Welcome, New Members!

Tyler Joshua Rice KS

Gordon Rice OH

Rita V. O'Connell MA

Beverly J. Pelkey VA

Armine M. Cooper MA

Sandra A. Mills MA

Eleanor E. Andrus MA

Jean O'Hara MA

Suzanne Kadiff MA

Glendon Todd CO

Past Presidents

1960-1963           Frederick R. Rice
1964-1965           William H. Hoeffler
1966-1967           Ray Lowther Ellis
1968                    Edgar W. Rice
1969                    Erwin R. McLaughlin
1970-1973           Col. Allan F. Rice
1974                    Margaret E. Allen
1975                    Charles W. Rice
1976                    Seaver W. Rice
1977-1978           Henry E. Rice, Jr.
1979-1980           C. Whiting Rice
1981-1982           William H. Drury
1983                    Patricia P. MacFarland
1984-1985           Janice R. Parmenter
1986-1987           Margaret S. Rice
1988-1989           Alex W. Snow
1990-1993           John S. Bates
1994                    Alex W. Snow
1995-1997           Frederick H. Rice

Text Box: Memorial Gifts

Consider donating to the Edmund Rice Association in memory of a loved one.

Website Update

Soon we’ll be updating the website to add the capability of new members signing up and paying their initial dues through PayPal. Do you have ideas for improving our website? Let us know!

Genetic Genealogy
by George W. King

How can the Y-DNA project help me? My surname is not Rice!

There has been a lot of interest in our association about the Rice surname DNA project. What, you ask, if my surname is not Rice! Darn, you comment, I am female and don't have a Y chromosome! While we are very proud of the Rice surname DNA project, there is very likely a surname project for your surname. If there is no project for your surname, you and like-minded cousins should start one. But that's for another article.

Let's begin with why you might want to participate in a surname project. You have your surname line back into the 19th or late 18th century and you have hit a brick wall. You want to find surname cousins who might have additional information or who might want to share the additional research. We all want to share our research efforts with others.

In our Rice surname project there are nine distinct southern Rice families who trace their ancestors to the late 18th or early 19th century in Virginia or North Carolina using conventional genealogy. That's where they hit their brick wall. With the Y-DNA information we put members of each family group in contact with one another so that they can collaborate on additional research. They can and do share information about more recent generations too. Just last month two close cousins were swapping stories about their parents and grandparents. The cousins had never met one another but had almost identical family stories from their parents to share.

Darn! I am female! Do you have a living father, brother or son of a deceased brother? Are you willing to sponsor his Y-DNA test? We have several Rice females who have sponsored their father or brother. It is your surname challenge just as much as it is your brother's challenge. Do not let your gender dissuade you.

How do I get started? There are a small number of commercial companies who do the Y-DNA test. Our association uses Family Tree DNA for the Rice surname project. Family Tree DNA is an excellent place to begin: www.ftdna.com. Look for a surname project for your surname. Y-DNA sampling and reporting is now quite standard so results from one lab can be compared with a cousin's results from another lab. See www.ysearch.org for sharing results from different labs.

Tests are offered for 12, 25, 37, and 59 markers on the Y chromosome. The 12-marker test costs about $150 if no group discount exists, and about $100 to surname groups. The 25-marker test is available only to surname groups and costs about $150. Hopefully you can join an existing surname project. Our experience with the Rice project tells us that the 12-marker test may not have enough to discriminate among families. Therefore, where a surname project exists, we recommend that you opt for the 25-marker test.

The test sample is a painless brushing of a few cells from the inside of your cheek. Bob Rice and I observed our Kanawake Mohawk cousin, Michael Rice, do this painless procedure when he attended our annual reunion in the year 2004. You cannot believe how thrilled we were to confirm that we share a common ancestry with members of this great First Nation people of Canada. You will experience similar excitement as you uncover your family history.

Database Update
by George W. King
Historian, Edmund Rice (1638) Association

Since September 2005 we have added recent generations for fifteen cousins to our association master database. These include submissions from: Leta Olson, Bonnie Robillard, Barbara O'Neil, Dell Rice, Pat Lesley, Sarah Glidden, Henry Trombley, David Ewing, Arthur Young, Lois Morlock, Bob Spofford, Barbara Hill, Virginia Butz, Dana Cobb, Bonnie Wiley.

With volunteer help from several cousins who offered to enter information from paper records, we are working on a backlog of records submitted in paper copy. Some are included in the above list. We continue to encourage you to submit your information in genealogy computer program format as data entry is very time consuming and error prone.

The board of directors has again approved the sale of a CD of the first nine generations of Edmund Rice descendants. The CD is in web page format that is very easy to use and navigate from generation to generation. The fall 2006 CD will include information from the above cousins as well as several thousand updates provided by our own John Chandler.

Are your recent ancestors in our master database? Questions: contact George King or John Chandler

Volunteers Needed

Your association has several excellent paper genealogies from members who do not use a personal computer. Because the computer database is now our primary way of tracking Edmund Rice descendants, we need to add these records to our computer database. If you are willing to enter one or two of these genealogies into the computer database of any good genealogy computer program, please contact George King at: gking5@cox.net or John Chandler at: john.chandler@alum.mit.edu or talk with them at the annual reunion. We will help you get started and give encouragement and support.

Nine-Generation Rice Database Available on CD

Your Board of Directors (BoD) agreed that we would offer the nine-generation report and database to our members. The BoD approved a charge of $10 postpaid for a CD-ROM containing both documents. Please order from Bill Drury, our book custodian. The BoD placed three caveats on the distribution of these documents:

1) The information is copyrighted by the Edmund Rice (1638) Association and is restricted to the personal use of association members.

2) The CDs will be available only to association members who agree to its terms of use.

3) The association master database is an ongoing effort. We expect to add an additional 25,000 names and 20,000 updates during the next three years for generations six and more recent generations. This CD-ROM represents our database effort as of September 2006.

Meet the Ancestors

Featured photos, lineages, and brief histories or anecdotes about our members’ ancestors. Share your ancestors! Photos welcome.

This newsletter we follow Roy Rice from Nebraska, where he was born, to South Dakota, where he died at age Text Box: 104. Enjoy his reminiscences of homesteading life back in simpler times. Spelling and punctuation retained from original.

Roy George Rice (Nov 19, 1901 to Dec 13, 2005)

by Kathy (Rice) Hoeppner

Roy was the son of George (9 Mar 1869–8 Mar 1931) & Mary (Ludwick) Rice. George’s father was James Austin Rice (21 Sep 1824-11 Oct 1921), son of Comfort Rice (11 May 1798-9 Sep 1869), son of Darius Rice (2 Nov 1766-1799), son of Comfort Rice (10 Aug 1729-Aug 1816), son of Gershom Rice (c1696-24 Sep 1781) son of Gershom Rice (9 May 1667-19 Dec 1768) son of Thomas Rice, son of Edmund Rice. The following is excerpted from an article written by Roy Rice given to Kathy Hoeppner by Doug Schueths, who has done a lot of Rice family history; living in Winner S.D. 1992.

Roy was Kathy Hoeppner’s Grandpa’s (John Daniel Earl Rice) cousin. Their dads were brothers, George and Charles, and their Grandfather was James Austin Rice. Kathy remembers meeting Roy at her Grandpa’s when he was alive, years ago.

From "LIFE STORY OF ROY RICE WRITTEN IN 1983"

"I was born November 19, 1901 to George and Mary (Ludwick) Rice, who lived on a rented farm two miles east and a half mile north of Orchard, Nebraska. Then in 1902 they moved to town for a short time. In 1903 they bought a quarter section of land two miles east of town on what was later Highway #20, which they improved quite well and where we grew up and attended rural school, which was a mile and half east of our place.

I rode a blind Morgan pacer horse to school some days as we had a barn at the rural schoolhouse. One noon I rode him to a neighbors place to get some water, he stepped in a hole - off I went over his head - then he come on and stepped on me skinning and bruising be up pretty bad. We depended on horses for farming and transportation, too, in those days. We generally had one or two horses for riding or driving - were real proud we got a new two-seat spring wagon and could go to church on Sundays in town. My Dad would sometimes stay home while the rest of us went to Church, and have a good dinner ready when we got back. He could bake a good cake - not from a package either. He was a good cook too.

There were six of us boys so we had some pretty good fights. So Dad in order to keep us from getting bruised up too bad bought a couple pairs of boxing gloves and saw to it we put them on till we cooled off. We played a lot of baseball in school and out. Each of us had certain chores to do. Some of us would take care of the horses and some would help Dad with the milking while Mother got breakfast. She was quite provoked when she caught us playing ball behind the barn while Dad was milking and she was waiting on us to come to eat.

In those early years on the farm we would take some of the earliest picked corn to the Hering Mill to have it ground for corn meal. Also wheat, which the miller would take out so much for making flour. We would come home with flour and corn meal that would last most of the year. I helped rebuild the washed out Hering Mill race in 1918.

We attended High School in Orchard, walked or jogged it each day two miles, which kept us in good condition. Had good baseball and basketball teams - took second place in our class in the Lincoln tournament one year. Then I played with the Norfolk Business College one season. In 1921 I had to miss a year of school as my oldest brother, Clarence, was finishing Medical School and I was needed at home to help with the farm work. My folks had to sell one quarter of land that year to help him through school and to pay costly doctor bills for my brother, Lewis, who died his eleventh year.

After finishing High School in 1922, I worked at home and for a near neighbor for three years. It was a pleasure to work for Mr. Smythe as he had big spirited horses and good equipment and I could do good fieldwork. He remarked to my Dad that he could take his rifle and shoot the tassel off every stalk of corn in an eighty-rod row. I think he exaggerated somewhat. I attended the Norfolk Business College in 1922, which helped me considerable in later life.

On July 19, 1925 Oma Lushbough and I, who had been going together for two or three years, decided we could tolerate each other on a permanent basis so we were married in her home on a very hot Sunday afternoon between two Chautauqua programs. The next day we cut cockleburs out of the cornrows. (Some honeymoon!) We lived with Oma's sister, Hazel, in Orchard driving to the farm most every day till spring. Then my Mother, who had (with her sister) inherited Grandpa Ludwick's quarter section of land west of Colome, S.D., near McNeely Grove, decided to buy her Sister's share if we would move on the place. So we agreed to give it a try.

Grandpa Ludwick was a Civil War veteran and drew number for allotment when the area was opened up for settlement. He raised purebred horses on the farm, and he would spend the winter months with my Mother and her sister till spring opened up, then go back to the farm. He was injured in the War, and had a hunch on his side from bayonet charge. He had Rheumatism, which I massaged with olive oil each night before his going to bed.

We pioneered to the farm near McNeely Townsite, which had been laid out for a town and had started business places, but they were soon abandoned when the railroad was rerouted to get to Winner direct from Colome. We had very little to start with - a team of horses, four milk cows that I led behind the flat rack from Orchard. Got along good until I would come to a bridge - then the cows would balk and I would have to nearly drag them across. Made the 135 miles in five days. Oma drove up in the Model T coupe - took her about 5 hours as the roads were not surfaced then and pretty sandy between Spencer and O'Neill. There was a creek just about a block south of the house on the farm. So we plowed up a garden spot between the house and the creek and raised all kinds of vegetables and potatoes and sold some.

Soon after we arrived at the farm, friends of Oma's parents came out from Dallas, S.D. to help us get settled. He was a carpenter. We decided to move the outhouse to a different location so put skids under it and hitched the gentlest horse to it, and when he saw that coming behind him, he got so scared he reared up and come over backward landing on the harness dead as a doornail. I didn't know horses had heart attacks. There we were with only one horse and he couldn't pull the dead one away so we had to borrow a horse from a neighbor, which we later bought. Neighbors were real helpful in those early days. Especially the Spark's family, who lived less than a mile from us, and helped us so much in getting started. The grasshopper scourge and the black cloud dust storm days were a real challenge to us and most everyone else. But we came through and had better times soon.

Our three children attended the country school, which was a couple of miles from home. They had good teachers, who were paid 40 to 60 dollars a month, and were paid in warrants which were discounted if they could find a buyer. I served on the school board, Township board, and was Township assessor one year while on the farm. In the McNeely area there is a lot of sub-irrigated land. So we got stuck many times before we learned where we could go and where we couldn't.

The four milk cows bought most of our groceries till fall. Then we cut hay early and took one load to Gregory at $20.00 a ton. Then later baled some more and sent it down to the drayman there. Hay and pasture were good in that area. We baled hay most every year. Some going to Fort Robinson for Calvary horses, and one year we shipped several carloads to a dairy in Indiana. We put up a couple hundred tons of hay each year as we were able to rent three more quarters adjoining ours. We soon got into the dairy business, starting with those four cows. We sold cream the first years. Still talk of the time we took a 5 gallon can of cream to Winner, got $3.33 for the cream, went over to the Outlaw Store, and groceries for the week came to exactly $3.33. No tax in those early days.

After a few years we built up our dairy herd to 25 to 30 head. So sold bulk milk to Sawyer's Dairy, and sweet cream to Rawsons Ice Cream Plant, which they used for ice cream bars. Bad roads gave us trouble in the winter. One whole week when it snowed so much we couldn't get to town because of drifted roads, we had to dump the milk. Soon after pheasants were introduced to our area, we had some real good hunting seasons. No restrictions like now. Our relatives would come and we would have meat for most of the winter. That soon became commercialized and spoiled for the local people.

The government had a ranch program after the dust storm and depression days which we were reluctant to try for, but were persuaded to try for it. We had the minimum of 640 acres in our unit, which met the requirements as explained to us. So when fall came and others were getting their checks, I went in to find out about ours. They said we had not qualified as we needed a building site in addition to the 640 acres. Farm programs had no appeal to us after that.

For recreation we had house dances and card parties, which were usually on Saturday nights, and sometimes lasted till the wee hours. We went to the Methodist Church in Colome. Then after church the kids really liked to go to Thompsons Drug Store for ice cream sundaes, then to a ball game.

We lost our first child in 1926, then another in 1928. Doctor Carmack was our Doctor and Mable Read was his nurse then. Our other three children, Bernard born in 1927, Doreen in 1929, and Leona in 1931, all enjoyed their early years on the farm. In the fall of 1943 we decided to move to Winner, leaving the farm mainly because of school as the three children would soon be in High School. I kept my tractor and haying machinery and did custom work and farmed a little. Then took a part-time job as City Assessor, which lasted seven years.

In 1949 our son, Bernard, who was 21 years old and was getting started in the trucking business, was killed in an airplane accident near Bonesteel. He had flown to Sioux City for truck repairs and as it was getting dark he decided to land in Bonesteel and come on home on the morning. When getting ready to come on home, he struck a power line and the plane exploded and he was badly burned. That was a sad event in our family as he left Catherine, his wife, and Helen, a daughter, and son, Alan, who was born soon after that.

In 1947 I started a lumberyard in east Winner, known as Gilbert of Winner, sold lower grades of lumber, then branched off into the oil business. In 1955, when the County Assessment law went into effect, as I had been City Assessor, the County Board persuaded me to stay on as County Assessor. It was a rough job that year setting up the system with insufficient help and small budget. I refused the second year so they hired Mr. Fawkes from Madison, S.D., who stayed on three or four years till his health failed and he passed away. The Commissioners called me in again in 1960, and I was in the office for eleven years, then decided to retire. That got rather boresome, so I took part-time work inspecting bridges for the County the next summer. In 1973 the nursing home, which is just across the road from us, needed a maintenance man. I advanced in that job to Superintendent of seating arrangements, which was still fixing toilet seats. There are many things to keep in working order, and after 8 years there, I retired again. Now have two apartments which I look after when the Gregors are gone, as they travel quite a lot since they leased out the home in 1981.

We have been Senior Citizens since 1973, and have been on the official board most of the time since, and have been on the State Board several years in different capacities. Helped build the new Senior Center in 1975-76. Attend most of the activities there - pool, cards and parties. Also try to have a good garden. We still like to dance and try to hit the waltzes and polkas. We visited most of our relatives this year 1983."

Article taken from the "Omaha World Herald" Sunday May 30, 1999

School's Senior Senior Marks Town's Changes

BY TODD VON KAMPEN, WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

"It's a rare year when Roy Rice doesn't go home to Orchard, Neb., for the all-class reunion at the school where he met his wife and had a role in the school's best run at a state basketball championship - both 77 years ago. He's planning to be there again today after a two-year absence. But the 97-year-old Rice, who left Antelope County for South Dakota in 1926, isn't sure he likes the idea of being Orchard High School's oldest living graduate.

"I think I will (enjoy it), but I'll probably be disappointed that there won't be anyone from my class," Rice said from his home in Winner, S.D. "The last time I went, there were only three, and the other two were ill and weren't able to come."

His daughter and son-in-law, Leona and Richard Jacobs, will drive from Sioux City, Iowa, to pick him up. But Rice doesn't need much help otherwise. He lives on his own - his wife, Oma, died five years ago - and gets around without a cane despite some knee trouble.

"When you get my age, you live moderately," he said. "You don't go to any extremes."

Rice has always been resilient, said Richard Jacobs, who remembers finding him "sitting up watching basketball" right after open-heart surgery in 1991 in Sioux Falls, S.D. He described his father-in-law as "what we used to refer to as a gentleman" - someone who always speaks softly and never has used a swear word.

"If everybody was like Roy, we'd have a lot less trouble in the world," Jacobs said.

Rice probably will be recognized as Orchard High's oldest graduate during the 60th annual alumni banquet tonight, said event organizer Kay Williamson. About 265 people were expected to come from as far away as California and Hawaii for the event, which included informal get-togethers Friday and Saturday.

The reunion lets Rice measure changes in the county where the family of his father, George W. Rice, settled in 1882 after moving from Iowa. Roy was born Nov. 19, 1901, on a rented farm two miles east and one-half mile north of Orchard. Two years later, the family bought a nearby 160-acre farm along current U.S. Highway 20, where Rice grew up. He wrote in a 1983 family history about riding a blind Morgan pacer horse 1-1/2 miles to school, playing baseball when he and his five brothers should have been milking, and taking corn and wheat to the Hering Mill for grinding.

He was 20 years old when he finally graduated from Orchard High. He nearly was pulled away by World War I, but the war ended eight days before his 17th birthday. He missed a year of school so his brother Clarence could finish medical school, then another year when brother Lewis got sick and died at age 11. Roy couldn't be spared from the farm. But Rice's senior year of 1921-22 was full of memories. He played center on Orchard's basketball team, which went to the state tournament in Lincoln that year and rolled through three rounds of the Class M bracket, downing Grant, Creston and Orleans.

"We thought we had a cinch on winning first place," he said. But Ashland stopped Orchard's run, winning the final, 11-8.

That was the year that Rice met a new classmate, Oma Lushbough, whose father had moved from Dallas, S.D., and set up a harness and shoe repair shop. Rice left for a semester at Norfolk Business College, then came back to the farm, finding time to go to Oma's house for Sunday dinner and partake of her mother's apple pies. He and Oma married July 19, 1925, and decided a year later to take over the South Dakota homestead that Rice's maternal grandfather claimed after the Civil War.

They raised cows and hay and had five children, three of whom lived to adulthood. One of those three, Bernard, died in 1949 at age 21 when the plane he was flying struck a power line near Bonesteel, S.D. Rice has 11 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.

He remains a fixture at the Tripp County Senior Citizens Center, which he helped build and where he eats meals and occasionally shoots pool. And he stays in touch with the world by reading - "Reader's Digest, big print, that's my favorite" - and watching C-SPAN "from 8 o'clock in the morning to 10 at night," as son-in-law Jacobs put it.

"If it wasn't for my TV and reading, I don't know what I'd do," Rice said. "Probably go nuts."

Winner Advocate News dated Dec. 21, 2005 from Winner S.D.

Roy George Rice

Roy Rice, age 104, of Winner, SD, passed away Tuesday, December 13, 2005, at the Winner Regional Nursing Home. Funeral services for Roy Rice were held on Saturday, December 17, 2005, at the United Methodist Church, in Winner. Burial was in the Winner Cemetery.

Roy George Rice was born November 19, 1901, in Orchard, NE, to George Washington and Mary Alice (Ludwick) Rice. He grew up on a farm near Orchard, NE, and attended rural school there and high school in Orchard. He attended business college in Norfolk, NE. Roy was united in marriage to Oma Lushbough on July 19, 1925, in Orchard, and the following spring, they moved to his grandfather Ludwick' s homestead, west of Colome, SD, near McNeely Township. Roy worked as a farmer from 1926 to 1945. He was the McNeely Township Assessor for one year and he managed the Gilbert Lumber Yard in 1945. Roy was the Winner City Assessor from 1946 to 1954 and from 1955 to 1956, he was the Tripp and Todd County Assessor and again from 1960 to 1971. In 1973, he inspected bridges for Tripp County and he was the maintenance man for the Nursing Home until 1981. Roy was a member of Senior Citizens since 1973 and had served on local, State boards and helped build the new center in 1975 and 1976. He enjoyed playing in the "Kitchen Band" as it was a real highlight for him. Roy loved dancing, big family gatherings and any special celebration. Roy was a member of the Colome United Methodist Church from 1926, until the family moved into Winner, in 1943. He then transferred his membership to the Winner United Methodist Church. He was an active and faithful member and he served on the Church Board in most all capacities. He led his family by example. Roy was the first resident at the Elder Inn, when they opened in the fall of 1999. He owes his extra long 104 years to the staffs dutiful attention and loving care. He is survived by two daughters: Doreen Hendrickson, of LeConnor, WA, and Leona Jacobs, of Altoona, IA; daughter-in-law, Catherine (Laurence) Ambur of Presho, SD; sisters-in-law: Lillian Lushbough, of Sturgis, SD; Almida Hester, of Whitewood, SD; and Esther Rice, of Stevens Point, WI; three grandsons, nine granddaughters, thirty great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren, along with many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Oma in 1994; brothers: Clarence, Alva, Floyd, Lester, Lewis and one sister Wilda; an infant daughter in 1926, infant son in 1928; one son Bernard Rice, in 1949; one granddaughter, Janna Hanson in 1974; one grandson Monte Benda in 1991; two great-granddaughters, Kalyn Large in 1985 and Kelly Lewton in 1986.

The Family Thicket, Part IX

by John Chandler

This is the latest in a series of articles attempting to convey some of the complex relationships among the descendants of Edmund Rice. Each article focuses on one early Massachusetts immigrant and his wife (or wives) and offspring, showing how most of them are connected by marriage to the extended Rice family within a few generations. Most (not quite all) of the people mentioned here are included in our Association’s database, but many of them are not shown in the on-line 5-generation descendancy report (soon to be 6 generations) because the latter focuses on Edmund Rice’s descendants and ventures only as far afield as their spouses and spouses’ parents.

John Moore was another early emigrant to Massachusetts who settled in Sudbury and had a large family (12 children, of whom 8 survived to adulthood). As such, his descendants today can be numbered in the millions, and it is almost a foregone conclusion that they have intermarried extensively with the descendants of Edmund Rice. John first appeared at Sudbury about 1642, after buying a house from Edmund Rice, but he may have arrived in Massachusetts earlier. There was a John Moore, aged 24, who sailed on the “Planter” from London in 1635. There was also a John Moore in the Artillery Company of Massachusetts in 1638. John has been tentatively identified from English records as having come from the town of Henham in Essex, where his first three children were born, and moved shortly after 1630 to Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire, where Edmund Rice then lived. John's first wife must have died about that time, since he married Elizabeth Rice (yes, Rice) in the parish of Little Gaddesden in 1633. It was long believed that John's wife was the daughter of Philemon Whale (also a settler of Sudbury), who referred in his will to a daughter Elizabeth Moore and her sons William, Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin. However, modern research has shown that she was instead his stepdaughter, the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Frost) Rice. Thus, we see one-and-a-half close connections to Edmund Rice from 1633 onward: John Moore's wife was the niece of Edmund's wife and may have been Edmund's niece as well. (Her father, Henry Rice, is thought by many to be an older brother of Edmund, based on circumstantial evidence.)

In any case, it would seem that, even if John Moore arrived in Massachusetts before Edmund Rice, it was Edmund who first settled in Sudbury and drew John there. However, John did not follow Edmund to Marlborough, but stayed in Sudbury, where he died in 1674. John's will of 1668 mentioned eight children, including two by his unknown first wife. (The Rice Family Supplement 2 Part 1 asserts that John's first wife was named Bridget, but does not supply evidence.) Some authorities say that John moved from Sudbury to the then-frontier town of Lancaster, or at least obtained a grant of land there, but his will makes it clear that John's eldest son was also named John and was the one living at Lancaster. We turn now to the children, three by the first wife and nine by the second.

1. Elizabeth (c1625-1705) married Henry² Rice (Edmund¹). It is an interesting coincidence that this Henry², who may have been the nephew of the first Henry Rice, should also have a wife named Elizabeth and that she happened to be the stepdaughter of the first Henry's widow.

2. John (1628?-1702) married Ann Smith and had a son Jonathan, among many other children. Jonathan in turn had three grandchildren who figure in this tale. The ERA database does not include John or Ann, but Jonathan is there in his capacity as father of three different database denizens (parents of the three following). (A) Isaac Moore married Mary⁶ Bigelow (Martha⁵ Brigham, Gershom⁴, Mary³ Rice, Henry², Edmund¹). (B) Olive Beaman married Joseph⁶ Bigelow, brother of Mary⁶. (C) Zerviah Houghton married Jonathan⁵ Wilder (Sarah⁴ White, Mary³ Rice, Thomas², Edmund¹).

3. Susan (1630-1630) died in infancy.

4. Anna (1634-?) probably died young, since nothing further is known.

5. Richard (c1636-1640) died young.

6. William (c1639-1688) may be connected to the Rice thicket, but I have not found any evidence that he had any children. The Sudbury vital records show no entries at all for William, except his death in 1688 (and even that is lacking in positive identification). There are too many Moores with common forenames who can be confused with one another.

7. Mary (c1641-1703) married Richard Ward and then Daniel Stone. Consequently, she is mentioned in the first Thicket article (about William Ward, Spring 2003), but I will repeat the links here. She had two Ward children who are caught in the thicket: Obadiah, whose son Richard married his second cousin Lydia⁴ Wheelock (Lydia³ Rice, Henry², Edmund¹), and Lydia, whose son Hezekiah Maynard married Tabitha⁵ How (Deliverance⁴ Rice, John³, Edward², Edmund¹). Mary also had two Stone daughters in this tangle: Sarah and Mary, who married two brothers, James³ and Jonas³ Rice (Thomas², Edmund¹).

8. Lydia (1643-1723) first married Samuel Wright, but he died the same year. She then married James Cutler and had a daughter Elizabeth who married David⁴ Rice (Jonathan³, Henry², Edmund¹). Elizabeth and David⁴ were first cousins once removed.

9. Jacob (1645-1716?) married Elizabeth Looker and had three sons who married into the Rice thicket. (A) Nathaniel married Grace³ Rice (Thomas², Edmund¹). (B) Samuel married Sarah⁴ Haynes (Elizabeth³ Rice, Samuel², Edmund¹). (C) James married Comfort⁵ Rice (John⁴, John³, Edward², Edmund¹).

10. Joseph (1647-1726) married Lydia Axdell. This marriage might, in itself, be a connection to Edmund Rice because Lydia was a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Rice?) Axdell, and there are many who believe this Mary was Mary² Rice, daughter of Edmund. However, that identification has not been proved, and we should therefore look further into the thicket for solid connections. Joseph and Lydia Moore had a daughter Hannah, whose grandson Phineas Gleason married not once, but twice, into our family: first to Azubah⁵ Rice (Thankful⁴ Rice, Edmund³, Samuel², Edmund¹) and second to Persis⁶ Newton (Tirzah⁵ Newton, Bethiah⁴ Rice, Daniel³, Edward², Edmund¹). Note that Persis⁶ Newton was a double Newton, and both of her parents are mentioned in section 7A of Thicket VIII (Winter 2006). Joseph and Lydia also had a daughter Elizabeth who married Henry⁴ Rice (Jonathan³, Henry², Edmund¹). Does this last item sound familiar? Recall that in section 1 above, we saw another Elizabeth Moore marry another Henry Rice. In fact, it was Henry², grandfather of Henry⁴. In other words, this new Elizabeth and her husband Henry⁴ were first cousins once removed.

11. Benjamin (1648-1729) married Dorothy Wright (who was perhaps the niece of the Samuel Wright mentioned in section 8). There is some uncertainty about the identity of Benjamin's children because their births were not entered in the vital records of Sudbury, but it appears that three of them stepped into the thicket. (A) William married Tamar⁴ Rice (John³, Edward², Edmund¹). Note that the mother of Tamar⁴ was Tabitha Stone, a sister of the Daniel Stone mentioned in section 7. (B) Peter had a son Phineas who married Anna⁵ Rice (Aaron⁴, John³, Edward², Edmund¹) and a daughter Lucy who married David⁵ Bent (Mary⁴ Drury, Rachel³ Rice, Henry², Edmund¹). Note that Lucy and David⁵ were second cousins once removed. (C) Edward had a son John who married Ann⁵ Maynard (Esther⁴ Rice, Jonathan³, Joseph², Edmund¹).

12. Elizabeth (1650-?) apparently died young.

Thus, we see that seven of the twelve children are woven into the tapestry of Edmund Rice descendants, all but one of the eight who were living in 1668. As always, this compilation lists only the most obvious connections. In section 2 above, for example, I could have gone on to list great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of Jonathan Moore who also married into the Rice thicket (the reason I know these way-out links is, of course, that they figure in my own pedigree). Indeed, one of these has already been mentioned in two different articles in this series, and it would be a pity to overwork him. The clear message here is the dense web of links among the early Massachusetts families.

Rice’s in the News

Are these Edmund Rice descendants?

Nancy Rose of Minneapolis found this during her internet-based research, and has passed it along to the Association:

The letters on the below website were written by Pauline (Rice) Booth to Florence Mabel (Bowles) Cross during the 1970s. Their common ancestor was their great-grandfather Joel Wise Crowner Rice, who was the first-born son of Joel P. Rice and Elizabeth Crowner, pioneer settlers of Jefferson County.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyjeffer/ricelet.htm

Essay III: Ashur Rice - Returned to Westborough. Amongst Family and a Member of the Church.

by E. P. Rice-Smith, reprinted with permission

Introduction

In 1724, Ebenezer Parkman was called, ordained, and then installed as pastor at the Church of Christ in Westborough. At that time, IV. Ashur Rice 209.8 was thirty years old. In this essay, the third in our series on Parkman and the Rices, we consider what the Reverend Parkman noted in his journals regarding his pastoral interactions with Ashur Rice, who joined the church there in 1726. “Captivated” at age ten from the fields on August 8, 1704 by Mohawk warriors, Ashur was led into Mohawk territory in New France with his younger brother IV. Adonijah 210.9, age eight, and his two cousins, IV. Silas 309.2, age nine, and IV. Timothy 310.3, age seven. Ashur was the only one of the four of these Rice boys to be ransomed and returned to Massachusetts settler life.

Amongst those who write and follow historical studies in this period, it has generally and long been thought that Ashur spent his several years in New France at Caughnawaga/Kahnawake with his brother and cousins before he was ransomed and returned to settler life four years later. This may or may not be the case, that Ashur or his brother Adonijah, or both, were taken to Caughnawaga with cousins Silas and Timothy. As suggested in Essay II of this series on Parkman and the Rices, it is possible, and actually likely, that Ashur and Adonijah might well have been separated as a sibling pair from their cousins and situated in a different Mohawk community or parish, for example, a community associated with the Iroquois of the Mountain -- Sault au Récollet -- Oka. Certainly Silas and Timothy were adopted and became Caughnawaga/Kahnawake Mohawk.

For Ashur and Adonijah, however, the post-captivation pathways seem to have been very different. Although Lac des Deux Montagnes -- Sault au Récollet may well have been where Ashur and Adonijah landed upon their arrival in New France, we don’t know exactly where Ashur and Adonijah were positioned once they were taken there. Finding Adonijah amidst these communities has been a confounding challenge over the past three centuries. Even Parkman’s 1769 letter to the governor of Massachusetts and further notation in his story of the Rice boys, which indicates that Adonijah “settled in husbandry”[1] north of Montreal, leaves us without any specific location and perspective on the course of Adonijah's life. The previous essay of this series on Parkman and the Rices offers us an opportunity to consider Adonijah's circumstances beyond "captivation." The full view of the Massachusetts Archives document titled "1710/1 Roll of English Prisoners in the Hands of the French and Indians at Canada" and signed by Governor Dudley, provided in the Winter 2006 issue of the Edmund Rice (1638) Association Newsletter, is useful to us here.[2] This 1710/11 Roll lists Timothy Rice, Adonijah Rice, and Silas Rice in that order, as having been taken from "Marlboro," still “in the Hands of the French and Indians at Canada.” By that time, Ashur Rice had been ransomed and returned to his family. During 1707, Edmund Rice (most likely the father of Silas and Timothy of Westborough, but sometimes thought, and noted as such in Sheldon's History of Deerfield, to have been “Deacon Rice of Sudbury”)[3] journeyed with John Sheldon, Edward Allen, and Nathaniel Brooks, all of Deerfield. They were sent by Governor Dudley for one of several journeys to make arrangements for a transfer of prisoners. Leaving Massachusetts during April 1707, they returned to give report in Boston by September of that same year.

In C. Alice Baker’s 1897 account of their journey in 1707, she notes, “We have a hint of how it fared with [them] on [their] northward march, in this item from [Sheldon’s] account book: ‘Paid six livres to an Indian to guide us into the way when bewildered.’ [They] were in great danger during this last journey to Canada, and [their] sojourn there. The French were exasperated by rumors of another invasion from New England, and the woods were full of small parties of Indians, on the war path to the border settlements.” The party was not permitted to return until mid-summer, when, “escorted by six soldiers under Monsieur Chambly, who had secret orders to acquaint himself with the condition of things at Orange, he with seven more captives, came down Lake Champlain in canoes, arriving at Albany on the 24th of August.”[4]

But this would not be the trip that would bring Ashur’s return. By the time that 1710/1711 “Roll” had been released by the colony, however, Ashur had been ransomed and returned to his family. His name is notably absent from that list. Fifteen years later, then, at the time when the townspeople of Westborough were preparing to call their first pastor and the church in Westborough was “embodied,” the town residents (including members of Ashur Rice's extended family, his neighbors, and their pastor) had become well-familiar with the practices of human trade on the porous edges of the frontier, including the practices to which they referred as “captivation.”

This third essay in our Edmund Rice 1638 Association Newsletter series on Parkman and the Rices offers an opportunity to take a look at Parkman’s journal from 1719 - 1755 [5] to consider what he noted over the years 1726 - 1736 while Ashur Rice was a member of the congregation which he pastored. Within the context of human trade as conducted during that era, Parkman offers us an opportunity to ponder the impact of Ashur’s “captivation.” Parkman gives us our only chance to view Ashur as a member of the Westborough church, amongst his family. In reading Parkman, we can discover 'what was what' in the extended Rice family at the time Ashur Rice joined the Westborough church. And we can learn some about what our cousin Ashur did, how he was involved in his community, and what concerned him during those years.

First, though, to 'preview' the next and fourth essay in our series on Parkman and the Rices, in this next piece we will further track Parkman’s entries and sources about the Rices -- their experiences, behaviors, and interactions -- within the Parkman orbit as well as beyond his orbit, addressing events occurring during 1739 and the early 1740s. This is the period of time during which the Mohawk Catholic Chief “Oughtzorongoughton” (as Parkman refers to Timothy Rice) [6] returned from Caughnawaga to Westborough and Boston. In Essay IV, we will consider the dealings, strategies, and interactions amongst Mohawks and settler clergy, family members, colonial human traders and ransom brokers, including John Henry Lydius. [7]

These were the people who paved the way during 1739 for the 1740 return of A’ongote dit Gonaongote dit 8aongot dit Marguerite dit Kanenstenhawi dit Eunice Williams to Massachusetts with her Mohawk family at the same time as the 1740 return of Jacques Onserogoton dit Timothy Rice with John Tarbel, captive from Groton. Parkman variously referred to Timothy Rice as Ozorongoughton dit Oughtzorongoughton in his journal entries and in his piece, The Story of the Rice Boys, when noting Timothy Rice’s 1740 visit to Boston and Westborough with “Mr. Tarbell for a Companion and Interpreter.” And in the fourth essay in this ER (1638) Association series on Parkman and the Rices, we will also track the events and interactions surrounding the death of III. Thomas Rice 35.2, the father of Ashur and Adonijah.

Further, in our next essay, we will look to Parkman’s journal entries beyond those contained in the 1719 - 1755 Walett edited volume, to consider Parkman’s associations with French Canadians dislocated from Acadia and relocated in Central Massachusetts, to ponder what those associations might have meant to him and the Rices. We remember from Essay II, Finding Adonijah: After the 1704 Mourning War Raid on Westborough, documentation regarding the union between Pierre Dicaire, the son of Newfoundland captive John Dicker dit Jean Louis Dicaire of Rivière des Priaries and Cécile Anenharisonrisi dit Risse dit Visse, the daughter of Julien Anenharison-risi dit Risse dit Visse and Marie-Angelique of Lac des Deux Montagnes. We know there may well be further document history to track as well as oral history and artifacts which could contribute to our understand-ing.

But in this, the third of our essays on Parkman and the Rices, information from Parkman’s journal entries [8] about Ashur and the Rices is amplified by information from Parkman’s hand written Westborough Church Records.[9] His journal entries are further explicated here, at least to some degree (in regard to specific situations in the life of the Westborough congregation), with brief passages from Scripture which Parkman has identified as those from which he preached to his congregation on any given day. To the question, "What were they thinking?" we add another: "What did Parkman want his congregation to think about?" How did Parkman interpret Scripture for his congregation? What did he preach about? What do Parkman’s choices in Scripture passages tell us about his leadership in Westbo-rough? And what do his choice of Scripture passages tell us about his dealings with Ashur Rice?

Parkman leads us, via the pathway of his journal, into the lands of ecclesiastical controversies surrounding events in Ashur Rice’s life as well as events in the lives of members of the Rice extended family. Parkman was pastor to Ashur Rice in Westborough from 1726 until 1736, at which time Ashur Rice and his wife Tabitha removed to Leicester/Spencer. Ashur Rice was in his late 30s when he married, and by Ward’s account, Tabitha was Ashur's only wife. The first three of their ten children was born when Ashur was 39 years old. His youngest was born in 1755, as Ashur turned into his 60s. Ward does not offer identifying information about Ashur’s wife, Tabitha, but we can surmise that she was most likely 20 years younger than her husband. We do know that Ashur Rice joined the Westborough Church on May 1, 1726. His wife Tabitha joined later. [10]

As Parkman’s diary will tell, during the years 1739/40, Parkman communicated with Massachusetts Royal Governor Jonathan Belcher (who served from 1730 -1741) about the circumstances surrounding the return of Chief “Oughtzorongoughton” dit Timothy Rice. And while the “captivation” of the Rice boys was well documented in Massachu-setts Bay Colony government record by 1769, according to Emma Coleman, [11] in that same year, Rev. Parkman wrote Governor Thomas Hutchinson (who was the last royal Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony), to make him aware of this situation:

At the South west part of Marlboro’ then called Chauncy, now Westboro’, as several persons were busy in spreading Flax, on a plain about 80 Rods from the House of Mr. Thomas Rice ... and a number of Boys were with them, of wc two were sons of ye said Mr. Thomas Rice and three more, sons of Mr. Edmund Rice, Ten (some say seven) Indians suddenly rushed down a woody Hill close by, and knocking ye least of ye Boys ... in ye Head they seized Two of Mr. Thos Rice’s Sons [Asher and Adonijah] the oldest of about 10, the other about 8 years; and the two other of Mr Edmund Rice’s of abt 9 & 7; their names Silas and Timothy; and carried them away to Canada. [12]

That same year Parkman wrote The Story of the Rice Boys: Captured by the Indians, August 8, 1704 -- Four Rices Captivated. This short piece, first published in 1906 by the Westborough Historical Society, was included in the 1976 Volume 105 of the Wilcomb E. Washburn, Editor (Director of the Office of American Studies, Smithsonian Institution) Garland Library of Narratives of North American Indian Captivities. As noted in this Garland Library publication, this piece was “written on the first two pages of a folded sheet of paper, 12.25 by 7.5 inches, with a wide margin at the back edge. The title at the head is on the fourth page. The paper is much discolored and is worn in the creases and at the edges, but the writing is very clear and legible. It has been carefully treasured by the descendants of Mr. Parkman, whose great-great-granddaughter, Mrs. W. R. Gould, has presented it to the [Westborough Historical] Society.” [13]

ESSAY III:

Ransom Brokers: Rev. Johannes Lydius & Son

In Parkman’s 1769 Story of the Rice Boys, he records that after being “captured by the Indians, August 8, 1704,” “in about four years,” Ashur Rice “returned, being redeemed by his Father. This was bro’t about by the kind Mediation of the Rev. Mr. Lydius, then Minister of Albany.” [14] This First Church (Durch Reformed) in Albany is the second oldest church in New York State. It had been established in 1642 to serve the colony of Rensselaerswych. Rensselaer was the first permanent colony to support the fur trade at Fort Orange. The Lydius connection would prove to be central to the Westborough Rices’ perspectives on and dealings with Rice matters Mohawk. Parkman’s sparce journal entries regarding Lydius offer details specific to the travels and strategies utilized in working ransom deals. Parkman’s notations point us in an important direction. Rev. Johannes Lydius, a Dutch “Dominie,” was born in Holland, son of a pastor. He had previously served at the Reformed Church in Antwerp, Belgium. By 1700, Rev. Lydius accepted a call and was installed to serve as pastor of the Dutch congregation in Albany, New York. This is a congregation from which its first pastor, the Rev. Godfredus Dellius, had been the first European-trained Protestant minister in the tradition of the Reformation to evangelize amongst the Mohawk peoples, during the late 1600s.

Some years later, the Rev. Johannes Lydius, too, was viewed by his congregants, Albany’s “city fathers,” and the royal government of New York as a scholarly and pious man. New York compensated Rev. Johannes Lydius for engaging with and “instructing” the Mohawks, which positioned him to negotiate ransoms and reunions for captives. Various reports exist regarding the date of the birth of Rev. Lydius’ son, John Henry Lydius. By some reports, John Henry was born in 1696, making him about the same age as Ashur and Adonijah. By other reports, John Henry was born in 1704/1705, the same year that Ashur, Adonijah, Silas, and Timothy were “captivated.” Rev. Lydius died in 1709/10, when his son, John Henry Lydius, was either fifteen, or only five years old.

Intergenerational features and interactions of the Rices and the Lydiuses contribute to compelling aspects of the tale of Ashur, his brother, and his cousins. Stories of “captivation” feature tales about who was captured, who captured them, what happened while they were captured, and whether or not they were ever returned. For every captive who was ransomed and returned, the party/or parties involved in those negotiations and deals loom large -- in negotiating the deal, at the time of the ransom and return, and often, over the course of the years ahead. So it was with the Lydius and Rice families. Accordingly, we learn more about the experiences and circumstances of Ashur, Adonijah, Silas, and Timothy as we learn about the figures who engaged in related dealings on their behalf -- over many years. What more do we know about Rev. Johannes Lydius, John Henry Lydius, and the Rices? And what does Rev. Parkman make of all this?

By the account of Albany historian Stefan Bielinski, [15] and as noted in Essay II of this series on Parkman and the Rices, after the death of Rev. Lydius, young John Henry Lydius was parented and mentored by his step-father Jacob Staats (an established surgeon, civic leader, and garrison physician) and his brother-in-law (also named) Jacob Staats, a trader, in the colony of Albany. As a young man, John Henry Lydius moved to the north woods and settled in New France. He married Genevieve Massé (a French/Native American woman) and raised eight children. John Henry Lydius established himself in business, dealing in fur, human, and land trade.

It would be this same Mr. John Henry Lydius who would later involve himself directly with the Rices in Westborough. Rev. Parkman [16] was well familiar with Mr. Lydius:

April 24, 1740. Very Dry windy weather. Ebenezer Rode to Mr. Robert Allen’s, at Shrewsbury and got my Mare New Shod. Nigh to Evening came Mr. John Henry Lydius from Boston, upon his return to Albany and lodg’d here.

April 25, 1740. Mr. Lydius pursued his Intention Home. Mr. [blank] Morse here from Medfield.

Further, as Parkman noted four months later in a journal entry on August 6, 1740, Mr. John Henry Lydius facilitated correspondance with the Westborough Rices regarding plans for a reunion with Timothy Rice, to whom Parkman refers as the “Chief.”

August 6, 1740. A bright Morning, which we have not had this long Time. I think ever since Thursday last. Mr. Barrett, going to Shrewsbury, call’d here. Letter from Mr. Lydius of Albany, informing that the Rices of Canada desire one of their Brethren of New England would go up to Albany and meet them on September 6 next, in order to their making a Visit hither. Neibour Seth Rice here with the Letter, himself under Indispositions.

In citing Seth Rices "Indispositions" at that time, Parkman was referring to a serious outbreak of “throat distemper,” with which many in the region were afflicted and from which many were dying. Within a month's time, on September 4, Parkman noted that “A Fast was kept by this Church and Town on occasion of the Throat Distemper coming among us.” Though no longer a parishioner in Parkman’s congregation at this time of anticipation of a visit from Timothy Rice, Ashur Rice sought and did benefit from the resources and counsel offered to him by his former minister:

August 19, 1740. Mr. Asher Rice here to take my Advice respecting his Journey to Albany.

Over the years, Parkman and John Henry Lydius had more to do with each other:

January 13, 1746. My Wife somewhat better a.m. (having been sweated the Night before).I rode to Mr. Jesse Rice’s at Marlborough to talk with him about the Bond which I gave his Father (now deceas’d) for 50[pounds] Old Tenor. Borrow’d of him Fenner on Conscience [William Fenner, The Soul’s Looking - Glasse . . . with a Treatise of Conscience. Cambridge, 1640.] At my Return home found my Wife was grown Very ill again, the Fever strong upon her. Mrs. Maynard here and took Suse down to their house, her dauter in Law being able to suckle. N.B. Mr. Brown of Cambridge 9 young Preacher) from Worcester here whilst I was gone to Marlborough, as was also Mr. Millen of Chauxit. They inform that Mr. Morse of North Shrewsbury carry’d home his wife last Tuesday. N.B. At Eve came Esquire Williams of Stockbridge and Mr. Lydius of Albany and lodg’d here. And Captain Ephraim Williams junior and his Brother Thomas at Captain Maynards. Sent for the Latter to Visit my wife, who accordingly came. He thinks She is going to have the long Fever. The forenam’d Gentlemen are going to Boston to promote an Expeditionn against Crown Point.

February 20, 1746. Great change of Weather last night. Today very Cold and windy. Esquire Williams of Stockbridge came at Eve, having left Mr. Lydius at Boston, endeavouring to get french Prisoners, with which to redeem his Children from Canada.

February 21, 1746. Esquire Williams not well - too cold to undertake his Journey home.

February 22, 1746. The Day somewhat moderate. Esquire Williams accompany’d to Worcester - and then I left him to prosecute his Journey to Brookfield.

Notable that in his editor's footnote regarding Parkman’s February 20, 1746 journal entry, Walett [17] mis-identifies this “Mr. Lydius” [who would have been John Henry Lydius] as “Johannes Lydius of Albany,” which was how the father of John Henry, the minister of the Dutch Church in that colony, was identified. The Rev. Johannes Lydius, however, had died many years before, in 1709/10. The Parkman’s house guest Lydius during February, 1746, was not a colleague in the clergy, not the “kind mediator” as Parkman discribed his John Henry Lydius’ father. John Henry Lydius was, rather, a very colorful but most controversial of woodsmen/traders and family men who eventually self-exiled to England in order to avoid facing charges of significant land theft, fraud, and treason, charges levelled against him from many directions.

John Henry Lydius was a figure whose interweaving of deals between and amongst cultural worlds rendered him a position embroiled with controversy in every arena. His dealings in trade certainly included the lives of the four Rice boys, as we saw in Essays I & II, and will revisit in Essay IV of this series.

[To be continued in another newsletter.]

The original documents for the "Records of the Church of Christ in Westboro" are held at the Westborough Public Library. The material here is Courtesy of the Congregational Library,14 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108, which holds microfilm representations of this collection, handwritten by the Reverend Ebenezer Parkman.

Notes for Parkman and the Rices

Essay III: Ashur Rice: Returned to Westorough. Amongst Family and a Member of the Church.

1. Ebenezer Parkman. "The Story of the Rice Boys Captured by the Indians, August 8, 1704." Garland Library of Narratives of North American Indian Captivities: Wilcomb E: Washburn., Editor. (Director of the Office of American Studies, Smithsonian Institution).

2. The holdings of the Massachusetts Archives include this "Roll of Captives held by the French and the Indians from 1710-1711." See Essay II of this series on "Parkman and the Rices: Finding Adonijah ..." Winter 2006, Edmund Rice (1638) Association Newsletter to view this document.

3. George Sheldon, Amila F. Miller. Donald R. Friary. 1895 - 96. A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts. A Facsimile of the 1895 - 96 Edition Published in Recognition of the Tercentenary of the Town of Deerfield in 1973. Also cited in: John Demos. 1991. The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America . Vintage Books, Randam House, Inc.: New York. p. 221.

4. C. Alice Baker. 1897. True Stories of New England Captives: Carried to Canada During the Old French and Indian Wars. E.A. Hall & Co. Greenfield. Reprinted Garland Publishing. New York. 1976.

5. Ebenezer Parkman. Journal of Ebenezer Parkman 1724 - 1755. 1974. Francis G. Walett, Editor. Published by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Citations in this essay from Parkman’s journal entries are taken from this volume, and are identified in the narrative by the date on which Parkman made his notations.

6. Ebenezer Parkman. "The Story of the Rice Boys - Captured by the Indians, August 8 1704." Garland Library of Narratives of North American Indian Captivities: Wilcomb E: Washburn., Editor. (Director of the Office of American Studies, Smithsonian Institution). & Ebenezer Parkman. Journal of Ebenezer Parkman 1724 - 1755. 1974. Walett, Editor.

7. Stefan Bielinski. Director, The Colonial Albany Social History Project. This is the secondary source from which most of the information in this essay regarding the captive mediator & trader roles of Reverend Johannes Lydius and his son Mr. John Henry Lydius has been drawn. The Colonial Albany Social History Project is associated with the New York State Museum as well as the website, “The People of Colonial Albany Live Here.” Biographies of the Reverend Johannes Lydius and his son Mr. John Henry Lydius are written by Bielinski. All references to Bielinski’s writing are from this short piece which is made available online as a museum resource for the public.

8. Ebenezer Parkman. Journal of Ebenezer Parkman 1724 - 1755. Francis G. Walett, Editor. Published by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Citations in this essay from Parkman’s journal entries are taken from this volume, and are identified in the narrative by the date on which Parkman made his notations.

9. Church Records from "The Westboro Church" are in the Archive at The Congregational Library and available on microfilm, 14 Beacon Street, Boston. The church records from the time of Ebenezer Parkman's ministry there are entirely handwritten by Parkman, himself.

10. "The Westboro Church" Records. The Congregational Library. 14 Beacon Street. Boston, Massachusetts.

11. From Ebenezer Parkman’s correspondance to Governor Thomas Hutchinson (who was the last Royal Governor or the Massachusetts Bay Colony) cited by Emma Coleman in her New England Captives Carried to Canada: Between 1677 and 1760 During the French and Indian Wars. 1925. Vol. 1. p. 324. At this writing, I have not yet been able to locate either the original of this letter from Parkman to Hutchinson or a representation of an extant document corresponding to this citation by Emma Colement. My search continues for the original or its representation in her papers, the Massachusetts Archives, or amongst other collections.

12. Emma Coleman. New England Captives Carried to Canada: Between 1677 and 1760 During the French and Indian Wars. Vol.I. p. 224.

13. Ebenezer Parkman. 1769. 1976. "The Story of the Rice Boys." Garland Library of Narratives of North American Indian Captivities. Volume 105 of the Wilcomb E. Washburn, Editor (Director of the Office of American Studies, Smithsonian Institution).

14. Ebenezer Parkman. 1769. 1976. "The Story of the Rice Boys." Garland Library of Narratives of North American Indian Captivities: describing the mediation of the Reverend Johannes Lydius in arranging for the ransom of Ashur Rice.

15. Stefan Bielinski. The Colonial Albany History Project.

16. Ebenezer Parkman. Journal of Ebenezer Parkman 1724 - 1755. 1974. Francis G. Walett, Editor. pp. 81 -84. See also "The Story of the Rice Boys."

17. Francis G. Walett, Editor. 1974. Journal of Ebenezer Parkman 1724 - 1755. p. 132. Footnote citing Collections of the History of Albany. Albany, 1857. IV. 144.

Queries

Liz Rice-Smith writes: In my pursuit to research the intergenerational and interactive dimensions of our Rice family members’ encounters with, amongst, and as native/first nation peoples over the past four hundred years, I welcome any leads, tales, and/or opportunities to view and photograph artifacts from our extended family lore and collections. I seek any information which is accurate and well-documented, but I also welcome any leads and tales. For example, a tale about “Great-Great Grandpa Rice ‘being’ Indian” might point to actual encounters or dealings that Grandpa had with or amongst Indians otherwise not previously identified. Contact: Elizabeth Rice-Smith at ericesmith@hds.harvard.edu

Betty Fredericks writes: 1) I was just wondering if any other descendants of Ashbel and Percissa (Knight) Rice have joined the Association. I am descended from Daniel V. and Lucy (McDaniel) Rice of Lubec and Eastport, ME. I was able to determine (not proved) that my great-great-grandfather was their tenth and last child, Charles Wellington Rice, born 1850, Lubec, ME. 2) I wonder whether Daniel RICE was the grandson of Ashbel RICE, son of Ashbel's oldest son, Rufus RICE, or the youngest son of Ashbel RICE. Some say Daniel was born right around 1800, or right around the time that Ashbel and Percissa RICE moved their family across the water from Digby, NS, to Lubec, ME. But, some say that Daniel was born in 1804 in Lubec. Email me at: bbffrrpp@comcast.net

June Koeppe writes: I have very little information on my Grandmother Margaret Emma Rice. She married Francis Dunton, on 1st January 1886. This was his second marriage. Her parents were James E., and Clara (Hayes) Rice. All of these were in Woolwich, Maine. We have a "Rice" Cemetery, and if anyone knows of an ancestor buried there, I will be in Maine next summer and would be more than happy to take pictures of gravestones, if needed. Please contact June Dunton Koeppe, 2111 Avenue B, Kearney, NE 68847

Steve Hollands writes asking: if anyone knows anything about the parents, grandparents, etc. of Lydia Rice, b. about 1799 in Cortland County, NY and died Jan. 14, 1877 in Campbell, NY, who married Edward Wing, who was born April 18, 1795 in East Sandwich, MA and died Sept. 28, 1852 in Veteran, NY. Write Steve Hollands, 812 Greenwood Circle, Apt. 2, Takoma Park, MD 20912.

Bob Rice queries: At the Rice reunion in 1996 at Marlborough I sat at a round table with as many as five (or more) men who later said they were all Universalist ministers. I assume they were retired. Presumably they were also Rice cousins. If anyone knows their name(s) and how to communicate with them I would greatly appreciate knowing. Bob Rice, 30 Burnham drive, Falmouth, MA 02540; 508-548-4960; rvrbarre@aol.com

Storage for Our Books

The books that the Association has for sale are currently stored in a rental storage unit in Tyngsboro, MA. The cost of this storage has escalated in recent years and we are looking for someone who has space available in a barn or outbuilding. The space must be dry (no basements, please). Note that we recently have sold enough books that we were able to reduce our storage requirements and move to a less expensive, but still costly, storage facility. Moving the books is no small task, so we prefer that storage be within 100 miles of Tyngsboro. If you can save the Association some money, please email or write the Book Custodian: William Drury, 24 Buckman Drive, Chelmsford, MA 01824, or email: wdrury@alum.mit.edu

Rice Books Available – ON SALE!

The ERA offers many Rice books at reasonable prices. Buy one, get another of the same title for up to 75% off list price! (If you’ve purchased a book in the past, you qualify for additional copies!) Pick up extra books for holiday presents, your local library, or your local genealogical or historical society. Contact the Book Custodian.

The Rice Family, by Andrew Henshaw Ward [$5]

Hard-cover reprint. New, unused. A genealogical history of descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice
who came from Berkhamstead, England, and settled in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1638. 379 pages. Includes a soft-cover supplement (1967) containing additions and corrections. 110 pages.

The Rice Family, Supplement 2 (Part 1) [$7]
Supplement Number 2 (Part 1) to The Rice Family, compiled by Margaret S. Rice (1983). Hard-cover reprint. New, unused. Additional lines of descent through the first eight generations, which were unknown at the time of publication of The Rice Family and the 1967 supplement. 224 pages.

The Rice Family, Supplement 2 (Part 2) [$8]
Supplement Number 2 (Part 1) to The Rice Family, compiled by Margaret S. Rice (1985). Hard-cover reprint. New, unused. A continuation of The Rice Family Supplement 2 (Part 1) from the ninth generation to the present (1985). 720 pages.

Edmund Rice and His Family and We Sought the Wilderness [$5]

Two manuscripts in one binding. Hard-cover reprint. 1986. New, unused. 357 pages.
Edmund Rice and His Family, by Elsie Hawes Smith (1938) An historical narrative about the early days of the Rices. Contains much genealogical information, as well as being a charming story.
We Sought the Wilderness, by Rev. Claton Rice (1949) An historical narrative based on those Rices who pushed Westward to the prairies after short stays in New Hampshire and Vermont.

More Books… by our cousins

Peggy Jo Brown is the author of Hometown Soldiers: Civil War Veterans of Assabet Village and Maynard, Massachusetts, a collection of short biographies of 125 Civil War veterans who lived in Assabet Village (later called Maynard) either before, during, or after the war. The histories of each soldier and their families were researched over a period of four years. Data was collected from federal and state census records, cemetery files, headstones, newspaper death notices, state vital records, and pension files from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. 512 pp., softcover, indexed, illustrated, footnotes. $19.95 plus shipping. The book can be purchased from the author at: PO Box 3, Maynard, MA 01754 or through the website at www.hometownsoldiers.com. See the excerpt “Francis A. Rice, Company A 15^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry” in the 2006 Fall issue of the ERA Newsletter (Vol. 79, No. 4).

Frederic A. Wallace is the author of “Ancestors and Descendants of the Rice Brothers of Springfield, Mass.: David Rice, William Marsh Rice, Caleb Hall Rice, Frederick Allyn Rice, Seven Generations – 1704 to 2004”. This is a serious genealogy and history of the family descended from David Rice, who first appeared in the records of Milton and Weymouth, Mass., around 1725. Special attention is given to four brothers, born in Springfield, Mass., who went to Texas in the early to mid-1800’s to seek their fortunes. One, William Marsh Rice, became the founder of Rice University in Houston. Their story is a classic example of a family torn apart by the Civil War. DNA evidence, obtained through the ERA’s Rice Family DNA Project, is presented to resolve longstanding questions about the origins of this line. From the author, $30 (includes postage to the continental US): Frederic A. Wallace, 53 Eaton Road, Framingham, MA 01701.

Peggy Rice Grosser is the author of “Grains of Rice—with an occasional dash of salt, a Rice family Chronicle from 1847-1947”—a compilation of family letters and photos and documents which would be of interest to Vermonters and history buffs of that time period, in general. Contains 338 pages, 68 illustrations, 30 photos. This book is available from her at 333 Water Street, Apt. D5, Kerrville, TX 78028-5232 for $24.00 ($20 book plus $4 postage). You can order by telephone at 1-830-896-3270, also.

EDMUND RICE (1638) ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER