Ancestors

Seth Rice

1705-1796 · Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts → Westborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Born 1705, Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Died 1796
Father: Edmund Rice
Mother: Ruth Parker
Children include Persis

He was born in October 1705 on the western edge of Marlborough, in the part that became Westborough twelve years later, the seventh child of Edmund Rice and Ruth Parker. He was not yet born when the Indians took his three elder brothers out of a flax field in August 1704. Nahor was killed on the spot. Silas and Timothy were carried to Canada and never came home, so when their father made his will in 1726 it was Seth, "the eldest now with me," who got the north part of the farm.

He married Dorothy Robinson of Marlborough in February 1728 and they raised seven children at Westborough. The two of them were admitted to the church in June 1731, and in April 1738 the church chose him its deacon. In November 1737 they buried a daughter of eighteen months and two days later Dorothy bore a son, whom they named for him.

In September 1740 his brother Timothy came back to Westborough with an interpreter, a chief of the Caughnawaga Mohawks who had lost his English, and looked at the place where he had been taken. Nothing said or done could persuade him to stay. Seth lived another fifty six years after that visit and died in 1796, aged ninety one. Dorothy outlived him by five years.

Parents

Ruth Parker

Edmund Rice 1663-1726

Children

Persis Rice (1728-1814)

Sources

Westborough was set off from Marlborough in 1717 and its clerk kept the town book from the start. Two entries in it, six weeks apart in the autumn of 1728, are the two people who married each other twenty two years later. MOSES WARRIN, born 10 OCTOBER 1728 at Westborough, son of DANIEL WARRIN and MARY. Four separate entries of the record carry it, spelled Warrin, Warin and Warren by different hands. PERSIS RICE, born 7 SEPTEMBER 1728 at Westborough, daughter of SETH RICE and DOROTHY. THE REST OF THE RICE CHILDREN follow in the same book, the mother's name spelled a different way almost every time: EDMUND, 30 October 1729; DORITY, 26 March 1731; SARAH, 3 July 1734; RUTH, 8 May 1736, buried 7 November 1737; and SETH, 9 November 1737, born two days after his sister was buried. The clerk wrote the mother Dorothy, Dority, Dorithy and Doritha across those six entries. THE SON THEY CALLED EDMUND. Edmund was the name of Seth's own father, who died at Westborough in 1726, and of the Sudbury and Marlborough settler of 1638 three generations above him. The town book does not join them. Ward's Rice genealogy of 1858 does, tying Seth to his father by the father's will of 1726 and carrying the line from there to the settler; the generations above the will rest on Ward. See [[ward-rice-genealogy-the-rices-of-sudbury-marlborough-and-westborough]]. Neither couple's own marriage is in the index, so it names the parents of neither Daniel Warrin nor Seth Rice. Both marriages fall in the 1720s and would be in this same town book or in Marlborough's.
ANDREW HENSHAW WARD, A Genealogical History of the Rice Family: Descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice (Boston, 1858). The register-format entries, each numbered, and the will abstracts printed under them. SETH RICE, family (147): "SETH RICE [314.7] m. Dorothy Robinson of Marl., Feb. 27, 1727-8, and resided at Westboro', where they were ad. to ch., June 27, 1731, of which he was chosen Dea., April 19, 1738. He d. there, 1796, aged 91. His wid., Dorothy, b. Feb. 20, 1709, d. June 21, 1801, in her 93d year." Children: "896. 1 Persis, Sept. 7, 1728, m. Moses Warren. (333) 897. 2 Edmund, Oct. 30, 1729, m. Hannah Gassett. 898. 3 Dorothy, March 26, 1731, m. Phineas Maynard. 899. 4 Sarah, July 3, 1734, m. Joseph Grout. 900. 5 Ruth, May 8, 1736, d. Nov. 7, 1737. 901. 6 Seth, Nov. 9, 1737, m. Rachel Coolidge. 902. 7 Hannah, May 1, 1743." Every one of those seven matches the Westborough town book, and the town book is the primary record. HIS FATHER, family (48): "EDMUND RICE [59.4] m. Ruth Parker, of Roxbury, Nov. 15, 1692, and resided in that part of Marl. that, by division, 1717, became Westboro'. She was the mother of all his chil., and probably d. at W. His 2d wife was Hannah Brown, of Sud., whom he m. June 23, 1720. He was one of the original members of the church at W., 1724; and d. there 1726, aged 63. His wid. Hannah, b. March 21, 1673, received from Sud. church to that of Westboro', Oct. 17, 1725, d. at Northboro', June 6, 1766, aged 93." Twelve children: Dinah 1693, Silas 1695, Timothy 1697, Nahor 1699, Huldah 1701, Moses 1703, SETH "Oct. 15, 1705, m. Dorothy Robinson," Thankful 1707, Eleazer 1709, Ruth 1712, Ebenezer 1714 and Anna 1716. THE WILL THAT JOINS THEM: "Will of Edmund Rice, Aug. 10, 1726, proved 12th Sept., 1726, gave to wife Hannah; to son Seth, ('the eldest now with me,') the N. part of the farm; to son Eleazer, the S. part; to daus. Dinah Brigham, Huldah Wheelock, Thankful Rice, Ruth Rice, and Anna Rice. Brother Joshua Rice, and friend Caleb Rice, Ex'ors." The eldest son still at home in 1726 was Seth, because the two older boys were in Canada. HIS GRANDFATHER, family (6): "SAMUEL RICE [6.5], was 32 years old May 2, 1666, according to his testimony on the court files at Cambridge. He m. Elizabeth King, Nov. 8, 1655, and resided at Sud. and Marl.; she d. at S., and was buried Oct. 30, 1667. His 2d wife was Mary Brown, whom he m. at Sud., Sept. 1668. Concord records say she d. June 18, 1678, should be 1675, instead of 1678. They had probably retired to Concord for a season as a place of refuge from the Indian enemy. His 3d wife was Sarah, widow of James Hosmer, Jr. of Concord, whom he m. Dec. 13, 1676. He d. at Marl., Feb. 25, 1684-5, aged about 51. The births of his four eldest chil. are on Sud. records; the births of the others are found at Marl., with the exception of that of the youngest, which is at Concord." Children: Elizabeth 1656, Hannah 1658, Joshua 1661, "59. 4 Edmund, 1663, m. Ruth Parker. (48)", Esther 1665, Samuel 1667, and more by the later wives. Edmund was born in 1663 and Elizabeth King was buried in October 1667, so she is his mother. THE SETTLER, from the introduction: "Edmund Rice came from Barkhamstead, in the county of Hertfordshire, in England, and settled in Sudbury, Mass., in 1638 or 9; as he shared in the three divisions of land in Sudbury, the first of which was made in 1639, he was no doubt residing there at that time. No record has been found of his embarkation for this country, nor in what ship he came, or at what place he first arrived; there is not so much as tradition on the subject. The first we find of him is at Sudbury, with a wife and family of at least seven children that came over with him." "He was Selectman in 1644, and subsequent years; Dea. of the chh. 1648, and, in 1656, one of thirteen petitioners belonging to Sudbury, who besought the General Court for a new plantation." "His wife 'Tamazine' died at Sudbury, June 13, 1654; the record of her death is the only one wherein her name has been found. His 2d wife was 'Mercie,' wid. of Thomas Brigham of Cambridge; whom he married, March 1, 1655." "He died at Marlboro', May 3, 1663, and was buried at Sudbury. A deposition of his on the court files at Cambridge states his age, April 3, 1656, to be 'about 62 years', hence he was born about 1594, and about 69 years old when he died." Inventory taken 15 May 1663 by Thomas King, John Woods and John Stone, 566 pounds; a second paper in the Probate Office puts the estate at 743 pounds 8 shillings 4 pence. WHAT IS PRIMARY HERE AND WHAT IS NOT. Ward worked from the town books, the church records and the Middlesex probate files, and he quotes the wills. He is a serious compiler and he is still a compiler. The Westborough entries on Seth and his children have been checked against the printed town book and agree; the Sudbury, Marlborough and Concord entries above him have not been.

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Cite: Heirology, "Seth Rice (1705-1796)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/seth-rice-1705-1796-f57c4f.