Ancestors

Mary "Polly" Rice

Children include Nancy

Mary Rice, called Polly, was the wife of James Rice of Prince Edward County, Virginia. Her maiden name is not recorded.

She first appears on 16 August 1779, when "James Rice & Mary his wife of Prince Edward County" sold their farm on the Sandy River to Joseph Fowlkes of Amelia for £800. It was the land James's father had given him in 1774. Mary came to the August court and released her dower in it. Dower was a wife's right to a life share of her husband's land if she outlived him, so a buyer wanted her release on record.

The family went to Kentucky and settled in what became Mercer County. James died there on 25 January 1794. A few hours before his death he asked that his whole estate be "kept together for the support of the Children" and divided among them only at his wife's death. He named "Benjamin Spilman and Polley Rice his Wife" as executors. At the May court of 1794 "Mary Rice" and her son-in-law Benjamin Spilman were granted letters to settle the estate, on a bond of £300.

She was very probably the mother of Nancy Rice, who married Benjamin Spilman in Mercer County in 1790. Nancy named her first daughter, born in 1792, Mary Rice Spilman, called Polly. Find a Grave and a 1965 Spilman family genealogy call Nancy the daughter of James and Mary Rice.

Nancy's Find a Grave memorial names her "Nancy Jane Crenshaw Rice", and a John Crenshaw witnessed the 1774 gift deed. No source says Mary was a Crenshaw. When and where she died is not recorded.

Sources

Mercer County, Kentucky, court order book pp. 96-97, May court 1794, FamilySearch 3:1:3Q9M-CS42-PTKX.
Prince Edward County, Virginia, deed book, 16 August 1779, FamilySearch 3:1:3Q9M-CSKV-NS1M-4.
Prince Edward Co VA deed, 16 Aug 1779 (FamilySearch full text 3:1:3Q9M-CSKV-NS1M-4); Mercer Co KY court order book pp. 96-97, May 1794 (3:1:3Q9M-CS42-PTKX); Find a Grave 168332604.

If Mary "Polly" Rice is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Mary "Polly" Rice", https://heirology.com/ancestors/mary-polly-rice-81a2c9.