Life History

Notes

• The Edmonds family are enumerated in the 1860 census in Jefferson County.  This census reports Rhoda J as 7 years old, thus being born about 1853.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Tennessee, 14 June, Civil District 2, PO Dandridge, page 3, Hse/Fam #16
  Edmons, Elmore 33 M Farmer $500 Real Estate $1000 Personal b Tennessee cannot write
  Edmons, Mary 21 F Keeps House b North Carolina Cannot read or write
  Edmons, George J 16 M Farm Laborer b Tennessee Cannot read or write
  Edmons, William 12 M Farm Laborer b Tennessee Cannot read or write
  Edmons, Nancy C 9 F b Tennessee Literacy not reported
  Edmons, Rhoda J 7 F b Tennessee Literacy not reported [b abt 1863]
  Edmons, John 6 M Farm Laborer b Tennessee Literacy not reported
  Edmons, Rachel E 4 F b Tennessee Literacy not reported
  Edmons, Malinda A 2F b Tennessee Literacy not reported
  
  Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002
  M W Strange
  Spouse Jane Edmunds
  Marriage 7 Mar 1878 Jefferson County, Tennessee
  
  The 1900 census reports that Rhoda Jane was born in February 1861. But a family genealogy (anonymous, unsourced) reports an exact birth date of 29 February 1860.  Her age of 48 in the 1910 census would place her birth in 1862 if it was in February.
  
  1900 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Tennessee, 13 June, Civil District 3, Enumeration District 43, page 9A,  Hse #157, Fam #1582
  Strange, Milas W  Head  W M Oct 1855 44 married 22 years  TN TN TN Farm Laborer Rents
  Strange, Jane  Wife W F Feb 1861 39 married 22 yrs 2 children/2 living TN TN TN
  
  The Tennessee Death Records report that a Rhoda (Rodia) Jane Strange died in 1909.
  
  Tennessee Death Index 1908-1912
  Strange Rodia Jane   Jefferson 1909  Cert #46521
  
  An anonymous genealogy which has credible details often confirmed by records reports an exact death date for Rhoda as 09 Apr 1909.  This appears thus to be the same person as Rodia Jane Strange in the Tennessee Death Index.
  
  However, we find a census entry for her husband Miles Wesley Strange in 1910 that reports Miles' wife as Jane, which appears to be our Rhoda Jane Edmonds Strange.  Researchers working on this individual have found no confirming evidence whether this is the same person as the wife of Wesley Strange.  No birth date is given, only an estimate (1861) based on age.  This would match Wesley's wife, but there is no clarification from other sources on who the wife is reported in the 1910 census, whose name is so close to this Rodia Jane Strange reported as dying in 1909.  No info on her parents is reported on the death certificate.
  
  1910 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Tennessee, 18 April, Civil District 5, Enumeration District 71, Sheet 1A, Hse/Fam #7
  Strange, Wesly Head M W 53 Married 33 years TN TN TN Farm Laborer, Working Out Rents
  Strange, Jane R  Wife F W 48 Married 33 years 3 children/2 living TN TN TN
  Strange, Earnest D Son 14  TN TN TN
  Strange, Mary S  Dau 12  TN TN TN
  
  According to the same anonymous genealogy referred to above, Rhoda Jane is buried in Strange Cemetery on Muddy Hollow Road, off of Rainwater School Road in South Jefferson County, Tennessee.  This is reported in at least one old genealogy, anonymous, but confirmed on most other points by records, and containing detailed dates and places.  I have not personally been able to visit this cemetery, or find a definitive cemetery listing online.
  
  There is a person of similar name and age buried in Mt Horeb Cemetery, also in Jefferson County, Tennessee.  Mt Horeb Cemetery is located off East Dumplin Valley Road. Working with a couple of other Strange-Edmonds researchers, I have not been able to resolve for certain the identity of Rhoda Jane Edmonds with these two burial reports.
  
  JEFFERSON COUNTY, TN - CEMETERIES - MOUNT HOREB CEMETERY
  Roday Jane Strange
  DEC. 29, 1861
  MAR. 1909
  --  http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/jefferson/cemeteries/mthoreb.txt
  
  The birth date here is a different month than Rhoda's month of birth in February.  But there is a problem with the date of 29 February 1861.  This is found in documentation from Rhoda's father, but he has also recorded this as 29 February 1862.  An additional problem is that neither of these years is a leap year, so could not have had a date of 29 February.  The closest leap year was 1860.  Note that the 1900 census also says she was born in February 1861, and reports her age to match.  This has been investigated in some detail by one of my co-researchers Shirley.

Sources

• 1. 1900 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Tennessee
  • 13 June, Civil District 3, Enumeration District 43, page 9A,  Hse #157, Fam #1582
• 2. World Family Tree Vol. 14
  • Pedigree #2932
• 3. 1870 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Tennessee
  • 14 June, Civil District 2, PO Dandridge, page 3, Hse/Fam #16
• 4. Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002