Henry M. Rice
Henry M. Rice | |
---|---|
United States Senator from Minnesota | |
In office May 11, 1858 – March 3, 1863 | |
Preceded by | Seat established |
Succeeded by | Alexander Ramsey |
Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Minnesota Territory's at-large district | |
In office March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1857 | |
Preceded by | Henry Sibley |
Succeeded by | William W. Kingsbury |
Personal details | |
Born | Henry Mower Rice November 29, 1816 Waitsfield, Vermont, U.S. |
Died | January 15, 1894 San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | (aged 77)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Matilda Whital |
Children | 9 |
Henry Mower Rice (November 29, 1816 – January 15, 1894) was a
.Early life
Henry Rice was born on November 29, 1816, in Waitsfield, Vermont to Edmund Rice and Ellen (Durkee) Rice. Both Edmund and Ellen were of entirely English ancestry; their ancestors had been in New England since the early 1600s.[1] Rice lived with family friends from an early age due to the death of his father.[2]
When Rice was 18, he moved to
In 1839 Rice secured a job at
Political career
Rice lobbied for the bill to establish Minnesota Territory in 1849 and later served as its delegate to the 33rd and 34th Congresses from March 4, 1853, to March 4, 1857. His work on the Minnesota Enabling Act, passed by Congress on February 26, 1857, facilitated Minnesota's statehood.
Henry Rice was a Democrat in the wing of the Minnesota Democratic party sometimes referred to at the time as "Moccasin Democrats" because of his affiliation with the fur trade and the supplying of Indian Agency contracts. He and his one-time partner trader Henry H. Sibley, also a Democrat, had a falling out in 1849 and thereafter were political rivals, Sibley being part of the non-Rice wing of the party.
At statehood in 1858 Rice and James Shields were elected by the Minnesota legislature as
Rice also served as a member of the board of regents of the University of Minnesota from 1851 to 1859 and was president of the Minnesota Historical Society.
H.M. Rice participated in official or unofficial capacities in a number of Indian treaties: the 1846 Winnebago treaty at Washington, the 1847 treaties with Ojibwe at Fond du Lac (Minn) and Leech Lake (Minn.), the 1854 treaty with Ojibwe at LaPointe (Wisc), as a United States Commissioner during 1887 – 1888, with the Ojibwe of Minnesota, and is rumored to have influenced the secondary negotiations with the
He died on January 15, 1894, while on a visit to
Legacy
In 1916, the state of Minnesota donated
An earlier, 1906, marble statue of Rice by Luella A. Varney Serrao was placed in the Minnesota State Capitol.[3]
Ancestry
Henry Mower Rice was a direct descendant of
- Henry Mower Rice, son of
- Edmund Rice (March 26, 1784 – May 27, 1829), son of
- Jedediah Rice (b. April 2, 1755), son of
- Ashur Rice (July 6, 1694 – August 20, 1773), son of
- Thomas Rice(June 30, 1654 – 1747), son of
- Thomas Rice (January 26, 1626 – 1682), son of
- Edmund Rice(1594 – May 3, 1663)
Henry Mower Rice married Matilda Whitall of Richmond, Virginia, in March 1849. They resided in St. Paul, Minnesota.
See also
References
- ^ Four pioneer families of Minnesota and their Puritan and Quaker heritage: the Hollinshead, Baker, Rice, and Kneeland families--their stories, ancestries, and descendants. Henry H. Morgan, Henry Morgan Hollinshead, Ellen Rice Hollinshead. Heptagon Press, 1998. Page 70
- ^ a b "Henry Mower Rice in the National Statuary Hall Collection". United States Congress. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
- ^ Opitz, Glenn B, Editor, Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986 p. 838
- ^ "Who was Edmund Rice?". The Edmund Rice (1638) Association, Inc. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
- ^ Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2007. Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations.
External links
- United States Congress. "Henry M. Rice (id: R000198)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Henry M. Rice at Find a Grave