Philadelphia County PA Archives News.....Account of Richard Rice June 10, 1880
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Donald Buncie http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008389 February 20, 2023, 4:31 pm

Lancaster Daily Intelligencer. (Lancaster, Pa.) June 10, 1880
Richard Rice
The Philadelphia Inquirer has an account of Richard Rice, a colored man, who is now
living at No. 420 Fothergill street, that city, at the ripe age of 106. He has never
used glasses, and he can read, sew, thread a needle, and darns his own stockings
though he has a young wife, aged 80. Rice was born in Harford county, Maryland, near
Baltimore, in 1774, of slave parents on the Webster plantation. On the death of his
master Richard was sold to a Mr. Massey, who owned an adjoining plantation, to serve
until he was twenty-one years of age, after which, according to the provisions of
the will of his old master, he was to serve one of the heirs for eight years before
he received his freedom. When he was 24 he was manumitted, crossed the river at a
point near Port Deposit, and worked for a few months, when he made his way to
Columbia, this county, and obtained work in a distillery, where he remained fourteen
years. 
Shortly after his arrival in Columbia, he married Nancy Richards, went to
housekeeping, and having steady work made a good living, lived comfortably and saved
up a little money. Seven, children were born to him in this place, and when the
youngest was about three years of age a scheme was projected for the colonization of
Haiti, and the ship Charles was chartered to take out a load of emigrants. Richard
sold out in Columbia, and accompanied by his wife, one daughter, aged eleven years,
a son, three years and a niece thirteen years of age, and sixteen of his friends and
neighbors, proceeded to Philadelphia, where they joined the colony of about three
hundred souls, and set sail for their new home. 
All landed safely, but soon began to sicken and die from fevers and malarial
diseases, until only a handful of the band which had landed with such bright hopes
of a successful future were left. After staying about three years Richard started
for home, leaving his wife and the two girls to follow him, the little boy having
died some time before, and landed in Philadelphia, where he remained for a short
time, and then returned to Columbia. 
In speaking yesterday of his return the old man seemed to be inspired with some of
his old-time vigor, and said: "I was homesick to get back, and thought I would be
very happy, but when I landed
and thought of my family left behind me, I was very unhappy. I remember we landed on
the 6th of March, and there was snow on the ground, the first I had seen for three
years, and it made everything
look more like home than it would have done without it." 
He sent for his wife a short time after his return, but she died before she could
take passage, and her sister, who had gone with the company, kept the girls, and he
has never heard anything from them since receiving the news of his wife's death. 
The first thing Richard found to do after returning to Columbia was the building of
the reservoir, and the digging of the trenches for the pipe from the spring where
the water was obtained. The contract for the work was taken by three men and
successfully carried out, they doing all the work except the blasting of a small
quantity of hard rock which they encountered. 
To test the memory of the old man, he was asked how long the trench was from the
spring to the basin, and he answered, without a moment's hesitation, "One mile and a
quarter and twelve perches, and we dug every foot of it, except eleven perches of
rock which we had blasted."
After the completion of the waterworks, he worked on the ferry between Columbia and
Wrightsville for a number of years, assisted in building the first bridge which
spanned the river at that point, and, on it being destroyed by a flood, aided in
building the second one, which was destroyed by fire in July, 1864, during the rebel
raid.
He also assisted in building the dam, and is able to give all the minute details of
the work. During this time, in the year 1833, he again married, his second wife
being a widow named Henrietta Lee, and who is still living and in good health,
although almost eighty years of age. By this marriage Richard became the
brother-in-law of Stephen Smith, senior partner of the firm of Smith & Whipper,
extensive lumber dealers of Philadelphia and Columbia, and afterward father-in-law
of Wm. Whippcer, the junior member of the same firm, who married the present Mrs.
Rice's daughter by her first marriage. 
For years he remained in Columbia, worked on the river and in lumber yards, lived
frugally and accumulated some property both in that place and in Wrightsville, but
in 1837, although the winters and summers of more than four score years had passed
over his head, he sold out every thing, and, in company with his wife and two
children, emigrated to Canada, where he rented a small farm and went to work. The
country and climate were new to them and for the first year they were unable to make
anything, and after buying their cows, a horse, some pigs and sheep, their little
hoard of gold was nearly all gone before they could get any return for their labor.

They remained there seventeen years by which time they had become poor, and after
selling out what little remained, barely had enough to bring them to the home of
daughter in Philadelphia, where they have since resided. The daughter married in
Canada, and went to Philadelphia before the old folks came, and was thus prepared to
offer them a home, but has had hard enough work to maintain the old people at times,
owing to the very poor health of her husband, who is very often unable to follow his
trade, but the large end of the last loaf has always been reserved for the old
father and mother. 
During their stay in Canada the old lady occupied her time in spinning and weaving
the wool obtained from their sheep, and points with pride to a number of blankets
which she made herself.
The old man remembers distinctly the spots which appeared on the sun in 1799, the
funeral of General Washington, the war of 1812, and a number of other prominent and
interesting events which occurred in the present century. On being reminded that he
had passed the allotted time of life, he said: "Well, I want to live as long as the
Lord wills, but I am ready to go when He calls me."
Richard has been an active and consistent member of the Methodist church for a
number of years, and loses no opportunity of presenting his Master's cause to those
with whom he comes in contact.


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