and very successful instructor. He began the study of law during the war of the Rebellion, and was admitted to the bar at Newport, Indiana, in August, 1865, and since that time has been constantly engaged in practice, and his career as a lawyer has been a successful one. He began the practice of law with his brother, Judge Rhoads, with whom he was associated until about 1877. He is now a member of the firm of Rhoads & Aikman, this firm having been formed but recently. Mr. Rhoads was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Moffatt, a daughter of Robert D. Moffatt, of Perrysville, and they are the parents of two children -- Paul Moffatt and Helen. Mr. Rhoads was surveyor of Vermillion County for a term of two years. In politics he is a Republican and is a strong adherent and an able exponent of the principles of the party of his choice.
ROBERT BALLENTINE STOKES, a worthy representative of one of the old pioneer families of Vermillion County, was born in Franklin County, Ohio, the date of his birth being September 15, 1810. He is the only surviving son of Matthew and Harminah Stokes, the father born June 27, 1774. Nathaniel Stokes, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of North Carolina, from which State he removed to Kentucky. Later he settled with his family at Columbia, near Cincinnati, Ohio, and during his residence at that place he and his son Matthew worked at Cincinnati. In 1791 when St. Clair was defeated by Indians at Fort Recovery, Ohio, Matthew Stokes assisted in burying the dead slain by the Indians. He was married in Ohio to Harminah Skidmore, a descendant of a prominent Kentucky family. They had a family of nine children, eight of whom grew to maturity and had families of their own. Their daughter, Mrs. Mary Skidmore Winsett, of Edgar County, Illinois, who was born February 14, 1822, and Robert B., the subject of this sketch, are the only survivors of the family at the present writing. Soon after his marriage Matthew Stokes settled near Columbus in Franklin County, where he lived until 1820, when he started with his family for the Wabash. They went down the Scioto River to the Ohio, thence to the mouth of the Wabash and up the Wabash to Clinton. After living four years on Helt's Prairie the family settled two miles south of Newport, where the father made his home until his death December 16, 1840. His wife was born January 1, 1779, and died in the year 1835. Robert Ballentine Stokes, whose name heads this sketch, was a lad of ten years when he came with his father's family to Vermillion County, where he has since lived, a period of sixty seven years. He was married January 31, 1833, to Miss Rebecca Wallace, a native of Virginia, and a daughter of William Wallace, one of the early pioneers of Vermillion County, settling here in 1829. He was bereaved by the death of his wife November 25, 1874, after journeying down life's pathway together for fifty years. She was a consistent Christian, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was beloved by all who knew her. Of the six children born to them, one son, Robert Finley, is the only one living. He was born in Vermillion County, February 14, 1848, and is living on the old homestead of his father. Isabella, wife of John Stakley, died February 22, 1870; James W. was born January 1, 1841, and died February 10, 1867; and three died in infancy. Mr. Stokes entered a tract of eighty acres in Vermillion Township, in 1832, and has succeeded well in his agricultural pursuits, and is now
enjoying the fruits of his years of toil, surrounded with all the necessary conforts of life. During his residence here he has taken a deep interest in the welfare of his township, and no one in this section of the country is more highly respected than he. Although a member of no church, he has a great respect for religion. He has always been a great Bible reader and tries to live according to its precepts.
REZIN METZGER, of Perrysville, is a representative of one of the early pioneer families of Vermillion County, his father, Jonas Metzger, having settled here with his family as early as 1828. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, born December 7, 1793. When a young man he went to Ohio, and was married in that State December 24, 1818, to Miss Mary Craig, who was born in Ohio, June 4, 1803. They reared a family of twelve children, six sons and six daughters, to maturity, of whom six are still living -- David H., the eldest son, now living in Kansas, was born October 13, 1819, was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, serving three years in Company B, One Hundred and Thirteenth Illinois Infantry; Rezin, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Sarah Ann Simpson, living in Dakota; Mrs. Indiana Glover, residing in Greene County, Missouri; Mrs. Ann Maria Runyon, of Vermillion County, Illinois, and Mrs. Martha Ann McKibben, living in Florida. On coming to Vermillion County, Indiana, the family settled on the Big Vermillion River in Eugene Township, living on what is now known as the Shelby farm some five years. The father then bought a farm in Highland Township, about three miles north of Perrysville, where he lived with his family until 1865, when the infirmities of age compelled him to retire from active labor, and he purchased a home in Perrysville, where he lived until his death, which occurred February 29, 1872. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, serving under Captain Shelby, of Kentucky. He was reared to the avocation of a farmer, which he followed until he retired from active life. He was a man of strict integrity, esteemed by all for his honest, upright character, and left as an inheritance to his children a name of which they may well be proud. He was a man of strong religious principles, striving to do right at all times. In politics he was a Whig in early life, but was identified with the Republican party from its organization. His widow still survives, and is living with her son, Rezin, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Rezin Metzger, whose name heads this sketch, is a native of Vermillion County, Indiana, born in Highland Township, August 23, 1837, and has always made his home in his native county. He lived with his parents until his marriage, after which they made their home with him, and his mother, who is now rendered helpless by the infirmities of age, is his especial care, and he is happy in surrounding her with all the necessary comforts of life. In July, 1862, Mr. Metzger enlisted in the Seventy-first Indiana Infantry, and August 30, 1862, only about a month after he entered the service, he received a severe gun-shot wound in the right hip at the battle of Richmond, Kentucky. His injury rendered him unfit for further duty in the army, and he has never fully recovered from the effects of this wound. He was married December 31, 1868, to Miss Roxy F. Jones, a native of Crawfordsville, Indiana, and daughter of A. T. Jones, and to them have been born four children, named William, Grace, Daisy and Jonas. Mr. Metzger ever endeavors to follow the pre-
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