Person:Fred Rice (4)

His surname could have been originally been spelled: REISS. In one of the Tuscarawas County, Ohio marriage books, is an entry: "Frederick Reis" married "Catharine Raush (Baush)" on 17 Sep 1848. That same year, many of the early Urbana pioneers left Tuscarawas County for Indiana.

There is not much information about Fred in documents. It is possible that he migrated to the Urbana area from Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where the Reiss surname is known.

It would seem the family lived a short distance from Urbana, and to the southeast. They would have lived near the very small Fisher Cemetery. There is a John Begg, who died the same year as Fred, and is buried there; thus we know the cemetery existed in 1864. Also Fred's daughter Kate, was born in 1864, but we have no details on her.

Fred may have been buried in the Urbana Cemetery, but although his wife is indexed in James Haupert's book, Fred is not. His death was near the time the cemetery was established. Two of Fred's sons are buried at Urbana. The original cemetery records burned in a 1917 parsonage fire. However, the CHURCH records survived.

As are all the Urbana families, the Rice Family is intertwined with the rest. Fred's daughter Elizabeth married John Lower. Fred's son Jacob married Jemima Lower. Fred's son George, married Sarah Henry, the sister of Barbara Lower. Barbara (Henry) Lower's grandson, Milford Lower, was a friend of Fred's grandson, Lawrence Rice. Lawrence's sister, Leona Rice, married a Hipskind. And so it goes.....

--White Creek 21:30, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} "Wabash County, Indiana Death Records July 1939 - October 1949".

   Compiled by the WCGS