The Home of this Book
IREXE AND EKXEST PACF
BY THE NAME OF RICE
An Historical Sketch of
DEACON EDMUND RICE
The Pilgrim (1594-1663)
Founder of the English Family of Rice
in the United States; and of his
Descendants to the Fourth
Generation.
By
Charles Elmer Rice
Author of the "History of the Hanna Family,'
"History of the Hole Family in England
and America," "The Wrights of
Kelvedon Hall,"
etc., etc.
Press of
The Williams Printing Co.
Alliance, Ohio
1911
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1910, by Charles
Elmer Rice, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
Limited edition, of which this is number .
PREFACE
"Oh that mine adversary had written a book" quoth the
afflicted Job ; and let him tackle the Rice family chronology,
say I, and Nemesis has him by the scruff. There are too many
Rices and few of them are wildly enthusiastic upon the ques-
tion of their origin. When Mary A. Livermore, that Queen
of the American Platform, was nearing her eightieth year, she
wrote me that 'the question of where she was going to she
thought upon by day and by night.' Now I had early formed
the bad habit of sleeping at night, after I had said my "Now I
lay me," and even by day I seldom worried over the question
of a tropical futurity. That great and good woman has long
since departed and I do not know the result of her nocturnal
introspection. If she could read this history of her Ancestors
she would learn whence she came, but I hope she has ere this,
met the good Deacon, and knows all about it without having
incurred insomnia. It must be told, however that there was
once a question as to the Deacon's whereabouts after "life's
fitful fever." It was in this wise. Upon the return of one of
Deacon Rice's grandson's to the patrimonial fields and ancestral
acres he viewed his grandfather's grave and sadly remarked to
the old sexton, "Well, John, the old Deacon has joined the
great majority." "Oh, Sir," replied the enlightened sexton,
"I wouldn't just like to say so Sir, the Deacon he was always
considered a very fair sort of a man Sir." And so he was, and
I have endeavored to give his history faithfully and impartially,
not being deterred for a moment by the apathy encountered
when seeking information from some of the wisest and best
informed of the Deacon's posterity. At first it seemed a futile
and frenetic search, likely to be "a great cry for little wool,"
as the Devil said when he tried to shear the pig. However it
soon transpired that these antipathetic and recusant relatives
were only sporadic cases and kindly "first aid to the genealogist"
was furnished, until we are in possession of many facts in regard
to the family history that were quite unknown when the
"chronology" was written in 1856.
3
2056514
I have only planned to preserve in this little book the main
facts regarding the Deacon, his children and grand-children,
with their dates and records. Almost any one of the present
generation will be able to connect by tracing backwards, for
surely any of us can tell who were our great-grand parents.
There is an immense and ever increasing number of german
Rice families in the U. S., and more are on the way. I am
informed, in a hectic letter from an aspiring german Rice, that
there is "one entire Township of Rices, in Switzerland." May
the Lord preserve them, in Switzerland. Among the descendants
of Deacon Edmund Rice I have found almost every famous
New England name. The families of many of our Methodist
and Episcopal Bishops, of poets, authors, statesmen, clergymen,
inventors, financiers, actors, musicians and politicians are de-
scended from Deacon Edmund or some of his family.
Directly descended from Deacon Edmund Rice, amongst
many others, are found the well known families of: Adams,
Allen, Abbott, Alvord, Arnold, Alden, Ainsworth, Brigham,
Brewer, Ball, Burke, Brintwell, Barber, Bouker, Barton, Baker,
Bannister, Belcher, Bigelow, Bachellor, Boyd, Bacon, Bartlett,
Bancroft, Brooks, Baxter, Buckminster, Barnum, Briggs,
Bowman, Barrows, Bugbee, Butterfield, Bascom, Babcock,
Bradford, Bryant, Bagley, Baldwin, Boynton, Barnard, Bullard,
Cutler, Carpenter, Coolidge, Curtis, Clifford, Chapin, Clarke,
Cotton, Cook, Childs, Coffin, Cheney, Chandler, Crawford,
Chase, Gushing, Cooper, Crosby, Dudley, Dole, Dwight,
Dennison, Dana, DeGraff, Dickerson, Day, Dodge, Denio,
Draper, Eames, Eaton, Erskine, Emerson, Edwards, Endicott,
Fairbank, Fletcher, Fiske, Fay, Force, Froeman, Foster, Francis,
Fuller, Fales, Farnsworth, Farrar, Field, Gary, Goodenow,
Goddard, Gates, Goodale, Greenwood, Goldthwaite, Garfield,
Gilman, Gray, Gerry, Grosvenor, Gordan, Hubbard, Howard,
Holbrook, Haven, Howe, Hamilton, Hoffman, Hart, Hale,
Hoyt, Huntington, Holland, Hosmer, Hall, Hodges, Jackson,
Jennings, Johnson, Kendall, Knight, Knapp, Kellogg, King,
Kinsman, Kemp, Kingsbury, Lowell, Leland, Lamb, Livermore,
Looker, Laurence, Luther, Lucas, Longfellow, Lee, LeCaine,
Lewis, Morse, Moore, Maynard, Munroe, Miles, May,
Manning, Manchester, Mann, Merrick, Marsh, Mead, Morrill,
Morton, McClure, Mason, Newton, Newhall, Niles, Oakes,
Osgood, Orcutt, Olmstead, Parmenter, Pratt, Parker, Paine,
Peck, Putnam, Pierce, Philipps, Prentice, Perry, 'Proctor,
Prince, Peabody, Phelps, Pulsifer, Perkins, Phipps, Potter,
Randall, Raymond, Reed, Ranny, Ross, Russell, Stone, Swift,
Spofford, Snow, Sturtevant, Sherman, Symms, Shaw, Simpson,
Sprague, Spencer, Stiles, Stillman, Toombs, Taylor, Trowbridge,
Train, Tarbell, Tillotson, Trask, Torrey, Upham, Valentine,
Welles, Wells, Ward, Wheelock, White, Wheeler, Willard,
Whitney, Walker, Wilder, Warren, Whipple, Woolson, Willis,
Whitcomb, Warner, Wright, Weed, Webber, Williams,
Wadsworth, Washburn, Winchester, Waite, Woodward,
Young.
All these can be definitely traced and for any one who can
produce a grandfather "By the name of Rice," I will gladly
supply the data that will complete the ascent to the Deacon,
if he be of the Deacon's blood.
CHAS. ELMER RICE.
Alliance, Ohio.
Nov. 1910.
FOREWORD
This book is being re-published by the Edmund Rice
(1638) Association, Inc. by permission of the heirs of
the late Charles Elmer Rice. We wish to extend to
them our grateful thanks for the privilege.
Many of our members have expressed a desire to
own a copy of this little volume and we know they will
find it both informative and highly entertaining.
Because of our regard for historical accuracy it is
only fair to state that since the publication of this book
research has brought to light certain facts that render
inaccurate some of the statements made herein. There
is a very grave doubt that our family can claim rela-
tionship to Royalty, since painstaking work has never
uncovered the record of the birth of Edmund Rice nor
any facts that would indicate his parentage. There
are also corrections in the list of Edmund's children,
since no records have been found to establish the births
to the Deacon of Edmund, the ninth, and Ann, the
eleventh as listed. It is believed on good authority
today that there never was a child named Edmund, and
that the Ann who married Nathaniel Gary belonged
to another family. These and any other errata were
accepted as facts at the time of Mr. Rice's writing and
do not materially detract from the value of the narra-
tive.
"By the Name of Rice" is a charming story delight-
fully written and will bring pleasure and information
to many of the descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice.
THE FOUNDERS OF THE
RICE FAMILY
N illuminated pedigree of the family
of Rice in the possession of Lord
Dynevor, drawn and attested in the
year 1600 by Ralph Brooke, York
Herald, and continued by different
hands to the present time, makes Sir
Rhys Ap-Thomas Fitz-Urian, K. G., to be eighteenth
in paternal descent from Vryan Reged, Lord of Kid-
welly, Carunllon and Yskenen, in South Wales and
Margaret La-Faye, his wife, daughter of Gorlois Duke
of Cornwall. Sir Rhys Ap-Thomas, 19th. in descent
from Gorlois, was the founder of the English house
of Rice. 11 Of this distinguished person, Fuller, in his
"Worthies," writes: Sir Rhys Ap-Thomas of Elmalin
in Carmathanshire, was never more than a knight, yet
little less than a Prince in his native country.
1F To King Henry VII., on his landing with a small
force at Milford Haven, Sir Rhys repaired with a
considerable accession of choice soldiers, marching
with them to Bosworth field, where he right valiantly
behaved himself. That thrifty King, afterwards made
him a Knight of the order and well might he have
given him a garter, by whose effectual help he had re-
ceived a crown."
At the Battle of Bosworth, however, Henry made
him a Knight Banneret, and in the 21st. year of that
King's reign he was elected a Knight companion of the
most noble order of the Garter. In the next reign he
was Captain of the Light Horse at the battle of
Therouenne, and at the siege of Tourney, in 1513.
1f Sir Rhys was the son of Thomas Ap-Griffith and his
first wife, the daughter and heir of Sir John Griffith,
of Abermarlais. (The second wife, and mother of the
brothers of Sir Rhys, was Elizabeth, daughter of Philip
Duke of Burgundy.) 1f Sir Griffith Rice, son and heir
of Sir Rhys Ap-Thomas, was made a Knight of the
Bath at the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, in
1501. To William Rice, of Bohmer, in Buckingham-
shire, a grandson of Sir Griffith, a coat of arms was
granted in the 2nd. year of Philip and Mary, May
1555. This Wm. Rice was in the 22nd. generation
from Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall and 21st. in the male
line from Vryan Reged, Lord of Kidwelly. The 9th.
in descent from Sir Griffith Rice is the present Lord
Dynevor.
(Arthur de Cardonnel Rice, of Dynevor Co., Car-
mathan, M.A. Oxford, D. L., born Jan. 24, 1836,
succeeded his father the 6th. Baron, in 1878.)
He is descended from George Rice and Cecil De Car-
donnel, through George Talbot 3d. Baron Dynevor.
IT This George Rice, of Newton, M. P., was the son of
Edward Rice, M. P. for Carmathan, and the grandson
of Griffith Rice, M. P., in the last Parliament of King
William and the first four of Queen Anne. The
Barony was not created until Oct. 17, 1780- (George
III.) Thus the branch of the Rice family bearing the
Dynevor Arms and succeeding to the Peerage, is, in
point of age, far behind the younger branch, entitled to
the Arms granted by Philip and Mary in 1555, and used
in Mass, by the descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice.
10
There is a good and sufficient reason for this but it is
too lengthy to explain fully in these pages. In brief,
the effete elder branch ran out of male heirs in the year
1756 and it took a patent from the crown to keep
up the title, by allowing the earldom to revert
to the heirs, male, through Lady Cecil
De Cardonnel Rice. Such a crisis in
the Rice family will be quite
unthinkable to one who
reads further in this
little book.
11
1T Deacon Edmund Rice was modestly descended from
Sir Griffith Rice, Knight of the Bath, (1501) being
his great great grandson, and was therefore 24th. in
descent from the Duke of Cornwall, and 23d. in the
male line from Vryan Reged. The writer (and all
the Rice's of his generation in the U. S.) is in the 9th.
generation from Deacon Edmund Rice and thus the
pedigree can be certainly and accurately traced (see
Burke's Peerage; Lodge's Peerage, etc.,) for 33
generations, while there are now some representatives
of two succeeding generations. Antiquity is not my
private property, and it has been a long and difficult
chase, this search for the origin of the family. 1f It
took much research in the British Museum and years
of study at home and abroad. It is perhaps fortunate
that I can not hark back to the time when we would
find our ancestors barking a good-morning from a hole
in the ground or grinning a cimmian greeting from the
top of a cocoanut tree. Let us be content with the
eleven hundred years covered by the 33 generations
from the great Lord of Kidwelly.
If Deacon Edmund Rice was born in Buckinghamshire,
England in the year 1594; probably in the little town
of Sudbury, which is only 8 miles north of London, for
he gave the name of Sudbury to his home town in
Massachusetts in 1638. When the future Deacon was
born the wreckage of the Spanish Armada still strewed
the shores of England and Elizabeth had yet a decade
to reign. Shakespeare was 30 years old and Sir Walter
Raleigh was yet in possession of his head. Sir Francis
12
Drake was alive and Peter Paul Rubens was just be-
ginning to dabble in paint. Francis Bacon and John
Smith (later of Pocohontas fame) were young men.
Oliver Cromwell; Wm. Penn; John Bunyan and John
Milton were yet unborn. He lived in the time of
Rembrandt and as an ancestor was as great a success
as was Jonathan Edwards, who came an hundred years
later. There exists no portrait or verisimilitude of the
Deacon.
H Little Willie was drawing a picture. "Willie", said his
mother, "What are you doing?" "Making a picture of God,"
replied Willie. "Tut-tut," said Willie's mother, "No one
knows what God looks like." "Well, they will know when
I get this done," replied Willie, and, like Willie, I have some
confidence that when I have written this little sketch of Deacon
Edmund Rice, for the delectation of his posterity, we will know
what our great ancestor was like.
In 1627, the Deacon and his wife Tamazine were
living in the village of Berkhamstead, 28 miles north
of London, in Hertfordshire. Their first three children
were doubtless born in Sudbury, Bucks., and the Parish
Register at Berkhamstead contains the record of 5
others who were baptized in that Parish. The Deacon
and his wife, with seven of these children, (one had
died and one was born during the voyage,) landed in
Massachusetts in 1638. They came in the early Post-
Mayflower period and the Deacon has always been
known as Edmund Rice the Pilgrim.
Why did they leave Hertfordshire and come to New
England ? We do not know. Most of our information
is unauthenticated conjecture. Any one who has an
expurgated edition of Mrs. Hemans' poems will find
that female poet asking many questions in regard to
the motives and designs of the Pilgrims. "What sought
they thus afar? Jewels ? the wealth of seas ?" Scarcely.
Did they intend following the black flag and becoming
corsairs and pirates, emulating future Captain Kidds?
The spoils of war?" Did they contemplate despoiling
the Aborigines? If so it worked the wrong way. The
Deacon and his family were pretty thoroughly de-
spoiled before they got through with the business. By
elimination we are almost forced to the conclusion
recited in the poem-that they "sought a faith's pure
shrine." It is rather difficult for us to get an angle on
the Deacon's intentions.
There were amongst the founders of New England,
many eminent ministers such as Hooker, Cotton and
Williams, Eliot and the Mathers, and the Deacon
himself had several Bishops who followed in his train,
besides some other queer old pieces of theological
confusion. If they came purely from religious motives
they probably suffered many disillusions. Yet we are
astonished at the way these people clung to their belief
and we do not realize the pleasure they derived from
it. Mortification has its raptures and religion can
supply one with almost carnal sensations, while perse-
cution even had its debaucheries. The Aborigines
with patient and persistent deviltry supplied an abund-
ance of the last named "thrills" and our ancestors,
with remarkable tenuity, lived 80, 90, and 100 yrs.,
content with these conditions. It was surely not a
"short life and a merry one."
IF There were other reasons however that Mrs.
Hemans has overlooked. During the reign of Charles
I and the Cromwellian period many family antipithies
developed. Families were divided and the younger
and older branches, in families of the nobility, had a
very beautiful natural and mutual disdain for each
other.
14
Many of the younger sons, who did not inherit titles
and estates hastened to put the seas between themselves
and old England. It is possible, yea probable, that
some such touching regard for the older branch of his
father's family may have actuated the future Deacon
in his hegira to the Colonies. He came before money
began to talk or monkey dinners were given at New-
port.
Happy lives are said to make dull biographies and
the Deacon led an uneventful but strenuous and hard
working life. He must have spent a considerable
portion of his time dodging the Indians, but here again
he was a success. Neither his own nor any of the dozen
little Rice scalps ever adorned any tepee but his own.
Through the various burnings of Deerfield and other
towns the Deacon's "noble impes," as Chaucer would
call them, were preserved, intact. He was the father
of twelve children; which probably steadied his con-
ception of sub-lunary affairs, and he appears to have
been upon very good terms with God, as represented
by the church in Sudbury. He was an honest man and
never got four hams out of a hog. If he could come
back to us now he wouldn't know the difference between
an incubator and an egg-plant, but it is highly probable
that he knew all about several other things of which his
descendants are woefully ignorant. In his day the song
which intimates that every member of the household,
with the exception of the head of the family, performed
manual labor, would have been tabu, on the ground of
untruthfulness and being a libel on the Deacon and also
15
on his wife and daughter Ann. No, the Deacon surely
worked, six days in the week, at least, and the inven-
tory of his estate shows that he acquired a very respect-
able fortune for one so circumscribed and surrounded.
If It was not advantages but disadvantages that made
the Deacon great. He never used a safety razor nor
had his appendix removed. He was educated by actu-
alities and he never got goose flesh. Some of his de-
scendants have lived to an age to have regained such
infantile graces as a total want of memory, understand-
ing and interest in life, but the Deacon never withered
at the top.
Mrs. Eddy's boasted descent from King David is not
a thing to be more proud of than the fact that she is
a granddaughter, in the seventh generation, of Deacon
Edmund Rice.
The village of Tremont, now sometimes called Boston,
in Massachusetts, was but 8 yrs. old when Edmund
Rice, Tamazine and their 8 children reached Plymouth.
In 1633 the Rev. Jno. Cotton came to Tremont and
renamed the village in honor of his birthplace, Boston
in Lincolnshire, England.
In 1633 there were only 307 persons living in Boston.
We do not know how many were living there in 1638
but we do know that the Deacon and his wife with
the bizarre name, added a full half score to the number
and then and thereafter did their full share towards
populating the Colony and the future Commonwealth.
In 1858 a chronology was published which listed 1400
families and over 7000 individuals having one common
Ancestor in the person of Deacon Edmund Rice. What
his descendants would number at the present date it
would be difficult to estimate.
The first we hear of Edmund after his arrival in Mass.
16
he is living at Sudbury, known as "the plantation near
unto Concord" and incorporated in 1639 by the name
of Sudbury.
He lived on the east side of the Sudbury river in the
southerly part of what is now Wayland. He was
Selectman in 1644 and for years thereafter, and was
made a Deacon in the Church in 1648.
In 1656 he was one of thirteen petitioners who be-
sought the general court for a new plantation.
This being granted, and the plantation being recorded
under the name of Marlboro, the Deacon and his
family moved into that village in the year 1660. Here
he had 50 acres of land granted to him and here he
lived and died.
His wife Tamazine had died, in Sudbury, June 13,
1654; and on March 1, 1655, he married "Mercie,"
widow of Thomas Brigham, of Cambridge.
Mercie and her first husband had come to Mass, in
1635, and she was left a widow in 1654.
The Deacon was intrusted with various important
duties by the General Court, which he discharged with
a fidelity that occasioned repeated calls for his serv-
ices. The records of Sudbury and Marlboro contain
ample evidence of his vigilant and fatherly care in pro-
moting the welfare of those infant settlements. He
died at Marlboro, May 3, 1663, and was buried at
Sudbury.
17
CHILDREN OF EDMUND RICE (1)
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
Henry, born 1617. m. Eliza Moore
Edward, " 1619. m. Anna
Thomas, " 1622 (?).m. Mary-
Lydia, b. Mch. 1627. m. Hugh Drury j
Mathew, b. 1629. m. Martha Lamson
Daniel, bap. Nov. 1 , 1 632, d. Nov. 1 0, 1 632
Samuel, b. 1634. m. Elizabeth King
Joseph, born 1637. m. Mercy King
Born in
Bucking-
hamshire
England.
1 Born in Ber-
| khamstead,
\. Hertford-
shire,
England.
10, 9, Edmund, 1638, Born at sea.
11,10, Benjamin,b.May31,1640,m.MaryBrown B. Sudbury
12, 11, Ruth, b. Sept. 29, 1659. m. Samuel Welles
13, 12, Ann, b. Nov. 19, 1661, m. Nathaniel Gerry, Marlboro
18
WAY back, in the early days of the
Rice family in Mass., one Alpheus
Rice, petitioned the Court to change
his name to that of Alpheus Royce;
giving as a sufficient reason that he
"greatly feared at the present rate of
increase the Rice family would entirely over run New
England and all identities would be lost."
Moreover the name of Royce was more elegant and
aristocratic.
This was a bung-starter and the good Judge sat up
and began to count noses. What did he find? He
began at Deacon Edmund, and his fingers were all
used up and he was well on the second round before
he had counted the Deacon's sons and daughters. Then
he began on the Deacon's grandchildren. The Deacon's
English born sons had started out to break all laws of
entail and primogeniture. Henry, confessed to ten
children; Edward to eleven; Thomas to fourteen;
"Bus," "stop !" cried the Judge, "The motion prevails,"
and Edw. Royce he was. It was no good; nix kum
heraus, he proceeded immediately to beget 12 little
Royces.
This proved that God meant him to be a Rice.
Verily "a live dog is better than a dead lion." But all
the same some good may have come from this first
census. A Senate or House Investigating Committee
must have reported or given their ideas on supply and
demand.
Henry, Edward and Thomas having bulled the market,
19
the bears had it for awhile; Lydia, the next member of
the family, limited her family to one child. Benjamin
raised his Ebenezer, his only child, while Edmund was
so mortally scared that he never married at all. Mathew
came in with a 9 spot, and Joseph and Samuel responded
with a royal flush-having 10 each.
After this, the perpetuity of the race and the safety of
the Colony being assured, all competition ceased.
The Indians had burned Deerfield and various other
out posts but they could not decimate the ranks of the
Colonists so as to make any visible showing. It was
an unequal contest and they gave it up.
The Rices had it.
20
A FEW FACTS IN REGARD TO THE FAMILY
OF THE DEACON'S FIRST-BORN
No. II. Henry Rice, the first member of the Deacon's
remarkable family, was born in Buckinghamshire,
England, in Jan. 1617 ; came with his parents to Mass.
in 1638 and married Elizabeth Moore of Sudbury.
Resided in Sudbury and Framington, where he died
Feb. 10, 1710-11, at the age of 93 years. His wife
died Aug. 3, 1705. Children:
13. 1. Mary, Sept. 19, 1646, m. Thomas Brigham.
14. 2. Elizabeth, Aug. 4, 1648, m. John Brewer.
15. 3. Hannah m. Eleazer Ward.
16. 4. Jonathan, July 3, 1654, m. Martha Eames.
17. 5. Abigail, June 17, 1657, m. Thomas Smith.
18. 6. David, Dec. 27, 1659, m. Hannah Walker.
19. 7. Tamasin, Feb. 2, 1661, m. Benj. Parmenter.
20. 8. Rachel, May 10, 1664, m. Thos. Drury.
21. 9. Lydia, June 4, 1668, m. Sam. C. Wheelock.
22. 10. Mercy, Jan. 1, 1670, m. Elnathan Allen.
The will of Henry Rice, proved Feb. 29, 1710-11
makes his sons, Jonathan and David executors and the
inventory is 527 pounds 11.0. A sum equal in this
day, to five times that amount, which goes to show that;
with a family of 77 grand-children and 88 great grand-
children, it still paid to be a Pilgrim Father.
The lines of all these married sons and daughters can
be accurately traced and certified to, but it is beyond
the scope of this little work to trace any of the families
in their intricate and remote ramifications. Through
21
the one son Jonathan (16.4), Henry had 53 great
grand-children.
Jonathan was the Ancestor of the Cutlers ;-Manasseh,
Ephraim, Wm. P. Cutler, Julia and Sarah. All dis-
tinguished in various lines.
Manasseh was the originator of the Ohio Company
and sent out the first colony of settlers to Marietta,
O. in 1788. Ephraim, his son, was one of the little
band, and was a Member of the Constitutional Con-
vention of Ohio, in 1802. Ephraim's children, Wm.
P., Julia and Sarah, were eminent authorities on pioneer
history and published the "Cutler" books.
Through David Rice, (18.6), Henry was the Ancestor
of the Haven's, altho there were many intermarriages
of Haven's and Rice's. The two Bishops Haven,
Gilbert and Erastus O.* were descended directly from
Hannah (Bent) Belknap, whose first husband was
Richard Rice, and whose mother was Hannah Rice, the
grand-daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Moore)
Rice.
Gilbert Haven, one of the Bishops of the M. E. Church
was born in Maiden, Mass., Sept. 19, 1821. Chaplain
'of the 8th. Mass. Regt. under the command of Gen'l
Butler, Editor of Zion's Herald 1867. Elected Bishop
by the General Conference of 1872, author of several
volumes of travels and sketches. Bishop Haven died
Jan. 3, 1880.
Mary Rice (13.1) had 8 children by her husband
Thomas Brigham. This Thos. Brigham was the son
•Erastus Otis Haven, D.D., LL.D., was born Nov. 1, 1820. In
1863 was elected to the presidency of Michigan University, Ann
Arbor, Mich., where he remained until 1869, when he became Presi-
dent of the Northwestern University, Evanston, 111. In 1872 he was
made Sec. of the Board of Education of the M. E. Church. In 1874
became Chancellor of Syracuse University. Elected a Bishop of the
M. E. Church 1880. Di<"* * - 1881.
22
of Thos. Brigham who "embarked in the 'Susan and
Ellen' April 1635, then aged 32," and with his wife
Mercie and two children came to Cambridge, where he
died Dec. 8, 1653.
His widow Mercie became the 2d. wife of Deacon
Edmund Rice, and the mother of No. 11 and No. 12
of the Deacon's children. Thus Mary (Rice) Brigham's
children, were the great grand-children of Deacon
Edmund Rice; but grand-children of his predecessor —
Tho. Brigham — his wife's first husband. Two of
Mary's children married Howes (then spelled How)
and one married a Ward.
These are the first intermarriages with the Wards and
Howes but I could enumerate at least 20 more in each
family. The Deacon became the progenitor of all the
Mass. Wards and Howes, amongst whom should be
named Elias Howe, Samuel Gridley Howe and his
distinguished wife, Julia Ward Howe,t now in her 91st.
year, Timothy O. Howe, P. M. Gen'l of the U. S.,
John Q. A. Ward, one of our most famous sculptors,
etc., etc.
Hannah Rice (15.3) married another Ward, Eleazer,
son of Deacon Wm. and Elizabeth Ward of Sudbury
and Marlboro. He was slain by the Indians, on the
road between Marlboro and Sudbury, in April 1676,
aged 27 years. His widow married Richard Taylor,
Oct. 17, 1777. By the first marriage there was one
child and by the second there were four.
Tamasin Rice (19.7) married Benj. Parmenter and left
t Julia Ward Howe, 7th. in descent from John Ward, a soldier in
Cromwell's army, is also descended from Deacon Edmund Rice
through the Cutler family. Her mother was Julia Rush Cutler. Mrs.
Howe's sister, Louisa Cutler Ward, married Thomas Crawford, the
eminent Sculptor. Francis Marion Crawford (1854-1909) was their
son and 8th. in descent from John Ward and Deacon Edmund Rice.
23
a large posterity, of whom are the Adams family, the
Brewers, the Burkes, and the Springs, along with a
liberal sprinkling of the Parmenters.
She survived her husband, who died in 1737. He had
been impressed into the service against the Indians in
1676 and was one of the foremost warriors in this
family.
Rachel Rice (20.8) married Thomas Drury, who was
the first Town Clerk of Framingham; its first repre-
sentative in the Gen'l Court 1701 ; Captain, Selectman,
etc., etc. He died in 1723. Rachel and Thomas Drury
had 9 children. Their 3 sons Caleb, Micah and Uriah,
married three sisters; Elizabeth, Abigail and Martha
Fames. Thomas married another Ward; Rachel mar-
ried a Fairbanks; Elizabeth a Morse and John a
Goddard.
Lydia Rice (21.9) married Samuel Wheelock in 1692.
She was the mother of 10 children, 9 of whom married
and had large families. Her daughter Martha married
Ephraim Pratt, July 9, 1724.
This Ephraim Pratt, of Shutesbury is the one men-
tioned in Dwight's Travels, Vol. 2, page 358, viz;
Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, Pres. of Yale College —
who visited Mr. Pratt on Nov. 13, 1803, and remarks
of him that "he was born at East Sudbury, Mass., in
1687, and in one month from the day of our visit to
him will complete his one hundred and sixteenth year."
"His memory was still vigorous, his understanding
sound, and his mind sprightly in its conceptions."
"We were informed by him and by his host that he
had mown grass for one hundred and one years suc-
cessively. Four of his sons are now living, the eldest
of whom is 90 and the youngest 82 years of age."
See President Dwight's Travels.
24
Mercv Rice (22.10) married Elnathan Allen. They
had Eight Children, the oldest of whom, Obadiah,
married Susannah Pratt, May 17, 1720 (daughter of
John and Ruth Pratt; brother of Ephraim of Shutes-
bury.
Thankful Rice married a Whitney and Israel married
Elizabeth Wheelock. After these various "crossings"
in the Rice, Pratt and Wheelock families the patriarchs
Ephraim Pratt of Shutesbury, and Henry Rice of
Framingham, whose combined age was 209 years, could
safely gather up their loins, what was left of them, and
depart in peace. The country was saved again.
But it was Abigail Rice (17.5) who was to be her
father's proudest asset. Abigail married a Smith to be
sure, but she was the great grand-mother of Abigail
Smith * who was the wife of John Adams and mother
of John Quincy Adams; the only woman in the history
of our country who has been both the wife and mother
of a President of the United States.
* Abigail (Smith) Adams, born in Weymouth, Mass. 23d. Nov.
1744, died in Quincy, Mass. 28th. Oct. 1818. Her father was for
more than forty years minister of the Congregational Church in
Weymouth. Abigail was among the most remarkable women of the
American Revolutionary period. Oct. 25, 1764 she was married to
John Adams, who became President of the U. S., was a member of
the Continental Congress, and a signer of the Declaration of In-
dependence. She was the mother of three sons and one daughter.
Her Son John Quincy Adams was 6th. President of the United States
and 6th. in descent from Deacon Edmund Rice.
25
SOME ENLIGHTENMENT AS TO THE POS-
TERITY OF THE DEACON'S SECOND-BORN
Edward Rice (3.2) was twice married. His first wife
was Agnes Bent. All his children were by his 2nd.
wife Anna. All but the last two children were born at
Sudbury. Edw. and Anna removed to Marlboro. He
was Deacon of the Church there and died Aug. 15,
1712. He was born in 1619 and therefore 93 years old.
Edward Rice owned the farm that had belonged to
Deacon Edmund, the Pilgrim, and deeded it and other
lands to his son Edmund, April 1, 1686.
Deed recorded Aug. 16, 1734. A good deed long
delayed. Children of Edward and Anna Rice.
23. 1. John, b. about 1647, m. Tabitha Stone
24. 2. Lydia, b. July 30, 1648, died same day
25. 3. Lydia, b. Dec. 10, 1649.
26. 4. Edmund, Dec. 9. 1653, m. Joyce Russell
27. 5. Daniel, Nov. 8, 1655, m. Bethia Ward
28. 6. Caleb, b. Feb. 8, 1657, died Apr. 27, 1658
29. 7. Jacob, b 1660, m. Mary
30. 8. Anna, b. Nov. 19, 1661, m. Thomas Rice (35.2)
31. 9. Dorcas, b. Jan. 29, 1664, m. Thos. Forbush
32. 10. Benjamin, b. Dec. 22, 1666, m. Mary Graves
33. 11. Abigail, b. May 9, 1671, m. Sam'l Forbush brother of
Thos. Forbush
1F While Deacon Edward did not have so large a pos-
terity as some others of his father's family, he yet had
an embarrassment of riches in 47 grand-children
(through 6 children) and 162 great grand-children
(through but 5).
26
The female lines are not here traced beyond the 2d.
generation. The little Caleb (28.6) and the two little
Lydias (24.2 and 25.3) early departed this life and
fortunately, for they would have inevitably married
Pinkhams; and while Deacon Edmund Rice could claim
for his own many of the best and most famous New
Englanders, there was never a Lydia Pinkham in the
family, for the Deacon was a modest man and never
played to the grand-stand. The 4th. child John Rice
(23.1 ) by his wife Tabitha had 11 children, 8 of whom
married and left large families. John resided at Sud-
bury, on a part of the homestead of his grandfather,
Deacon Edmund Rice and near his brother Deacon
Edmund Rice. This second Deacon Edmund married
Joyce Russell, of Cambridge, Oct. 12, 1680. In 1707
he represented Sudbury in the General Court. He died
Sept. 25, 1719, in his 66th. year. He left 5 children.
Daniel Rice (27.5) married the 5th. Ward and carried
it by a large majority. They had 8 children, naming
the first one, born Oct. 29, 1682, Bethia and the 8th.
one, born exactly 20 yrs. later, Hopes till, (born Oct.
27, 1 702 ) . This was characteristic of the family.
It is a family tradition that one of its members, when
questioned by a village enumerator, confessed to 56
years and a husband, and to the next question, "Have
you any children ?" she cheerfully responded "Not yet !"
H Anna Rice (30.8) married her cousin, Thomas Rice
and not being superstitious they had 13 children every
one of whom lived to maturity.
The 9th. one, Adonijah (born Aug. 11, 1696), was
captured by the Indians, Aug. 8, 1704, carried to
Canada and never returned. The set was scarcely
broken however for they still had the full dozen, with
such choice names as Ashur, Jason, Jedediah, Perez,
27
Vashtai, Noah, and Beriah. Dorcas Rice (31.9) mar-
ried Thomas Forbush and left 5 children. Benjamin
Rice (32.10) married Mary Graves and had 9 children,
amongst whom we find Azariah, Zerubabel and
Damaris.
It was a rabbit proposition. They were in the 3d.
generation and had run out of names.
11 In this line of Edward Rice, traced through the
daughters and granddaughters, we find many persons of
note in New England and elsewhere.
The Virginia and Ohio Rices are descended from
Edmund (26.4) son of Edward; and from Isaac (54.8)
son of Mathew.
The Willard family, of whom the late Francis E.
Willard, and Joseph Willard, Pres. of Harvard Col-
lege were the most distinguished members, are in this
line of descent from Deacon Edmund Rice.
Harriett Hosmer, the sculptor, is descended from both
Edward and Mathew Rice. She was born in Mass.
6th. Oct. 1830. She took a course in Anatomical in-
struction at St. Louis and alone traveled in the western
wilderness and visited the Dakotah Indians. Going to
Rome with Charlotte Cushman, in 1852, she entered
the studio of Gibson, the English Sculptor, and before
many years was acknowledged the foremost woman
sculptor of the age. Her colossal figure of "Zenobia"
was completed in 1859, followed by a statue of Thos.
H. Benton, cast in bronze, now in Lafayette Park, St.
Louis.
Besides her skill in sculpture, Harriett Hosmer had
decided talent for designing and constructing machinery,
and devising new processes, such as converting the
ordinary limestone of Italy into marble, and a peculiar
process of modelling in clay and wax. Miss Hosmer
28
resided in Rome until a short time before her death and
died Feb. 21, 1908, at the age of 78 years.
Our pride is flattered to its innermost fibre when we
learn that the most succesful writer the world has ever
known, Mary Baker G. Eddy, founder of Christian
Science, is descended from Deacon Edmund Rice in this
line of Edward Rice his second-born.
An effort has been made by some recent investigator to
establish Mrs. Eddy's descent from David, King of
Israel. Of King David as a direct Ancestor and
Solomon his son as a mere side issue, Mrs. Eddy could
well be proud, or, if descended through Solomon, she
can at least be sure that there was adequate ground
for a large relationship.
Deacon Edmund Rice, however, was an eminent success
as an ancestor and not to be despised. True he did not
have as many wives as did Solomon. His collection
was small but choice, and when we come to tracing his
posterity we can be perfectly cock-sure that Mrs. Mary
Baker Glover Eddy will come nearer to immortality
through her inheritance from the Deacon, than through
any application of Christian Science. By this I mean
that she will probably live an hundred years — * she is
now in her 90th. ; and has the magnificent record of
Longevity of the Rice and allied families, to stimulate
her.
Elbert Hubbard saw Mrs. Eddy when she was 87 years
old and describes her thus. "She is so great that she
keeps her own counsel, receives no visitors, makes no
calls, writes no letters, and never goes inside a Church
more than once a year.
Her face shows experience but not extreme age. Her
eyes are not dimmed nor her face wrinkled. The day
* Mrs. Eddy died Dec. 4th. 1910.
29
I last saw her she was dressed all in white satin ; her hat
was a milliner's dream. Her gloves came to the elbow
and were properly wrinkled. Her step is light, her
form erect — a slender, handsome, queenly woman. Her
form is the form of Bernhardt."
What matters it that no man ever has been able to
understand her book, "Science and Health," or that
no man ever will understand it? Her sayings are as
dark as those of Dickens' Captain Bunsby. "What I
says, I stands to." "Whereby, why not ?" "If so, what
odds? Can any man say otherwise? No ! Awast then."
No matter, she is the first and only woman who has
made four millions of dollars after she was 80
years old. She is the greatest general and
most efficient organizer the world has
to-day. Let her chase her literary
tail. She would be an orna-
ment in the family of any
old Puritan Deacon.
30
BEING THE POSTERITY OF THOMAS RICE
CALCULATED AND TABULATED BY MEANS
OF GEOMETRICAL RATIO AND THE
AID OF LOGARITHMS
Thomas Rice (4.3) was the third of the Deacon's
Buckinghamshire sons, born 1620-1626, which allows
us considerable latitude in guessing at his age. At any
rate he was but a youth when he came to Sudbury, where
he married Mary King; afterwards they removed to
Marlboro — but not until the birth of 6 children had
been recorded at Sudbury. At Marlboro the Parish
Clerk got a new book and entered up 8 more.
If If the reader does not see what this meant to Marl-
boro he is utterly devoid of imagination.
Fourteen children ! It was the making of Marlboro, as
we shall see later.
Two of these children died young. Twelve married,
and Thomas Rice became the grandfather of 75; the
great-grandfather of 253 plus, for some lines have been
lost, thank God.
31
THE OUTPUT OF THOMAS AND MARY
(FIRST PRIZE.)
34. 1, Grace, died at Sudbury, Jan. 3, 1653-4.
35. 2, Thomas, June 30, 1654, m. Mary
36. 3, Mary, Sept. 4, 1656, m. Josiah White.
37. 4, Peter, Oct. 24, 1658, m. Rebecca Howe.
38. 5, Nathaniel, Jan. 3, 1660, m. Sarah
39. 6, Sarah, Jan. 15, 1682, m Adams.
40. 7, Ephraim, Apr. 15, 1665, m. Hannah Livermore.
41. 8, Gershom, May 9, 1667, m. Elizabeth Haynes.
42. 9, James, March 6, 1669, m. Sarah Stone.
43. 10, Frances, Feb. 3, 1670-1, m. Benj. Allen.
44. 11, Jonas, March 6, 1672-3, m. Mary Stone.
45. 12, Grace, Jan. 15, 1675, m. Nathaniel Moore.
46. 13, Elisha, Dec. 12, 1679, m. Elizabeth Wheeler.
47. 14, Remnant, name not given, died young.
The first child, Grace, died an infant. The second
child, Thomas, married his cousin Anna Rice (30.8)
Nov. 10, 1681. He represented Marlboro in the
General Court several years and is said, by the Boston
Gazette of Dec. 26, 1768, to have died at the age of
94 years.
1F Thomas Rice and Anna Rice were the parents of 13
children and their son Charles was the grandfather of
Persis Rice, (born Nov. 19, 1737), who married
General Rufus Putnam,* Jan. 10, 1765. She was a
* Gen. Rufus Putnam was born Apr. 8, 1738, at Sutton, Mass. He
entered the Army at 19 years of age and was appointed Military
Engineer, by the Continental Congress. In Jan. 1783 he was com-
missioned Brigadier General. He was Superintendent of the Ohio
32
sister of Enoch Rice, who married Olive Bruce and
became the ancestress of the large family of Rices now
colonized in and about Los Angeles, California.
Peter Rice m. Rebecca Howe, who died in 1749, aged
81, and Peter died Nov. 28, 1753, aged 95 plus. To
Peter and Rebecca were born eleven children, called
euphoniously, Elisha, Zipporah, Zephaniah, Cyprian,
Pelatiah, Elnathan, Peter, Abigail, Deborah, Rebecca,
and Abraham.
Ephraim Rice (40.7) m. 1st. Hannah Livermore, of
Watertown; and Mary Noyes of Sudbury 37 years
later. There were eleven children.
One of these John, was Ancestor of Dr. William Rice
of Springfield, and of his eminent sons Wm. North Rice
and Charles Francis Rice.t
Company and leader of the settlement at Marietta, O. in 1788. In
1789, Washington appointed him a Judge of the Supreme Court of
N. W. Territory. On May 5, 1792, he was appointed Brigadier
General in the Army of the U. S. In Oct. 1796, he was appointed
Surveyor General of the United States, which office he held until
1803. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Ohio in
1802. At the time of his death he was the last surviving General
officer of the Revolutionary Army, excepting Gen'l Lafayette. Gen.
Putnam was deeply interested in Sabbath Schools and Missions and
he formed, in 1812, the first Bible Society west of the Alleghenies.
Gen'l Putnam and Persis Rice were married Jan. 10, 1765. They,
with a family of eight children and two grand-children came to
Marietta, Ohio, in 1788.
Gen'l Putnam died in 1824, in his 87th. year; Persis Rice Putnam
in 1820, aged 83. Five children survived them and their descendants
are widely scattered through the west and are amongst its leading
and influential citizens. Gen'l Putnam had the Rice family arms
painted above his fire-place in the old mansion at Marietta. A copy
of the painting is given in this little book. It is pretty conclusive
evidence that Gen'l Putnam's children were descendants of William
Rice, of Buckinghamshire, England, [supposed to be the Deacon
Edmund's grandfather,] when he adopted and used this Coat of
Arms, granted to the aforesaid Rice in 1555, by Mary of Eng.
t Dr. Wm. Rice, born in Springfield, Mass. Mar. 10, 1821, was the
grandson of Nathan Rice, and 7th. in descent from Deacon Edmund.
He was graduated from Wilbraham in 1840, and received his M.A.
from Wesleyan University in 1853. He died Aug. 17, 1897.
33
Through this line of Ephraim also came the ancestors
of Clara E. Barton the famous President of the Ameri-
can Red Cross Society. (See the Military Record of
the Rice family for sketch of Miss Barton.)
Gershom Rice, (41.8) m. Elizabeth Haynes and here
we find a most remarkable instance of longevity.
Gershom himself died in 1768 aged 102 years.
A few years prior to this date he gave out the informa-
tion that of his Parents 14 children, excepting 2 that
died in infancy, all had lived to advanced ages and that
the sum of the ages of the 12 persons was at that time
exactly one thousand yrs. At least two of them were
still living at the time this remarkable statement was
made.
Gershom and his wife Elizabeth had but 6 children,
three sons and three daughters. Each of the three sons
had 9 children but the daughters accomplishments have
not been recorded.
One of these 27 grandsons had a Deacon's family of
10 children, eight of whom averaged 81 1-2 yrs. each
Dr. Rice was a member of the New England Conference for 16
years, when, his health failing, he became City Librarian at Spring-
field, an office which he held until his death. Dr. Rice was 15 years
President of the Board of Trustees of Wilbraham Wesleyan Academy,
the oldest Literary Institution in Methodism in the U. S.
He was 25 years a Trustee of Wesleyan University at Middletown,
several times a delegate to General Conference and the author of
two valuable works; "Moral and Religious Quotations," 1860 and
"The Pastor's Manual," 1863. He was Chairman of the Committee
on Revision of the Methodist Hymn Book in 1876. Dr. Rice was a
great Librarian. He raised the no. of volumes in the Springfield
Library from 6800 to 100,000 and raised $357,423 for buildings and
library purposes. The "Wm. Rice Building," in Springfield, cost
$100,000. Dr. Rice married, in 1843, Caroline Laura North, of
Lowell. They had four children ; of whom Wm. North Rice, is a
Prof, and has been acting President of Wesleyan University.
Dr. Charles Francis Rice is an eminent member of the New Eng-
land Conference and Caroline Laura is wife of Prof. Morris B.
Crawford of Wesleyan University. A grandson, Edward L. Rice, is
Prof, of Biology in Allegheny College.
34
in point of age ; with two living to bring up the average.
The longevity of this branch of the family has pre-
vailed in a remarkable degree in the 6th. and 7th.
generations.
James Rice (42.9) m. Sarah Stone and died in Worces-
ter 1730. They were the parents of 10 children 9 of
whom married and had large families.
Frances Rice (43.10) was born Feb. 3, 1670, and as
she was the 10th. child, Thomas, her father, was due,
about this time to become a Deacon.
For doing her parent this great honor Frances had
length of days added unto her, and died at 96 yrs. of
age, if the Boston Gazette could be relied upon to tell
the truth. Frances married Benjamin Allen of Weston
and they had six children.
Jonas Rice (44.1 1 ) married Mary Stone of Sudbury, a
sister of the wife of his brother James.
Judge Jonas Rice commenced the permanent settlement
of Worcester and is known as the "First Settler" or
"Father of Worcester."
When past 80 yrs. of age he was elected one of the
Justices of the Court of Common Pleas for the County
of Worcester, in which office he died.
This election was an unquestionable evidence that he
had retained his mental and bodily faculties to a re-
markable degree, exceeding then as he did by ten years
the age at which many Judges are required by law to
retire from the bench.
Judge Rice left 5 children * and his son Adonijah was
* Silence Rice's grand-daughter, Margaret Bigelow, married, [Sept.
10, 1765], Nathan Longfellow [born Dec. 30, 1743.] Nathan was
the son of Jonathan Longfellow of Machias, Maine, and brother of
Stephen Longfellow.
Nathan and Stephen were in the 4th. generation from Wm.
Longfellow, who came fror Yorkshire and settled in Newbury in
35
the first white child born in Worcester, Mass. (Nov. 7,
1714). Adonijah was in several campaigns against the
French and Indians. (See Military Record of Rice's.)
Grace Rice (45.12) m. Nathaniel Moore, Feb. 10,
1701-2. He was the "third settler" and Deacon of the
Church in Worcester from its foundation.
We have no record of the family, but can safely assert
that there were at least ten children.
No Deacon's admitted without that number. One son,
Nathaniel, born 1715, resided at Worcester where he
died July 19, 1811, aged 96; and his wife, Mehitable,
died Apr. 25, 1809, aged 89.
"He had resided in Worcester more than 95 years, and
lived with his wife 69 yrs. and was a man of exemplary
piety and benevolence. Thus ended the life of an
honest man." — Massachusetts Spy.
We do not know when Grace Rice Moore died, but the
Boston Gazette says that she was living, at the age of
94, on Dec. 19th. 1768. She is probably dead now.
Elisha Rice (46.13) the unlucky 13th. child of Thomas
and Mary Rice, was a proprietor of Worcester and
living there in 1719, where he had 30 acres of land
granted to him in 1718.
He died at 82, leaving only seven children, but here
we strike a rich vein.
There were two Elishas, one Elijah, Julia, Eliakim,
Silas, and Zebulon. Elijah Rice, about 1748, married
Hulda Keys, and died at Holden, Mass., in March,
1818, in his 97th. year. His daughter Zeriah married
1675. Stephen graduated at Harvard in 1798, was delegate to the
Hartford Convention 1814 and Member of Congress 1823-1825. He
compiled 16 vols. of Massachusetts, and 12 vols. of Maine Reports, and
was the father of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Margaret Bigelow was the mother of eleven children, one of
whom, Betsey, born Oct. 17, 1788, was the mother of the late Roswell
D. Hitchcock, President of Union Seminary, N. Y.
36
Thadeus Colburn, and moved to Vermont. Now
Zeriah Rice Colburn had a son whom she named in a
curious manner. She called him Abiah, beginning with
her A-b-abs and adding the last syllable of her own
name.
Abiah Colburn, when he had a son, began at the other
end of the Alphabet, added the last syllable of his own
name and called him Zeriah or Zerah. This Zerah
Colburn was one of the greatest natural mathematicians
the world has ever produced and a brief sketch should
here be given, that we may keep his memory green.
11" Zerah Colburn was born in Cabot, Vermont, Sept. 1,
1 804 and died Mar. 2, 1 840. When only six years old
he began to manifest extraordinary powers of compu-
tation. He mentally solved problems involving the use
of numbers containing four and five places of figures
with greater ease and rapidity than that to which ex-
perienced mathematicians could attain.
The Question "How many days and hours in 1811
years?" was answered correctly in 20 seconds. When
he was nine years old he was able to solve Questions
like the following : "What is 999,9992 x 492 x 25 ?" The
result occupied 17 places of figures. He immediately
gave the factors of 294, 967, 297, which French mathe-
maticians had supposed to be a prime number. His
performances show that his mental processes were in-
conceivablv rapid and his memory very powerful.
After exhibiting his son in the middle and southern
states, Abiah Colburn took him to England, Scotland,
and Ireland and finally placed him in the Lycee Na-
poleon in Paris where he remained 18 months. He
attracted the attention of the Earl of Bristol, who
placed him in Westminster school for three years.
After his father's death, in 1824, young Colburn re-
37
turned to the U. S., entered the University of Vermont
and taught French for a living.
He eventually became a Methodist preacher and in
1835 a professor of languages in Norwich University,
Vermont. In 1833 he published a book of memoirs.
At one time, while in England, Zeriah studied for the
stage. He soon abandoned this idea and engaged for
a time in performing Astronomical calculations for Dr.
Thomas Young, the Sec'y. of the Board of Longitude.
In London, where he was exhibited for two years, his
performances were almost incredibly difficult. Princes,
nobles, philosophers, teachers and the public were
equally astounded. He gave, in less than half a minute,
the no. of seconds that had elapsed since the Christian
era. He extracted the square root of numbers con-
sisting of six figures and the cube root of numbers con-
sisting of nine figures in less time than the result could
be put down on paper. He was asked one day the factors
of 171,395. There are seven pairs of factors by which
that number can be produced, and only seven; the boy
named them all as rapidly as they could be put down.
He was required to name the factors of 36,083. "There
are none," was his instantaneous reply; and he was
right.
Again the number 4,294,967,297 was proposed to him
to find the factors. Now certain French mathematicians
had asserted that this was a prime no. ; but the German
Euler, had discovered that its factors are 641 and
6,700,417. This wonderful boy, then aged 8 years, by
the mere operation of his mind, named the factors in
about twenty seconds. He could raise numbers consist-
ing of one figure to the sixteenth power in less than a
minute.
He was totally unable to explain the processes by which
he effected his calculations.
38
"God put it into my head," he said one day to, an in-
quisitive lady, "but I can not put it into yours." Zerah,
like other members of his father's family, had one more
finger and one more toe than the regular number.
Perhaps this aided him in his miraculous calculations.
We do not know.
It is a matter so subtle that it has never been explained.
His relative and kinswoman, Mary Baker G. Eddy
was also born in Vermont. Does any one know how
many toes she had?
And now we come to Zebulon Rice, youngest son of
Elisha, and on whom a double portion of Elisha's
mantle fell. Zeb. was in a class all by himself, a class
called "Sweepstakes." He lived in Sudbury, Lancaster,
Boyleston and Ashburnham.
His widow, Susanna, died in Ashburnham, Dec. 17,
1823, aged 92 yrs. and on her tombstone might have
been engraved, to parody an old English Epitaph,
Some has no children and some has 'steen,
Here lies the mother of seventeen.
Susanna was a valuable adjunct and with remarkable
regularity added the little Rice's to the flock.
Beginning in 1750, with little Josiah, very few bad
seasons or total failures are found in the Rice crop.
The years 1762 — '63, '64, '65, and '66, were eminently
successful; '67 appears to have been a bad year; but
again in '68, (the Constitution having been changed)
'70, '72 — '74 and until 1776 the family increased with
frightful regularity. On June 5, 1776, just one month
before the Declaration of Independence was signed,
Susanna added no. 17, and, anticipating that document,
she declared 'That in the course of human events it
became necessary for her to be "free and independent'
and retired to private life.
39
She lived 48 years after her Declaration of
Independence, surrounded by an army of
children, grand-children and great grand-
children. It is a curious list of names,
these seventeen, beginning with
Josiah and ending with the pet
name of Dolly. Dolly was
very distantly related to
Josiah, he being the
1st. of his mother's
children and she
the seven-
t e e n t h.
40
ON THE FAMILY OF SAMUEL, THE
DEACON'S SIXTH SON
Oh, Look Who's Here!
Samuel Rice, (8.7) was the Deacon's Sixth son and
7th. child. He was baptized at Berkhamstead, Eng-
land, Nov. 12, 1634 (Parish Register).
His immediate predecessor, little Daniel, was baptized
Nov. 1st. 1632, and buried Nov. 10, 1632.
Daniel was a nine days wonder and was promptly re-
placed a little less than eighteen months later by
Samuel, who, to make reparation for his little brother's
delinquincies, married three several times.
His second wife was Mary Brown, his third was Sarah
White, but ere he ran farther in the chromatic scale he
was rudely cut off by death at the early age of 51 and
thus effectually handicapped in his laudable efforts to
run the connubial spectrum.
His first wife was buried Oct. 30, 1667. His second
died at Concord June 18, 1675. They had probably
retired to Concord as a place of safety or a refuge from
the Indians.
His third wife survived him and doubtless married
again. Her first husband was James Hosmer, Jr. who
was killed by the Indians in the "Sudbury fight" in the
Spring of 1676.
41
CHILDREN OF SAMUEL RICE AND HIS
THREE WIVES
56. 1, Elizabeth, Oct. 26, 1656, m. Peter Haynes.
57. 2, Hannah, , 1658, m. Jonathan Hubbard.
58. 3, Joshua, Apr. 19, 1661, m. Mary
59. 4, Edmund, , 1663, m. Ruth Parker.
60. 5, Esther, Sept. 18, 1665, m Hubbard.
61. 6, Samuel, Oct. 14, 1667, m. Abigail Clapp.
62. 7, Mary, Aug. 6, 1669.
63. 8, Edward, June 20, 1672, m. Lydia Fairbank.
64. 9, Abigail, March 10, 1673-4, m. Palmer Goulding.
65. 10, Joseph, May 16, 1678, m. Mary Townsend.
The oldest child, Elizabeth, (56.1) left four children
the youngest of whom, Mary, married Hezekiah Rice,
and thus turned all the grand-children back into the
Rice family again. She left 6 children but we have no
knowledge of any children by the first three of Eliza-
beth and Peter.
The second daughter, Hannah, (57.2) married Jon-
athan Hubbard of Concord, March 15, 1681, where
he died July 17, 1728 aged 70. She died, at Concord,
April 9, 1747, in her 90th. year, leaving eleven children
and the dog, if perchance, the hungry canine had sur-
vived his keen disappointment.
Considering the fact that this venerable Mother
Hubbard had been a widow for almost 20 years and
had a round dozen of mouths to fill, it is not at all im-
probable nor a matter of surprise, that,
"When she got there,
The Cupboard was bare."
42
We are not surprised, but gratified to know that being
a Rice, she "got there" and it is all we could expect of
her. We have very little further knowledge of the
good woman. She left a large posterity, and was an
Ancestress of Gov. John Davis and other eminent
Davises (not including Jeff).
All that we have to regret in the history of this vener-
able relative is the fact that she became some what
careless in dress, as she grew older; a matter which
attracted considerable publicity and will doubtless per-
petuate her name and gown.
The third child, Joshua (58.3) resided at Marlboro
and died June 23, 1734. He was a proprietor of
Worcester and had 30 acres of land granted to him
there in 1718. He returned to Marlboro before 1730
and his widow, Mary Rice, died there Dec. 1766, aged
95 yrs.
They had four sons and one daughter. The son be-
came a Deacon (Oct. 14, 1742) and had the regulation
number of children.
Edmund Rice (59.4) the 4th. child, married Ruth
Parker, of Roxbury, Nov. 15, 1692 and became, in an
accidental and curious way, the ancestor of a famous
Indian Chief, in manner and form as follows. Edmund
and Ruth were the parents of 12 children, (only 2 or
three of whom married Rices), of whom were Silas,
Timothy, and Nahor. Now Thomas Rice (35.2) and
Edmund Rice (59.4) were cousins, and resided in
Westboro.
On the 8th. of Aug. 1704, while the people in the fields
were spreading flax a short distance from the house of
Thomas Rice, a band of Indians rushed out of the
woods, where they had concealed themselves, and killed
little Nahor aged 5, (probably on account of his name) .
knocking him in the head.
43
At the same time they seized Silas and Timothy, aged
9 and 7 respectively, sons of Edmund Rice, and 2
others, Ashur and Adonijah, aged 10 and 8, sons of
Thomas Rice, and carried the four little boys off to
Canada.
Silas and Timothy were adopted by the Indians and
had Indian wives, and children by them.
To Silas Rice the Indians gave the name Tookanovuras.
Timothy was named Oughtsorangoughton and became
the third of six chiefs of the Cognawaga tribe.
In that capacity he addressed a speech to Col. Bur-
goyne, employed in an expedition against Canada, in
the French, War of 1755. (Afterwards Gen'l. Bur-
goyne, who surrendered himself and his army to Gen'l.
Gates, at Saratoga, in the Revolutionary War.)
Timothy Oughtsorangoughton Rice visited Westboro,
in Sept. 1740, with an interpreter, — he having lost his
mother tongue, — and viewed the place where he had
been captured; of which he had a perfectly clear re-
membrance, together with all the circumstances under
which he was taken. He also knew and well remem-
bered several persons then living in Westboro.
He was urged to remain amongst his people in Sud-
bury, Marlboro and Westboro, but nothing said or
done could induce him to remain. He was filled with
contumacy and contravention; he did not want to stay
and he said so. So he returned to Canada, to his copper-
colored wife and his copper-stock. Both Silas and
Timothy were living in the Summer of 1790. Silas was
then 95 and Timothy 93 years old.
That these two aged chiefs of the Conawaga tribe had
many children we are certain. The only certified record
of any of them is the following: —
"Eunice Williams, born Sept. 16, 1696, was captured
44
at Deerfield and taken to Canada in 1704. She died in
1786 aged 90. She married John De Rogers, an Indian
and had three children."
1. John, who was killed at Lake George in 1758.
2. Sarah, married in 1758, an Englishman named
Williams.
3. Katherine, married Francis Here Rice and had
one son, Thomas Rice, who married Marian De Rice,
"a daughter of one of the Captive Rice's from Marl-
boro, Mass." Thos. and Marian De Rice had 10
children some of whom were living, in Canada, as re-
cently as 1831, and probably have many Indian de-
scendants now in that Country.
Samuel Rice, through the line of his son Joshua, was
the Ancestor of many of the descendants of the re-
maining children of Edmund Rice, who did not turn
Indian. Dinah married a Brigham, and left 5 children;
Huldah married Sam'l Wheelock and left 6 children,
Seth married Dorothy Robinson of Marlboro, begat 7
children and died, a Deacon, in 1796, aged 91. His
widow Dorothy, died June 21, 1801, aged 93. Thank-
ful married Josiah Rice, (a cousin again) and left 5
children. Josiah died in 1792, aged 92.
Edward Rice (63.8) died July 20, 1741, in his 70th.
year. He left 10 children, but for some reason never
was made a Deacon. This should be investigated.
Abigail Rice (64.9) has been discovered to belong to
another branch of the family. She was daughter of
Timothy Rice, (whose father Richard Rice, of Concord
and Cambridge, died June 9, 1709, aged 100 years,)
and Abigail Marrett.
Abigail Rice married Captain Palmer Goulding, Sen.
who had commanded a company at the reduction of
Louisburg, June 17, 1745.
45
Abigail and the Captain had Palmer, Ignatius, Peter
and Abel, and a daughter Martha. Martha, true to
the traditions of the family, married Wm. Rice (son
of Luke Rice of Shrewsbury) and had 10 children.
All the Morses are descended from Samuel Rice (8.7)
in the same generation as from Sam'l Morse, who came
to Mass, in 1635 and died 1654. In this line are
Jedediah Morse, the great geographer and Samuel F.
B. Morse, inventor of the electric telegraph.
46
OSEPH RICE (9.8) was the Deacon's
8th. child and the last one born in
Hertfordshire. He was the "toddler"
on the outward voyage and his "nose
was out of joint" before the voyage
was done. He was forced, by circum-
stances over which he had no control, to take to spoon
victuals. The voyage had been long and not utterly
devoid of "squalls," for the Deacon's wife with the
Arabian Night's name had added another to the
passenger list. This was little Edmund, born at sea, in
1638, a man without a country; born when his mother
was away from home, and named, in honor of the
Deacon, Edmund.
The usurping Edmund died. No one knows when. No
record of his ever having married, or of his residence,
or death, or settlement of any estate ever belonging to
him has been discovered.
Joseph lived. He lived and had 4 wives; not simul-
taneously nor contemporaneously, but quite continu-
ously.
Joseph Rice was baptized at Berkhamstead, Hertford-
shire, England, March 13, 1637. Coming at a tender
age to Mass. Colony he considered it his duty to be-
come a Pilgrim Father. Like a good Democrat he
married early and often. In rapid succession we find
his wives to have been, 1st. Mercy; 2nd. Martha; 3d.
Mary; 4-th.^Sarah. Beyond this and the fact that the
names of his ten children are recorded at Sudbury we
have no further knowledge of his marital exploits.
47
The date of his death we do not know. He was living
as late as Feb. 10, 1684, and that is the last we know
of him. He was but 47 years old at that date, so that,
with the remarkable longevity of the Rice family star-
ing him in the face, we are left with a large field for
conjecture as to what matrimonial pyrotechnics he may
have performed in his declining years, if he had any.
We are only certain that he was married four times and
with this paucity of bliss we are satisfied that he was
fully prepared to die and that he entered into Abra-
ham's bosom calmly and unregretfully.
B
S H H
48
CHILDREN OF JOSEPH AND MERCY RICE,
ET AL
66. 1, Rebecca, April 6, 1660, at Sudbury.
67. 2, Martha, Jan. 14, 1662, m. Jonathan Coolidge.
68. 3, Josiah, May 3, 1663.
69. 4, Caleb, May 19, 1666, m. Mary Ward.
70. 5, Joseph, June 5, 1671, m. Mercy Kerley.
71. 6, Eleazar, Oct. 26, 1672, d. young.
72. 7, Mary, Aug. 6, 1674, m. David Stone.
73. 8, Jonathan, Mar. 26, 1679, m. Anna Derby.
74. 9, Sarah, Feb. 14, 1680-1, d. June, 1681.
75. 10, Phineas, Aug. 24, 1682, m. Elizabeth Willard.
Of Rebecca we know nothing more. Martha Coolidge
resided at Watertown and had 6 children. Her hus-
band died at Watertown in 1724, aged 77, (son of
John Coolidge of Watertown 1639. A Representative
in 1658 and died 1690.)
Caleb Rice, the 4th. child, married a Ward. (It was
becoming a habit). Was a Deacon in the Church at
Marlboro from 1718 till his death Jan. 5, 1738-9.
(His gravestone says he was 77 years, 7 mos. and 7
days old). As all good Deacons should he had 10
children ; 4 sons and 6 daughters. Caleb, his 4th. son
was graduated from Harvard University 1730, and
became first minister of the Gospel at Sturbridge, Sept.
29, 1736. Died there in 1759.
Caleb's son Nathan, born Aug. 2, 1754, was graduated
from Harvard University in 1773. He was an officer
in the Army of the Revolution, and during the quasi
war with France, 1799 and 1800; was commissioned
Lieutenant Colonel and stationed at Oxford. He re-
49
turned to Hingham upon the disbanding of the Army
and died there, April 17, 1834, aged 80 years.
His son Charles Rice born Nov. 28, 1781, entered
Harvard in 1797, but died Aug. 17, 1799. Another
son, Caleb, Dec. 5, 1784, graduated from Harvard,
1803, and died 1849.
A daughter, Sophia, born Feb. 12, 1797, married
Gamaliel Bradford* (Harvard 1814) M.D. Their
children (4) are in the same generation from Gov.
Bradford and Edmund Rice.
By his other 9 children the Deacon had a large pos-
terity. It is not traced through the daughters. Mary,
we know, married David Stone, (Dec. 10, 1710,) and
resided at Watertown, where he "died Oct. 7, 1750,
aged 78, having lived 56 years without sight."
If this was not the origin of "stone-blind" it is at least
an early example to the real thing.
Their daughter Mercy Stone, born Feb. 2, 1713-14,
married Rev. David Goddard born 1706.
A graduate of Harvard, 1731, and minister at Leices-
ter.
Joseph Rice (70.5) married Mercy Kerley of Marl-
boro, Nov. 10, 1708. His 2nd. wife was Elizabeth
Robinson. His 3d. wife was Jane Corey, of Boston.
He died Dec. 3, 1745. His widow, Jane, died 1762.
They had, amongst them, 6 children. At least one of
whom married a Ward.
Mary, the 5th. child married Thaddeus Bond and her
name is perpetuated to this day, by many eminent per-
sons of that family. This is in no wise meant to adver-
tise Boston Bond.
* Son of Capt. Gamaliel Bradford, Lieut, in Rev. and 5th. in
descent from Gov. Wm. Bradford who arrived in Mayflower Dec.
1620. Gov. of Plymouth Colony from 1620 to 1657, with the exception
of 5 yrs.
50
Jonathan Rice (73.8) was Deacon in the church at
Sudbury, and, being a deacon, had 10 children, of
course. Jonathan died, full of years and honors, June
7, 1772, aged 92 and his widow Anne, died Dec. 23,
1773, also aged 92. They had 9 daughters and one
son, William Rice, who married Mary Estabrook and
had 7 children and many, many Grand children.
The last of Joseph's children, Phineas, (75.10) mar-
ried Elizabeth Willard, Oct. 2, 1707, resided in Sud-
bury and was a representative in the General Court.
He seems to have been the literary member of his
father's family and is described in the Boston news-
papers, Sept. 5, 1768, as being "a gentleman of an
enlarged soul, bright parts, a penetrating wit, tenacious
memory and well acquainted with both men and books.
Perhaps his superior could scarce be found in New
England." A newspaper of 1910 could scarcely do
better than that.
This erudite member of the Deacon's family died aged
86, and left 5 children. Through one of them (Joseph)
he was the ancestor of the late eminent financier,
Spencer Trask, who was killed Dec. 31, 1909, on the
N. Y. Central R. R. near N. Y. City.t
t Spencer Trask was born in 1844, Son of Alanson Trask and
Sarah Marquand. His Grand-mother Trask was a daughter of Mary
(Rice) Goodale. Spencer Trask was graduated from Princeton and
engaged in the Banking business with his Uncle Henry G. Marquand.
From its beginning he was president of the Edison Light and Power
System. To the general public he was better known as a promoter of
philanthropic and educational projects and as a patron of Art, then
as a banker. He was one of the founders and for 15 years a trirstee
of Teacher's College; one of the founders and a trustee of the
Kindergarten Association ; a trustee of the General Theological
Seminary; the principal founder of the National Arts Society and
President of the Reservation Commission which has sought to pre-
serve the Springs at Saratoga. Mrs. Trask is a well known writer,
and has recently written a play, "The Little Town of Bethlehem,"
which has been produced by the Ben Greet Players.
51
BEING A GENERAL ROUND-UP OF THE
DEACON'S OTHER CHILDREN, EVEN UNTO
AND INCLUDING THE TWELFTH
Lydia Rice, (5.4) was the first child born to Deacon
Edmund and Tamazin Rice after the removal from
Buckinghamshire to Hertfordshire.
The Parish Register at Berkhamstead informs us that
Lydia was baptized Mar. 9, 1627. She married Hugh
Drury and resided in Boston.
Her husband was a member of the Artillery Company,
1659, and subsequently its Lieutenant.
Lydia and Hugh Drury had but one child John, born
at Sudbury, May 2, 1646.
John married Mary , and their one child,
Thomas, the son of the house and the hope of the
family made his calling and election sure in the Rice
family by marrying, when 19 years old, his father's
first cousin, Rachel Rice, (daughter of Henry, oldest
son of the Deacon) , and thus all of Lydia's descendants
are doubly descended from the old President of the
Company, Deacon Edmund.
Next after Lydia comes Mathew Rice, (6.5) baptized
at Berkhamstead, England, Feb. 28, 1629.
Matthew, as it was afterwards spelled, lived to the
Patriarchal age of 89 years and some months, married
at Sudbury, July 7, 1654, Martha Lamson, and became
the father of only nine children. By a very narrow
margin he thus escaped being a Deacon; a man with
fewer than 10 children apparently being utterly pro-
scribed.
52
CHILDREN OF MATTHEW RICE AND
MARTHA LAMSON
47. 1, Sarah, Sept. 15, 1655, m. John Looker.
48. 2, Martha, Aug. 17, 1657, m. John Bent.
49. 3, Deborah, Feb. 14, 1659-1660, m. Thomas Sawin.
50. 4, Ruth, April 2, 1662, m. Joseph Hastings.
51. 5, Elizabeth, May 20, 1663, m. Samuel Ware.
52. 6, Dorothy, Feb. 14, 1664-5, m. Sam'l Ware.
53. 7, Mary, died young.
54. 8, Isaac, May 1, 1668, m. Sybil Collins.
55. 9, Patience, March 5, 1671, m Holbrook.
In this rather remarkable family of eight daughters
and one son the lines will not be traced here.
Sarah Rice, the eldest daughter, married John Looker,
and had 4 children, the 3d. of whom, Henry Rice
Looker, to make assurance doubly sure, married, in
1716 Mary Rice, (daughter of Ebenezer, son of Benj.
1 Oth. son of Deacon Edmund, ) She being his 2d. cousin.
They became the Ancestors of Gov. Othniel Looker,
5th. Gov. of Ohio.
Apropos of this marriage of cousins, Coleridge once
debated with Charles Lamb, the question of con-
sanguinity and proved, to his own satisfaction at least,
that the marriage of cousins was eminently sane,
proper, just and right, and fraught with the best results
for humanity. Coleridge certainly had ample backing
and justification for his argument in the family and
descendants of the Pilgrim Deacon.
Matthew's only son Isaac died Feb. 4, 1717-18 leaving
5 children; all daughters. This mistake was later
53
rectified by the marriage of the 2d. dau. Martha, to
William Rice, and they were the progenitors of the
Ohio Rices, through the line of Matthew. In the death
of Isaac Rice, the male descendants of Matthew, (6.5)
in direct line, became extinct. His mother, Martha
Rice, survived him and was past 90 at the date of his
death, in 1717-18.
Benjamin Rice (11.10) was the 10th. child of the
Deacon and the only son born in Mass. He was born,
according to Sudbury records, May 31, 1640, and died
Dec. 19, 1713, aged 73.
Benjamin married Mary Brown, of Sudbury, about
1662, and resided there. Benj. Rice, on May 23d.
1685, sued Dr. William Avery, of Boston, for mal-
practice, verdict for defendant.
An extract from the records of this suit relates that
"one, Daniel Pond, testified that 10 years ago Benj.
Rice came to my house in Deadham, with his feet
frozen, and lodged there. Dr. Wm. Avery's son Benj.
cut off one foot at the lowest joint and staunched the
blood with a musquash skin."
The old Dr. does not appear, from Pond's Extract, to
have been present at the operation, and the malpractice,
if any, was not chargeable to him, but to his presump-
tious and irresponsible son, who adventured this feat of
surgery purely on his own account. Benj. Rice was the
first member of the family on record who got cold feet.
His son Ebenezer married Bethia Williams in 1698 and
died in Sudbury June 21, 1724. Bethia Rice died July
6, 1721.
They left a family of 8 daughters and one son.
The oldest daughter, Mary Rice, mentioned under
Matthew (6.5) became a progenitor of Gov. Looker
54
of Ohio. Only 2 other daughters married and we do
not know that they left any posterity.
The only son, Ebenezer Rice II, (born Nov. 24, 1709)
married his second cousin, Anna Rice, and had 7 chil-
dren. Three of these never married; two died in in-
fancy, while Joseph and Benjamin, twins, born Feb. 12,
1745, married twins, Mary Green * and Sarah Green.*
And thus, so far as the tribe of Benjamin is concerned,
endeth the chapter, all his posterity having gone to
Greens.
When little Benjamin, her 10th. and last child was in
his 15th. year Tamazin Rice, died, (at Sudbury, June
13, 1654.) The record of her death is the only one
wherein her name is found. She was doubtless a faith-
ful, wise and prudent Pilgrim Mother. She had made
her husband a Deacon. The careful observer who has
read thus far in the Rice family history must be aware
of an omission on the part of the Apostle Paul when
he imparted to Timothy that "a Bishop must be the
husband of one wife." He should have added that a
Deacon shall be the father of 10 children. This seems
to have been one of the rules of the Church in Mass.
Colony.
And so Edmund Rice became a Deacon, but not until
after his son Benj. was born. All honor to our Grand-
mother Tamazin, she of the gypsy name. The Deacon's
sincerest tribute to her worth was in speedily replacing
her.
It was not long before he began to wear his Sunday
hat on week days and "sit up" to Dame Mercie
Brigham. He was only 60, a mere "broth of a lad"
* Verdant Green, Hettie Green and Darius Green, are not of this
family.
55
for that family, and in the light of his youthful coun-
tenance the widow's weeds soon wilted. Mercy and
the Deacon were married Mar. 1, 1655, but the wed-
ding was strictly private owing to the fact that the
Deacon was not yet out of mourning for his first wife.
The bride herself was only getting into lavender. Her
1st. husband, Thomas Brigham had been dead but 17
months. But marriage was a good thing and Mercie
knew it and when the Deacon died she married again
in 17 months, and she said "she didn't carel"
To the Deacon and his second wife were born two more
children, both daughters. Ruth (12.11) was born
Sept. 29, 1659, when the Deacon was 66 yrs. old. Ann
(13.12) was born Nov. 19, 1661, when he was 68.
Ann was the Deacon's swan-song. Ruth and Ann were
the penultimate and anti-penultimate Rices of their
generation.
Beyond the fact that both Ruth and Ann were happily
married, (for we know to whom and when and where) ,
we know nothing more of the after life of these two
sisters.
Ruth married Samuel Welles and removed to
Weathersfield, Conn., in 1684. They were the direct
ancestors of Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the
Navy in President Lincoln's Cabinet.
Ann married Nathaniel Gerry, of Roxbury, Nov. 12,
1685, (son of Nathaniel Gerry and Ann Dugglas, who
were married at Roxbury, Oct. 14, 1685.)
Just how many children these younger sisters had we
do not know. We only know that none of the Deacon's
daughters were born in years when the peach crop
failed and by only 7 sons he had 65 grandchildren.
And so our imagination, like a soaring Hippogriff,
56
journey's straightway toward infinite numbers. Let
some other chronicler straighten out the Welles and
Gerry families and tell us, (for we do not know when
she died.)
"How old was Ann?"
57
This Little Chapter telling the story of their descent
from Deacon Edmund Rice is only meant for the pos-
terity of Wm. Rice of Va. and Ohio, (1780-1827) for
unto us it was given to inherit from the Puritan Deacon,
through 2 of his English born Sons a double portion of
Rice characteristics and obliquities.
William Rice, born 1697, was the 3d. son of Deacon
Edmund Rice, (born Dec. 6, 1653) and Joyce Russell;
Dea. Edmund was the 2d. son of Deacon Edward Rice,
(born 1619) and his wife Anna; Edward was the 2d.
son of Deacon Edmund, the Pilgrim.
Martha Rice, (born 1693) was the daughter of Isaac
Rice (born May 1, 1668) and Sybil Collins; Isaac Rice
was the son of Matthew Rice, 1629, 5th. child and 4th.
son of Deacon Edmund Rice, the Pilgrim.
11 Now William Rice (1697) and Martha Rice (1693)
being great-grand children of Deacon Edmund and full
second cousins on the Rice side, concluded, very sen-
sibly, that this degree of consanguinity was not suffi-
cient, and accordingly they were married at Sudbury,
Mass., Oct. 7, 1719. William was at this time 22
years old and was the youngest member of his father's
family. He had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. The oldest
sister Joyce, married Samuel Abbot and became the
progenitor of the long line of Abbots, who have been
"Makers of History" in the U. S.
Martha (Rice) Rice was born Oct. 17, 1693, and so
was 26 years old plus 10 days, when she was married.
She evened up this discrepancy by departing this life
58
some years in advance of her younger husband. We
do not have the exact date of her death, but William
married on May 10, 1733, Hannah Graves, and there
were soon 2 more Rices added to the family. These
were Beulah 1735 and Micah 1740.
Martha, before her departure, had added to the
Deacon's posterity 3 sons, and a daughter called
"Sibleth." The sons were, Isaac Rice, born June 10,
1720; William, July 10, 1722; and Elijah, June 4,
1728. Elijah followed his parents example and mar-
ried Elizabeth Rice, his 2nd. cousin, and became the
father of a large family of double Rices. The father,
William Rice, lived in Sudbury, until his death in 1769,
aged 72.
The second son, William, in whom we are most inter-
ested, born July 10, 1722, married Abigail Willis, of
Sudbury, Aug. 16, 1753.
He was then living at Natick, and was 31 yrs. of age.
They had four children born in Mass., viz: Isaac,
Sarah ; Ruth ; and Abel. Abel was baptized at Natick,
June 27, 1768. This is the last record we find of the
family in Mass., for William and Abigail left that
Commonwealth about 1769 and settled in Virginia,
living throughout the Revolutionary War in Fairfax
County. Here Abigail Rice died and William married
again. We do not know whom he married, but it was
probably not a Rice this time unless he returned to
Mass, to hunt one.
To this union three sons were born; Samuel, Richard
and William. The little William, born 1780, and
brought up at the heels of the Revolution, was his
father's 7th. child, tho' not a 7th. son. Living near
Alexandria and Mt. Vernon it was probably a common
sight for him to look upon the Father of his country
59
and see the Washington family coach-and-four, as it
started to Church at Powhick or Alexandria, or bore
George and Martha to Gunston Hall to visit George
Mason.
Just across from Alexandria, in Prince George Co.,
Maryland, dwelt the Hawley family. The first Hawley,
Samuel, came to New England in 1639, just one year
after Deacon Rice settled in Sudbury.
The Hawleys and the Rices had intermarried in Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut and were related thru many
lines. It was quite natural therefore that the boys of
the Rice family, in Fairfax, should frequently cross
the river and pay extended visits to the Hawleys of
Prince George.
Samuel and Richard did not seem to have been hard hit,
or if hard hit did not make good, or, possibly, (but this
seems highly improbable in our family) there were not
enough daughters of the house to go around; however
this may be, when William Rice, the father died in
1804, the three boys at once started west, and after a
long and adventurous journey settled in Belmont Co.,
Ohio.
In a short time Elizabeth Hawley, born 1782, appeared
upon the scene, she having found an opportunity of
coming to the Ohio Country with a family with whom
she lived until her lover, Wm. Rice, could clear the land
and build his log cabin.
In 1810 William and Elizabeth were married and at
once moved into this house, which is still standing and
occupied. It was an exceedingly well built and com-
modious house for those days in Ohio. It consisted of
2 large rooms down stairs with a cut stone outside
chimney at either end of the house ; a "lean-to" or shed,
extending the entire length of these 2 rooms and also
60
having a cut stone chimney; while above, an unusual
luxury, were 2 half-story bed-rooms.
All this luxury had been provided by the hard work of
William, aided and assisted by his two older brothers,
Samuel and Richard. At the same time they each built
cabins for themselves, but they were not so extensive or
elaborate. One of them still stands, but the other was
washed away, many years ago, by a freshet and the
creek bed now marks its site.
11" In this "luxurious" cabin home were born the six
children of Wm. and Elizabeth Hawley Rice.
This was the order and succession:
Charles Hawley Rice, born Nov. 25, 1811 ; died Oct. 8, 1898,
aged 87.
Nancy Rice, born Feb. 17, 1813, died Apr. 11, 1904, aged 92.
Jemima Rice, born Nov. 10, 1814; died Nov. 25, 1814, aged
15 days.
Hannah Rice, born Oct. 20, 1816; died 1905, aged 89.
Richard Rice, born Feb. 17, 1818; died May 2, 1870, aged 52.
Elizabeth Rice, born March 25, 1821; died July 27, 1850,
aged 29.
Our great-grand mother, Elizabeth Hawley Rice, did
not long survive the birth of her last child and died
during the summer of 1821. Her husband, Wm. Rice
died in the Fall of 1827; the little home was aban-
doned and the 5 children were parceled out or divided
around amongst the relatives and neighbors and were
never to see or know much of each other thereafter.
Both Wm. Rice and Elizabeth, his wife were buried at
the little "meeting-house" grave yard known as "Hur-
ford," 1 mile west of Bethesda, Belmont Co., O. A
spot long neglected and the graves now almost obliter-
ated.
61
The oldest son Charles Hawley, who was but eleven
years old at the time of his mother's death, went im-
mediately to the home of his Uncle Richard Rice, only
a few rods distant from his birthplace, lived there
during the winter and went to school to John Correy, at
Burr's Station (now Bethesda.) In the Spring of 1828,
after his father's death, he went to the home of John
Williams, two miles east of Barnesville, in Belmont
Co., to learn the Tailor's trade. With John Williams
he lived four years and nine months.
John was the son of Daniel Williams, of Chester Co.,
Pa., and the father of Casper Williams; all well known
Orthodox Friends or Quakers.
From this good family the young Tailor obtained a
peculiarly valuable training, and acquired principles of
integrity and honesty that were characteristics with
him throughout his long and remarkably eventful life.
His parents, in Va., and Maryland, had been Method-
ists, under the preaching of Bishops Coke, Asbury and
Whatcoat; but Chas. Hawley Rice early joined the
Friends, before the division in 1828, and eventually
went with the Gurney branch in 1854.
In the Fall of 1832 he went to Salem, Ohio and at-
tended school during that winter. The teacher was
Dr. John Shreve. Of his schoolmates who attended
that school with him during the winter of 1832-'33, one
still survives in the person of Mrs. Mary Koll, at that
date Mary Johnson — she was then 22 years old and
Chas. H. Rice was 21. Mrs. Koll has recently passed
her one hundred and first anniversary (Jan. 10, 1911)
and is in good health.
The children of Dr. Benjamin Stanton and his wife
Martha (Townsend) Stanton were also in this school.
The oldest, Rebecca, born the same year as Chas. H.
62
Rice, recently died, but a younger daughter in school
that winter, Mrs. Laura Barnaby, now resides in Pasa-
dena, Cal. and is in her 91st. year. What a school it
must have been and what a teacher! He had been an
officer in the American Revolution. He helped to cap-
ture and to guard Major Andre, and died at 95 years
and 8 months, after living to greet Louis Kossuth to
the City, of Alliance. And at least two of this Hero's
pupils are living in this year of Grace. 1911 ! !
Verily his works have not "followed him" very rapidly,
and it has been an hundred and fifty and five years since
he began them.
In March, 1833, the young Chas. Hawley, was taken
violently ill, for the first and last time in his 87 years
and was cared for at the home of Casper Williams until
"Harvest time." In July he went to Cleveland, on
foot; worked for a short time in a little shop on
Superior Street, north side, about 1-2 block from the
"City Square." He walked thence to Milan, in Huron
County; thence to Lower, Sandusky and on to Tiffin, in
Seneca Co., where he sewed in a tailor shop, until the
latter part of Oct.
IF When he returned to Salem, Nov. 1st. 1833, he had
$40.00 in cash and enough cloth for a new coat. During
this winter he again attended school and in the Spring
of 1834, went to Damascus, O., where he established
himself, in a neat little shop on the south side of Main
St. ( "Old State Road" ) about a half block west of the
centre of the village.
While attending school in Salem he had met Margaret
Pettit, (also born in Nov. 1811) and one day, in May
1834 saw her, with her younger sister, Charity, coming
through town, walking down to the office of their older
brother, Dr. Wm. Pettit, M. D. He followed them
63
down the street, in his shirt sleeves, just as he had left
the tailor's bench, and secured an introduction to the
fair Charity, in Dr. Pettit's office. All was not strictly
comme il faut, but Charity, doubtless flattered, and true
to her name, could forgive or 'cover a multitude of sins.'
He called that evening and "sat up" till midnight.
It was "love at first sight" : the real thing. Two weeks
later he went to visit her at her home near Hanover,
and from that date till the 28th. of the next Jan. he
never failed to visit the Pettit home every other Satur-
day night.
On the 28th. of Jan. 1835, Chas. Hawley Rice and
Charity Dean Pettit were married, by Friend's cere-
mony, in the old Sandy Spring Meeting House, a mile
north of Kensington, (at that time Ingram Station.)
Charity had been a pupil of the famous Platt R.
Spencer, and the wedding certificate, now owned by the
writer, is a beautifully engrossed document, written by
Spencer's own hand, and signed by some 50 or more
relations and friends as witnesses to the Ceremony.
Certified to by this multitude of witnesses it is a pretty
sure thing that our Grandparents were firmly and se-
curely married and if any further attestation be wanted
we find endorsed underneath the above list the names
of some 30 persons who attended the celebration of
their Golden Wedding 50 years later, or on Jan. 28,
1885.
Three years beyond that date did they live happily
together, before death dissolved this certified contract,
but it had been an eventful 53 years.
They began housekeeping in a house that stood on the
present site of the Wesleyan M. E. Church Building, in
Damascus, O. In Sept. 1835 they moved to Hanover,
O. and here at the home of James and Elizabeth Raley
64
their first and only child was born, on Nov. 27th. 1835.
Very properly he was named William Pettit Rice, for
on the Rice side of the house there was the long line of
Williams, and on the Pettit side it was the name of his
grand father and of his great-grand fathers for 4
generations batk.
There were many unheavals and removals from this
date onward. A number of years were spent in Minne-
sota, Wm. Pettit Rice taking with him his young bride
Rachel (Hole) Rice, and in Minnesota their 2 oldest
children were born. Harrassed by the Indians and
driven from their homes the Parents, Children and
Grandparents returned to Ohio, where Chas. Hawley
and Charity Dean Rice spent a happy life and grew
gracefully older until she died, in Alliance, Ohio, Nov.
19, 1887, aged 73.
After 53 years of connubial bliss, Chas. H. Rice knew
to a certainty that it was a good thing and with the
courage of his convictions, at the age of 78, he married
Deborah Bentley Trescott, a Quaker lady of high cul-
ture and genuine worth, who was to him a loving and
faithful wife for ten years.
She was held in high esteem and loved by every member
of the family and the marriage in old age was an un-
qualified success. Chas. Hawley Rice died in Alliance,
Ohio, Oct. 8, 1898, at the age of 87 years and his
widow died May 9, 1905, aged 80 yrs.
Of the other 4 children of Wm. and Elizabeth Rice the
record will be brief, tho in some instances it covers a
remarkably long life. Elizabeth, the youngest child,
made her home with her oldest brother, Charles, and
died at the early age of 29 yrs. She was an invalid for
many years and was tenderly cared for by the brothers
and their wives. She died July 27, 1850, and was
65
buried at the Augusta Friends' Meeting House, near
East Rochester, O.
Nancy Rice, the oldest daughter, married Henry
Burton, Jan. 4, 1 836. Henry Burton was born June 3d.
1806 and died Sept. 2, 1855. After his death Nancy
Rice Burton married Charles Walker who died in 1889.
To Nancy and Henry Burton were born 6 children, all
now deceased. Only three of these children left pos-
terity and Nancy Rice Burton had but 18 grand-
children. Her second son, David, born Apr. 27, 1843,
married Lavina Ford, Feb. 22, 1870. He died Jan. 9,
1891, leaving a widow and seven children, in Brown
County, Indiana.
The third son, Henry Burton Jr., (born Aug. 10,
1848) married Sarah Hawley, Feb. 19, 1885 and died
at Toledo, Illinois, May 20, 1909. He is survived by
the widow, 3 sons and a daughter.
A daughter of Nancy and Henry Burton, Ella, married
Newton Parsley, and left four children, Mary, Frank,
Newton and Jasper.
Hannah Rice, the 4th child, married three times;
Daniel Murdock; Israel Murdock and Wm. Lockridge.
She died at Carlyle, Iowa, 1905 — aged 89 years.
Richard Rice, the second son and 5th child of Wm. and
Eliz. Rice, after the death of his parents was raised
and educated by Jeremiah Harris who lived on Still-
water Creek in Belmont Co., Ohio.
He married, March 2nd 1841, Mary Mason, born July
18, 1820, in Green Co., Penna. She had come into
Ohio with her parents in 1826 and was in her 21st year
at the date of her marriage. Richard Rice died May
2nd 1870 and was buried at Antioch, Monroe Co.,
Ohio. Mary Rice, his widow still lives (1911) and at
66
91 years of age is a remarkably handsome, intelligent
and strong woman. •
The writer visited her a few months ago and found her
in the fullest possession of all her faculties, bright,
cheerful and happy; able bodied and a perfectly sound
piece of human mechanism. Only 2 of her eight chil-
dren are living and with her daughter, Charity Ellen,
widow of William Twinem she makes her home. It is
also the home of her grand daughter Mabel Twinem
Harmon, her husband and 2 children; thus making a
delightful family of 4 generations under the one roof.
Pearly Twinem, only son of Charity E. and Wm.
Twinem with his 2 children Mabel and Catherine are
next door neighbors. All these live at Mt. Vernon, O.
and constitute an ideal Patriarchial group or family.
The only other surviving child of Richard and Mary
Rice is Henry Allen Rice, who resides in Nebraska and
has one daughter, Bessie Lea (Rice) Martin. She has
2 children, Eunice and Mary Catharine. Through
other children now deceased Richard and Mary Rice
had 7 other Grand-children; and 4 other great Grand-
children.
67
CIVIL AND MILITARY RECORD
OF A FEW OF THE DEACON'S
DESCENDANTS
Peter Rice, born Oct. 24, 1658, (son of Thomas) was Captain
of the train-band and one of the committee, in 1711, who
designated the garrison houses in Marlboro, (Mass.) and the
heads of families that were to belong to them respectively.
Capt. Peter Rice died Nov. 28, 1753, aged a little more than
95 years.
Henry Rice born Dec. 6, 1685, was in the Army in 1755 and
'57, and died in the service.
Abraham Rice, born 1697, was a Captain and Selectman. Killed
June 3d. 1777.
John Rice, born Apr. 9, 1725, was from Apr. 26 to Nov. 6,
1757 in Smith's Company and marked "deceased."
Bezaleel Rice, born about 1694, was in the service, in Clarke's
Company, from Framingham.
Edward Rice, born Dec. 23, 1689, was in the Service in 1724
in Capt. Sam'l Wright's Company, and was afterwards Captain
in the Militia.
Aaron Rice, Aug. 3d. 1700, was a Corporal in Sam'l Wright's
Company from April 12 to Nov. 10, 1724. His name appears
on the military rolls, as in occasional service, every year to the
date of his death. He commanded a company on the northern
frontier in 1755 and died in the Autumn of that year at Crown
Point. He became a Captain, but was usually known as
Quartermaster Rice, to distinguish him from his brothers, Capt.
Edward and Capt. Moses Rice.
Moses Rice, brother of above, was on Garrison duty in 1724,
under Capt. Samuel Wright. Was a Captain and killed by the
Indians June 11, 1755.
Tyrus Rice, born Oct. 20, 1700. Was a soldier in several
Campaigns during the French and Indian Wars and subse-
68
quently a Lieutenant under Brigadier Dwight, who left Worces-
ter with his Company to fight the Indians, in Aug., 1748. Tyrus
Rice died in 1783, aged 83.
Adonijah Rice, born Nov. 7, 1714, was in several Campaigns
against the Indians. He belonged to Capt. Andrew Dalrhymple's
Company five months, ending Dec. 12, 1755; and in 1756 was
a Sergeant in same Co. Died Jan. 20, 1802, in his 88th. year.
Gideon Rice, born Apr. 5, 1712; was in the Army and living
in 1741 ; (died previous to 1748).
Joseph Rice, born May 24, 1712; was a soldier from Graf ton
in 1757. Died in Graf ton, Feb. 12, 1789, aged 77.
Peter Rice, born Feb. 7, 1761. In Page's Co. Rand's Regiment,
at West Point in 1780 and died in Service.
Sam'l Rice, May 10, 1730. Was in the Army and on roll
of Williams' Co. in 1755 and 1757, and was still living in 1793.
Henry Rice, Apr. 3, 1736, was in the "Lake Expedition" in
1758 ; in Fletcher's Co. from Holden, and enlisted in Chandler's
Co., April 2, 1759.
Uriah Rice, born 1734, was in the Army in 1780, in Drury's
Co., Perry's Regiment.
Silas Rice, born about 1736, was in the Revolutionary Army
and probably died before Sept. 6, 1780.
Aaron Rice, born Jan. 31, 1724-5. Corporal in Burke's Co.
1758, and member of State Convention in 1779, to frame a
Constitution for the Commonwealth of Mass. Died 1808, aged
84.
Sylvanus Rice, born Jan. 6, 1728-9. Served as Captain in 1776
and in 1779, in Chaplin's Regt. He died in 1819 in his 91st.
year. His widow died in her 87th.
Isaac Rice, Nov. 2, 1738, was in Ruggle's Co. in 1755 (aged
then 17) and in Brown's Co. and Parker's Co. from Nov. 8,
1761 to Nov., 1762.
Jason Rice, born Aug. 7, 1728, was Corporal in Jones' Co. 1756,
from Hopkinton.
Aaron Smith, born June 22, 1736, son of Ephramin Smith and
Hannah Rice, fought at Bunker Hill, and died at Shrewsbury,
May 9, 1825, aged 89.
Military record of Jabez Rice and his wife, Miriam Morse.
The parents of 15 children, "two of whom, born June 27, 1775,
were baptized the next Sabbath John Hancock and Dorothy
Quincy" — Boston Gazette, July, 1775.
69
Abner Maynard, son of Abigail Rice, born Nov. 27, 1753, died
in the Army in 1775.
Amos Rice, Feb. 17, 1743, one of the Committee of Corre-
spondence, 1775, and was at Lexington Alarm, and 2nd. Lieut.
1777, in Col. Job Cushing's regiment. Afterwards Captain.
Died Dec. 14, 1827, in his 85th year.
Benjamin Rice, born Feb. 1, 1722-23. "Captain; Selectman;
and Representative." Died in Brookfield, Mass., Feb. 8, 1796,
aged 73.
Jonas Rice, born June 30, 1731. Was in Caldwell's Co. Aug.
1757, for Fort William and Henry; also in the Army of the
Revolution and died in Service in 1776.
Jason Rice, son of above, born May 14, 1756. In Hamilton's
Co., July 4, 1778, at Fishkill.
Levi Rice, born Apr. 13, 1760. In Hamilton's Co. July 4, 1778
at Fishkill, aged 18, and in 1780 under Miller six months.
Asa Rice, Aug. 8, 1732. A soldier in the French War, from
Westboro, and belonged to Capt. Bezaleel Eager 's Co. in 1757.
Zebulon Rice, born Feb. 27, 1711-12. A soldier in Fay's Co.
1757, from Westboro.
Joel Rice, born Apr. 13, 1760, was a soldier in the War of the
Revolution, from Greenfield, 3 months, 25 days, in Day's Com-
pany, 7th Regt. and on military rolls marked "dead" (Died in
Service. )
Adam Rice, born Aug. 18. 1715. A soldier from Westboro, in
Capt. Benj. Fay's Co., 1757.
Oliver Rice, May 2, 1717. Soldier from Hardwick in 1757.
Adonijah Rice, born May 28, 1727, a soldier in Capt. B. Fay's
Co., 1757. Also in the War of the Rev. and in Barn's Co.,
15th Regt. and on rolls marked "dead."
Sam'l. S., son of above, born May 3, 1759, a soldier of the
Rev. in Lee's Co., Smith's Regt.
Charles Rice, born March 1, 1731, a soldier from Westboro, in
John Taplin's Co., six months in 1755, also in 1757 in Capt.
Fay's Co.
Stephen Rice, Mar. 15, 1737. Delegates to Conventions of
1774 and 1775. Lieut. Col. in Reg't. of Job Gushing, Col.
Warner's Brigade on Northern frontier, 1777. Representative
from Hardwick 1775 and again in 1784. Died at Hardwick,
Nov. 24, 1831, in his 95th year.
Thomas Rice, of Westboro, Nov. 27, 1734, Captain. Graduate
70
of Harvard University, 1756. Judge Court of Common Pleas,
County of Lincoln. Member State Convention that adopted
Constitution of the U. S. and voted for it; and other offices of
trust and responsibility. Died Apr. 21, 1812, in his 78th year.
Nathaniel Rice, born Oct. 15, 1749, was in the 8 months service,
1775, and belonged to Moore's Company, Nixon's Regt. and
died in the service.
Peter Rice, born June 25, 1775 ; enlisted in the 8 months service,
S. Washburn's Co., J. Ward's Regt., from Spencer. Died Feb.
1, 1813.
Joel Rice, born Sept. 16, 1758. A Soldier of the Revolution and
in the battle of White Plains. Died Apr. 19; 1838, in his 80th
year.
Joseph Livermore, born, 1740. Husband of Anna Rice, of
E. Sudbury, was a Lieutenant at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and
afterwards Captain.
Solomon Rice, May 13, 1749, was in the 8 months service 1775.
In Haynes' Company, Brewers' Regt. Probably killed in the
Service Sept. 1777.
Matthias, brother of above, born Oct. 31, 1752, was at Lexing-
ton Alarm, April, 1775. Died Sept. 17, 1798.
Joel Rice, born May 17, 1752, was in Day's Company, 7th.
Reg't., 1777, and marked "dead"— Military Rolls.
Wm. Gates, (son of Jane Rice) born Apr. 21, 1758, was a
drummer in the Army of the Rev., 4 yrs. and 7 mos., and died
at Vienna. N. Y., Mar., 1852, aged 94 yrs.
Jonathan Rice, Apr. 8, 1 736. For many years a deputy sheriff ;
one of the law and order vo^nteers during Shav's Rebellion and
shot, in a skirmish at New Braintree, in the Winter of 1786.
Abel Rice, March 29, 1746, was a soldier in the Rev. in the 8
mos. service, 1775, in Drapers' Co., Gardner's Reg't. and sub-
sequently a Sergeant in the service. Died July 9, 1800.
Jacob Hememway, husband of Mary Rice, was a Lieutenant in
the Company under command of Capt. Aaron Rice of Rutland,
1756 and upon the death of Capt. Rice at Crown Point suc-
ceeded to the command, and died Feb. 6, 1801, aged 78.
Joel Rice, born May 3, 1733. A member of the Committee of
Correspondence and on the 19th of April, 1775, at Lexington
Alarm. Lieut, in Gates' Co. and continued in service during
most of the war. Died at Concord, Feb. 4, 1819, in his 86th
year.
71
Nathan Rice, born Aug. 2, 1754, Harvard 1773. An officer in
the Army during the Rev. Lieut. Col. stationed at Oxford.
Died Apr. 17, 1834, aged 80.
Hezekiah Rice, Sept. 19, 1748, soldier from Framingham in
Prentiss' Co. Marshall's Reg't., 1776. In July, 1776, he was
stationed at Noddle's Island, Boston Harbor.
Nathan Rice, Nov. 1751, was at Lexington Alarm, Apr., 1775,
and subsequently served in the Revolution. Died, a Rev.
Pensioner, Jan. 30, 1836, aged 84.
Daniel Rice, born Nov. 25, 1755. A Soldier of the Rev. in
Brook's Co. Dyke's Reg't., 1782.
Augustus Rice, his son, also entered the Army and died there.
Hezekiah Rice, born Oct. 2, 1745. On the Military Rolls is
called Hez. Jr. to distinguish him from his cousin Hez. Rice,
both of whom were in the Service from Framingham. He was
in Prentiss' Co., Marshall's Regt. in Boston Harbor from July
19, to Dec. 1, '76 ; also in the Service Aug. 16-Nov. 29, '77.
Josiah Rice, born 1760, served in the Rev. Army 44 months and
17 davs and rec'd a bounty of 20 pounds. Died a Rev. Pensioner
Oct. 29, 1830, aged 70.
Martin Rice, born 1749, was in the 8 months service, in
Maxwell's Co. Prescott's Regiment, 1775, from Charlemont
and died July 17, 1841, aged 92.
Edmund Rice, born Dec. 28, 1755. A Soldier of the Revolution
and in the 8 months service 1775, Russell's Co., Brewer's Regi-
ment. He died May 14, 1841, in his 86th. year.
Martin Rice, born March 17. 1757, was in the 8 months service,
in Holman's Co., and in Pollard's Co., Denny's Reg't., 1780.
He died in 1833, aged 76.
Asa Rice, born Mar. 12, 1742. A soldier in Maynard's Co.
from Apr. 3, to Nov. 30, 1759, when aged 17. From Shrews-
bury, in an expedition against the French and Indians. At
Lexington Alarm, 1775, and a Captain 1777, in Col. Job.
Cushing's Reg't. at Bennington. Made returns Sept. 14, 1778,
of men under his command, as Captain from Shrewsbury. Sub-
sequently was Major and Colonel of 6th. Reg't., 7th Division,
Mass. Militia, and 16 years Selectman. Died Aug. 4, 1823, in
his 82nd. year.
Jacob Rice, born Apr. 21, 1784, was a Lieutenant Colonel;
Selectman and Representative and died at Sudbury, 1833.
Nahum Rice, born Mar. 16, 1757. A soldier of the Revolution.
72
Summary of Services of Nahum Rice, as stated on Military
Rolls, Smith's Co., 13th. Regt. 46 Months, 21 Days. He died
Sept. 29, 1831, on his 75th. year.
Elisha Rice, born Apr. 4, 1756. Was a Soldier of the Rev.
and engaged in several battles, in one of which he was wounded
in the head, and from his shattered skull thirteen pieces of bone
were extracted. His revolutionary services as summed up on
the Military Rolls, were "45 months, 5 days, in the Light
Infantry." He died in 1811, in his 56th. year.
Joseph Rice, born Apr. 7, 1760. Was in the 5th. Division, 6
months men from Northboro, July 6, 1780, and in March, 1781,
in Brigham's Co., Cushing's Regiment from Northboro. He
was in service also in 1778 and was a Rev. Pensioner, died Sept.
11, 1826, in his 67th year.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE, born Aug. 30, 1818, Union
College, 1844. Mayor of Boston, 1855-57. Member of Con-
gress 4 terms, serving from Dec. 5, 1859 to March 3rd, 1867.
Delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868.
Governor of Mass, in 1876-77-78. Died 22nd July, 1895, aged
77.
Americus V. Rice, born Nov. 18th, 1735. Union College 1860.
Lieutenant and Captain in Civil War, afterwards reenlisted and
became Lieut. Colonel ; fought in Sherman's campaigns in Gen.
Hazen's division. Brig. Gen. 31 May, 1865, and mustered out
15th Jan., 1866. Elected to Congress in 1874 and re-elected
1876.
BENJ. FRANKLIN RICE, May 26, 1828, was Presidential Elec-
tor, from Ky., 1856. Moved to Minnesota in 1860 and enlisted
in the National Army in 1861. Captain in 3d. Minn, infantry
till 1864. Removed to Arkansas and was the Organizer of the
Republican party in that state in 1867. Elected U. S. Senator,
and served from June 3, 1868, to Mar. 3, 1873.
Harvey Rice, born June 11,1 800. Graduated Williams College
and removed to Ohio in 1824. In 1828 purchased and pub-
ished "The Independent News Letter," now known as "The
Cleveland Plain Dealer." In 1830 was the first Democrat ever
elected to the Legislature from Cleveland, O. In 1851 elected
to the State Senate and was author of the bill for the re-organi-
zation of the Common-school System of Ohio. Received the
degree of LL.D. from Williams College in 1871. Was com-
73
monly known as "Father of the School System of Ohio." Poet
and Author, wrote "Mt. Vernon and Other Poems," pub. 1864 ;
"Nature and Culture," "Boston 1875," "Pioneers of the West-
ern Reserve" (1882), "Select Poems" (1885), and "Sketches of
Western Life," (1888). Hon. Harvey Rice was a brother-in-
law of Reuben Wood, Gov. of Ohio. He died in Cleveland,
Ohio, in 1891 in his 92d. year.
HENRY M. RICE, born Nov. 29, 1816. Emigrated to Mich.
1835, and to Fort Snelling (then in Iowa Territory) in 1839.
In Aug. 1847 was U. S. Commissioner in making a treaty with
the Ojibway Indians at Fond du Lac. Settled in St. Paul,
Minn., in 1849 and elected a delegate to Congress in 1853, and
again in 1855. Framed and introduced the bill for a State
Constitution, preparatory to the admission of Minnesota into
the Union. Elected to the United States Senate, serving from
May 11, 1858, to March 3rd, 1863. A delegate to the National
Union Convention at Philad. in 1866.
He was a Founder of Bayfield, Wisconsin, and of Munising,
Michigan ; and gave Rice Park to the City of St. Paul. Died
in San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 15th., 1894, aged 78.
James Clay Rice, born in Mass. Dec. 27th, 1829. Yale 1854.
Entered Civil War and became Adjutant and Captain and, on
the organization of the 44th N. Y. Reg. was Lieutenant Colonel.
Soon became its Col. and led it in the battles of Yorktown;
Hanover Court House; Gaine's Mill; Malvern Hill; Manas-
sas ; Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg he
commanded a brigade. Commissioned, for service at Gettysburg,
a Brig. Gen'l. of Vol. Aug. 17, 1863. Killed in Battle near
Spottsylvania Court House, Va.. Mav 11, 1864.
Samuel Allen Rice, born Jan 27, 1828. Union College 1849.
In 1856 elected Attorney Gen. of Iowa, and re-elected in '58.
Entered the National Army as Col. of the 33d. Iowa Vol.
Commissioned Aug. 10, 1862. For bravery at Helena, Ark., he
was promoted Brigadier General, of volunteers on 4th. Aug.,
1863. Mortally wounded 30th. Apr., 1864.
Elliott Warren Rice, brother of above, born 16th. Nov., 1835.
Enlisted in National Army and rose to rank of Brigadier Gen.
Commissioned 20th. June, 1864. Commanded a brigade in
Gen. John M. Corse's division in Carolinas and was in Gen.
Sherman's Campaigns in Georgia. He was brevetted Major
General 13th. March, 1865.
74
MARY A. RICE LIVERMORE, (dau. of Timothy Rice) (Line of
Edw. Rice) b. Dec. 19, 1820, has the best Civil War record of
any woman in the U. S. with the single exception of Clara
Barton, who is her kinswoman and also a descendant of Deacon
Edmund Rice. Mary Ashton Rice married, May 6, 1845, Rev.
Daniel P. Livermore of Maiden, Mass. All Livermores are
descendants of Deacon Rice, they having intermarried since the
1st. settlement in Mass. Mrs. Livermore edited a paper for
12 yrs. before the Civil War and in 1862 was appointed an
Agent of the U. S. Sanitary Commission. She traveled exten-
sively in this work and organized the Sanitary Fair in Chicago
and raised nearly $100,000, for the Association. She obtained
the original draft of the Emancipation Proclamation from Presi-
dent Lincoln, which she sold for $3,000, for the same purpose.
She was a Hospital Nurse during the war, for account of which,
see her book entitled "My Story of the War." After the close
of the War she became a lecturer of note. At a time when the
Lyceum Bureau was at the height of its popularity she was one
of the four lecturers who were most in demand ; the other three
being men. For many years she spoke 5 nights in the week, for
5 months in the year, travelling 25,000 miles annually. She
was long known as "Queen of the American Platform." She
died May 23, ,1905, aged 84 years plus.
CLARA BARTON, born in Oxford, Mass. Dec. 25, 1821. 7th.
generation from Deacon Edmund Rice, was, in 1864 appointed
by Gen. B. F. Butler, "Lady in charge" of the Hospitals at the
front of the Army of the James. In 1865 she was placed, by
Pres. Lincoln, in charge of the search for the missing men of
the Union Armies. She lectured in 1866-67 on her War experi-
ences and then went abroad for her health. At the beginning
of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1870, she assisted the Grand
Dutchess of Baden in the preparation of Military Hospitals.
At the close of the War she was decorated with the Golden
Cross of Baden and the Iron Cross of Germany. In 1881 she
became the first President of the American Red Cross Society.
She was a delegate to the International Peace Conference at
Geneva in 1884, and a Commissioner for foreign exhibits at the
New Orleans Exhibition. In 1883, by request of the Senate
Committee on foreign relations, she prepared a "History of the
Red Cross," which was published at the expense of the U. S.
Government.
75
Miss Barton, now nearing her 90th. year, lives near Washing-
ton, D. C., and is keenly alive to all the affairs of the Nation as
well as to the affairs of the Foreign Governments under which
she has played so important a part.
76
"WHOM THE GODS LOVE, DIE YOUNG."
"For why should youth and beauty in the grave lie
low?"
Henry Rice. Died Feb. 10, 1710, aged 93.
Edward Rice. Died Aug. 15, 1812, aged 93.
Mathew Rice. Died 1717, aged 90.
Martha Rice. Died 1720, aged 91.
Ephraim Pratt m. Martha Rice d. aged 116 yrs. 5 mo. 22 dys.
See Timothy Dwight's Travels, Vol. 2. Page 358.
He was born Nov. 1st, 1687. Died May 22nd, 1804.
Ephraim and Martha Pratt had 4 sons who lived to be over
90 years of age; and 2 daughters who were between 80 and
90 years old.
Mary Rice. Died Feb. 1804, aged 99.
Thos. Rice. Died Dec. 1768, aged 94.
Peter Rice. Died Nov. 28th, 1753, aged 95.
Gershom Rice died Dec. 19th, 1768, aged 101 yrs. 7 mos.
Gershom Rice was one of his parents.
14 children, of whom, except 2 who died in infancy, all lived to
a great age, Peter was 97 ; Thomas 94 ; Mary 80 ; Nathaniel 70 ;
Ephraim 71 ; James 72; Sarah 80; Frances 96; Jonas 84; Grace
95 ; Elisha 60 ;
The aggregate age of the 12 children being 1000 years.
Nathaniel Rice. Died July 19, 1811, aged 96.
Mehitabell (his wife). Died 1809, aged 90.
Mary Rice. Died Dec. 1766, aged 95.
Hannah Rice. Died June 6th, 1766, aged 93.
Richard Rice. Died June 9th, 1709, aged 100.
Jonathan Rice. Died June 7th, 1772, aged 92.
Anne (his wife). Died Dec. 23, 1773, aged 92.
Patience Rice. Died Jan. 2nd, 1796, aged 94.
Hannah Rice. Died 1822, aged 95.
Margaret Rice. Died 1794, aged 91.
Lydia Rice. Died Jan. 1832, aged 96.
77
Lydia Rice. Died Jan. 1793 aged 92.
Elisha Rice. Died March 10th, 1789, aged 99.
Martha (his wife). Died 1785, aged 90.
Cyprian Rice. Died Nov. 1788, aged 95.
Elizabeth Rice. Died 1801, aged 91.
Gershom Rice. Died 1829, aged 93.
Mary Rice. Died 1803, aged 97.
Reuben Rice. Died 26th, 1826, aged 94.
Elijah Rice. Died March, 1818, aged 97.
Susanna Rice. Died Dec. 17, 1823, aged 92.
Seth Rice. Died 1796, aged 91.
Dorothy Rice (his wife). Died June, 1801, aged 93.
Mary Rice. Died May 18, 1790, aged 91.
Josiah Rice. Died 1792, aged 92.
Submit Rice. Died 1849, aged 91.
Dinah Rice. Died Sept. 6th, 1818, aged 92.
Sylvanus Rice. Died 1819, aged 91.
Thomas Rice. Died Oct. 28th, 1840, aged 93.
Mary Rice. Died Dec. 1841, aged 92.
Ashur Rice. Died 1823, aged 93.
Stephen Rice. Died 1831, aged 95.
Hepzibah Rice. Died 1854, aged 91.
Esther Rice. Died Dec. 29, 1755, aged 93.
Ruth Rice. Died Feb. 12th, 1837, aged 91.
Ezekiel Rice. Died Jan. 23, 1835, aged 93.
Copiah Rice. Died March 25, 1844, aged 98.
Charles Rice. Died 1848, aged 90.
Israel Rice. Died 1833, aged 91.
Uriah Rice. Died Sept. 22, 1850, aged 94.
Mary (his wife). Died 1855, aged 93.
Asa Rice. Died 1847, aged 91.
Martin Rice. Died July 17, 1841, aged 92.
Rachel Rice. Died 1858, aged 96.
Aaron Rice. Died 1856, aged 92.
Abigail Rice. Died Apr. 6, 1837, aged 90.
Prudence Rice. Died Jan. 23, 1836, aged 92.
William Rice. Died 1854, aged 95.
Hannah Rice. Died 1856, aged 90.
Jemima Rice. Died Feb. 14, 1855, aged 97.
Eber Rice. Died June 11, 1853, aged 90.
Mary Rice Richardson. Died Oct. 25, 1798, aged 105.
78
Hon. Harvey Rice. Died Nov. 6, 1891, aged 92.
Nancy (Rice) Walker. Died April 11, 1904, aged 92.
Nancy Rice. Died Plymouth, Mass., aged 101 yr. 9 mo.
Sophia Rice. Died Los Angeles, Cal., 1909, aged 99.
Mary Mason Rice, Mt. Vernon, Ohio, now (1911) aged 91.
79
ICE FAMILY GRADUATES OF
HARVARD AND OTHER
UNIVERSITIES
Caleb Rice, Dec. 13, 1712, H. U. 1730.
David Goddard, Rev. born 1706, H. U. 1731.
Amariah Frost, son of Elizabeth Rice, Oct. 4, 1720, H. U. 1740.
Caleb Rice, May 7, 1740, H. U. 1764.
Noah Rice, Sept. 10, 1751, H. U. 1777.
Nathan Rice, Aug. 2, 1754, H. U. 1773.
Jesse Rice, May 25, 1751, H. U. 1772.
Isaac Stone, Son of Rachel Rice, Mar. 6, 1748, H. U. 1770.
Merrick Rice, Feb. 19, 1765, H. U. 1785.
Jacob Rice, Nov. 27, 1740, H. U. 1765.
Luther Rice, March 25, 1783, Williams College 1810.
Ebenezer Rice, Dr. Jan. 2, 1733, H. U. 1760.
Asaph Rice, May 9, 1733, H. U. 1752.
Asapah Rice, Feb. 17, 1777, H. U. 1799.
Thomas Rice, June 9, 1782, Yale 1803.
Benj. Rice, May 11, 1749, H. U. 1773.
Thomas Rice, Nov. 27, 1734, H. U. 1756.
Thos., his Son, Mar. 30, 1769, H. U. 1791.
Benjamin Rice, July 8, 1774, H. U. 1796.
Charles Rice, Nov. 28, 1781, H. U. 1797, died '99.
Caleb Rice, Dec. 5, 1784, H. U. 1803.
Samuel Rice, 1795, H. U. 1816.
Geo. Shattuck, son of Mary Rice, Dartmouth Col. 1 839.
Jonas L. Sibley, Son of Lydia Rice, Brown Col. 1813.
John J. Sibley, Son of Lydia Rice, Brown College, 1815.
Clough R. Miles, Son of Elizabeth C. Rice, b. 1796, H. U. 1817
Asa Miles, Dartmouth College, 1787.
Geo. E. Rice, July 10, 1822, H. U. 1842.
John Paine m. Sally Rice, H. U. 1799.
John F. Ware m. Caroline Rice, H. U. 1838.
80
Nathan Payson Rice, May 26, 1828, H. U. 1849. (A Grand
Son of Hon. Levi Lincoln, Sec. War.)
Gamaliel Bradford, m. Sophia Rice, H. U. 1814.
Henry G. Rice, Feb. 18, 1784, H. U. 1802.
William B. Rice, H. U. 1843.
John G. Coffin, m. Elizabeth Rice, H. U. 1811.
Henry Rice Coffin, Nov. 10, 1810, H. U. 1830.
Augustus Warren Wbipple, Son of Martha M. Rice, born
1824, H. U. 1849.
Caleb Rice, born 1792, Williams Col. 1814.
Spencer Trask, born 1844, Princeton 1866.
Josiah Rutter, m. Abigail E. Rice, H. U. 1833.
George Rice, Sept. 28, 1839, Yale 1857.
Lorenzo P. Blood, Son of Hannah Rice, 1824, Amherst 1846.
Freeman Parker, born July 13, 1776, married Rebecca Rice,
H. U. 1797.
Geo. F. Farley, married Lucy R. Rice, H. U. 1816.
James Clay Rice, Dec. 27, 1829, Yale 1854.
Harvey Rice, born June 11, 1800, Williams College, 1824.
Americus V. Rice, Nov. 18, 1835, Union College 1860.
Gov. Alexander H. Rice, Aug 30, 1818, Union College 1844.
81
Thus Endeth the Record of the Sapient and Militant
Deacon Edmund Rice, The Pilgrim, to whom the Lord
added much Posterity and Great Length of Days.
Done by the Deacon's 6th. Great Grand Son Chas.
Elmer Rice, Antiquarian and Genealogist.
1910—1911.
See next Page
82
"ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL."
A Romance, in Two Chapters, Copied Verbatim from
the Letters in Possession of the Author.
Chapter 1.
New York July 25 1794
Dear Betsey
After I Left your Farthers My Mind Was
not att Pease the Eyeidea of Being Absent from
you for three or fouer Months Was Sufisshent to
Make me Misrable for that Time if that Was all
But the Unsertenty of My Ever Seing you again
Was and is still Wors But I Hope in God That if
We ever Meate Again that we shall not Part as
We Did then the Little Time that I was with you
Was the Happyist Days of My Life — But the
Situation that We Parted in Has Mad Me Mis-
rable Ever Sense and Had You the Least feling
for Ahart that is Bound up in you — you Wold not
Delay My Happynis Eney Longer But Comply to
the Wishes of your Lover And frind Tild Death"
Signed "Thomas Hart-"
Miss Betsey Rice
N. B. Give My Love to your Sisters.
T.
83
Chapter 2.
New York June 30 1795,
Dear Betsey
These Will lett you no that I am
Well Which I Hope that they May find You and
Little Abby thrue the Blessing of God
The Vessel that I Expected to go to Sea in
Had Sailed Before I Arived But I Have Partley
Agread to go to Sea in the Schooner Presadent
Belonging To Mr. Ogden of New York and Do
Expect to Go to Sum Part of Hispaoley (Prob-
ably "Hispanola,") But Shall Wright you More
Perticulers Before I Sail.
Give my Duty to Dady and Mamma and Love to
Brothers and Sisters from Your Loveing Husband
Tild Death
Thomas Hart
Mrs. Betsey Hart
Killingworth, Conn,
Per Captn. Buell, Sloop Sally.
84
University of California
SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388
Return this material to the library
from which it was borrowed.
A 000 034 709 6
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11