Rice Family
The source for most of these Rice Family Histories is a booklet compiled by David Eldon Rice of Pocatello, Idaho in 1976 entitled "Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories."
Elzabeth Ann Morris (1817-1898)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 04/29/2008
- Rice Family
Source: Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories, compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
Elizabeth Ann Morris was born in Ponteat, Carmarthen, South Wales on June 13, 1817. Her family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in 1856 Elizabeth moved to United States to be with the main body of the Church. They rode in a railroad cattle car from Boston to Des Moines, Iowa, and after three weeks of waiting for their handcart to be made ready, they started the trek across the plains in Captain Bunker’s Handcart Company. In Utah, Heber C. Kimball asked Ira Rice, a widower of means, to employ Ann as his housekeeper. This led to marriage later in 1856. Elizabeth was set apart as a midwife by Heber C. Kimball. The Rices moved from North Ogden to Providence, Utah, where they lived until 1865. At that time they answered a call to settle Washington County, Utah.
Ira Rice (1793-1868)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 10/17/2000
- Rice Family
Source: Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories, compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
Ira was born on October 28, 1793 at New Ashford, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, the son of Titus and Lois Rice. Orphaned early in life, Ira was raised by relatives in western New York state where he enlisted to fight in the War of 1812. Later he moved his family to Michigan where he was visited by missionaries of the newly-organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His family joined about 1840, and subsequently moved first to Nauvoo, Illinois, then to Utah. Ira died April 14, 1868, at Washington, Utah.
Asaph Rice (1817-1872)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 10/17/2000
- Rice Family
Source: "Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories", compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
Asaph Rice, born 3 January 1817, was the second son of Ira Rice and Minerva Saxton. At the age of 23 he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while living with his father in Michigan. Later he moved to Illinois and Utah where he worked hard to establish pioneer settlements. He died in Panaca, Nevada on February 3, 1872.
Louisa Busenbark (1827-1885)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 10/17/2000
- Rice Family
Source: "Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories", compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
Louisa Busenbark, born on May 25, 1827, was a daughter of Isaac Busenbark and Abigail Manning. She came from German-Jewish descent. Her family were wealthy New Yorkers, but that changed when her father’s family became Mormons and moved to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. She married Asaph Rice in 1850 and settled first in Farmington and then St. George, Utah. She passed away in Panaca, Nevada on May 3, 1885.
Mary Busenbark (1829-1888)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 04/1/2007
- Rice Family
Source: "Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories", compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
Mary Busenbark was born on August 14, 1829. Her family gave up all they had, including relatives and money, when they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1842 and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. In 1849 Mary and her parents moved to the Salt Lake Valley. She married Asaph Rice as his second wife and lived first in Farmington and then St. George, Utah. Mary Busenbark Rice departed this life on December 18, 1888.
William Kelsey Rice (1822-1913)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 04/1/2007
- Rice Family
Source: "Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories", compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
William Kelsey Rice was born in Manchester, Ontario County, New York on October 27, 1822, to Ira and Minerva Saxton Rice. On October 6, 1845, William Kelsey married Lucy Witter Geer. Later they moved to the Salt Lake Valley, where William Kelsey settled in the Farmington, Utah area and became a stalwart member of the community. He was 91 years of age when he died on July 6, 1913, and was buried in the Farmington Cemetery.
Lucy Witter Geer (1824-1899)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 04/1/2007
- Rice Family
Source: "Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories", compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
Lucy Witter Geer, born on February 23, 1824, at Perry, Ohio, was the daughter of Moses and Sarah Geer. Lucy was eight years of age when she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her parents died at McHenry, Illinois and Lucy was the only one of her family that traveled to Utah. Lucy married William Kelsey Rice in 1845 and began planning their trek west to Utah. She died in Lewiston Utah, March 28, 1899, at the age of 75.
Ann Victoria Rose (1839-1878)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 04/1/2007
- Rice Family
Source: "Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories", compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
Born June 4, 1839, in Howard, New York, Ann Victoria Rose was the sixth of eight children born to Abraham Rose and Catherine Nicholson Rose. Her parents joined the Mormon Church in 1836. In 1853 the Rose family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and settlee in Farmington, about seventeen miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah. Ann married William Kelsey Rice. She died following the birth of her twelfth child on May 26, 1878.
Leonard Gurley Rice (1829-1886)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 04/1/2007
- Rice Family
Source: "Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories", compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
Leonard Gurley’s parents, Ira and Sarah Ann Harrington Rice, were living in Northville, Wayne County, Michigan, when he was born September 3, 1829. Mormon missionaries visited their home in Michigan while Leonard was a young child, and the family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soo after, the family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. The Rice home was burned by mobs the year the Mormons crossed the Mississippi River fleeing Nauvoo in 1846. Leonard, age 19, had the responsibility of taking part of his father's the familyto Utah. Leonard Gurley returned east the next year to help other emigrant trains west, which he repeated several times. He met his three wives on these treks. Leonard passed away on September 12, 1886 after suffering from pneumonia he contracted in the penitentiary while awaiting trial as a polygamist.
Elizabeth Almira Babbitt (1839-1878)
- By FHS Editor
- Published 04/1/2007
- Rice Family
Source: Rice Pioneers: Family Groups and Stories, compiled by David Eldon Rice. Pocatello, Idaho. 1976. No copyright information listed.
Elizabeth’s parents were Lorin Whiting Babbitt and Almira Castle, of Pompey, Onandaga County, New York. The couple moved to Painesville, Lake County, Ohio to be near the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Kirtland, Ohio. Elizabeth Almira, their first child, was born May 18, 1830 at Painesville, Lake County, Ohio.Elizabeth married Leonard Gurley Rice March 18, 1849. Elizabeth died June 27, 1907 at the age of 77. She was buried at Parker, Idaho.