Iowa?
(5) Just when and where (county and near what town) did you and
your husband settled when you moved to Kansas?
(6) Have you always lived in the same place in Kansas?
(6) Please tell me again, as exactly as you can, where all your children
were born. Please give me the state and county for each one.

Page 10:
(7) Where was your sister Mary married, in what county of Iowa? If
you have no record of the marriage I can get it from the county clerk.
(8) Did your mother's sister Hannah marry? If so do you know who she
married?
(9) Do you know where in Kentucky (county and near what town)
your mother's sister Hannah and her Aunt Hannah Barnett lived?
Please tell me as much as you can about them. I have written
many letters to Kentucky in an effort to locate the children of Robert
Rhea, your mother's brother.
(10) What was the name of the little grandson who died with his
mother. I mean your son Thomas' boy.

Page 11:
Are your sons James Alonzo, Charles Austin (sic., there was no
Charles Austin Clair, F.D.M.), and Charles Edward married?

I have written you a long letter cousin Elizabeth. I hope it will
not tire you to read it and to answer my questions. Write to me again
as soon as you can. I am not certain about some names and
dates in connection with Robert and Thomas' families and have
written on a separate sheet what you gave me. Please read it over.
I have put a ring around the things I am not sure about. If it is all right
please mark the paper O.K. and send it back to me. With regards
to all the cousins.

Sincerely your cousin,
Frank H. Rhea
1222 S. 8th St.
Springfield, Ill.

Note: Frank Hiett Rhea died 10 years later, on 18 April 1926 of
erysipelas in Bloomington, Ill., without having published the
results of his extensive research. His sister, Adella, burned all
but a few scraps of his papers. These letters, and those that survive
in the archives of other families, are his legacy.

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• [RHEA-L] Frank H. Rhea to Elizabeth Rachel (Rhea) Clair, 17 June 1916 by "Frank Myers" <>