Edmund Rice Homestead East Sudbury, MA

Edmund Rice (1638) Association Newsletter 24 Buckman Dr., Chelmsford MA 01824 Vol. 75, No. 2   Spring 2001 return to: [Information page]  [ ERA Main page]

Dear Cousins,

Until last summer I looked at the interaction of our Rice family with Native Americans or Indians in a rather abstract way. Sure, there were those incidents in Ward’s Rice Family that I had read while looking for details of some of the Rice branches. Sure, here on Cape Cod, concentrated in Mashpee (a neighboring town of Falmouth) are members of the Wampanoag, the tribe who interacted with the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Our local genealogy society has had speakers on their genealogy.

But it was not until Jim Rice introduced me to Theresa Jemison during last September’s reunion while we were looking for Rice headstones in the Marlborough cemetery that I started to feel differently.

Here was Theresa, an actual Rice descendant from the saga that started in Marlborough in 1704 when Silas Rice, his brothers and cousins were captured and taken to Canada. Theresa lives on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation in western New York and told us she had come to a Rice reunion many years ago. We hope that Theresa, a descendant of Silas, will be with us during the reunion this year. We plan a short excursion to Westborough just a few miles from Marlborough where we will briefly gather at the site of the 1704 capture.

Most of us grew up on stories about Indians as an abstraction, stories of cowboys and Indians, tales of Indians tracking in the wilderness, and instructions on finding arrowheads. A few hundred feet from Buzzards Bay on Cape Cod, there are small mounds of seashells half buried in the ground that may be sites of Indian camps. Children growing up in New England have a certain romance with Indian lore. Names of summer camps, Boy Scout campfires and merit badges often have an Indian connection.

Outside of New England on the Plains and the real West where Indians were relocated and are not an abstraction, one encounters many of them near their reservations. When I was a prisoner of war guard in Arizona during World War II, we sent Papago Indians into the desert to track escaped German officers.

Initially, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag met peacefully, if guardedly, and Englishmen were punished for infractions against the Indians but all too soon this changed. Over the years, our nation has come to regret the violence and deceit with which our ancestors interacted with Native Americans and now Americans of mainly European descent brag about their “Indian blood”. Once again we can talk peaceably together. Underscoring this progress is the molecular genetics research that clearly shows there are not different human races. All humans on this planet are of one race, one species, Homo sapien sapien.

The theme for this year’s Rice Reunion is our kinship with Native Americans. Fittingly, our speaker will be David Lambert who is manager of the Micro text Department of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In addition to running the fourth floor library, David specializes in American Indian history and genealogy. He is Historian Genealogist for the Massachusetts- Punkapoag Indians.

Sincerely,
Robert V. Rice, President

“In 1845 the group of Bostonians who founded the New England Historic Genealogical Society were reacting to profound societal change in New England. The great westward movement was in full swing…some New England towns were nearly depopulated. Fearful that the history and traditions of the area would soon be irretrievably lost, NEHGS gave its attention to…its families and communities.” (NEHGS 2000 Annual Report)

We descend from Rice families who joined this westward movement, aren’t we? We are linked by kinship with cousins whose 19th century Rice ancestors settled all over the States and Canada.

Just look at the contributors to this issue.   In addition to Massachusetts, the states of Washington, California, Illinois, Texas, Virginia and Oklahoma are represented.  And in this issue, we welcome new members from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Victoria-British Columbia, Indiana, Texas, Connecticut and Idaho.

We maintain the link of our common history and traditions through correspondence, and our newsletter, books, website and annual reunion.

-Keith Capen Allen

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.

Friday, September 21 & Saturday, September 22
Radisson Inn, Marlborough, Massachusetts
Exit 24B of I495 at US20

Theme: Our Kinship With Native Americans

Friday, 21st

1:00                              Meet at Radisson to form car pools for trips to Wayland, Sudbury, and back to Peter
                                     Rice House in Marlborough.

2:00 to 2:30                  Tour Rice Homestead site on Old Connecticut Path (Rt. 126), back to Wayland
                                     center and north cemetery (Rt. 27) for Edmund’s grave

3:00 to 3:30                  Rice Archives at Sudbury Library

4:00 to 5:00                  Peter Rice House where Marlborough Historical Society is located on Elm St., Marlborough (behind Radisson)

5:30                              Dutch treat supper in Radisson Dining Room

7:00                              Board of Directors Meeting

Saturday, 22nd

9:00                             Coffee, juice, donuts, pastry at the Radisson social time, Rice books for sale, Rice
                                    database on laptop computers

11:00                           Car trip to Westborough (6 miles) site of Rice boys capture by Indians in 1704.

1:00         Luncheon by reservation

2:00                            Talk on Indian-colonial wars by David Lambert, New England Historic Genealogical Society. David Lambert is the manager of the Micro text Department of the NEHGS. In    addition to running the fourth floor library, David specializes in American Indian history and genealogy. He is Historian Genealogist for the Massachusetts- Punkapoag Indians.

3:00                            Annual Meeting

· Beth McAleer’s correct email address (p. 4) is mcaleer@bc.edu

· Samuel Floyd Rice (p. 3) was born on 2 Nov 2000, his twin sisters were born on 1Nov 1998 and, of course, Samuel should be in Gen. 14 with Ariel & Yaqirah.

· In Gen. 9 of Kathy Hoeppner  (p. 5), Stella DeEtta should be Stella DeEtta Hamilton.

· From: "June and Jess Rice" <jessrice@etex.net>
To: <editor@edmund-rice.org>
Just received my first copy of the newsletter which I am reading with much enthusiasm. Being a new member, naturally I looked for my name and to my astonishment I found that I am now a female. Please, change the spelling from Jessie Rice to Jesse Rice [p. 3]. Thanks so much for making this change.
  Warmest Regards, Jess Rice

More closely related Rice cousins of the late Rev. James A. Rice will be interested to know that in the years preceding his death, Jim was working on a record of the descendants of your common ancestor, Silas Rice, born 1747 in western Massachusetts.

Jim began by compiling previously published information about the descendants of Silas Rice. Over the past five years, he interviewed more than 130 living descendants of Silas to learn more about Silas's 19th and 20th century descendants. The interviews provided many wonderful recollections as well as the usual who-begat-whom that we find in most family histories. Finally, Jim committed his work to a computer data set so that he and others could add new information and share it easily with others.

After Jim's death, I offered to edit Jim's work and enter it in our association master data set. That task was completed in April and at its April meeting, the Board of Directors accepted Jim’s work and authorized me to make copies available to descendants of Silas Rice.

If you would like a paper copy of the report, I will provide a copy at cost for $11.00 to reproduce and mail it. If you are using a personal computer and would like a report in Microsoft Word 97/2000 format or a data set in The Master Genealogist (TMG) or GEDCOM format, I will provide a copy free of charge. You will find my postal and e-mail addresses in the list of officers on page 4.

- George W. King

Geraldine (Rice) Foty’s article (below) appeared in the Southbridge Evening News and The Ware River News. Geraldine does freelance writing and has written columns for both papers.

Geraldine writes, “ When Caroline [her daughter] was about 13 we did research on the Rices at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester – about 25 miles from our home. It’s a wonderful place for research, but I think the librarians were nervous to see such a youngster there. I plunked us down at a table right in front of the librarians’ desk so they could see that she knew how to use their materials. She had previously helped me to research our house history at the Worcester Court House. (It’s a late 18th century Cape style, recently included in the National Register.) I wish I could say it is a Rice house. We tried to buy a Rice house in nearby Brookfield before we bought this house in 1968, but someone beat us to it.”

Four years ago, Caroline sent in their lineage (Fall 1997, p.10) that is reprinted below:

Edmund Rice = Thomasine Frost
Thomas Rice = Mary King   Edmund Rice = Agnes Bent
Thomas Rice = Anna Rice   Anna Rice = Thomas Rice
Beriah Rice = Mary Goodnow
Beriah Rice = - McSweeney
Asaph Rice = Nancy Elderkin
John Rice = Lucy Hicks
Edward Rice = Martha Woodroffe
Leonard D. Rice = Elizabeth Cronin
Leonard S. Rice = Marie Hallihan
Geraldine E. Rice = Nicholas Foty
Caroline C. Foty

All is not what it seems. John sure found out the truth of that adage when he tried to prove one of his Rice lines. His description of the investigation so far gives us a vivid example of the stumbling blocks we all stub our toes on at some point during our family research.

My Rice Ancestry

Let me begin by saying that, although I have three lines of descent from Edmund Rice, there is a big uncertainty clouding the first one. I will present all three lines here and then discuss why I still consider the first line unproven.

Edmund RICE (c1594-1663)
Thomasine FROST (1600-1654)

Thomas RICE (1626-1682)                   Henry RICE (1621-1711)
Mary KING c1630-1715                       Elizabeth MOORE (c1625-1705)

James RICE (1669-17300        Jonathan RICE (1654-1725)     Elizabeth RICE (1648-1740)
Sarah STONE (1676-c1733)    Elizabeth WHEELER (-1744)  John BREWER (1642-1691)

Jotham RICE (1697-1782)       Elizabeth RICE (1703-)            Jonathan BREWER (1689-1753)
Mary EARL (1708-1803)         Daniel PRATT (1688-c1778)   Arabella GOULDING

Ralph                                       Elizabeth PRATT (1724-c1794)
Sarah SAWYER                        Peter BREWER (1720-1800)

Damaris RICE (1761-1841)                Lucia BREWER (1757-1826)
Benjamin STUART (1757-1820)           Joseph TUTTLE (1755-)

Ralph Rice STUART (1795-1872)        Betsey TUTTLE (1791-1876)
Nancy MIRICK (1789-1829)               Peabody HOUGHTON (1791-1829)

                  Ebenezer Mirick STUART (1820-1889)
                  Jane Maria HOUGHTON (1822-1893)

                  Hattie Betsey STUART (1855-1922)
                  Leonard Blanchard CHANDLER (1851-1927)

                  Willard Dalrymple CHANDLER (1882-1946)
                  Hattie Elizabeth GUSTAVSON (1889-1983)

                  Leonard Blanchard CHANDLER
                  Margaret Beatrice CUPP

                  John Frederick CHANDLER

The italicized names mark the problem spot.  Coming to this spot from below as I did, I had every reason for optimism. The vital records of Sterling, Massachusetts where the Stuarts primarily lived, were destroyed in a fire in the 1800s, but here was a branch of the family who lived in Barre and Barre’s vital records had not been destroyed.

From Damaris Rice’s age at death, carved into her gravestone at Sterling, I had a very good idea of when she was born.  From the name of her son, I had a likely guess at the name of her father.  Unfortunately, her birth did not appear in the vital records of Barre.

It was at this point that I first heard about the Edmund Rice Association when someone gave me the address of Margaret Rice in Amesbury.  I wrote her a letter outlining my problem, and she very kindly wrote back quoting Ward's book and tracing Damaris back to Edmund.  What a breakthrough!

Or was it?  Being a perpetual skeptic, I hunted around and found a nearby library with a copy of Ward's book to see if it offered evidence to support these crucial connections.  Alas, it did not.  It simply asserted without proof or discussion that Damaris was the daughter of Ralph Rice.  Worse than that, it did not even offer any evidence of Ralph's parentage.  Worse yet, it contained a summary of Jotham Rice’s will with no mention of Ralph at all.  I could feel a whole branch of my tree slipping away!  What to do?

Well, I still had the fact that Damaris had named a son Ralph Rice, so I was disposed to accept Ward's assertion but I needed evidence about Ralph Rice to support the link.  The initial results were disappointing, though.  Ralph does not appear in the statewide census indices of 1790 and 1800.  He does not appear in the probate index for Worchester County. He does appear in the 1771 Massachusetts tax list, but that gives no indication of the number of people in a household. However, I did find some good news there – I looked up Jotham's will and found that it did after all refer to a son Ralph!

My next discovery also turned out to be encouraging.  In searching the 1850 census, I found many Stuart families in Sterling and the household of Benjamin Jr. (son of Benjamin and Damaris) included an elderly couple, John and Abigail Rice.  Subsequently, I found the 1852 death record for this John Rice and it showed him to be the son of Ralph and Sarah Rice, born in Barre about 1766.  Not only did this confirm that Ralph had additional children beyond those found in the Barre vital records, but also it showed one child living in retirement with the son of Damaris.  Putting that together with the clue from the naming of Ralph Rice Stuart, I was almost ready to declare victory, but then I made another discovery.

First, a bit of background: Benjamin Stuart's father died relatively young in the French and Indian War and his widowed mother married a Jonathan Buss of Leominster. Once again she was widowed. Then, in 1794, she filed the intention to marry none other than Ralph Rice!

When I found that entry in the Leominster vital records, I wondered if it could be some other Mary Buss or some other Ralph Rice (such as Ralph's son Ralph Jr.), but then I found the 1802 death record for a Mary Rice, widow of Ralph, aged 73 and the right age to be my Mary Snow Stuart Buss Rice.  This means that, just a month or so before my Ralph Rice Stuart was born, Ralph Rice became the stepfather of Benjamin Stuart!  In other words, there was a plausible reason for naming the baby after Ralph, even if Ralph was not the father of Damaris.

There went nearly all my circumstantial case for Damaris' parentage.  The only remaining positive evidence was Ward's undocumented assertion plus the vague feeling that John Rice would be more likely to move in with a real nephew than with an unrelated step-grandson of his father.  Of course, that argument could be carried one step further to say that John Rice would be likelier still to move in with one of his own children (some of whom lived in Sterling, too).

As you can see, this story is unfinished.  It is certainly possible that Ward's statement of Damaris' parentage came from common knowledge at the time, but I would like something more concrete.  My next line of inquiry will probably be back in the probate files. If John Rice left a will, and if he was living with his nephew, it stands to reason he would have made some reference to the nephew in it.  Stay tuned….

- John Chandler

Helen (Capen) Reeves, age 91, died on November 10, 2000 in Pasadena, California. She leaves four children, eight grandchildren, nephews and nieces, including niece, Keith Capen Allen.

Cousin, Richard Joseph Shepler, Sr., age 84, died in Muskogee, Oklahoma on March 14, 2001. Born in Oakland, California, he was a machine operator for General American Transportation Corp. in Griffith, Indiana for 50 years. Shepler was a genealogist for over 30 years and a member of numerous genealogical societies. He is survived by three daughters, two sons, 14 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren.

Don Smith, husband of Bertyne Rice Smith, died during early May 2001in Barre, Massachusetts.

As most of you know, the Edmund Rice Association is now engaged in a Y chromosome project with living Rice males that will, hopefully, provide a Rice haplotype or genetic marker. With this marker we will be able to investigate other Rice families to see if we are related to one another. In the future, with a lot of detective work, we might be able to determine the original location or origin of our Rice family in Great Britain.

DNA analysis is being used for the project. Traditional genealogical methods cannot provide this kind of kinship link. DNA analysis of the human genome has become almost routine for many branches of human genetics through technological advances in super computers that automate and analyze the large volumes of data generated.

Population genetics has been making use of both Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis to learn about human populations. Most of us have heard about our putative mother, Eve, derided from mtDNA, who lived in Africa.  Now, Science (May 11, 2001) has a definitive report in which “markers of the Y chromosome add to the growing evidence that modern humans descended from people migrating out of Africa.” There is also a discussion (pp. 1051-1052) of recent Y DNA analysis results on 12,127 men in 163 populations in Asia for the report in Science as well as for other recent data that are still in press. All the Asian men had one of three markers on their Y chromosome.

Thus, one might think that the story is completed, but it is not. Nuclear DNA, or the DNA of the cell nucleus, is just beginning to be studied in relation to population genetics. Nuclear DNA undergoes exchange during gamete formation in both sperm and egg, so it is going to be very difficult if not impossible, to determine its evolution. What is very clear, however, is that, genetically speaking, we are all one race, one species; every human alive today is related.

It is the DNA of the cell nucleus that determines our eye color, facial characteristics, genetic diseases, and contributes to all those subtle proclivities that we like (or dislike) to see in our offspring.

When I visited my first grandchild a few days ago, I saw he has the same red hair that I had as a very young boy and that his father had as a much older young man. His mother also has red hair so maybe he will have red hair all his life. People from both sides of the family think it’s nice he has inherited red hair; I only hope in the future he doesn’t have prostate cancer as did his grandfather and great grandfather.

Any agreement we may find in living male Rice Y chromosome DNA will only relate to Edmund Rice’s Y chromosome DNA. Our nuclear DNA has been mixed with each of our forefathers’ wives, diluted, if you will, with all the other early English colonists, Native Americans and with more recent immigrants from all over the world.  So, in no sense is our Y DNA study going to result in ‘special’ Rices. It is only the particularity of Y and mtDNA that allows genetics to complement the usual genealogical work.

We also hope to arrange for mtDNA analysis of some of the living male Rice wives (indirectly of course) by doing a mitochondrial DNA analysis of cousins whose umbilical pedigrees extend back to the Sudbury and Marlborough wives of Rice men. The out-of-Africa story is much more powerful with both Y and mtDNA analyses in agreement.

It is possible to trace backwards in time to both colonial days of 350 years ago and archaic time by using different markers on the DNA double helix. The markers are due to changes in certain base pairs caused by mutations. There are very few, if any, mutations over just a few hundred years, but many probably occur over 10,000 to 100,000 years.

In another study of the Y chromosome of “2858 men from 50 worldwide populations”, 43 markers were studied with results that agreed with that mutation analysis. This study also showed that after the migration out of Africa, “Asia became a staging ground for groups of men who traveled to Europe and America.” So, the Native Americans that Silas Rice and other cousins met and married came out of Africa via the Bering Strait after many thousand years of separation.

- Robert V. Rice, Ph.D.

Deacon Edmund Rice = Thomasine Frost
         b. ca 1594            bpt. 11 Aug 1600
m. 1618
         d. 03 May 1663   d. 13 Jun 1654
Children: Mary, Henry, Edward, Thomas, Mathew, Daniel, Samuel,
Joseph, Lydia, Benjamin.
|
Thomas Rice = Mary King
         bpt. 16 Jan 1625/6       b. 1630
m. 1651
        d. 16 Nov 1681            d. 22 Mar 1714/15
Children: Grace, Thomas, Mary, Peter, Nathaniel, Sarah, Ephraim,
Gershom, James, Frances, Jonas, Grace, Elisha, Remnant.
Thomas arrived in the Colonies with his parents in 1638
|
Elisha Rice = Elizabeth Wheeler
      b. 11 Dec 1679           b. unkn
m. 10 Feb 1707/8
      d. 1761                                 d.  unkn
Children: Eliakim, Elisha, Elizabeth, Julia, Silas, Elijah, Zebulon.
|
Zebulon Rice = Susanna Allen
b. 05 Jan 1725          b. 22 Jan 1732
m. 07 Dec 1749
          d. 26 Dec 1799         d. 17 Dec 1823
Children: Josiah, Zebulon, Jonas, Eliakim, Reuben, Susanna, Elisha, Mary,
John, Luke Stephen, Simeon, Joseph, Benjamin, David, Elizabeth, Dolly
|
Eliakim Rice = Hannah Kendal
b. 01 Apr 1756                 b. 1759
m. 5 Nov 1778
            d. 04 Aug 1834               d. 13 Sep 1837
Children: John, Sarah, Hannah, Eliakim, Oliver, Stephen, David, Luther
|
Luther Rice = Lucy Rogers
b. 24 Nov 1799       b. 16 Jul 1803
m. 16 Nov 1826
    d. 22 Mar 1876         d. 1873
Children: Azro Allen, Benjamin, Marion, Sarah, David, Charles Henry.
    Azro was a Union Civil War Veteran and fought and was wounded at Gettysburg.
|
David Rice = Mary Elizabeth Wright
b. 26 Jan 1837          b. 07 Jan 1850
m. 16 May 1870
          d. 20 Sep1914          d. 07 Jan 1928
Children: Charles Thomas, James Walter, Edward, William, Minnie, Nellie
“Col” David Rice founded Riceville, Montana approximately 30 miles Southeast of
Great Falls. Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Rice was appointed Post Mistress of Riceville
Post Office by President William Harrison in 1898 and held that position until her
death in 1928.
|
Charles Thomas Rice = Mildred Lucy Dodd
b. 24 Nov 1872              b.19 Feb 1881
m. 22 Apr 1903
    d. 21 Aug 1951             d. 07Apr 1948
Children: Howard Everitt, Harriet Elizabeth, Helen Wright, Hazel Lucille
|
Howard Everitt Rice = Frances Agnes Schwab (Svob)
b. 23 Dec 1904          b. 01 Jul 1908
m. 01 Jun 1929
      d. 25 Jul 1985              living
Children: Donald David, Howard Walter “Junior”, Thomas Budd,
Charles Rex “Chub”, Edward Gene “Sandy”
|
Thomas Budd Rice = Carole Jane Hadley
b. 25 Dec 1933     b. 10 Nov 1936

Lineage:

1. Edmund Rice
2. Agnes Bent = Edward Rice      Samuel Rice = Elizabeth King
3. Tabitha Stone = John Rice      Esther Rice = Daniel Hubbard
4. Thomas Cutler (1703) = Tabitha Rice = (1725) John Haynes = Anna Hubbard
5. Abner Cutler = Anna Haynes       Anna Haynes = Abner Cutler
  6. Joel Cutler = Betsy Nichols
  7. Abner Cutler = Mary Wadley (Wadleigh)
  8. Sardius Cutler = (1823) Margaret O’Neal
  9. Martha Ann Cutler = (1850) John W. Renner
  10. August Stadtman = (1882) Generette Car Renner
  11. Arthur John Stadtman = (1905) Frances Ethel Banghart
  12. Kenneth H. Stadtman = (1940) Pauline H. La Hue
                 = (1983) Mary Farris Westedt

Further information:

As far as I know I had no ancestors on the Mayflower, but had many who came to the Boston area in the 1630s: Bent, Cutler, Frost, Haines (Haynes), How, King, Merriam, Nichols, Reed, Rice, and Stone.

My wife, Mary, passed away in February and I had been her full time care keeper for quite some time, so I had no time for genealogical pursuits, but am now getting back to it. I am nearly 86 years of age so I have to work fast!

Before I had learned that there was no direct proof of royal lineage I had lines going back to the Vikings, many kings of France, Spain and ancestors all over Europe, but I have subsequently dropped those.

1. Edmund Rice = Thomasine Frost
2. Henry Rice  = Elizabeth Moore
3. Elizabeth Rice = John Brewer
4. Mary Brewer (Bruer) = Benjamin Ball
5. Abigail Ball = Simon Mellen            Abner Rice = Experience Shepard
6. Susannah Mellen  = Joseph Hancock    Experience Rice = William Lewis
7. Sena Hancock = Philip Lewis     Philip Lewis = Sena Hancock
   8. Philip Henry Lewis = Margaret Jane Cronkhite
   9. Minnie Jean Lewis  = James Templeton East
   10. Cecile Garnet East  = Martin Almon Mayne
   11. Gladys Jeane Mayne = Thomas Laverne Wiley
   12. Bonnie Jeanne Wiley

 Roger A. Rice         Holden, MA
 James R. Rice         Penacook, NH
 James V. Rice         Danville, PA
 June Perry               Victoria, B.C.
 Galt Grant               Cohasset, MA
 Doris B. Austin       Aurora, IN
 Virginia S. Sloan     Whitney, TX
 Nancy H. Benkhart  Woodstock, CT
 Don Crawford         Moscow, ID

Please send in your complete lineage, including wives, to:
 Robert V. Rice
 30 Burnham Dr, Falmouth MA 02540
508.548.4960 rvrbarre@aol.com

You have heard a great deal about the efforts of Dennis Rice, John Chandler, and George King to improve our association records with computerized data. We have encouraged you to help us with this by recording your Rice line(s) starting forward with your 5th generation from Edmund Rice (great great-grandchildren of Edmund).

As you know, our association is using The Master Genealogist genealogy program to store and retrieve our Rice family records although we can process information directly from most common genealogy programs.  Recently, we have received data sets from Brothers Keeper, Family Tree Maker, PAF and GEDCOM formats as well as TMG.

Let’s recognize those cousins so far who accepted our challenge and provided us with computer data sets.

Last August, George submitted a data set update to Dennis Rice information from ERA members Bob Duggan and Kathy Rice Hoeppner.  Since then George has received data sets from Bob Rice, Don Rice, Gary Rice, Jim Rice (posthumous), Melinda Sue Crawford, Jeffrey Smythe, Lynn McLaughlin, Ina Atchison, Terry Reigel, and Bob and Wendy Wesen. There has been new information about the Nova Scotia branch of Edmund's descendants provided by Denise Rice, Dixie Davis, Douglas Pope, Evelyn Rice Dithurbide, Griff Toole, J. Brad Davidson, Lois Hupfer, Robbie Rice Gries, and Tim Sanford. All these new data will go into George's next submission to Dennis later this year.

A big THANK YOU from all of us for your interest and hard work!!

Lineage:
Edmund Rice = Thomasine Frost
Thomas Rice = Mary King                                   Edward Rice = Agnes Bent
Gershom Rice = Elizabeth Bascom                                  Edmund Rice (1653-1719) = Joyce Russell (1660-)
Gershom Rice (1696-1781) = Esther Haynes (1770-)     Jason Rice (1692-1729/30) = Abigail Clark
Keziah Rice (1734-1802) = Absalom Cutting (1736-67)        Edmund Rice (1725-96) = Margaret Smith
Abigail Cutting (1760-1813) = Edmund Rice (1755- 1855)    Edmund Rice = Abigail Cutting
Edmund Rice (1785-1860) = Abigail Maynard (1790-1874)
Moses Maynard Rice (1811-61) = Eliza Damon (1817-)
Edmund Rice (1842-1906)

Maj. Edmund Rice, age 20, won the Medal of Honor during Pickett’s Charge against Union defenses along Cemetery Ridge on the third day’s battle at Gettysburg where he was severely wounded. His citation included, “[His] conspicuous gallantry…did more than the exertion of any single action of any other officer on our side to retrieve the day, after the battle had been virtually won by the Confederates who had broken our lines….” (Gettysburg Magazine, Jan. 1, 1996, p. 122)

Lineage:

1. Edmund Rice  (1594-1663)
2. Thomas Rice  (c1625-1681)
3. Gershom Rice  (1667-1768)
4. Gershom Rice  (c1696-1781)
5. Comfort Rice  (1729-1816)
6. Jonathan Rice  (1764-1834)
7. Peter Rice  (1791-1829)
8. Enoch Paine Rice  (1821-1854)
9. Josiah Alfred Rice  (1852-1940)
10. Marie Elizabeth Rice  (1897-1987) = Arthur Dewey Nichols
11. Creighton R. Nichols  (1932-)

Further information:

Creighton lived in West Dummerston, Vermont as a child and teenager and graduated from Duke University in 1957. He and his wife have lived for many years in Framingham where they belong to the historic Plymouth Church.

Plymouth Church, founded in 1701, is celebrating its 300 anniversary this October 8th.  Among the 18 founding members were Henry Rice, Deacon David Rice and Thomas Drury. About 10 years ago, Creighton compiled a booklet updating the history of Plymouth Church from 1951 to 1987.

There was a Rice family meeting held in Worchester in 1903 with over 400 attendees, including Creighton’s grandfather. Creighton has an original copy of the proceedings entitled, Exercises held at the dedication of a memorial to Major Jonas Rice, the first permanent settler of Worcester, Mass., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1903, and at the reunion of the descendants of Edmund Rice, who settled in Sudbury, Mass., on the afternoon of the same day.

Creighton very generously made a copy of the 72-page document for me. The speeches and poems praising these early Rice ancestors sound very flowery to our contemporary ears but there is much of interest, including a speech that makes a long reference to the Rice ap’ Thomas version of Edmund’s ancestry that has since been disproved and some original documents relating to Gershom Rice, Elizabeth Balcom and Jonas Rice.

My eyes caught the name of Mr. Solomon Reed in an early history of Plymouth Church that Creighton Nichols very kindly copied for me.  I read that in 1747 Solomon Reed was called to become the pastor of a new church in Framingham following a schism within Plymouth Church.  The new church failed in 1756 following the death of Edward Goddard, “a leading man in the new enterprise”, because “the burden of double taxation was too grievous to be borne”. (Temple, The Rev. J. H., compiler, Manual of the Church of Christ in Framingham, Mass., With Historical Notes, 1701-1870, p. 16)

Until I read this reference to Solomon Reed, I had never linked together these pieces of my ancestry in Framingham and had never known the details of Solomon Reed’s short pastorate there. Thanks, Creighton!

Thomas Drury = Rachel Rice, d. Henry & Elizabeth (Moore) Rice
John Drury = Susannah Goddard, d. Edward & Susannah (Stone) Goddard
John Drury = Lydia Smith, d. Ephraim & Martha Smith
John Drury = Susannah Willard Reed, d. Solomon & Susannah (Willard) Reed
Solomon Reed = Abigail Stoughton
b. 1719; 1739 grad. Harvard; 1747-56 pastor 2nd Congregational, Framingham; 1756-85 pastor Titicut Parish, Middleboro/Bridgewater; d. 1785
Solomon Reed = Susannah Willard, d. Josiah and Hannah (Wilder) Willard
Susannah Willard Reed = John Drury
Solomon Reed Drury = Sarah Richmond Smith
Abby Richmond Drury = Edward Hanson Mayo
Henrietta Abby Mayo = Randall Thomas Capen
Carl Mayo Capen = Anna Louise Newland
Keith Mayo Capen = Thomas Wesley Allen

- Keith Capen Allen

Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001
From: "Galt Grant" <galtg@mediaone.net>
To: <president@edmund-rice.org>

Thought you might be interested in a prolific branch of the family you haven't got on your list.

Our grandfather, Patrick Grant (1809-1895) married Charlotte Bordman Rice (1821-1882) in 1850. She was the daughter of Henry Gardner Rice (1784-1853) and Charlotte Bordman.

Henry Gardner Rice was, in turn the son of Dr. Tilly Rice (1750-1824) and Eunice Reed. Dr. Tilly was, in turn, the son of Tilly Rice (1724-1803) and Mary Buckminster. Tilly was one of Obadiah's children.

Patrick and Charlotte (Bordman) Rice had four children: Robert (1852-1939), our grandfather; Henry (1853-1926); Patrick (1856-1928); and Flora (Mrs. Morris Gray) (1858-1920).

Robert Rice (1852-1939) married Amy Gordon Galt (1858-1936) of Montreal and had four children: Robert (1884-1964); Alexander Galt (1885-1968); Patrick (1886-1927) and Gordon (1892-1954), my father.

Gordon Rice (1892-1954) married Jessie Ross Green of Columbia SC and had four children: Virginia (1922-1999); Gordon (1925-   ) who lives in Clarendon Hills IL; Halcott (1927-  ), who has just moved from Weston MA to Redlands CA; and me, Galt Grant (1933-  ).

All of this is well documented.

I'm sending in my $10, but thought you'd be interested in the above. It adds a lot of people to your list and, given the numbers of kids most of us have had, many, many more not mentioned above!

Look forward to hearing from you,
Galt Grant

Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001
From: George King <gwk@widomaker.com>
To: galtg@mediaone.net
CC: "RRICE4960@aol.com" <rvrbarre@aol.com>,
     "Keith C. Allen" <kcallen@webzone.net>,dearroz@home.com

Hello Galt,

Yesterday, Bob Rice, our Edmund Rice (1638) Association president forwarded your message.

I assume that you found us through our ERA web page?? There you learned that we post only through the great grandchildren of Edmund Rice. The restriction is a matter of time and space on the Internet. Your family is indeed in our paper records through the birth of Henry Grant in 1853. Your family is in our computer data set through the marriage of Henry Gardner Rice.

We are very pleased to know that you want to join us and support us in our efforts. Welcome!

We are encouraging living cousins like you to add information from more recent generations - Henry Gardner Rice forward in time. We have committed the g g grandchildren, and many of the g g g grandchildren, of Edmund Rice to our computer data set. In the past year we have added the records from six cousins. Right now I am working with two cousins, one with a computer data set of nearly 2,000 person records and one with about a 1,000 person record computer data set. Several other cousins are working on their family lines for us.

Two quick questions?
-  Are you keeping your family records in a computer genealogy program? If so ,what program?
-  Are you comfortable exchanging files attached to e-mail notes? If so, I will prepare a report in Word format of your ancestral line from Henry Gardner Rice back in time.

Looking forward to a mutually beneficial exchange,
George

Anita Cooper, who is our liaison with the Thomas McClure Rice Association, wrote recently wondering how many other Edmund Rice Association members are also members of lineage organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution and the Mayflower Society.

Anita urges those with memberships to have their lineages printed in the newsletter to encourage others to research their lines and join these organizations. She says, “I have been working on proof for DAR off and on for a while now.  I need to get busy and complete it.  Maybe there're scholarships that my granddaughters would be able to take advantage of if they are members.”

There have been two Mayflower Society lines published in the newsletter in recent years. Nancy Bainter’s descent from William White (General #63827, New Jersey #1926) (Fall 1997, p. 7) and Keith Capen Allen’s descent from Francis Cooke (General # 63634, Massachusetts # 10000) (Winter/Spring 1997, p. 22).

Anita Cooper Lineage:
1. Edmund Rice (1594-1663) = Thomasine Frost
2. Edward Rice (1619-1712) = Anna Bent
3. Benjamin Rice (1666-1747/48) = Mary Graves
4. Azariah Rice (1693-1779) = Hannah Bartlett
5. Oliver Rice (1726-1812) = Lucy Rice
6. Nathan Rice (1762-1841) = Jemimah McClure
7. Thomas McClure Rice (1801-1842) = Elizabeth Wilson
8. Oliver H. Rice (1830-1867) = Adeline Prudence Courtney
9. Oren Adelbert Rice (1855-1925) = Mary Alice Hodges
10. Mary Adeline Rice (1876-1945) = Marshall Jerone Cooper
11. Lee Daniel Cooper (1908-1996) = May Jean Peterson
12.  Anita Jean Cooper

Anita writes, “I am a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT).  The DRT is composed of members whose ancestors were in Texas when it was a Republic (1836-1846).  The purpose of the DRT is to promote and preserve Texas History. Thomas McClure Rice is my Texas ancestor.  He came to Texas from Marietta, Ohio in about 1836.”

Our license plates say, Oklahoma – Native America. Until Census 2000 when California edged us out slightly, Oklahoma had a larger Indian population than any other state. Tribal cultures are an integral part of state history and inform our contemporary life as well.

Tulsa is part of the former Creek Reservation. Originally, our section of Tulsa was given to former Creek slaves after the Civil War. The Creeks, who had supported the Confederacy, were ordered by the Federal government to free their slaves and settle them on part of the tribe’s prime farmland.

We frequently see car plates issued by the Muskogee Creek Tribe or Cherokee Tribe or Seminole or Osage or Comanche or Pawnee or one of many other tribes. Nearby, Creek Nation Bingo beckons players to its gambling establishment on “Indian land” with Las Vegas-like neon signs.

The Scots-Irish also came here in large numbers, attracted by the land runs and the discovery of oil. Cattle ranches, working cowboys, small oil producers, wild-catters and rodeos are as integral a part of the state’s fabric as pow-wows. Many Oklahomans of two or three generations are ¼ to 1/32nd Indian. . My friend, Mary, who is “17/32 Cherokee”, likes to tell people how her mother proved DAR lineage for her two sisters and herself, each through a different line.

 Oklahomans with Indian ancestry range anywhere from blue-eyed fair skinned to dark eyed olive skin, even among siblings.  Yet, even with the intermarriages among Indians - whites and Indians - blacks, Oklahoma also seems to have more redheads per capita than most places. The latter is only based on an informal survey Tom and I have been conducting over the past 10 years, but the prevalence of red heads is amazing and we suspect it reflects that dominant Scots-Irish strain.

What’s this to do with anything, you’re wondering. Well, it was the combination of redheaded babies, captured Rice boys, Y chromosome, mtDNA and genetic markers that started me thinking how well Oklahomans illustrate that though we are of different ethnicities, different cultures, we are ‘one race, one species’.

- Keith Capen Allen