Person:Rice Edwards (1)

From Mills' article in the Register regarding the Edwards Family of Wenham:^S1

"Rice Edwards, the progenitor, appeared in Salem as early as 1642, the year before his marriage there to Joan or Joanna ____. The names of his children would seem to be some evidence that he was related to Thomas Edwards of Salem and to John Edwards of Ipswich, who married Mary Sams. Rice was in Wenham in 1647 and received a grant of land there in 1653.... In Essex Probate Records, Book 307, pp. 133-5, there is on file an agreement between Rice Edwards and his son Benjamin, by which the son agreed to take care of his father in consideration that he was to receive the greater share of his father's estate. This document is dated April 18th, 1681. As no allusion is made to Rice's wife, it may be inferred that she was not living. After Rice's death, his children joined in an agreement that the contract between Rice and Benjamin did not include the movable furniture. The date of this agreement is 15th-4th-1683. It was signed by Rice Edwards' children, as follows: John Edwards, Thomas Edwards, Benjamin Edwards, John Knowlton, John Leach, John Coy, William Cleaves and Richard Lee. John Coy married Elizabeth Edwards and Sarah was another daughter of Rice, probably the wife of John Knowlton."

The article also cites a 1680 court case, where Rice Edwards is 65 (born abt. 1615), his son John 36 (born abt. 1644), and his son Benjamin is aged 18 (born about 1662).

According to Donald Kenney's article in the Essex Genealogist,^S5 the personal estate of Rice Edwards was appraised by neighbors John Dodge and Thomas Patch for 21 Pounds, 10 Shillings (15 Jun 1683; Essex County Probate Book 307:132).

Marriages

EDWARDSRiceRice & 1/wf Eleanor _____ (1620-) 1/wf adm Ch. Boston, 1647; (deposed 1680, ae 60 y); by 1647, by 1680; Boston/Salem {Putnam's Mag. 1:134, 135; Salem 2:140; Sv.; Pope's Pioneers; Essex Co. Court Rec. 8:18; Essex Ant. 4:185; Cushing (ms) 155, 757; Reg. 56:60+}

Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700. (Online database. NewEnglandAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. CD-ROM. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001.

EDWARDSRiceRice & 2/wf Joan _____; by 1647, by 26 Dec 1643 (evidence?) {Reg. 56:60?}

Donald Kenney, in the Essex Genealogist, makes a compelling case that Rice Edwards had only one wife, whose name is very likely to have been Eleanor.^S5

1.   Family Data Collection - Individual Records Record.

   Discover Your Family Story
   Family Data Collection - Individual Records Record
   Name: Bethia Edwards
   Spouse: John Knowlton
   Parents: Rice Edwards , Elnor
   Birth Place: Essex, Wenham, MA
   Birth Date: 1646
   Marriage Place: Ipswich, Essex, MA
   Marriage Date: 16 August 1669
   Death Place: Hamlet, Ipswich Essex, MA
   Death Date: 1707
   
   Source Citation: Birth year: 1646; Birth city: Wenham; Birth state: MA.
   
   Source Information:
   Edmund West, comp.. Family Data Collection - Individual Records [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2000.
   
   Description:
   The Family Data Collection - Individual Records database was created while gathering genealogical data for use in the study of human genetics and disease.
   
   Copyright © 1998-2006, MyFamily.com Inc.

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Mills, William Stowell, "The Edwards Family of Wenham, Prior to 1715", in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   Volume 56, Pages 60-63, 1902.
3.   The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   Volume 93, Page 367, 1939.
4.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ancestral File (R) (16). (Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998).
5. ↑ Kenney, Donald S, "Rice Edwards, 1615-1683 of Salem, Wenham and Beverly", in The Essex Genealogist (Massachusetts). (Lynnfield, Massachusetts: Essex Society of Genealogists)
   2002, p. 100-108, 2002.

   Very well annotated and researched article reviewing primary and secondary sources for Rice Edwards.