BoxRec

As far as to whatever became of Gus Rhodes and when he died.
The person to ask IMOP would be Linda E. Haywood of Chicago..
Gus Rhodes would have been her great-uncle.
From what I read Jack Jonson is buried in the Graceland Cemetery in Chicago
and there is just one big headstone there in the Family Plot that reads' "Johnson".
She said in an inter-view that about 10-12 other relatives are buried there without headstones.

has any new information surfaced as to what became of Gus Rhodes (Jack Johnson's nephew and press agent) ?
Did Apollack the writer been able to find out in his 2 volumes about Jack Johnson ?(I haven't seen either of his books yet)
I been looking into it myself lately.
Gus Rhodes had helped and accompineied Jack Johnson in escaping to Canada in June of 1913
and was still with him up until his release from Leavenworth prison in June 1921.
He wrote articles about what Jack Johnson was doing when they were on the run and they were published in
the Chicago DEFENDER
( the largest Black owned newspaper in the country at that time and the publisher Robert S. Abbott was a good friend of Jack Johnson)
as far as I can tell one of the last articles he written to be published by Gus Rhodes in THE DEFENDER was when they were in Mexico City in July 1919.

Just came across something interesting in the November 1969 edition of JET magazine.
It wrote that Jack Johnson had a surviving brother (possibly Henry or his adapted brother Charles)
and two sisters ( Jenny and Susan) and nephew Augustus (Gus) Rhodes.
(he would be about at least 75 years old in 1969 as far as I can figure )

I find it hard to believe the such as promiscuous man had no children of his own. Or did he?

Personally, I would like to know where Jack's parents were enslaved at. Would be a lot more mysteries to solve there.

possibly originally enslaved at Sierra Leon and sold from the slave-trader depot there and brought to the United States at an early age ?
Britain had outlawed slavery in 1807
BTW The importation of any new slaves into America was banned by the Constituion in 1808 and took effect in 1809
but illegal ships were still smuggling in slaves in to the Southern ports into America (the last one was in 1860)

I had read where Jack Johnson parents came to Texas from North Carolina
back when Texas was still a Republic (1837-1845)
Henry Johnson settled in Gavelston in 1867.

Jack Johnson had wrote that his father Henry Johnson had was a "Civiian"Teamster with n the U.S Army 38th Infantry (Colored) during the Civil War and was at the siege of Petersburg Virginia (June 1864-May 1865).

BTW In his 1911 French memoirs he writes that his ancestors came to America alongside the exiles of the Monmouth Rebellion (1685).

Caractacus wrote: ↑30 Sep 2020, 14:37 I had read where Jack Johnson parents came to Texas from North Carolina
back when Texas was still a Republic (1837-1845)
Henry Johnson settled in Gavelston in 1867.

Very interesting. I an in NC and not far from where he died at, under 20 mile distance.

it was reported both his parents were ex-slaves,
His mother Tina (Tiny) Johnson was born in either North or South Carolina
and his father Henry was born in either Maryland or Virginia during the 1830's ( he died around 1907).
btw there was a in-depth thread here a couple years ago about where Jack Johnson died.
I will try and bump it up.

I wonder what the name of the road-side Diner that Jack Johnson had stopped at just outside of Raliegh NC
was ?
according to Fred L. Cook (Johnson's relief driver),
he told Bob Lucas in his 1970 book BLACK GLADIATOR

"They told us we could eat in the back or not at all"
"We were hungry and the food had already been served, so we ate"
" But back in the car ,Jack really got angry".

Jack Johnson then took the wheel and headed North on Highway One
driving at over 70 miles an hour
hurtling around a sharp curve near the little town of Franklinton
he didn't see the truck turning toward him until it was too late.
he lost control. The car swerved across the White line.left the road and slammed into a telephone pole.
Fred Cook was thrown clear but Jack Johnson died at the hospital 3 hours later.

Johnson had a long, long history of driving dangerously

In his 1927 autobiography IN THE RING AND OUT. (page 48)
Jack Johnson tells a interesting story about going to a Fortune Teller in Los Angeles back around 1902-1904
(years before he became the HW Champion) dressed as a workman.
and she had predicted things about his future that looking back he was astounded to hear.
she predicted his marriages
his automobile accident ( he says in Spain) which nearly killed him.
she predidcted that he would be Heavyweight Champion of the World !

I came across some interesting information concerning Jack Johnson's third wife whom he married in August 1925 until his death in June 1946.
her maiden name was Irene Marie Bloecker
( born 1.April.1901 in Chicago Illinois and died 13.January.1990 in Skokie,Cook County Illinois)
she was 90 years old.
Her occupation was secretary.
she was buried in the cemetery at Skokie so it doesn't appear that she was buried along with Jack Johnson
in the Johnson family cemetery.

wonder if his nephew Gus Rhodes (who was still alive in Chicago in 1969, at about 75 years old)
had ever written an unpublished manuscript of the time he spent around his uncle ?

Jack Johnson's Nephew Gus Rhodes died in October 1971 at Provident Hospital after a brief illness and is buried in Arbutus Cemetery.

Gus Rhodes is buried with his wife Lucille who died in 1974 at Arbutus Cemetery in Maryland.
I have compiled a scrapbook from years of research on Jack Johnson and found this Obituary on a Genealogy Bank Newspaper clipping dated Oct 23. 1971.

what was his occupation when he died ?
who inherited Gus Rhoades estate ?
was there any auction ?

Caractacus wrote: ↑20 Dec 2022, 16:54 what was his occupation when he died ?

Wha?

what was Gus Rhoades doing for a living before he retired ?

Maybe Jack had some illegitimate kids in Mexico or France.