DAVID & MARY ELIZABETH (WRIGHT) RICE

FOUNDERS OF RICEVILLE, CASCADE COUNTY, MONTANA
DAVID RICE (1837 – 1914)
(MINER, RANCHER AND COUNTY ASSESSOR)
&
MARY ELIZABETH (WRIGHT) RICE (1850 – 1928)
(RICEVILLE POSTMISTRESS 1890 - 1927)
(Prepared by Thomas Budd Rice
{Howard E, Charles T, David, Luther,
Eliakim, Zebulon, Elisha, Thomas, Edmund}
(30 June 2003)

     David and Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” (Wright) Rice with their children emigrated from Leadville, Colorado to Butte, Montana Territory in the fall of 1882.

     “In January 1883 he left for Barker, crossing the Missouri at the mouth of the Sun River where Great Falls now stands.  At that time it was a barren plain with no houses in sight. From there he walked to Barker, passing through Belt on his way.  The only resident in Belt was John Castner.  He remained at Barker one year building charcoal kilns and supplying the Clendennin Mining Company with charcoal. He then went to Neihart, purchased some mines, erected kilns and in partnership with J. C. Wells, he engaged in ranching at the location which later became Riceville” Belt Valley History 1877 – 1978 pg 486 by Mildred Tuura Thompson (step Granddaughter of David and Mary Elizabeth Rice).

     David, probably with the help of his two older sons, Charles and Walter, and J. C. Welles built their first home, a log house, in Riceville in the late summer of 1887.  At that time David and Mary Elizabeth had six children, Charles T., J Walter, Nellie, William, Minnie and Edward David was elected County Assessor in 1889.  In December of 1889 the log house burned to the ground and David, Mary Elizabeth and the children lived in the chicken coop until spring when building materials could be freighted from Fort Benton.  The second home at Riceville, built in 1890, was a beautiful two-story structure.  The house was unique for that time, in that it had a bathroom on the second floor.  “It had the first indoor plumbing in the area. Located on the second floor were a toilet and bathtub. The septic system of the house consisted of a stand pipe down to the first floor and then a straight pipe out of the house that ran directly into Belt Creek.” (Great Falls Tribune 3 Oct 1976)In 1890 President Benjamin Harrison appointed Mary Elizabeth Post Mistress for Riceville, a post she held to her death in 1928.

     Shortly after the house was built the Rice children contracted scarlet fever and by the time that David could collect a doctor from Fort Benton three of the Children, William, Minnie and Edward had died. Charles T. (1872 – 1951), J. Walter (1874 – 1967) and Nellie (1880 – 1951) survived.

     Mary Elizabeth (Wright) Rice – Mary Elizabeth Wright was born on 7 January 1850 to Robert B and Matilda (Grove) Wright in Wapakonita Duchougrut Twps, Augulaizi County, Ohio.  Very little is known about her parents, Robert B. and Matilda (Grove) Wright.  Mary Elizabeth Wright was a native of Ohio, and daughter of Robert B and Matilda (GROVE) Wright.  Her Mother was a Pennsylvanian and her father a native of Ohio.  He was a member of the editorial profession of Ohio, editing papers at Mt. Gilead and Urbana, and during the Civil War conducted a paper at Wapakoneta, (Auglaize County, Ohio) that became noted for its strong southern sympathies." Progressive Men of Montana.The last record of Mary Elizabeth’s parents is the 1860 US Auglaize County Ohio census.

     David Rice – David Rice was born on 26 January 1837 in Stockbridge, Windsor County, Vermont to Luther and Lucy (Rogers) Rice.  Luther and Lucy had six children, Azro, Benjamin, Sarah, Marion, David and Charles Henry.  Much is known of David’s ancestors.  David was a descendant of William White a passenger on the Mayflower and signer of the Mayflower Compact.  David’s grandfather Eliakim Rice fought in the battles of Bunker Hill and Saratoga during the Revolutionary war.  His maternal grandfather, Benjamin Rogers, fought and was wounded in the war of 1812 and subsequently died from his wounds.  David’s brother, Azro A Rice, enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and was wounded at Gettysburg.  The first Rice ancestor of David’s to arrive in North America was Deacon Edmund Rice, who with wife, Thomasine (Frost) Rice, arrived in the Massachusetts colony in 1638 from England.

     David quit school at the age of 15 to assist on the farm.  In 1859 he left home to work on a farm in New York.  In 1860 David took passage on a ship from the East Coast to California where he took up mining at Jackson, Amador County, California.  In 1865 David married Mary Elizabeth Hanford.  Mary Elizabeth died less than a year later.  David remained in California for another eighteen months.  In 1868 David returned to the East to visit his parents in Vermont and then traveled onto Charleston, Coles County, Illinois where his brother Azro had a grocery store and his brother Charles Henry was also established in Charleston.  David met and married Mary Elizabeth Wright in the spring of 1870.  Shortly after the marriage, David and his brother moved their families to Arkansas where they took up cotton farming around Pine Bluff and Little Rock.  David’s brother, Charles Henry, became involved in politics and was appointed to a judgeship and then later ran and was elected to the Arkansas State Legislature.  At least two of David and Mary Elizabeth’s children, Charles (1872 – 1951) and James Walter (1874 – 1967), were born in Arkansas.  In 1878 a levee burst flooding out their cotton crops valued at $25,000.  After the flood David and Charles Henry moved their families to Colorado, David to Leadville and Charles Henry to Denver.  David again took up mining establishing claims that quickly allowed him to amass a goodly sum.  Mary Elizabeth gave birth to her daughter, Nellie, on Christmas Day 1880.  In 1882 David sold the interest in all his claims and immigrated to Butte, Sheridan County, Montana.