Henry Rice (January 15, 1786 – October 15, 1867) was an American Army officer in the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, a leading
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
merchant, a member of the Boston City Council and 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 ...
.
Biography
Henry Rice was born in
Marlborough, Massachusetts on 15 January 1786 to Noah Rice and Hannah Palfrey (Cole) Rice. He served as an officer in the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, attaining the rank of major. He married Maria Burroughs of Boston on 26 February 1816, and they had five children. Rice served as a member of the
City of Boston Common Council from 1832 to 1834, and in 1838, and served for six years as 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 ...
. He was a trader of imported goods in Boston and lived at 8
Bulfinch Street in Boston's
Beacon Hill district, but he maintained a substantial estate in Marlborough that he inherited from his father Noah.
In his later years, after 1847, he was engaged in the trading of corporate stocks in Boston. Rice died on 15 October 1867 at his home in Boston.
Family relations and legacy
Rice's grandson
Charles Austin Coolidge was a brigadier general in the U.S. Army. Upon Rice's death, his estate near the center of Marlborough was sold to build housing for workers in the shoe factories that were being established in the rapidly industrializing town. Rice Street in the Middle Village area near downtown Marlborough was named after Henry at that time.
Rice was a direct descendant of
Edmund Rice an early immigrant to
Massachusetts Bay Colony as follows:
[Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2010. Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations. (CD-ROM)]
* Henry Rice, son of
:* Noah Rice (1751-1820), son of
:* Jabez Rice (1702-1783), son of
::* Caleb Rice (1666-1739), son of
::* Joseph Rice (1637-1711), son of
:::*
Edmund Rice, (ca1594-1663)
See also
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Henry
Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
1786 births
1867 deaths
Politicians from Boston
People from Marlborough, Massachusetts
United States Army officers
19th-century American legislators
People from Beacon Hill, Boston
Military personnel from Massachusetts