George Washington Rice (November 7, 1823 – August 4, 1856) was an American businessman known for founding the
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, also known as MassMutual, is a Springfield, Massachusetts-based life insurance company.
MassMutual provides financial products such as life insurance, disability income insurance, long term ...
and the Springfield 5 Cent Savings Bank.
Early life
George Washington Rice was born on November 7, 1823, at
Springfield, Massachusetts, to John and Joanna Warriner Rice. His paternal grandfather was a Revolutionary War veteran. His uncle,
William Rice was a member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
. Jerusha was a daughter of
David Warriner of
Wilbraham, Massachusetts
Wilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb of the City of Springfield, and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,613 at the 2020 census.
Part of the town comprises ...
.
Family and genealogy
G.W. Rice married Jane C. Marsh on April 11, 1849, in
West Springfield, Massachusetts
West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was ...
. Children of George and Jane Rice were George W. Rice, Jr. (1853–1933), Katherine Rice (born 1855) and Ada Rice (born 1856).
Rice was a direct descendant of
Edmund Rice an early immigrant to
Massachusetts Bay Colony as follows:
[Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2011. Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations. (CD-ROM]
Edmund Rice (1638) Association
* George Washington Rice, son of
:* John Rice (1782–1841), son of
:* Nathan Rice (1760–1838), son of
:* John Rice (1704–1771), son of
::* Ephraim Rice (1665–1732), son of
::* Thomas Rice (1626–1681), son of
:::*
Edmund Rice (c. 1594–1663)
Death
George Washington Rice died on August 4, 1856, in Springfield, MA.
Notes
1823 births
1856 deaths
Businesspeople from Springfield, Massachusetts
American businesspeople in insurance
19th-century American businesspeople
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