Orlando Roads (Rhodes) was born on September 15, 1836, in Clymer, New York, to Joseph and Ada Roads. His father was a farmer who owned $3,000 of real estate and $1,800 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Clymer, and by 1860, he was working as a farmer. He married Lois Sullivan around 1861, and they had at least two children: Eugene, born around 1861; and Grace, born around 1878.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 31, 1864, and he mustered in as a private in Company G of the 15th New York Engineers. As he explained in November 1864, "I enlisted in the defince of my country." The regiment took part in the siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox campaign. He mustered out on June 13, 1865.
He settled in Corry, Pennsylvania, after the war, and he earned a living as a carpenter. By 1870, he owned $300 of personal property. The 1900 federal census described him as an “Old Gent.” He remained in Corry for the rest of his life, and he died there of “chronic diarrhea” on February 19, 1907.