RICE FAMILIES IN THE USA

RICE FAMILIES IN THE USA

SAMUEL RICE JR.

(From: Book Two: The Rice Family - THE IMMIGRANTS; page 252. With the permission of Rosemary E. Bachelor, Editor.)

"RICE" ALIAS "KING" ____________________

Rice Husband Gave Motherless Child to His Wife's Brother King to Raise It was 1667 and winter was bearing down on the little settlement at Sudbury, Massachusetts, where the Rice family had been established for almost twenty years. In the space of three weeks that brisk October, Samuel Rice felt the joy of welcoming his namesake into the world and the grief of losing his wife, the former Elizabeth King. Their fathers were among the original settlers of the town where Samuel had been brought from England when barely older than a toddler. His was Deacon Edmund Rice and hers was Deacon Thomas King.

What to do? Samuel already had three little daughters (Elizabeth, Hannah and Esther) and two sons (Joshua and Edmund). The oldest, Elizabeth, had her 11th birthday just as her mother was dying. The youngest, Esther, had turned two the month before.

We imagine that a family conference was held and that the solution was the best possible one. Little Samuel Jr. was given to "brother and sister King for their own," according to records handed down to us. That would be Peter King and his wife, Sarah. It appears that Uncle Peter adopted him and raised him, for various records refer to Samuel and members of his family as both King and Rice. The Sudbury records show him as "Samuel King, alias Rice," in at least three places.

Samuel married Abigail Clapp and had a large family of his own. Abigail's death is entered on the records as: "Abigail King, alias Rice, wid. of Samuel King, alias Rice, d. July 6, 1713." There are probably some Kings in our century who don't even know this story that gives them Rice ancestry.

Here is an index to members of Samuel's family mentioned in this book:

(The numbers at the end of each entry signifies the page number in Book Two)

Rice/King, Abigail, b. ca. 1713, Sudbury, MA to Samuel & Abigail (Clapp) Rice/King; m. Samuel Rice/King, b. 1667; d. 17 Feb. 1729/30, 70,

Rice/King, Abigail (Hitchcock), wife of Samuel Rice/King (b. 1701); m. 29 Feb. 1727/28, Brimfield, MA, 69

Rice/King, Edward, b. 1705, Sudbury, MA to Samuel & Abigail (Clapp) Rice King, 70

Rice/King, Elizabeth, b. 1707, Sudbury, MA to Samuel & Abigail (Clapp) Rice King; m. Amos Brown, 1723, Stowe, MA, 70

Rice/King, Elizabeth (Flagg), wife of Peter Rice/King; m. 15 Feb. 1719/20, Weston, MA, 69

Rice/King, Elizabeth (Graves), wife of Peter Rice/King; m. 1723, Sudbury, MA, 69

Rice/King, Ezra, b. 1697, Sudbury, MA to Samuel & Abigail (Clapp) Rice/King; m. Silence Rice, 69

Rice/King, Lydia (Moulton), wife of Thomas Rice/King; m. 1726, Brimfield, MA, 70

Rice/King, Mindwell, b. 1694, Sudbury, MA to Samuel & Abigail (Clapp) Rice/King, 69

Rice/King, Mindwell, b. 1709, Sudbury, MA to Samuel & Abigail (Clapp) Rice/King, 70

Rice/King, Peter, b. 1701, Sudbury, MA to Samuel & Abigail (Clapp) Rice/King; m. 1) Elizabeth Flagg, 2) Elizabeth Graves, 69

Rice/King, Samuel, b. 1701, Sudbury, MA to Samuel Rice/King & Abigail Clapp; m.. Abigail Hitchcock 69

Rice/King, Sarah, born ca. 1708, Sudbury, MA to Samuel & Abigail (Clapp) Rice/King, 70

Rice/King, Silence (Rice), wife of Ezra Rice/King (1697-1746) of Sudbury, MA, 69

Rice/King, Thomas, b. 1703, Sudbury, MA to Samuel & Abigail (Clapp) Rice/King; m. Lydia Moulton, 70

Go To Home HERE

Here are some of my favorite websites:

Rice Book Page (http://www.ricefamilybooks.com)
Edmund Rice Association (http://www.edmund-rice.org)
George King's 'Nova Scotia Rices' (http://widowmaker.com/~gwk/)
Kris Hewitt's Site (http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~hewitt74)
Frederick Rice Family Web Site(http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~frederickrice)


This page belongs to Christine Rice Lincoln.