Dear Cousins,

    The last six months have seen a lot of progress in the application of genetics to genealogy. Much of this has been new to me but some professional genealogists have been aware of the possible uses of genetics for a long time. Apparently, Donald Lines Jacobus, the dean of modern American genealogy, realized the potential of genetic analysis to genealogy over sixty years ago. Our Reunion 2000 speaker, Dr Tom Roderick, has been involved with the science of genetics and the art of genealogy for a long time. Of course, most of us are aware of the gene in g-e-n-e aolgy but that's as far as it goes.
    Now anyone can arrange to have his or her unique human cells preserved for future DNA analysis or submit cells for mitochondrial DNA analysis and soon, we hope, for Y chromosome DNA analysis. Elsewhere in this issue are the details for taking these actions.
    The old tried and true methods of genealogy are still very useful and, in fact, more necessary than ever. The board of directors and the membership voted to spend up to $3,000 in the coming year toward obtaining a base line for the Y chromosome DNA of our ancestors. We will do this by testing tissues of living male Rice descendants whose genealogical pedigrees have been established by the tried and true methods. A board sub-committee has started to identify such living Rice males but we need for all cousins to be aware of our needs.
    If you have male Rice relatives, please send their lineages to me. They must be direct descendants with the surname Rice and with no adoptions in their ancestry. We have discovered that the line of Edmund's son, Matthew Rice, was daughtered out when his son Isaac had only daughters.
    We have examined the queries and lineages published in ERA newsletters for the past three or four years. If you have newsletter issues prior to 1996 that include Rice cousins' lineages, please send them to me, also. George King and John Chandler have produced lists of possible male Rices from the ERA computer database but, of course, these are far from finished and do not include many living people.
    Hopefully, this study will provide a baseline of male Rice haplotypes (markers) that will help identify our Rice family among the several Rice lines we encounter. Henry Rice, Edmund's presumed brother had a family most of whom stayed in England in 1638/9. Who knows some of the 'Other Rices' may belong to us!

Sincerely,
Robert V. Rice, President

Have any of you ever come across the books of Mary P. Wells Smith (1840-1930)? She wrote four series of books for young people published in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th.

Bob Rice's comment that he had met Theresa Jemison at the reunion, a descendant of Silas Rice captured by Indians in Marlboro in 1704, triggered the memory of reading my father's copies of Boy Captive in Deerfield and Boy Captive in Canada when I was young. I found the books exciting and action-filled but had not thought about them again until a few years ago when my aunt asked me to see if any of the series titles were still in print.

I discovered during library research that Mary P. Wells grew up in Deerfield, Massachusetts, a descendant of first settlers of Hadley and Hatfield. She was raised on stories of the Indian fighters.

Mary P. Wells married Judge Fayette Smith, half-brother of my great-great grandmother, Sarah Richmond Smith (who married my great-great grandfather, Rev. Solomon Reed Drury who was Edmund's 5th great-grandson). My grandmother was very close to her Uncle Fayette and spent summer vacations with the Smiths in Greenfield after the judge retired and moved there from Warwick.

At the time I checked, the two books I had read were still in print and available from the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association in Deerfield. Think I will see if they are still available.

-Keith Capen Allen

Friday:
    About 20 Rice cousins gathered at the Radisson Inn just after lunch and heard a briefing from John Buczek and Jeannette Pollard on the Marlboro cemeteries. We learned that John had placed information about the cemeteries on the Marlboro web page.
    We then followed Jeannette in cars to the Old Common Cemetery. This cemetery is right in the middle of the town but has parking for 10 to 20 cars. Jeannette had previously located the graves of four of Edmund's grandsons buried here:
Capt. Peter Rice, d 28 Dec 1753 age 95 yrs 1 mo 4 d, son of Thomas and Mary King Rice; Joseph Rice, d 3 Dec 1745, age 74 yrs 5 m 28 d, son of Joseph and Mary Beers Rice; Benjamin Rice, d 23 Feb 1748 age 82 yrs 2 m, son of Edward and Agnes Bent Rice; Caleb Rice, d 5 Jan 1738/9 age 72 yrs 7 m 17 d, son of Joseph and Martha Eames Rice.
    While maneuvering among the gravestones, Jim Rice introduced me to Theresa Jemison. This lady lives in Basom, NY and is a descendant of Silas Rice who was captured by the Indians on 8 Aug 1704 in Marlboro, Massachusetts. (He was captured in the area now part of Westboro). She told me that she had attended two Rice reunions some 20 and 30 years ago. Jim promises to write a detailed account of her discovery of her lineage.
    Next, we drove on to the First Parish Church of Marlboro, parked and walked to Spring Hill Cemetery, which is Marlboro's oldest cemetery. At one edge of Spring Hill Cemetery, there is an outcropping of what appears to be slate. Slate was used for the gravestones in both cemeteries, the use of which allowed us to read all the gravestones with perfect clarity. At Spring Hill we found the grave of Edward Rice, d 21 Jul 1741 age 69, son of Samuel and Mary Dix Rice.
     We returned to the Radisson Inn in plenty of time to visit the nearby Peter Rice House (the same Peter whose grave we visited); the headquarters of the Marlboro Historical Society where society members greeted us in period costumes. This building is being repaired and repainted at great cost. The ERA has contributed to this project. By 5:30 pm we were seated in the Radisson dining room for our Dutch treat supper.

Saturday:
    At 9 a.m., 32 attendees gathered around round tables in our private room at the Radisson for continental breakfast and chatting.
    Set out on tables were three laptop computers belonging to Bob Wesen, George King and Bob Rice loaded with Rice databases of data from Ward entered by Dennis Rice and verified by George King and John Chandler. Bill Drury had an ERA book display from which he sold our genealogy books and at least one ERA life membership!
    George King brought three printed copies of the narrative he had produced of the first four computerized database generations after Edmund, including Edmund's great great-grandchildren. This is a truly remarkable document that not only reads very well but also contains extensive documentation. In his preface, George includes short statements about Edmund Rice and about our lack of knowledge of his parentage. He also has the narrative of Thomasine's ancestors back to the 1400's as Appendix I. The Edmund narrative takes 122 closely printed pages, the Endnotes another 16 pages, and the Index of Names some 26 pages.
     Cousins enjoyed the time to compare genealogies, but after Dr. Tom Roderick joined us at mid morning a good deal of talk turned to the interaction of genetics and genealogy.
    Bob Rice had a chart that showed the current distribution of the surnames Rice, Frost and Strutt in Great Britain. Oxford Ancestors, using a computer program of voter registration, prepared the chart. These ancestors of ours are more widely distributed than the surname examples shown on the company's website, oxfordancestors.com. Notably, there are currently no large concentrations of Rice in Wales. (One can also search for telephone numbers for Rhys, Rees and Rise as well as Rice in Great Britain. Several search engines including aol and Yahoo do this. Even these ancient spellings of Rice produce few hits in Wales.)
    Cousins ate a delicious lunch arranged by Hope Pobst who unhappily needs to step down as vice president for meeting arrangements. She has done a good job the last few years arranging our annual reunion weekends.
    Dr. Tom Roderick was our after-lunch speaker and his talk covered several topics in genetics as related to genealogy, much of which was from his article in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly** He started by emphasizing that the nuclear DNA that makes up the vast bulk of the human genome is not used by genealogists to trace lineages.
    Nuclear DNA is the repository of all that is needed to produce the greatly diverse and yet unique human being. Our skin, hair, and eye colors, for example, are determined by the base sequences of the 22 regular chromosomes. It is the male sex gender Y chromosome that is used to trace male lineages. As Dr. Roderick emphasized, females get along just fine without the Y chromosome, but because it is inherited solely from the father it is extremely useful for surname tracing. He showed a chart depicting the process of a surname daughtering-out, which simply means that a male produced no male children.
    Dr. Roderick went on to say that, although mutations or changes in the nucleotide sequences in DNA happen infrequently, over time they do occur and that these have led to ten known major lineages, or haplogroups, in the world. He went into some detail about groups of people who show physical changes to the Y chromosome. But it is not such groupings that form the basis of Y DNA useful to genealogists studying male surnames.
    Dr Roderick explained some of the terminology used in molecular genetics; specifically, to Y chromosome molecular analysis. He also mentioned some types of mutations or variations. Single nucleotide polymorphorisms, or SNPs, occur when one of the four nucleotides found in DNA gets changed. Short tandem repeats, or STRs, are repeats of combinations of two or so of these nucleotides. During replication these repeats often increase or decrease by one and help identify closely related individuals. Thus, a haplotype, a string of specific number of repeats or markers, can be an array of numbers specific for a single Y chromosome. For example, 11-14-23-16 means 11 repeats, 14 repeats, 23 repeats, and 16 repeats from four STR markers. If such arrays correspond to specific surnames then they are of great use to genealogy.  He described the priestly caste of Jews as one example and the Thomas Jefferson haplotype as another.
    Finally, Dr. Roderick critiqued the paper of Sykes and Irven entitled Surnames and the Y chromosome that caused much excitement when published early last spring. He suggested that genealogical studies of the Sykes surname are needed to clarify this important finding. He also predicted "exciting correlations between conventional genealogical studies and molecular studies are in the offing when more Y haplotype analyses are done." This, he thinks, will happen when other laboratories offer DNA analysis specifically for genealogy.

** Roderick, Thomas H., "The Y chromosome in genealogical research: "from their ys a father knows his own son", National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 88 (June 2000): 122-43

    Here are some quotes from Dr. Roderick's article in the NGS Quarterly in which he speculated:
"For genealogical and Y line research purposes, the best outcome is to have an unusual but benign Y chromosome that can be found among all family members with the same surname"
"For pedigree analysis:(it) "is dependent on the Y haplotype being sufficiently rare-not unique, but certainly unlike any other Y haplotype of another family in the geographic area".
"Through Y DNA analysis, the possibility exists of tying together families who are suspected to have a common origin despite slightly or vastly different spellings."
"Of course non-paternity events will be found"
"Y DNA analysis will not necessarily be the final judge of a genealogical connection."

    After this excellent talk, we had our annual business meeting. The assembled cousins voted to approve the Board of Directors recommendation of spending up to $3,000 for DNA analysis of Y chromosomes of direct male descendants of Edmund Rice. The Rice reunion in 2001 will be held again at the Marlboro Radisson on Friday September 21 and Saturday September 22. For Reunion 2002, the Board of Directors has decided to try the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA. The board has also discussed inviting other Sudbury Founding Families as the Parmenters, Goodnows, Bents, Barnes, and Hows to join us for a future meeting.
    About 12 to 15 cousins and Dr. Roderick followed Ruth Brown to the Goodnow Library in Sudbury where the Rice Archives are beginning to take shape.  Ann Shirley, Head Reference Librarian, escorted us to a beautifully reconditioned room in the old original portion of the building where history and genealogy books, papers, and manuscripts pertaining to the Town of Sudbury are kept.  We found that not all of our Rice published genealogy books were there so we have arranged to send the missing ones to complete the set. The room is restricted to serious researchers and is monitored by close-circuit television.
    Finally, capping the day, I drove John Chandler and Beth McAleer to the Edmund Rice monument in the old Wayland cemetery where we met the Wesens.

- Bob Rice

    Your Board of Directors is pleased to announce a revitalized web page for our members and prospective members. The main page includes a brief summary of current information about our association. There are also pages about the ancestry of Edmund Rice, a brief discussion of Edmund Rice at Sudbury and Marlborough, and Edmund's descendants through the great grandchildren. Abbreviated versions of recent newsletters are also available - abbreviated to protect the privacy of living cousins. You can visit the new page on the Internet at www.edmund-rice.org
    At our September board of directors meeting we discussed including links on our web page to the pages of our members. If you have a web page that includes your Rice ancestry, we encourage you to provide your web page address (URL) to George King at: gwk@widomaker.com. If there is enough interest among our members and we can ensure good family history content, the board will consider including links to our member pages.

Watch our web page and the newsletter for further developments.

-George W. King

    We've been hearing a lot about Y chromosome analysis as a genealogical research tool, but there is a whole different world of DNA analysis that needs to be considered as well.  The Spring/Summer 2000 newsletter gave an excellent introduction to the topic of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA for short), which is passed on only from mother to child.  While the Y chromosome acts as a biochemical equivalent of a patrilineal surname, mtDNA can be viewed as the same thing on the female side.  The questions that can be tackled via Y chromosomes can be posed analogously and answered in the same way using mtDNA.
    The only trouble is that the background research needed to pose the questions is much more difficult for mtDNA, since maternal lineages are not conveniently grouped together in alphabetical lists.  To see how this affects the ERA, we need only look at our ever-growing computer database and ask for the longest male and female lines -- as it happens, the longest male line consists of 15 generations of DRURYs, running from Edmund Rice's contemporary Obed Drury down to the present, while the longest female line is only 12 generations and stops in 1816.  (By the way, until I did some digging this week, the longest female line was only 11 generations and stopped in 1797!) What's more, this female line has a "head start" because it begins with the great grandmother of Thomasine (Frost) Rice, Edmund's first wife.  Unfortunately, Edmund and Thomasine had only one daughter who reached maturity (Lydia, who married Hugh Drury), and the only known child of the Drurys was a son, thus ending Thomasine's female line right there.
    Still, all is not lost.  Thomasine's sister Elizabeth (who obviously carried the same mtDNA) had at least three daughters, and one of those daughters brought her family to Sudbury, Massachusetts, where they continued associating with Edmund's family.  In fact, two grandsons of Edmund Rice married female-line descendants of Elizabeth Frost and had daughters, so that the database should eventually include this female line down to the present day, even though it goes only as far as 1816 now.
    Of course, following other branches could fulfill the search for Thomasine's mtDNA just as well.  Here is a list of the Stone sisters, daughters of Daniel and Mary (Moore) Stone of Sudbury and Framingham:

1. Ann, (1671 - 1740), married Samuel Graves.
2. Tabitha, (1673 - ?), married David Haynes.
3. Sarah, (1676 - ?), married James Rice.
4. Mary, (1677 - ?), married Jonas Rice.
5. Elizabeth, (1678 - 1764), married Joseph Livermore.
6. Abigail, (1681 - 1772), married John Sherman.

    If anyone happens to know of female-line descendants of any of these six, born after 1816, please let us know.

    Meanwhile, we should not forget that Edmund Rice had two wives.  What about the mtDNA of Mercy (Brigham) (Rice) Hunt?  Not only did she bear two daughters to Edmund, but also she had other daughters in her previous marriage.  Unfortunately, the database doesn't carry any of her female lines past her granddaughters.  This seems to be partly due to a strange blunder made in the compilation of the Rice Genealogical Register: the baptismal dates for the children of Lydia (Rice) Hawkins are listed in that book as "death" dates!  Needless to say, this family has had much less research than it deserves.
    It is clear that we have a long way to go before turning up living cousins with the mitochondrial DNA of either of Edmund's wives, but now is the time to start looking.

- John Chandler

Calling All Rice Cousins!

Help Us Expand Our Knowledge Of Our Common Ancestry

Contact OXFORD ANCESTORS:
Write: Oxford Ancestors
IMM
FREEPOST (SCE 9896)
Oxford OX3 9YN
UK
E-mail: eve@oxfordancestors.com
Website: oxfordancestors.com

Oxford Ancestors is a private company connected to Oxford University, Oxford, England. They will mail you a kit with instructions if you e-mail or write to them. The cost is about $180 per sample. This gives you a read-out of your mitochondrial DNA. This is not the DNA of the nucleus that contains your genetic information. Here is part of their order form downloaded from the Internet:

HOW TO ORDER MatriLine

Single Test      180.00
Two tests on same order (10% discount) 324.00
Additional tests on same order (20% discount)      144.00

Step 1. Send an email to eve@oxfordancestors.com with your full return postal address and the number of tests required. SEND NO MONEY AT THIS STAGE. We mail you a DNA sampling kit with full instructions. This contains the small brush used to collect cells from your inner cheek easily and painlessly.

Step 2. Return the DNA brush with your payment cheque. We confirm receipt by email. Your cheque will not be banked until your results have been mailed back to you. Expect delivery within 28 days of our receipt of your sample.

Contact GENE SAVER:
Write: Box 544, Grantham, NH 03753
Phone: (603) 863-3665
E-mail: dna2go@genesaver.com
Website: www.genesaver.com

GeneSaver, a company founded by Dr. Edwin M. Knights, a pathologist and George A. Fischer, PhD, a clinical chemist, preserves either blood samples or buccal cells (from inside the cheeks). The company does not do DNA analysis.

The cost is about $100 per sample. You get back your preserved (freeze-dried) cells in a sealed container to hold until when, in the near future, laboratories will be equipped to do the analysis

Help Us Locate Living Direct Male Descendants Of Edmund's Sons

    We need help from all Rice cousins in locating living direct male descendants of each son of Edmund Rice. We know where direct descendants of Thomas Rice are. They are all about us. The others are much more elusive. All these are, of course, named RICE.

    It would be helpful if you send their complete lineage including their wives. Here is Bob Rice's lineage as an example:

Edmund Rice=Thomasine Frost
Thomas Rice=Mary King
Jonas Rice=Mary Stone
Jonas Rice=Jane Hall
Thomas Rice=Hannah Wright
Thomas Rice=Catherine Gates
Nathaniel Rice=Lucy Fessenden
Carlo Rice=Leonora McNeil
Ernest Rice=Grace Walker
Laurence Rice=Edith Middlemiss
Robert Rice, b 1924
 30 Burnham Dr., Falmouth, MA 02540
(508) 548-4960; rvrbarre@aol.com

Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2000
To: editor@edmund-rice.org

I would like to report the death of my sister Margaret Rice Stanulis.  She died on December 4, 1999. She was a member of the society.     She had spent many years working on the family history. She was also the past President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Bernadine Rice Cascarano.

Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000
Subject: Marian Myrl Phillips Jones 8/25/33 - 7/28/00
To: editor@edmund-rice.org

Hello Keith,

It is with a broken heart that I must advise you of the demise of my lovely wife of almost 42 years. Marian fought courageously against small cell lung cancer but finally lost the battle, a year and 8 months after the first diagnosis.

I am so sorry I never got her up to Sudbury for a reunion. You may not recall her linkage:

Marian Phillips - Eldon Phillips - Naomi King - Rufus C. King -Rufus King - Thomas King - William King - Ezra King - Samuel King alias Rice or Samuel Rice King - Samuel Rice - Edmund Rice

Sadly,

Marvin Jones

I was so sorry to hear about Marian's death.  In the back of my mind was the hope Tom and I could fit in a visit to Marvin and Marian in their home in Missouri on one of our trips to Illinois to see Tom's parents.

 See the Winter 1998 newsletter for Marian's Rice lineage and an article on Samuel King alias Rice.

- Keith Capen Allen

    Family associations represent many of the early families of Sudbury. Regrettably, several factors have combined to decrease the membership and interest in family associations like ours. Chief among these is Internet genealogy that makes family history information readily available for little effort. Unfortunately much of the Internet information is 'pop' genealogy and is poor research at best.
    The Edmund Rice (1638) Association has been fortunate to maintain an interest in its membership and its annual reunion. Our hope is to help our fellow organizations to survive and compete with this 'pop' genealogy.
    Your association is considering inviting other associations that represent early Sudbury families to share our annual reunion occasionally or for one time.
    We would hope to increase interest in these associations and to help them regain a healthy organization. As many of our members are also descended from other early Sudbury families, we invite our members' comments on this proposal.
    Please send your comments to our president, Bob Rice; vice president, George King; or membership director, Bill Drury.

- George King

Beginning September 1, 2001, a lifetime membership will increase from $100.00 to $200.00.

This increase was approved at the board of directors meeting held during April 2000.

Dear Bill,
 …I would like to join the Rice family association and am enclosing a check…. I am descended from Edmund Rice through Oliver Rice, his wife Hannah and their daughter Anna (b Hardwich MA, d Madison Co, NY). She married Augustus Horatio Burgoyne, an ex-English POW captured at the Battle of Bennington shortly after Oliver returned from fighting the British as a patriot. He had joined the 4th MA about the time Lexington. Must have been a real shocker to him, poor guy. Anna's daughter, Tabitha was born and married to Zenas Bird in Theteford VT. She died in Madison WI where she was one of the first white women in the area, and probably the first to die here. Her son, Augustus Allen Bird was one of the earliest and most prominent citizens in Madison….His daughter, Marion or Mary Ann (she had a problem keeping her name the same from one census to the next, but died Marion), married John Starkweather here in Dane C., and the family has been here ever since….I would love to reunite Anna with her family.
 Best regards,
 Jan

From: Steven-Bird@utc.edu
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000
Subject: Do you reprint Donald Jacobus article from The American Genealogist?
To: ddrice@airmail.net

Dear Mr. [Dennis] Rice,

I have been told that your organization reprints an article first published before 1933 in The American Genealogist by Donald Lines Jacobus that addresses the ancestry of Deacon Edmund Rice and purports to disprove the familial connection between Deacon Rice and Rhys ap Griffith, spouse of Katherine Howard.  However, I didn't see it under the list of publications on your website.

My family is connected to the Rices through Anna Rice, dau. of Oliver Rice of Thetford, VT.  Oliver was a Revolutionary War veteran.  Anna married Augustus Burgoyne, and their dau. Tabitha married Zenas Bird and moved to New York State, and the family later removed to Madison, Wisconsin.  If you have any interest in this line, I have extensive information.

Thank you in advance for your reply,

Steven Bird

Dr. Steven Bird
Director of Orchestras
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

From: rvrbarre@aol.com
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000
Subject: Re: do you reprint Donald Jacobus article from The American Genealogist?
To: Steven-Bird@utc.edu

Dr. Bird,

The ERA reprinted the article two times many years apart in our newsletter, in 1968 and again in 1998. The exact reference is: "Edmund Rice of Sudbury, Mass. by Donald Lines Jacobus, The American Genealogist, vol. II, 1934, p 14-21. This negative finding was confirmed (in 1999) by Dr. Joanna Martin, genealogist of Hitcham, Suffolk, England and by Gary Boyd Roberts, Senior Researcher at the New England Historical Genealogical Society, 101 Newbury St, Boston MA. Both their reports were published in our Fall 1999 newsletter.

We have started to put our newsletters on our web site and it is possible that in the future we may include these recent issues. We do not yet have an URL for our new site but should shortly. Any person who thinks he is a descendant of Edmund Rice may join the ERA. Send $10 to William Drury, 24 Buckman Dr., Chelmsford MA 01824-2156.

Sincerely,

Robert V. Rice, Ph.D.
President
Edmund Rice (1638) Association

Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2000
From: Dennis Rice <drrice@airmail.net>
To: Steven Bird <Steven-Bird@utc.edu>

Steve,
Excellent find!
I am coping this note to others in the ERA, your find may help someone else locate additional information.
Dennis

Steven Bird wrote:
 Dear Mr. Rice,

 I know that the Edmund Rice Association is interested in tracing the ancestry of Deacon Edmund Rice and has asked for any possible leads in this area.

I recently purchased an excellent book discussing Sir Rhys ap Thomas, K.G., his ancestry and his descendants.  It's titled Sir Rhys ap Thomas and His Family: A study in the Wars of the Roses and early Tudor politics, written by Ralph A. Griffiths, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Wales (Cardiff). The ISBN no. is 0-7083-1218-7.  It costs $70.00 in the U.S.  It was first published in 1993 and is still in print.

The book is in two parts; the first part is a penetrating historical discussion of Rhys ap Thomas' family and its place in the War of the Roses, with an extended discussion of the attainder against Rhys ap Griffith in 1531 and his execution.  This discussion extends to the eventual rehabilitation of the Rice family under Charles I, through the efforts of Henry Rice.

The second part of the book is a new edition of Henry Rice's family history titled "A Short View of the Life of Rice ap Thomas", and several appendices, including the "Objections against Rice Griffith in his Indictment, with the Answers thereunto" also by Henry Rice.  Both the "Short View" and the "Objections" were originally presented in the "Cambrian Register II" published in 1797.  The CR was published in 1796, 1797 and 1818, whereupon it ceased publication.  The MS. by Henry Rice is also the basis for the well-known genealogy book called "The Thomas Book".

Together, they form a fairly complete record of the life and times of Rhys ap Thomas and of some of his descendants, with some maddening gaps.  Since there continues to be controversy surrounding Edmund Rice's ancestry, I hoped that this book might be able to shed some light on the problem.

I found Ralph Griffith's book remarkable!  It is detailed, historically accurate, and insightful.  Dr. Griffiths is recognized as the leading authority on medieval Wales, especially South Wales, the province of the Rhys family.  It answers several relevant questions about the scarcity of information about the descendants of Rhys ap Thomas and his grandson Rhys ap Griffith.

Insight no. 1 –
The family records (births, baptisms, deeds, wills, etc.) are missing for a very good reason:  they were burned in 1619 accidentally. It seems that Thomas Cromwell ordered all property and documents seized (after Rhys ap Griffith's execution and attainder in 1531) from the Rhys estate in Newton (near Dinefawr Castle), including all of the family records.  These family archives were kept at Whitehall for the remainder of Henry VIII's reign, and for the reigns of Edward, Mary, Elizabeth, and part of James I.  Apparently, the "signett office" was located below the "banqueting hall" at the palace, and when the banquet hall caught fire and burned down in 1619, all the records there were destroyed.  So there are *no* extant records prior to 1631 showing, for example, the names of the children of Rhys ap Griffith and Katherine Howard.

Insight no. 2 –
The author mentions two children of Rhys and Katherine in his book -- Thomas (b. about 1522) and Griffith (b. 1526).  There is NO mention of a sister Agnes or a brother William.  According to Henry Rice's family history, Thomas died in the service of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1544 at the Battle of Blar-na-leine (The Field of Shirts), but no mention is made of any children or even a spouse in the book.  This is the first time I have even heard of a son named Thomas, but since he is identified by the author as being the oldest son, could "William" actually be "Thomas"?

Insight no. 3 –
 Rhys was betrothed with Katherine Howard at the age of SIX and married her when he was 14, and it was a political marriage.  They had a child within the year, and Rhys inherited his grandfather's estate by 17 years of age.  He was executed at 23.  It's certainly possible that Rhys and Katherine had more than two children in their 9 years of their marriage.

Insight no. 4 –
The author mentions that Griffith Rice (son no. 2) was convicted of accessory to murder in the death of Matthew Walshe (co. Durham) in 1557.  Walshe's wife Agnes and a tailor called James Halle (Griffith's servant) were also involved.  Perhaps he did have a sister by this name?  Anyway, all of the work he had done to overcome the attainder of his father's estates was undone when these properties were attainted again under Mary, and he was left penniless.

Insight no. 5 –
Henry Rice did a remarkable job in putting together his "Short View of the Life of Rhys ap Thomas".  If not for his effort, all of this history would have been lost.

 Insight no. 6 –
Why did Edmund Rice come to America in 1638?  Well, on 13 January 1629, it was confirmed that the Crown had disposed of all the remaining forfeited lands of the Rices in the most recent sales commission and that therefore it was pointless to seek their return.  However, with no land at stake, Charles I was only too glad to return Henry Rice "to the blood", and the King accordingly agreed to vacate Rhys ap Griffith's conviction for treason.  Edmund, if a distant cousin of Henry's, would have received nothing.  Much has been made of the fact that Edmund was not titled.  After reading this book, it's easy to see why.

There are a couple of leads worth investigating:

 William Rice, illegitimate son of Rhys ap Thomas by Gwenllian, sister of the Abbot of Talley, could be Edmund's ancestor.  He settled at Sandy Haven (near Dale), and became the High Sheriff of Pembroke in 1557.  There may be records in Pembrokeshire that would be helpful.  Of course, if this IS the ancestor, then Edmund is not related to the Howards.

It may be that something could be found out about Thomas Rice (1522-1544), in the service of Queen Mary of Scotland - did he have any descendants?

The lack of records before 1531 is an appalling situation, but perhaps some documents might be found in co. Durham (Auckland); this is where Thomas and Griffith Rice spent their boyhoods (after losing their parents).  They were under the care of the bishop of Durham, Cuthbert Tunstall (d. 1559).  They apparently had no contact with Katherine Howard after 1531.

 I hope that this information is helpful.

 Best regards,
 Steve Bird

From: rvrbarre@aol.com
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2000
Subject: Ancestry of Edmund Rice
To: Steven-Bird@utc.edu

Dear Dr Bird,

Thank you for your message to Dennis Rice about Griffith's book. I have forwarded that e-mail to Dr Joanna Martin in Suffolk, England.  She has a Ph.D. in history from Cambridge and was responsible for uncovering the primary records pertaining to Thomasine Frost, Edmund's first wife. Because of her careful research we now are quite sure of the Frost ancestry back to the 1400's.

I'm not sure you are aware of our new Edmund Rice Association web page. It is at edmund-rice.org and supersedes the page that Dennis Rice started some years ago. Dennis is doing extremely valuable work for our association by transcribing our genealogy books to a computer database and just does not have time to maintain a web page too. I point out our new page because we there spell out just what we expect in the way of primary evidence that we will accept for Edmund's ancestry. The sort of evidence that Dr Martin found for the Frosts.

 It is comforting for me as an amateur genealogist and life-long lover of good history to have someone like Dr Martin interested in our genealogy. I am sure you understand that any Rice history that is unable to connect to our thoroughly documented genealogy (the beginning of which is also at our new web page) does not help us. I have recently done a survey of Rice surnames in most all of their various spellings in Great Britain. It turns out that Rees is much more common in Wales than Rhys.

Fortunately, molecular genetics may come to our rescue for it is now possible to trace male descendants of a particular surname by DNA analysis of their Ychromosomes. We hope eventually to use this scientific technique to sort out the several Rice families now present in the world.

Thanks again for your interest.

Robert V. Rice, Ph.D. (Biochemistry), President
Edmund Rice (1638) Association

From: rvrbarre@aol.com
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2000 Subject: Fwd:
To: jomartin@dircon.co.uk

Dear Dr Martin,

…am forwarding this…. If you should think it sufficiently interesting and worth further investigation, please let me know and I will attempt to provide ERA funds for a study. I hope you and your husband are well in Suffolk.

Bob Rice

    Inside each cell there is a black blob called a nucleus. Inside the nucleus are two complete sets of the human genome (except in egg cells and sperm cells, which have one copy each…). One set of the genome came from the mother and one from the father….
     Imagine that the genome is a book [with] 23 chapters called chromosomes [and] each chapter contains… thousands of stories called genes [written]… in three-letter words, using only four letters, A, C, G and T, called bases…. These words are written on long chains of sugar and phosphate called DNA molecules to which the bases are attached as side rungs. Each chromosome is one pair of (very) long DNA molecules….
     When genes are replicated, mistakes are sometimes made. A base is missed out or wrong one inserted. Whole sections of a gene are sometimes duplicated, omitted or reversed. This is known as mutation. Many mutations are neither harmful nor beneficial….
    Not all human genes are found on the 23 chromosomes; a few live inside little blobs call mitochondria and have probably done so ever since mitochondria were free-living bacteria…. And finally, not all DNA spells out genes. Most of it is a jumble of repetitive or random sequences that is rarely or never transcribed: the so-called junk DNA.
    - Taken from, Ridley, Matt, Genome: The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters, 1999, pp. 6-9.

    On September 23, 2000, 32 members of the Edmund Rice (1638) Association gathered at the Radisson Inn Hotel, Marlboro MA at 9:00 a.m. for registration, informal conversation, and a buffet luncheon served at 12:00 noon.
    The annual meeting of the Edmund Rice (1638) Association, held following the luncheon at the Radisson Inn Hotel, Marlboro, Massachusetts, September 23, 2000, was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by President Robert V. Rice. After greeting the members, President Rice introduced this year's speaker, Dr. Thomas Roderick, specialist in mitochondrial DNA and umbilical lineages, and senior staff scientist emeritus at the Jackson Memorial Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine. Dr. Roderick has set up the Center for Human Genetics in Bar Harbor. He made a clear, interesting, and very informative presentation on the study of genetics in relationship to genealogy, showing how family connections may be traced through the female or umbilical lines, or in the case of males, through Ychromosome lines. He then spent time in discussion with, and answering questions of, the members present.
    At 2:20 p.m., President Robert V. Rice called the business portion of the annual meeting to order. Recording Secretary Wendolin E. Wesen presented the minutes of the 1999 Edmund Rice (1638) Association and read that portion concerning 1999 speaker Gary Boyd Roberts. Then upon motion by William Drury, seconded by James Rice, and passed, the reading of the minutes was suspended.
    Treasurer William Drury gave the Treasurer's Report, which upon motion by James Rice and seconded by Kathy Bond, was approved and is filed with the secretary.
    The Report of the Auditor, C. Robert Wesen, is filed with the secretary.
    Book Custodian William Drury gave the annual report, was approved, and is filed with the secretary.
    Chairman of Membership, William Drury, gave the membership report as follows:
45 new members, 25 dropped, 6 deaths, 1 resigned, 1 lost, making a total of 448 members (including 87 life members).
    President Robert V. Rice asked the members to stand while he read the following list of names of those 6 members who had died during the past year:
Doris Kingsley, Gail Oliver, Elizabeth Logan, Roger Rice, Wesley Rice, and Janet (Rice) Sturgis.
    President Robert V. Rice presented the following slate of nominations, provided by the Board of Directors acting as the Nominating Committee, naming those to serve the Association:

  Officers:
  President: Robert V. Rice
     Vice President: George King
     Vice President in Charge of Arrangements: H. Jeannette Pollard
     Treasurer:  William Drury
              also Book Custodian & Membership.
     Recording Secretary: James A. Rice
     Historian/Information Manager: Dennis R. Rice

2000-2001 Directors:
Keith Capen Allen, Newsletter Editor
Ruth M. Brown
John F. Chandler
Beth McAleer
Frederick H. Rice, Immediate Past President
Gary H. Rice
Earl R. Vickery, Jr.
Pat Vickery
Wendolin E. Wesen
Margaret S. Rice, Director Emerita

     motion by Kathy Bond and seconded by Jim Rice that nominations cease and the secretary cast one vote for all nominees, passed unanimously.
    John Rice had asked to be removed from the ERA board on which he has served for many years. New member added to the ERA board this year was Beth McAleer.
    The youngest attendee was John Chandler of Harvard, MA. The attendee who came the farthest was Dick Spofford of Summerville, SC. The oldest attendee was George Jackson of Stonington, CT.
    President Robert V. Rice presented the opportunity for the Association to participate in the newly emerging study of genetics and genealogy. He spoke generally about the desirability of preserving Rice DNA for future studies, and suggested that eventually a study be made of mitochondrial DNA and umbilical lineages available from Edmund Rice descendants. This is for a later date. Presently the ERA board recommends individual Rice cousins consider preserving their own DNA samples. The ERA board voted to allow up to $3,000 to be spent for DNA analyses of Y chromosomes from selected direct male descendants of each of Edmund Rice's sons along with controls from other individual males utilizing Oxford Ancestors or other laboratories. This would be the beginning of a database to help prove Edmund Rice's linkages in England, and to prove or disprove the relationship between the Edmund Rice (1638) family and other Rice families (such as the Virginia Rices). President Robert Rice noted that the recommendation of the ERA board that $3,000.00 be authorized for this purpose in this year needed the approval of the Association. It was moved by Kathy Bond and seconded by George King that the ERA approve this expenditure of $3,000.00 in the coming year for this purpose. The motion carried.
    The next Edmund Rice (1638) Association meeting will be held at the Radisson Inn Hotel, Marlboro, MA on September 21 and 22, 2001. A block of rooms will be set-aside for members coming a long distance.
    Ruth Brown passed out maps showing how to go to the Sudbury library to visit the Edmund Rice (1638) Association Archives, and then to the gravesite of Edmund Rice.
    After thanking all for coming, President Robert Rice adjourned the meeting at 2:45 p.m.

These minutes were prepared with the assistance of James A. Rice, Recording Secretary elect.

Respectfully submitted,

Wendolin E. Wesen
Recording Secretary

Here lies the body of Mary Jones
Who died through eating cherry stones
Her name was Smith not Mary Jones
But Smith don't rhyme with cherry stones

- Missing Links: RootsWeb's Genealogy Journal, Vol. 5, No. 39, 27 Sept 2000