DR. EBENEZER RONDEAU, Livingston County, was born in Manchester, England, December 16, 1818, and is a son of William and Ann Rondeau. His father's family was of French descent. His mother's maiden name was Arkenstall, the name of a very old Welsh family, from whom she was descended. William Rondeau was born April 15, 1779, in the city of London. He was a lawyer by profession, and for a number of years practiced in the city of Manchester. In 1819 he came to America, settling first in Philadelphia, where he lived a short time, afterward moving to Pope County, Ill., and locating at the town of Golconda. After coming to America he discontinued the legal profession, and entered the ministry of the Baptist Church, which calling he followed until his death in 1852. He was a man of brilliant attainments, and during his residence in this country, ministered to a number of the earliest churches of his order in Illinois and Kentucky. While a resident of Philadelphia, he assisted in the organization of the second Odd Fellow's lodge in America. Ann (Arkenstall) Rondeau was born in 1780, and died in November, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Rondeau reared a family of ten children, only three of whom are living: Charles Augustus F., Ebenezer and Sarah A., wife of R. T. Berry. The following are the names of those deceased: John, William H., Theophilus, Mehetabel, Mary, Emanuel and James S. Ebenezer Rondeau was quite a small boy when his parents came to this country, and his first five years in America were spent in Pope County, Ill. At the end of that time his father moved to New Orleans, where our subject lived for a period of four years, the family returning north in 1830, and settling on Golconda Island. At the age of eighteen years Mr. Rondeau commenced reading medicine with Dr. William Sim, of Golconda, under whose instructions he continued three years, when he entered the Louisville Medical Institute (1839) and graduated from that school in the class of 1841. After completing his studies, Dr. Rondeau located in the practice of his profession at the farm of A. H. Wallace, where he remained four years. He then went to Salem, and after one year there he settled at Berry's Ferry, opposite Golconda, where he practiced for seven years. At the end of that time he moved to Delta, Miss., where he engaged in merchandising, which he carried on in connection with his profession, selling goods for about two years. He then engaged in the wood business, in Arkansas, buying and selling wood and timber for a period of four years, when he was obliged to give it up, owing to failing health. In 1858 he returned to Kentucky, locating in Livingston County, where he engaged in farming for a short time, afterward moving back to Illinois, where be remained during the war. At the close of the war he opened a store at Berry's Ferry, and ran it until 1869, from which date until 1875 he was engaged exclusively in farming. Since the latter year the Doctor has been dividing his time between his profession and his farm, in both of which he has been rewarded with a flattering degree of success. The Doctor has held several official positions, serving as treasurer and assessor in Pope County, Ill.; during the war, and while a resident of Mississippi, had charge of the postoffice at Delta. The Doctor was married December 2, 1840, to Mrs. Mary A. Sterling, daughter of John and Maria Berry. Mrs. Rondeau was born in 1819, and by a previous marriage had two children: Ferdinand R. and Samuel L. Sterling, the former deceased.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Pages 830-831.