" I have not been able to fix definitely the year which Aaron, Absalom and Nancy Rhodes, and probably their "Cousin John" came from North Carolina to Richmond County. That they were here prior to Feb 10, 1785, is evidenced by the fact that on that date Nancy was married to Edmund Murphey... Making due allowance therefore for the probable duration of Edmund's courting days, which as a widower he would scarcely have unduly extended, their migration must have occurred as early as 1784, and possibly 1783. Some time after their arrival Aaron located at what is now known as the Warren Place on the Washington road a few miles above Augusta. 

Nancy Murphey was only sever years old in 1783, and Aaron must have waited for her as long as Jacob did for Rachel, for they were probably not married before 1797. Two children were norn to Aaron and Nancy, a son William J., born Jan. 13, 1799, and a daughter Lavinia some years later. Aaron's wedded life was a short duration as he died in 1805. He was probably buried on the Warren Place where he had lived. " His son Wm. J., after growing up to manhood made diligent effort to locate the grave, but without success. Soon after the death of her husband. Nancy Rhodes moved to a location near the present site of the Albion Kaolin Co., and only a little way removed from the house of her father Edmund Murphey. Her selection of this location in such close proximity to what was known for so many years as the old "Chalk Bed" may possibly have been influenced by the fact that it would enable her the more easily to compel her off spring to "walk a chalk line." Here she reared her children and here on a fall day in 1833 (Oct. 6) she left them to take her last sleep beneath the shadow of the trees in the old Murphey burying ground. 

About three years before her death her son, William J. married Martha, daughter of Robert Allen of "Allen Plow" and "Plank gate" fame. Soon after his marriage he built the home near Edie station so long occupied in later years by Judge James Brandon, and now owned by Mrs. Brandon, his widow. William J. lived at this home until 1828 or 29, then sold it and removed to what is now known as the Rhodes Place on the Walker's Bridge Road between Hephzibah and Story's Mill, where the remainder of his life was spent. To William J. and his wife Martha, there came from Oct 8, 1820, to June 1, 1843, twelve children, five of whom died in early childhood. Martha Maria died in her twentieth year unmarried. Lavinia Allen was married to Roberson Palmer, son of Benjamin and grandson of George, who was a brother of Jonathan of the "Calvinism Cure." Evalina Amanda became the wife of Rev. James Allen, an earnest and able Methodist minister and a noted temperance evangelist. William W. married Mary Ann Bostwick, scion of an old Ante-Revolutionary family of this section. James W., like his kinsman, Alexander Murphey, unmindful of Mr. Weller's advice, married Pauline C. Allen, widow of Elisha A. Allen, Jr. Robert A. and Mary J. died unmarried in early manhood and womanhood during an epidemic of typhoid fever that swept over this section in the early months of 1860. 

Of William J.'s immediate family either by blood or marriage only Pauline C., widow of James W., now survives. For some years she has been a citizen of Hephzibah and retains in large measure the charming grace of her early days. I sue the word "citizen" advisedly.

Few men have lived in Richmond County, who were gifted with a larger share of the sense that counts than William J. Rhodes. His marked success in the administration of his own affairs brought to him many fiduciary trusts. To the private obligations as well as to the public duties that fell to him as Justice of the Inferior Court and as Representative of Richmond County in the General Assembly he always brought eminent skill and faithfulness.