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Note: I Dug Up Houma Terrebonne by Helen Wurzlow v. 5, p. 45
In this book, this Thomas is referred to as Thomas #1. Thomas was the first Rhodes to come to what is now Terrebonne Parish, La.. He came and left before Lafourche Interior (Parish) was split to create Terrebonne Parish in 1822.
When the government made the Louisiana Purchase with France in 1803 they sent men to the area to check on the landowners. They had to visit each landowner to find the exact boundries of thier land and record this information and report it to the government. Thomas was commisioned as a deputy surveyor in 1812. He was bonded for $2000. signed by Henry Schuyler Thibodeaux (acting govorner and otherwise Leutinent Govorner and resident of Terrebonne Parish).
Thomas lived near historic Halfway Cemetery not far from Charles Bergeron, who had a Spanish Grant in that area.
Records show, in 1815, that Thomas sold his plantation on Bayou D'Arbonne (Terrebonne) to Lemuel Tanner. The plantation was located just about where H. L. Bourgeois High School (Houma, La.) is today. His neighbor on one side was Charles Bergeron and on the other side was Henry Schyler Thibodeaux. Thomas married Heloise, Charles' daughter.
When Thomas sold his plantation in 1815, that was the end of his job as a surveyor. It was also the year of the Battle of New Orleans (Jan. 8)
As far as anyone can tell, Thomas came here from Alabama. ******************************
another story on Thomas and Heloise
from the works of Sherwin Guidry
Thomas Rhodes came at the turn of the 18th century as a surveyor and married Heloise Bergeron and had a son Jackson (Jack) Rhodes who married Henerietta Hebert and was the first Rhodes on record to own land. He settled 1/4 mile below Bush Canal (located below Madison Canal)
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another story by Sherwin Guidry
As far back as our bayou history can record there has always been a Rhodes to walk the banks of Le Terrebonne. Beginning with the turn of the 18th century, one Thomas Rhodes came into this area as a surveyor. In 1812, he married Heloise Bergeron, and had at least one son named Jackson, born in 1814. In 1836, Jackson, or Jack as his friends called him, was married to Henrietta Hebert
and was the first Rhodes on record to own land on Le Terrebonne. He settled 1/4 mile below Bush Canal which is located below Madision Canal. No ones knows very much about the lives of Thomas and Heloise or about Jackson and Henrietta except that the latter two are buried on the Indian mound at Bush Canal. They did leave a large family, eight to be exact, and all settled around their parents home. Thomas, one of the children was married in 1860 to Victorine Usei, and fatherd eight children also. As their father and grandfather before them, they too settled near Bush Canal and by this time most every house around was lived in by a Rhodes family. The Rhodes, as did every other family on Le Terrebonne lived off the land and the sea. Thomas was also a boat builder
by trade, and he passed this trade on to his son, Gustave. As Thomas grew older, Gustave took on more and more of his fathers responsibilities, and became widely known as a boat builder. But even in this unhurried past all must make his exit--Thomas and Victorine were laid to rest on the Indian mound beside their mother and father, in the land they had known since birth. Robert
Rhodes, another son was constable at the time and owned a large dance hall at Bush Canal. On Saturday and Sunday all work ceased for it was time for dancing and fun at the Rhodes dance hall. Everyone from 9 to 90 gathered here for the weekend festivities. I can remember my mother telling me about these dances. It was a common thing to see a man all dressed up in a blue serge suit with
a white shirt and tie- and bare feet. But when the music started, the mandolin, and violin, the accordion, mixed with a glass or tow of cherry bounce to spur one's courage, all cares were forgotten. Then came the storm of 1909. The winds were testing the strength of the might oak tree, the water and the currents twisting their branches and forcing the people to climb to the attics as a questionable refuge. Gustave spent the night in his boat tied to a tree at Bush Canal. Another family said their boat was tied to the post of their front porch and when the water came up they went into the attic and finally from the attic window into the boat. When it was over, and the waters had subsided, a stern-wheeler (used to haul freight from New Orleans to Houma), came to Le Terrebonnne to pick up the survivors. The women and children were taken to Houma but the men stayed on to clean up the aftermath. About 3/4 of the homes were destroyed and after the mud and debris were cleaned up, they counted 30 to 40 bodies of friends and relatives-a terrible toll for this small community. It was then when some of the Rhodes family began to leave Le Terrebonnne for higher ground in Houma, Morgan City, and Lake Charles. But even though some left the bayou, there were others who could not leave, and they started to build again what the storm had destroyed. The next few years brought a new generation of the Rhodes to Le Terrebonne. Gustave married Amanda Guidry and from this union comes Myrtle, Thomas, Hansel, Lellian, Annalie, Oneal, Vivian, Elodie, and Rita. Gustave kept building boats for the people on the bayou and patented the first V-bottom boat in this area. He built several after that so maybe you'll remember the "Lillian" or the "Sea Breeze" or maybe the "Stella" "Stella II", "Miss J+L", "Indiana" and of
course the "Kilroy". A dozen or so more also bear the mark of Gustave Rhodes, boatbuilder. Then came the storm of 1926. Every one was forced to leave Bush Canal as the waters was fast becoming a torrent. Gustave tied his boat next to the Dumas Cementary below Montegut, and here he weathered the storm. It uprooted the floating marsh (floatons) for miles around and deposited them along the highway and the bayou. The people could not get to their homes below Madison. At Lapeyrouse's store, the bayou was completely filled in and it took six days for a dredge to cut a channel so the people could return to their homes This put an end to the settlement below Madison Canal, one that had been in existence for a hundred years. Only the four Rhodes, buried on the Mound stayed behind to whisper about the days when life was "good" on Le Terrebonne. Gustave built another house in Montegut and started anew, his trade of building boats. Life was hard in the 1930's. Myrtile recalls, "I can remember getting up at one in the morning and paddling a flat bottom boat 12 to 14 miles to catch fish. Then 9 or 10 in the morning paddle back up the bayou to sell the fish at three or four cents a pound. Myrtile and his brothers also trapped for a livelihood and this
was how he made enough money to purchase his boat. He and his father built it and learned his father's trade. "God made no greater place, because if he did, Montegut would not be here today,"Myrtile said. "I hope many more Rhodes will continue to live here on the bayou as they have in the past." Rhodes said. Yes, something special must exist here, because six generations of Rhodes have lived on the bayou. Neither time nor storm nor the grim reaper himself can drive the Rhodes away from Le Terrebonne.
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