Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 1007 - 1008 

EDMOND E. ROADES, an intelligent and enterprising farmer of Ohio Township, residing on section 14, is a native of Bedford County, Va., his natal day being Aug. 12, 1824. He is a son of Henry and Mary J. Roades, both of whom were born in the Old Dominion. His father was reared to manhood on the banks of the James River, near Richmond, and was of German ancestry. Henry Roades was a son of one of the old Revolutionary heroes who fought with Washington for the liberties of our country, and was himself a soldier in the American army during the war with England in 1812. Upon his mother's side the subject of this sketch is descended from ancestors of the thrifty and long-headed Scotch race.

            When about ten years of age the subject of this biography removed with his parents to Christian County, Ky., where he was reared to manhood. In the days of his youth he received but a rudimentary education, for at that time the facilities for acquiring knowledge were much more limited than those enjoyed by the present generation. Having attained his majority, in 1846 he removed to Jersey County, Ill., where, in December, 1848, he was united in marriage with Miss Nancy Hughes, a native of Morgan County, Ill. Previous, however, to his locating in the Prairie State, in 1845, he spent some nine months in traveling through the States of Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas, and returned to his old Kentucky home, from which he shortly afterward set out for the Prairie State. Making his home in the latter commonwealth until 1873, he finally concluded that in the newer country of the great West he would find a locality better suited to his needs, and accordingly, in the autumn of that year came to Sedgwick County, Kan., in search of a home, and pre-empted the southwest quarter of section 14, Ohio Township. In the fall of 1874 he returned to Illinois, where he lived until the latter part of 1882, and then returned to this State and made a permanent settlement on his farm, where he now lives.

            When our subject came to this place the first time, he commenced making improvements, and had put up a house in which to install his family, and for a year endured all the privations incident to a ife upon the frontier, but as the shades of autumn gathered over the land, his house with all its contents, including the clothing of his family, was burned to the ground, and this, together with the failure of the crops in that year, brought him to a point of destitution which caused his return to Illinois. He has, however, by diligence, industry and economy, fully recuperated from this severe stroke of fortune, and is now classed among the prosperous and well-to-do farmers of this locality.

            During the dark days which overshadowed our country during the late Civil War, Mr. Roades' patriotism having been aroused, he enlisted in March, 1863, in Company E, 18th Illinois Infantry, and served principally on provost duties in different portions of Arkansas, until he was discharged from the service in January, 1865, and is now in the receipt of a pension from the Government of $10 per month, for injuries received during a hard march while in the service. He is a member of the Odd Fellows' fraternity, who, with the brotherly kindness which so distinguishes that society, assisted him at the time of his trouble in 1874 to regain his lost financial standing, and has served in all the appointive offices of Lodge No. 143, at Franklin, Morgan Co., Ill.

            Mr. Roades was the father of nine children, five of whom are living, viz.: Joseph H., residing at Arkansas City; Lewis, of Sangamon County, I11.; Belle, the wife of Lewis Gatchell, of Ohio Township; John P. and Ella J.; those deceased bore the names of Mary, Jane and Edward, and one child died in infancy unnamed. Nov. 2, 1885, our subject was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed to "that land elysian, whose portals we call death." The bereaved family had the sympathy of a large circle of friends, and of almost the entire community, as Mrs. Roades was a most estimable woman and greatly beloved by all with whom she came in contact.

            The subject of this memoir is a sincere and conscientious member of the Baptist Church at Derby, Kan., in which he has been serving for several years as an ordained Deacon. He is always very active in all religious and church matters, and spares no pains to elevate and benefit his fellowmen. He is the owner of 160 acres of highly fertile and well-cultivated land, and is one of the representative citizens of his township. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party, and is a stanch adherent to the doctrines formulated by that party. He was one of the organizers of Ohio Township, and helped circulate the petition for the setting of it off, and assisted in the organization of School District No. 54, commonly known as Ohio Center. He is the present Treasurer of the latter district, and has served as Road Overseer, and Constable of the township.

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