 Your Rice Family E~zine Generation by Generation ~ Century by Century
VOL. 5, NO. 2 ~ JANUARY 31, 2012
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IN THIS ISSUE
Letter from the Editor: More from Collections of the Library of Congress Featured Photo: Winter at Rice Lake Introducing Calvin Winsor Rice Rice Family Members & Alexander Graham Bell Correspondence Migrations: From Massachusetts to Vermont and Michigan Southern Family Trees: Notes on Some Kentucky & Maryland Rices For Root Diggers and Branch Climbers: Those Surnames with Other Meanings Rice Newspaper Clippings from The Brooklyn Eagle (Part 7) <:><:><:><:>:<:><:><:><:> IN OUR NEXT ISSUE: RECOLLECTIONS OF SARAH AGNES (RICE) PRYOR (Part 1) <:><:><:><:><:><:><:> If you hit a couple of patches of blank space in this issue, please scroll down. I was not able to eliminate them. - REB |
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Letter from the Editor
I've continued to poke around in the digital collections of the Library of Congress, looking at the correspondence of well-known figures and sifting out the letters that are to or from Rice family members.
What does such biographical data have to do with genealogy? How often do these letters reveal family connections? These questions are related to the methodology used by genealogists. As a rule, those family researchers who investigate lesser known sources are able to discover more details about specific ancestors. In addition, such research often fits our ancestors into a way of life and a period of history. It puts us in touch with not only how they lived, but also what they thought and why.
In this issue, I have highlighted Rices who were in touch with noted inventor Alexander Graham Bell. I am only able to identify one of them---Calvin W. Rice--with personal data and by his place on the family tree. I consulted other sources to put together his profile. However, having a young female Rice's account of watching one of Bell's experiments and, indeed, helping him document it, shows that 132 years ago some young women were interested in science and capable of describing experiments. For me, adding dimension to an ancestor makes me feel closer to that person.
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 Rice Lake at Seymour Mountain, North Vancouver, Canada
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THE BELL-RICE CORRESPONDENCE:
Introducing Calvin Rice Calvin Winsor Rice was an inventive electrical engineer who piggy-backed on the discoveries of such men as Thomas Edison and understood the technology being explored by Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. Following his 1890 graduation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rice worked as an assistant engineer with Thomson-Houston Electrical Company, which was absorbed by General Electric, which later sent him to Cincinnati as district engineer. He next went to Colorado as electric superintendent for the Silver Lake Mines.  | | CALVIN W. RICE |
Rice then added to his experience and credentials by working for several companies, but again aligned himself with GE as a consulting engineer who directed many of the company's experiments. For 28 years he was secretary of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a position he used to establish networking among engineers worldwide. In recognition of this effort he received the Knight Cross of Czechoslovakia's Order of the White Lion and the Medal of Honor of a German engineering society, as well as an honorary doctorate from a German technical institute. The ASME honored Rice by establishing the annual Calvin W. Rice Lecture which invites engineers from around the world to address its membership, thus continuing Rice's effort to increase understanding among all engineers.
Rice is probably best remembered professionally as a specialist on high voltage phenomena and long distance electrical transmission who was also experienced in steam and hydraulic engineering. In 1925, he and E. W. Kellogg invented the first hornless radio loudspeaker. Dr. Rice was also involved in improving home receiving systems. A man of varied interests, Rice was a member of the Corporation of M.I.T., which he served as secretary, and a board member of the New York Museum of Science and Industry. He was a member of the American Committee for the World Power Conference, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a fellow and past vice president of the American Association of Electrical Engineers. He also belonged to various professional organizations in Europe and South America. Calvin was born Nov. 4, 1868 and died Oct. 2, 1934. He married Ellen Moller Weibezahn Aug. 5, 1904 at Winchester, Massachusetts, where he had been raised. They had children Edward Winslow Rice (b. 1905; m. Jane Marie Walania), Virginia Worthington Rice (1908-1911), and Marjorie. Dr. Rice was the son of Edward Hyde Rice (1840-1923) and the former Lucy Jane Staples (1844-1878), who were wed July 8, 1867. Calvin's paternal grandparents were George and Rebecca (French) Rice and his father's middle name was for Henry H. Hyde, the husband of George's sister, Keziah. Calvin's line of descent from Edmund Rice of Sudbury, Mass., is: Calvin-9 (Edward H.-8, George-7, Thomas-6, David-5, Bezaleel-4, David-3, Henry-2, Edmund-1) SOURCES: - Publications of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- Andrew H. Ward's 1858 Genealogical History of the Rice Family
- A Genealogical Register of Edmund Rice Descendants, compiled by the Edmund Rice (1638) Association, Inc., 1970
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Rice Family Members Correspond
with Telephone Inventor
Alexander Graham Bell
CALVIN RICE'S LETTER
This undated letter by Calvin Rice, written on the Arlington Hotel stationery, expresses Calvin Rice's regret at not having been able to see Alexander Graham Bell during his visit to Washington. It also says:
I remember years ago of my father Edward H. Rice telling me of the experimental work you performed after office hours on his private wire running between his office of the Walworth Manufacturing Co. and the factory at Cambridgeport. I have never known of how much was thus determined and sometime I would be pleased if I might have a letter from you.
ANNIE E. RICE RECOUNTS WATCHING EXPERIMENT
This Feb. 19, 1880 account by Miss Annie E. Rice recounts a demonstration at the Bell laboratory earlier that day, also witnessed by Bell's brother Charles and a Nettie J. Sumner, who likewise submitted written accounts to the inventor. It appears that Bell asked each of them to document what they witnessed. The experiment was with something called an "electric photo phone."
Annie writes (in part): A woman--as you suggested--need know little of the technique of science and therefore I must give this description in simple terms, endeavoring to make my words as plain as possible...Mr. C. J. Bell held a mirror in the window, which reflected the sunlight through the upright glass plates on the Selenium cell and
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"Congratulations on the success of the experiment & hoping ere long to bring my relations in Japan within sound of my voice by means of your Electric Photo Phone..."
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you sang and shouted and coughed into the speaking tube and at every vibration of the diaphragm the lines on the upright pieces of glass could be seen to move. After Mr. Taintor came from the kitchen (where he had been listening at the telephone while you spoke into the Electric Photo Phone) you drew a diagram and made a description of the Electric Photophone in the Work Room Notes, signing your name to both pages. Mr. Taintor signed under your name and Mr. C. J. Bell, Miss N. J. Sumner and I signed our initials and the date as witnesses. At your request, we scratched, with a pointed instrument, our initials and the date on the upright piece of wood of the model...Miss Sumner, Mr. C. J. Bell and I put private marks on the flat piece of wood and also on the Selenium Cell. The Electric Photo Phone as represented by the first Model, appears to me to be made in the following manner: The base, a piece of wood, oblong in shape, on which rests two wooden blocks--long and narrow--supporting a glass plate--oblong--on this glass plate rest two upright pieces of glass coated with silver and scratched with fine lines at minute distances from one another--these glass uprights were so arranged that the lines overlapped one another--when at rest... It appears from the text of Miss Rice's letter that Bell was using these witnesses to carefully document his experiments, probably as a prelude to him applying for a government patent. LETTER TO ALEXANDER H. RICE ET ALIn 1877, Alexander H. Rice, Governor of Massachusetts, and several well-known Bostonians invited Alexander G. Bell to come to Boston and lecture about his invention of the telephone. (Rice was a former Boston mayor and U. S. Congressman. A biography of him appears in Your Rice Family E~zine, Vol. 4, No. 9). The following text, which testifies to Bell's characteristic thoroughness, is from his April 21, 1877 letter
 | | ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL |
of acceptance. I therefore have the honor of presenting the subject of the electric telephone to the notice of the Boston public in the Music Hall upon the evenings of the 4th, 7th and 8th of May.
The object of my first lesson will be to trace the general history of telephonic research and to place my own discoveries in their true relation to those of others; the second lecture will be upon the application of telephony to the transmission of telegraphic messages simultaneously along a single wire; and the third lecture will be devoted to the explanation of the Magneto-Electric Telephone as an instrument of scientific research, and as a means of transmitting vocal utterance electrically.
Each lecture will be illustrated by the actual transmission of speech and music from cities remote from Boston.
GYPSY PREDICTED BELL WOULD WED MISS RICEIn a Nov. 30, 1879 letter Bell, writing to his wife from Boston, describes an encounter with a Mrs. Dunlap whom he had known in England as "Miss Rice." Her full name is not given. Here is what Alexander tells his wife: Last Friday Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap of Chicago called here on Mr. Warren and I recognized in Mrs. Dunlap a Miss Rice of former years whose escort I was in England at the time of the Harvard and Cambridge boat race. I there mounted the American colours for the first time--and took charge of Miss Rice and her sister and Mrs. Lander. A gypsy examined my palm and described Miss Rice as my future partner in life--and examined her palm and gave a description of your humble servant as her future husband. However, gipsies (sic) are not alwayts right--and I prefer my dear little wife--to the middle-aged-looking--though young, Mrs. Dunlap.
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Alexander Graham Bell with his wife, the former Mabel Gardiner Hubbard, and their children Elsie May Bell (far left) and Marian Hubbard Bell, ca. 1855
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MigrationsFROM MASSACHUSETTS TO VERMONT AND POINTS WEST
It was 1783. The Revolutionary War had just ended. Many of the New England soldiers had caught glimpses of land to the west. Some had crossed the Green Mountains in Vermont and fought at strategic forts on Lake Champlain and Lake George in New York. Things would never be the same. After five generations, the good farmland in Massachusetts, as it was inherited by children of each generation, had been cut up into smaller and smaller parcels. It was no longer enough to support a large family. Vermont's fertile valleys beckoned first. Brothers Ephraim (1758-1851), Abraham (b. 1763), Jonas (1765-1849) and Gardiner Rice (b. 1767) of Petersham, Massachusetts caught the "go west" fever. The pacesetters were probably Ephraim Rice, who had served in the Revolutionary War, and his double brother-in-law, Lt. Asa French. Ephraim married Hannah French (1762-1843) and his sister Marcy (1760-1847) married Lt. French. Hannah and Asa were children of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Frost) French. They must have come from hardy pioneer stock. Hannah lived to age 81, Jonas to 84, Marcy to 87 and Ephraim to 93. (We don't have death dates for Abraham and Gardiner, but know that both married and had children. Ephraim settled at Wardsboro, Vermont, where his son Ephraim married Betsey Maynard April 7, 1817. Ephraim and Betsey had at least five children, including Charles Wesley Rice, who died in Chicago in 1922. Asa and Marcy (Rice) French settled at Brattleboro, Vermont, where the first of their nine children was born in 1783. We don't know as much about the families of younger brothers Abraham and Jonas. Abraham married Lucy Nurse/Nourse Feb. 17, 1785 at Dummerston, Vermont, where their son Joshua was born in 1785, They seem to have disappeared, but perhaps they were the first of their generation to make the next westward move. Jonas and his wife (Mary/Polly) both died at Brattleboro, Vermont, in their 80s. A grandson, Henry Harrison Rice, was living in Sioux City, Iowa in 1866. Next we come to Gardiner Rice, youngest of the Petersham, Massachusetts brothers. He and his wife, the former Lydia Hager, also settled at Dummerston, Vermont, where their oldest child was born in 1790 and their youngest, Francis, was born in 1812. Their children were: Dollie (b. 1790; may have m. Reuben Wood), Amos (b. 1792; m. Susan Davenport), Lydia (b. 1794), Patty/Martha ( b.1796), Nabby/Abigail (1798-1801), Roxanna (b. 1800; may have m. Silas Adams), Simeon (b. 1802), Gardner (sic), b. 1804, Nelson (b. 1806), Phylinda (b. 1808), Dolly? (b. 1809?), Ezekiel (see below) and Francis (b. 1812). Many of these Massachusetts families leap-frogged west, which is the case for many of the Rice children born in Vermont. Your editor is most familiar with Gardiner Rice's son, Ezekiel Rice, born April 1, 1810 at Dummerston. Here is an example of how sharing our genealogical discoveries with others can help us trace ancestors in the mid or far west back to their eastern roots. In the 1970s, I received a family group sheet that had been prepared in the 1960s by Mrs. Sadie F. Miller from data she found in the huge genealogical collection of the Mormon Church, perhaps the largest genealogical database in the English-speaking world. (Also researching the Gardiner Rice family was Wilfred A. Hager of Los Angeles.) Sadie's family group sheet starts with Ezekiel Woodward Rice and identifies his parents as Gardiner and Lydia (Hager) Rice. In 1835, Ezekiel wed--we don't know where--Betsey Lovewell, who was born Nov. 6, 1817 in Yates Co., New York, daughter of Henry and Polly (Houseman) Lovewell. Ezekiel died Dec. 15, 1873, at Webberville, Michigan, which is where his wife Betsey died Oct. 24, 1889. Here is information on their children, many of whom were still living in the 1920s: - Jasper Rice, b. Jan. 25, 1837; d. Nov. 1, 1914. He married Mary Jane Waters in 1868
- Truman Rice, b. May 4, 1838; d. May 10, 1922; m. Phebe Paine Rice Dec. 18, 1866
- Gardner (sic) Rice, b. March 20, 1840; m. Evelina Sullivan Bowley, Oct. 6, 1867
- Polly Rice, b. Sept. 8, 1842; d. Feb. 17, 1929; m. Daniel Crawford Rice Oct. 24, 1861
- Henry Rice, b. May 1, 1845; d. Jan. 24, 1928; m. Helen Rozene Barnes Dec. 11, 1867
- Lydia Jane Rice, b. Sept. 12, 1849; d. Feb. 22, 1920; m. Charles Wellington Mann Jan. 25, 1868
- Albert Rice, b. March 4, 1854; m. Arletta Chamberlain Nov. 10, 1878.
The Rice brothers of Petersham, Massachusetts are, according to data compiled by The Edmund Rice Association, descendants of Amos Rice and Martha Hagar who were married May 28, 1750 at Weston, Massachusetts. This Amos Rice was called "of Nitchewoag" (i.e., Petersham) in the Weston marriage record. The lineage is: Amos Rice-5 (Ephraim-4, Ephraim-3, Thomas-2, Edmund-1) Readers should note that Andrew H. Ward's 1858 Genealogical History of the Rice Family lists only two children, Amos and Bathshebah, for Amos and Martha (Hagar) Rice. It says the children were warned out of Sudbury April 17, 1755. It would be unusual to do this to children under age 5. |
FUN FOR ROOT DIGGERS
AND BRANCH CLIMBERS
A few months ago we noted that certain surnames are difficult to search for online because the surname also means something. An example: If your last name is Black, an online search will lead you to such things as black beans, black ink, etc. Well, we have some more of those hard-to-find surnames. WELL, OF ALL THINGS! Pamela Thing Bane wrote to a genealogy magazine editor noting that she comes up with millions of "things" when looking for her Thing ancestors online. Yes, there are so many things that are objects that she can't find the ones that are people. Pamela's Things left New Hampshire and headed west in the early 1800s. We suggest she try Thwing, which is the name of a very old and populous New Hampshire family.DOES ROY ROGERS FIT IN HERE? His surname is Trigger. The search engine gives him all kinds of gun triggers, then events that trigger other events, etc. He didn't say whether or not he ran into Roy Rogers.
HACKING IT
Mr. Hacking isn't really hacking into other peoples' computers. Indeed, he thought his surname was rather rare. Possibly it is, but the search engine provided hundreds of "hacking" items. His advise to Hacking family researchers? Just try "hacking" it in this computer age.
WHOOPS! Then there's Lyndy, whose maiden name is Hooker. She's hot on the trail of therse Hookers. What did she discover? Thwere's more porn on the internet than she ever would have imnagined. Now she doesn't want anyone to use her computer. Why? She doesn't want them to see her browsing history! _____________
A TIP If you find that your surname search is being hindered because of the name's other meanings, here's a tip: Try Hacking family, Hooker genealogy, Trigger ancestors, etc.
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SOUTHERN FAMILY TREES
Notes on Rices
in Morgan Co., KY & Washington Co., MD
INTRODUCTION--As I continue to clean out my files, making sure there is somewhere a record of what I eliminate from my burdensome collection, I am using our e~zineas one of those records since it is electronically archived and can eventually be put on CDs. Some readers can no doubt place the families listed below, but perhaps with these additional sources they can extend their research, even if it means adding just one more date or place. RICES IN MORGAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY George Rice was born ca. 1827, and died ca. 1863 in Morgan Co., Kentucky. In 1858, he married Ester (sic)Hurst of Morgan Co. She was born ca. 1831 and died in 1901 in Elliott Co., Kentucky. She had two other husbands, but this source does not say if they were before or after her marriage to George Rice. George and Ester (Hurst) Rice had a daughter, Martha Rice, born March 22, 1859 in Morgan Co. Martha married Richmond Ison on Feb. 13, 1879. Robert Lee Ison of Mesa, Arizona was working on this family in the mid 1900s. He then reported that most of his information came from family records compiled by Louie S. Ison. EDITOR'S NOTES: Regarding Louie S. Ison: My records show that Louie Ison was a cousin of Harvey Weddington Rice (1897-1952) who was born at Newcomb in Elliott Co., Kentucky, and died at Ashland in Boyd Co., Kentucky. Harvey was a son of Walter Fleming Rice and his wife, the former Molly Lewis. Here are some other Rice marriages which took place in Morgan Co.(from Morgan County Marriage Records):
- Rice, John, and Anna White, October 30, l834
- Rice, Moses C., and Lydia Day, March 9, l850
- Rice, Benjamin, and Barbara Jones, December 15, 1852
- Rice, John, and Sarah Colvin, August 17, 1858
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RICES IN WASHINGTON CO., MARYLAND
Henry Rice of Washington Co., Maryland, was born ca. 1799 and died there sometime before his will was probated in 1868. He married Nancy Maugins there in 1824. She was born April 4, 1807 at Wolfsville, Frederick Co., Maryland, to Abraham and Elizabeth (Frey) Maugins. Their children (born in Washington Co., Maryland) were:
- Abraham Rice, born ca. 1825
- Henry Rice, born ca. 1827
- Daniel Rice, born ca. 1828
- Jacob Rice, born ca. 1830
This material was submitted in the 1960s by Gladys L. Nebeker Wager Cutler of Idaho Falls, Idaho, who cites as her sources vital records and the will of Henry Rice.
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RICE ITEMS FROM THE BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE About this series... For the rest of this year we will be adding on to the end of each e~zine copies of old newspaper stories about Rice family members. Although they are from The Brooklyn (NY) Daily Eagle, they often concern Rices from various regions of the United States. Part 8 May 3, 1854 SHOOTING IN IOWA 
Dec. 1, 1886 CONSTABLE RICE STABBED Cut Four Times While Acting as Peacemaker 
May 2, 1889 
Dec. 17, 1889 DEATH OF A WELL KNOWN RESIDENT Luther Judson Rice Passes Away After a Long Illness 
Sept. 21, 1897 SHE ABANDONED HER BABY  .
Nov. 28, 1902 NEWMAN-RICE  
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RESOURCES
Quick Links for Curious Rice Ancestor Chasers
EDMUND RICE ASSN & ITS NEWSLETTER & ITS RICE DNA PROJECT
LATEST LINKS:
Descendants of Robert Rice of Maury Co., Tennessee
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THE RICE SURNAME: "Rice" is a variant of the Welsh surname Rhys/Rees/Reese and an anglicized version of the German surname Reis.
Are there bare limbs on your family tree?
 TWO THINGS TO TRY:
1) If you are not a male bearing the Rice surname, find a relative who is and have a DNA test done. 2) Send in the name of your earliest known Rice ancestor, giving at least one date and location, and we will try to match it with those families being researched by other readers. Email: ricebooksreb@yahoo.com RICE EZINE NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE: Our past issues are being archived here. If your newsletter looks like it is not properly formatted, or is garbled, please let us know! Address newsletter correspondence to: ricebooksreb@yahoo.com |
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