Nobles County MN Archives Biographies.....Rice, Arthur J. 1856 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 18, 2006, 10:07 pm

Author: Arthur P. Rose (1908)

  ARTHUR J. RICE, of Adrian, is one of the pioneer residents of that city,

having resided there continuously since September, 1877. During all these years

he has been closely identified with the development of the west end metropolis,

and in later years he has had a part in the history of two other Nobles county

villages, Ellsworth and Lismore. In the farmer town he conducted a branch drug

store for a number of years, and in the new town of Lismore he has worked

energetically for its development.



  Mr. Rice descends from colonial stock. The founder of the American branch of

the Rice family was among the very earliest arrivals in the new world, and

located in the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. The family later became

residents of Connecticut, and finally permanently settled in New York state. On

his mother's side Mr. Rice also comes from one of the old families of

Scotch-Irish ancestry. The father of our subject was Nelson Rice, the mother

Phoebe (Welch) Rice. To these parents was born Arthur J. Rice on August 28,

1856, in Harrison township, Potter county, Pa., where his parents were residing

temporarily. His boyhood days were spent on a farm near Whitesville, in Allegany

county, N. Y. There he attended the public schools, and there he learned the

drug business under Dr. J. G. Horton.



  At the age of twenty years Mr. Rice came to Nobles county, arriving in

Worthington in September, 1876. For one year he was employed as clerk in Dr. R.

D. Barber's drug store. Then he moved to the new town of Adrian, started in the

drug business for himself, and has ever since made that city his home. He

continued in the drug business until 1893, when he disposed of his property and

engaged in the land business on a small scale. Later he became the traveling

representative of the Western Bridge company, of Chicago, his territory being

Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and northwestern Iowa. In 1896 he was

elected county commissioner and served a four year term. He organized the State

Bank of Lismore, in the new town on the Rock Island road, in September, 1900,

and has since held the office of cashier in that institution. The greater part

of his time is now taken up with his duties in Lismore, but he still remains a

resident of Adrian.



  Mr. Rice was married May 22, 1879, to May Hitchins. They are the parents of

four sons, Dr. Geo. D. Rice, born Aug. 30, 1880, of Pipestone, Minn.; Dr. A. N.

Rice, born Jan. 23, 1881, of Adrian; Kenneth Rice, born Oct. 4, 1890, and Carl

Rice, born Sept. 12, 1893, both of Adrian.



  Mrs. Rice is the daughter of Geo. and Anna Hitchins, who moved to Adrian from

Little Rock township in 1883, and where they both died. She was born in Iowa

county, Wis., March 22, 1857.



  Mr. Rice is a Mason, being the first to receive the Third degree in Adrian

when the lodge was working under dispensation. In after years he was Master of

Roman Eagle lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 175, Adrian.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from:



AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NOBLES COUNTY

MINNESOTA

BY

ARTHUR P. ROSE



NORTHERN HISTORY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA 

PUBLISHERS

1908



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