Spring 2004b Newsletter

Plan to attend the Rice Reunion 17 and 18 September 2004 at the Radisson Hotel in Marlborough, Massachusetts. We are having a DOUBLE HEADER with a 300th anniversary of the four Rice boys' capture and abduction to Canada and a speaker on the Stour Valley of Suffolk, England.

On Friday afternoon, September 17 starting at 1 PM at the Radisson, Michael Rice of the Kahnawake Mohawk Nation of Canada will be our guest speaker. He will help us understand the totally different culture that Silas, Timothy, and Adonijah Rice chose to remain in.

Our featured speaker at the Annual Meeting after lunch on Saturday, 18 September is Professor Francis Bremer. Dr. Bremer is the recent author of "John Winthrop, America's Forgotten Founding Father". Winthrop came from Groton in the Stour River Valley of Suffolk, England about six miles from Stanstead where Edmund and Thomasine (Frost) Rice started out their married life. Thomasine's family, at least, goes back to the 1450s in the Stour Valley and Edmund's family may have also but we have no written evidence in his case.

Frank Bremer, in preparation for his Winthrop biography, spent a lot of time in the Stour Valley and we hope to hear about some of the flavor of life in the early 1600s over there. That part of England was the hotbed of Puritanism that led to extremely large numbers of immigrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Michael Rice is a teacher within the Mohawk Nation. We hope to hear from him more about the Rices who integrated into the Kahnawake Native American culture by marrying and siring families. Rice Mohawks are prominent both today and in the past and Michael has many stories about them. We may learn more about the Rice Kahnawake genealogy also.

We should have a full day and a half with visits to the capture site in what is now Westborough, a visit to the Peter Rice house, home to the Marlborough Genealogy Society (just behind the Radisson), and a trip to the Wayland (formerly East Sudbury) grave marker of Edmund Rice.

During Saturday morning Rice cousins will be able to use laptop computers with the Rice database using The Master Genealogist, browse and buy Rice Genealogy books or just socialize with Rice cousins. Coffee and pastries will be available starting at 9 AM.

Actual registration forms will be in the Summer Newsletter in August but included in this Newsletter is a preliminary form for you to indicate what events you plan to attend. Please use it and help us with planning. This is particularly important for the visit to Westborough may have to be via bus.

Spring is nearly done and it is time to venture out of the house and the library, and think about summer gatherings. Many of us will have family reunions, large and small. My parents, aunt and I all gathered at my brother's place over Memorial Day weekend to celebrate my niece's graduation from high school. I hope everyone has some equally significant events to celebrate this summer with family.

While you're thinking about close and extended family reunions, consider coming to the Rice reunion in September. It will be extra-special this year, with two speakers on fascinating topics. I think it definitely merits some vacation time for us working-stiffs.

Ah, to be retired and have more time to do genealogy - and get involved in all the other activities I love! Alas, it is still a long way off for me and I find I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew. So after almost two years editing your newsletter, I've decided to resign at the end of this year. I want to be able to serve some of the other volunteer organizations I belong to, and with the way work interferes with real life, the only way to do that is sequentially. So I'm off to other activities next year.

Which means we'll be looking for a new editor. It really isn't arduous and the people-connections you make are great, so please consider it and contact anyone on the board if you're interested. And I promise to make the time to help you get started, and try to contribute an article from time to time.

During the past year we have added recent descendants of Edmund Rice to the Edmund Rice Association master database from the computer files of many cousins: Ken Barbi, Sheri Hotzler, Linda Kaufman, Bonny Robillard, Bill Kerry, Charlie Bourland, Alice Pierce, Tony Parker, Donna Bachman, Terrence Anderson, Scott Huntsman, Perry Bent, Jerry Rice, Beth McAleer, Becky Norman, and Christine Lincoln. The next batch of updates will include databases from cousins Bob Bouck, Marilyn Cullen, Richard Baker, Nancy Boulter, Donna Crosby, Dick Larkin, Scott McKay, Kitty Grabelski, Karen Sharper, and Donna Hastings. In addition, John Chandler has provided 7,000 corrections and additions that make our master database an authoritative record of Edmund's descendants. Have YOU submitted your computer files for your more recent descendants of Edmund Rice??

At the time of the recent Spring meeting of the Board of Directors, George King and I compared notes and determined that the composite of our two versions of the database contained about 100,000 persons in all. Each of us had about 80,000, including about 20,000 that the other did not yet have. This count marks a major "milestone" of progress, and it seems appropriate now to take a look at our database and see where we stand. The present state represents a large investment of effort over many years on the part of the many cousins who have contributed, either directly to the modern database itself or indirectly via the collection and publication of the Rice books (starting with Ward's Rice Family a century and a half ago). Nonetheless, we still have a long way to go. To begin with, there is the immediate task of merging the two versions. More than that, though, is the long-term goal of including all descendants of Edmund Rice in the database - a rough calculation indicates that there are something like 10 million!

Rather than seeing the database as 99% empty, let's look at it as 1% full. To that end, I have collected some statistics. Out of 80,060 persons in my copy of the database, I have updates pending on 15,105 and 22,441 "new" persons not yet found in the master copy. The more interesting part of the statistics has to do with who is in the database. I find that 77,672 persons have valid surnames entered. After taking variants into account, I find 5,266 different surnames. Of these, 2,175 surnames have only one representative each in the database, and 784 have only two representatives. Bear in mind that we enter the parents (if known) of all the spouses marrying into the Edmund Rice clan, and so we would generally expect any new surname to start out with at least two representatives, but, alas, it is clear that many, if not most, of the parents are not known.

Let us turn now to the other end of the surname list. The following table shows the 20 most common surnames in the database. In this list, the merged variants include How + Howe, Smith + Smyth + Smythe, Heywood + Haywood + Heyward + Hayward, and Wood + Woods. For each surname, I give the frequency in the database and, for comparison, the frequency in the U.S. population, as reflected in the 1990 census. Interestingly, only one of the top 20 has a higher frequency in the general population than in the database: JOHNSON. SMITH comes close, but the other 18 are far less frequent outside our database. (One name that does not appear in the top 20 is CHANDLER - in fact, it ranks 165th in the database - it, too, is "overrepresented".)

Another name that is surprising in its absence is WARD. The other two names covered in my "Family Thicket" series to date are HOWE and BRIGHAM, which rank second and third in the database, behind RICE. In contrast, WARD ranks 36th. The explanation of this discrepancy is to be found in the details of which descendants of William Ward (male lines vs. female lines) married descendants of Edmund Rice.

Another point worth mentioning is the high percentage of Rices in the database. The same rough calculation that tells us to expect 10 million descendants of Edmund Rice gives us an estimate of only 10,000 named Rice. In fact, we know this must be an underestimate because we already have over 8,000 Rices in the database, but, by the same token, the predicted total size of the database is probably also an underestimate. Again, there is a simple explanation of the discrepancy: it is always easier to follow lines of descent that stay with the same surname. Also, it was widely assumed until very recently that any Rice in the U.S. was a descendant of Edmund, and so Rices have proportionately made much more effort to trace their ancestry back to Edmund than those with other surnames. (Now, however, our Rice DNA project has identified 29 different Rice lines not descended from Edmund, and so we can no longer make that assumption.)

Many excellent records from primary sources have recently become available on subscription-only services the Internet. More records are being added daily. Members have often asked if these subscription services are worth the money. Many public libraries subscribe to one or more of these services. My local libraries give me access to Ancestry.com/Plus and Heritage Quest. Using my library card I can access Heritage Quest from my home computer. Be sure to ask your local library if they subscribe to any of these services. Your research librarian will be glad to show you how to use computer terminals in the library.

The Board of Directors voted at their spring meeting to increase ERA dues to $15 beginning with the 2004-05 year (next September). Life membership at $200 or renewals for members 80 years or over at $5 per year were not changed.
The BoD was reluctant to increase dues but after much deliberation it was so voted. Most family genealogical or history groups long ago raised dues to $15 or $20 per year. The dues were raised from $5 to $10 ten years ago.
The BoD also asked that dues notices contain a space to encourage members to make an added voluntary donation to our non-profit educational association recognized by the Internal Revenue under section 501(c)(3). Life Members will also be invited to make contributions.
Our association has for many years subsidized the annual meeting from funds given to us for that purpose. Because interest rates have been very low for a number of years we have suffered loss in interest income. This means that the funds have diminished to a dangerous point.
We will continue to invite outstanding speakers for our annual reunions and to subsidize the cost of luncheons. ERA will also continue to sponsor such innovations as the DNA project.
The total cost of operating our association is, of course, heavily subsidized by the time and money spent by many volunteers. For example if we were to pay for the time for developing our genealogical computer database with soon to be 100,000 names it would be prohibitive. Likewise for putting out the newsletter four times a year, arranging details of the annual meeting, etc.
The Board thanks everyone-- members and volunteers-- for your support of our family organization, and we look forward to seeing you all at the annual meeting this year and many years to come!

When did Edmund Rice arrive in Sudbury?

To satisfy my curiosity on this question, I checked the records now in the Rare Book section of the sixth floor of the New England Historic Genealogy Library in Boston. Here is what I found. I have used spelling as found in the records.

The first record we have for Edmund Rice in New England is from Massachusetts Colonial Records 1, vol. 1, p 271 for 3 September 1639 that lists those appointed to "lay out lands in the town of Sudbury". Edmund Rice was one of seven recognizable names from Sudbury.

An earlier reference in that volume, page 238 , dated 6 September 1638 states that "The petitioners, Mr. Pendleton, Mr. Noyse, Mr. Brown, & Comp, are allowed to go on in their plantation, & such others that are associated with them ...are to set out the bounds of the said plantation ..." In the margin are the words "Sudbury plantation laid out". This group could well have included Edmund Rice but his name was not listed. One interpretation could be that the boundaries of town of Sudbury were established in fall 1638 and the actual house plots and meadow acreage, etc. assigned in the fall of 1639.

According to Powell, pages 167-171 2, Pendleton, Noyes, and Brown were early Sudbury settlers. Edmund Brown was their minister, Peter Noyes along with Edmund Rice served as Selectman and Deputy to the Court. Brian Pendleton served as Selectman only.

Winthrop's Journal 3 (p 261) reports the settlement of Sudbury to have started in August 1638.

By 7 October 1640 Edmund was appointed Deputy to the General Court of Massachusetts by the town meeting of Sudbury. We know that it was the towns who sent their representatives to that body (which was the Colony government along with the Governor and Assistants) because on 13 March 1638/39 the record shows that the Court admonished the towns to send no more than two such deputies. This meansthat the court itself did not chose its deputies, a system that would probably have favored Mr. Brown, the minister.

It is quite possible that Edmund Rice was one of the first two deputies from Sudbury. Actually he may have been the only first deputy for I have not yet found any other Sudbury name in the 7 October list.

The 13 May 1640 record lists Edmund Rice along with a number of other Sudbury residents as Freemen, which meant he was fully accepted into the church and could therefore vote.

Edmund Rice was to continue to represent Sudbury for three or four more periods according to Sumner Chilton Powell, for in Puritan Village it is said that he served as Deputy five times. Powell also says Edmund Rice served 11 times as Selectman, and 3 times as Justice of Small Causes. He also served in Marlborough, which he helped settle, and was on call for serious advice in other near-by towns such as Framingham.

Joseph Rice, son of Edmund and Thomasine, was baptised14 March 1638 at St. Peter's Church, Berkhamsted, England. The trip across the Atlantic usually took several months and we assume (without any evidence) that the whole family came at one time. It is entirely possible that in the intervening six months they crossed the pond, stayed briefly in Watertown, and moved into temporary quarters in Sudbury by September 1638.

We now have Y-DNA results for 23 male descendants of Edmund Rice. Twelve have had 25 genetic markers analyzed, seven have only 12 markers reported, five have only nine markers (from Sorenson Genomics), and two have had all 37 markers. There are a few who have submitted for more markers but have not been reported as yet. All markers agree with seven single mutations observed among eight descendants that are to be expected. Recently two cousins obtained results for the 12-marker extension to make 37 total. For these, two loci (belonging to so called fast mutations) show mutations. Two more cousins' extensions have been ordered so we may have a reconstructed ancestral haplotype of 37 markers for Edmund Rice. One of the latter has long had extra loci since he has analyses from three different laboratories. All are reported on the Rice website, edmund-rice.org.
There are 13 individual reports in hand for the Robert Royce group. All but two have 25 markers reported with six single mutations shown by seven Royce descendants. Three descendants of this group have all 37 markers analyzed.
We continue to explore the pedigree of descendants of Gershom Rice because two of our Rice cousins proved to have the Royce haplotype. Recently a new Royce male who had long been considered a descendant of Robert Royce proved to have the Edmund Rice haplotype. He has a pedigree that seems to include Gershom Rice. This result prompted a wide and intensive search for other Gershom descendants and two such are now having their Y-DNA analyzed. These results may help clarify just when the Rice and Royce surname got mixed-up.
It is interesting to note that of the thirteen results for the Royce group ten currently have Rice surnames; only one has Royce, one Roys, and one Royse. This is exceptional proof of the mix-up of the two surnames. Y-DNA is helping genealogists in a way no other tool can.
The majority of Rice DNA projects (over 100) are now of Rices who are not descendants of Edmund Rice. Four Rice groups are still trying to discover their most distant common ancestor even though their genetic markers agree. The largest number of Rices have no other Rice who agrees with their marker set.
Almost all the 900 surnames studies done by FTDNA do not have a single surname origin.
John Chandler gave a talk at the Saturday, April 24 Conference on Genetics and Genealogy at the New England Historic Genealogy Society in Boston. I am told that several of the speakers used the Rice/Royce studies in their talk also.

Linda Goettman Wilson was elected to a director position at the annual meeting last fall. This is what she has to say about herself:

"Born in MA, lived in RI, CT, NJ and NY until a teen-ager and then lived in MS, TX, FL, VA and MD until 5 years ago when I returned to my roots. I stumbled onto Genealogy about 9 years ago and realized that the history of New England was my history. My MA grandfather's descent from Edmund Rice came fairly easily in my research but a couple years ago I discovered that my Maine Grandmother descended too. I'm really looking forward to more involvement with the Edmund Rice Assn.

My first job after undergraduate school was with the American Red Cross in Vietnam. Much of my life has intertwined social work, military, veterans and American Red Cross. I've worked for the VA long enough that I'm anticipating retirement soon, so I can spend more time on genealogy research and Red Cross disaster work.

Carolyn Cornutt Terry             Oregon
Donna Hillis Crosby                Washington
Nancy M. Nicol                      Massachusetts
Richard W. Baker                   Illinois
Waldo C. Friedland                Illinois
Donald B. Rice                       Florida
Rev. Glenn M. Rice                Massachusetts
David A. Rice                         Florida
K. Paul Johnson                     Virginia
Charles R. Bourland, Jr.          Georgia
Dawn Rice-Norton                 Massachusetts

We are fortunate that our ancestor Edmund Rice settled in New England where the vital records are excellent. There are still some unrecorded births, marriages, and deaths. Newspaper research can fill in the gaps, and add color to the lives of your ancestors. Besides recording births, marriages, and deaths, look for news about club meetings, town events, police reports, and social news, such as "Mrs. Harry Rice just returned from two weeks vacation at Denver where she visited her sister Mrs. Merrill."

The Boston Public Library has 10,000 Massachusetts newspapers on microfilm, and 1,000 others from around the country. The lists of newspapers are available on the Boston Public Library Microtext Department web pages:

If you cannot come to Boston to do research, go to your own public library's InterLibrary Loan Department, and they can borrow the film for you to use at your local library, at little or no charge. If your Rice family migrated west or north, look up the library catalog of the communities where they moved, and you may find a similar list of newspapers for that area.

I've had good luck researching the families who went west in the gold rush, using online censuses, Google, and InterLibrary Loan. My Rice families stayed in Massachusetts; here are sample newspaper transcriptions.

Abel Maynard died at Marlborough, Mass., but I found no vital record in that town or in other towns near or far. Two obituaries were located in local newspapers.

1. Deacon Edmund Rice = Thomasine Frost
2. Edward Rice = Agnes Bent
3. John Rice = Tabitha Stone
4. Deliverance Rice = John How, Jr.
5. Tabitha How = Hezekiah Maynard
6. Hezekiah Maynard, Jr. = Hannah Brigham
7. Capt. Abel Maynard = Nancy Rice

1. Deacon Edmund Rice = Thomasine Frost
2. Edward Rice = Agnes Bent
3. Jacob Rice = Mary Barrett
4. Gershom = Lydia Barrett.
5. Thomas Rice = Abigail Hapgood
6. Nancy Rice = Capt. Abel Maynard

Columbian Centinel, Boston, (Mass.) Wednesday, November 6, 1811, page 2, Microfilm, Boston Public Library.

Deaths.
In Marlboro', 31st ult. Capt. Abel Maynard, Aet 38: Truly an amiable man, a good officer, and a valuable citizen ...Whilst passing the heads of his oxen, one of them passed his horn near the bottom of the abdomen, and instantly threw him on the back of the other ox : In this horrid position he struggled several seconds, with the horn in his body ... He survived the distressing catastrophe about 48 hours ... On the 2d inst his remains, attended by an unusual concourse of mourners, were interred with military honors.

Massachusetts Spy, or Worcester Gazette, Wednesday, November 6, 1811, page 2,
Microfilm, Boston Public Library.

Deaths.
In Marlborough, the 31st ult. Capt. Abel Maynard, aged 38. He was passing the heads of his oxen, when one of them struck him with his horn near the bottom of the abdomen and instantly threw him upon the back of the other ox, in which situation he struggled several seconds, with the horn in his body. He survived but 48 hours. He was a truly amiable man, a good Officer, and a valuable citizen.

On a lighter note, here is my own grandmother's marriage notice. (For more information about my grandmother, who was adopted, see the Edmund Rice (1638) Association Newsletter, Vol. 74 no. 1, Winter 2000)

Somerville Journal, Somerville, Mass., 5 May 1911, page 1, Microfilm, Boston Public Library.

Wedding: Winchenbach-Hopkins
A quiet wedding took place on Monday evening at 7 o'clock at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Weeks Hopkins, when their daughter, Miss Dorothy Shepherd Hopkins, was united in marriage to Leland Arthur Winchenbach, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sanford E. Winchenbach of Waldoboro, Me. The ceremony was performed at 7 o'clock by Rev. Chester A. Drummond in the presence of the immediate relatives of the couple only.
The bride was attired in her travelling gown of pastel blue foulard, and was attended by Miss Lillian M. Brigham, of Boston, as maid of honor. Walter J. Brigham, of Somerville, was best man. Miss Holman, of Dorchester, furnished the wedding music.
Mr. and Mrs. Winchenbach left on a short wedding trip and upon their return will reside at 8 Dresden Circle, West Somerville, where they will be at home after July 1.
The bride is a graduate of the Luther V. Bell School and the Somerville Latin School. The groom received his education at Rockland, Maine.

Married
WINCHENBACH-HOPKINS-In Somerville, May 1, by Rev. Chester A. Drummond, Leland A. Winchenbach of 14 Sanborn Avenue, to Dorothy S. Hopkins of 15 Sanborn Avenue.
-------------------------
-Beth McAleer

FRIDAY 1 PM AT RADISSON - Talk by Michael Rice of the Kahnawake Mohawks.
     2:30 PM Bus to Capture site in Westborough.
     3: 00 PM Tour site, photographs
     4: 00 PM Bus returns to Radisson.

FRIDAY 5: 30 Dutch Treat Supper Radisson
7:30 Board of Directors Annual Meeting.

SATURDAY 8:30 AM to 12 NOON ANNUAL MEETING
8:30. AM
Coffee and pastries social meeting with laptop computers running The Master Genealogist with the ERA DATABASE. Chance to check your pedigree.Browse ERA Genealogy Books. Buy Books. Comments by George King and John Chandler on the database.
Michael Rice will also attend

SATURDAY 12 NOON ERA LUNCHEON by reservation only.
1:00 PM Professor Francis Bremer will speak on the Stour River Valley in Suffolk, England.
2:00 PM ERA ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING
3:00 PM Visit PETER RICE HOUSE and drive to Wayland -Edmund Rice Grave Site.

ACCOMODATIONS:
Call the Radisson at 1-800-333-3333 and ask for the Edmund Rice Association meeting to get the special rate of $99/night. Their address is 75 Felton St., Marlboro, MA 01752 and local phone number is 508-480-0015.