Call Number:

MC.975.01.057

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.04 linear ft. (1 volume)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

William G. Rhoads diary (HC.MC.975.01.057), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1858

Creator:

Rhoads, William Gibbons

Form:

Diaries

Abstract:

The first pages of William G. Rhoads's diary ask a series of questions concerning moral behavior and manners, which Rhoads subsequently answers in each entry. Entries also detail Rhoads's apprenticeship as a book keeper, social calls, and Quaker meetings he attended.

William G. Rhoads (1838-1880) was born on March 26, 1838, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Samuel Rhoads and Anne Gibbons Rhoads. He attended Haverford College, but because Haverford did not have a scientific department until 1858, he never received his degree. William G. Rhoads worked with a shipbuilding firm until he discovered that the company was involved in war work, at which point he resigned his post. He then became involved in the plumbing business.

In 1866, Rhoads married Sarah Wistar. The couple had six children: Lydia Wistar Rhoads (1868-1948), Jane Gibbons Morris (1870-1950), Ethel Rhoads Potts (1871-1962), Edward Rhoads (1873-1903), William Rhoads (1876-1960), and Samuel Rhoads (1878-1930).

Rhoads died on April 28, 1880, from inflammatory rheumatism at the age of 42.

This collection is comprised of the single, handwritten diary of William G. Rhoads. The first pages ask a series of questions concerning moral behavior and manners, which Rhoads subsequently answers in each entry. Entries also detail Rhoads's apprenticeship as a book keeper, social calls, and Quaker meetings he attended.