Bernie Rhodes, Grandson of B. Valentine Rhodes recounts this stories about Wm. S. Rhodes. While living in Calvert Mansion, Will and Bernard Rhodes served papers in Anacostia. They caught the train each morning and rode free in exchange for shoveling coal. One morning there was a fierce snowstorm and the train couldn't get through. When the boys went the following day to deliver papers, John Edgar Hoover had taken over their route. They beat him up. When John Wilkes Booth was treated by Dr. Mudd, a person named Rhodes was with him. Rhodes escaped and spent the rest of his life on a freighter because the government couldn't get him there. (by George Rhodes as told to Mary Grace Baird 12/4/93.) Will Rhodes joined the Navy as a young man and first went to sea on sailing ships. The first time a storm blew up he hid below in the coal bin and everyone thought he'd been blown overboard.
Will arranged for his Cousin Claude to escort Jennie to the Fleet Reserve Ball and then he took her dance card to work at the Navy Yard and had all the best dancers sign for a dance so she would have a good time. He worked at night and when he was on his way home, all dirty, at 3 a.m., he met Claude and Jennie in a group of friends on their way home from the ball, but pretended not to know them.
At one point, Jennie, Will, and family lived in a flat across from Cousins Cora and Claude and their daughter Dorothy. Dorothy was the only one who could understand Uncle Billy when he spoke, so she was always called on to interpret for him.
During the depression, Will Rhodes painted a lady's kitchen and she gave him two angora kittens. He kept one and named it Buff. He gave the other one to Cousin Grace. Thereafter, anything that was broken was officially broken by the cat. Jennie never minded if the cat had done the damage. Buff slept in the cut glass bowl on the dining room table.
When the family first began going to Kenwood Beach, they and their relatives stayed in a corn crib. During storms the bridges would wash out. The Claude Offfutts, Pete Smiths, Will Rhodes', Taylors, Hayes' and Florences, would meet at the PA Ave bridge and travel in caravan in case one of the cars broke down. Cousin Claude was in charge of mechanic duty.
Will was on Adm. Schley's flagship at Guantanamo Bay, Will had gone below and returned to the deck. The Admiral proclaimed, "Dusty's here. Let the battle begin!" There were only 2 casual- ties in that battle. The man next to Will had his head blown off.
Will Rhodes was a pitcher for fleet baseball team. While his ship was docked in DC, Will and crew were entertained for dinner at Teddy Roosevelt's White House. TR brought his children aboard ship. Will's crew had just polished all the guns. One of TR's children slid down one of the guns and Will smacked him.
Grace Smith: William joined the Navy at 15 with his father's signature. His Aunt Annie was furious. (Look up the capture of the Princess Alice, Dewey and Sly (?) during the Spanish American War).
Ann Day has provied 3 pages of obituary notices. One from The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., Thursday, June 6, 1940; one from an unidentified newspaper, another with unidentified source.
Dorothy Thomas and Norma Jean (Hungerford Slaughter) both claim that William was married before he married Jennie. He's listed in the 1929 D.C. "phone" book as married to Jennie and working as a painter, living at 1311 W VA Ave., N.E. See newspaper clipping obituary.