John Franklin Rhodes was born in North Carolina on March 12, 1879. By 1910, Rhodes had moved to North Wilkesboro (Wilkes County) with his younger brother, both of whom worked as clerks in F. D. Forester’s dry goods store. By 1935, Rhodes had returned to Ashe County, where he owned a furniture store in West Jefferson. He died there on July 22, 1969.