John Roads (Rhodes) - Luray VA
N 38° 38.861 W 078° 31.865
17S E 714858 N 4280572
A plaque at a roadside cemetery in Luray, Virginia commemorates Rev. John Roads who was massacred along with members of his family by Indians in 1764.
Waymark Code: WMBJ32
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 05/24/2011
Views: 2
Rev. John Roads or Rhodes, a Mennonite minister, and his family were among the first pioneers in Massanutten in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the early 1700s. For more than 20 years, the settlers lived in peace with the native Indians, but as the white population grew, the Indians became more hostile and aggressive. By 1754, raids and attacks on the settlers' homesteads were frequent.
In August 1764, eight Indians and one white man attacked the Roads' home. Rev. Roads was killed in the doorway and his wife and a son were killed as they ran for the house. Another son climbed a tree, but was discovered and shot, while another was killed when he attempted to cross a stream. One of the daughters grabbed her baby sister and they escaped to a neighbor's house. Four of the children, two boys and two girls, were captured and led away. One of the boys and both girls were killed on the march. The surviving boy, Michael, was held captive for three years.
In 1985, the John Rhodes Chapter
of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution installed a plaque at a roadside cemetery on Rt. 211 in Luray near the historic White House
. The plaque mounted on a rock reads:
THE REVEREND JOHN ROADS (RHODES)
DIED 1764
A Pioneer and Christian father, who with his
wife and six of his thirteen children, was a victim
of the last Indian massacre in Page County.
PLACED BY
JOHN RHODES CHAPTER NSDAR
AUGUST 8, 1985
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