Benjam H. Rice Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1158-1259 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	BENJAMIN H. RICE holds the responsible position of superintendent 
of the Brown County Hospital, in the city of Aberdeen. The hospital was 
established in the year 1891, as a private institution, but with no farm 
in connection. Two years later, in recognition of the exigent needs, the 
county effected the purchase of the property, which occupied an entire 
block in the northern part of the city, and at once enlarged the 
buildings, to which various additions have since been made from time 'to 
time, to meet the demands placed upon the noble institution. The 
hospital is equipped with modern appliances and conveniences and has at 
the present time accommodations for about forty patients or indigent 
persons. The hospital department is maintained as entirely separate from 
the infirmary proper, and those from any class in life can secure 
treatment and care, as well as the unfortunate wards of the county. The 
hospital had three superintendents prior to the incumbency of Mr. Rice, 
who was appointed to the office in April, 1901, by the board of county 
commissioners, and his retention in the office offers the best voucher 
for the fidelity and discrimination which he has brought to bear in the 
discharge of his duties. 

	Mr. Rice was born on a farm in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, on 
the 1st of December, 1851, being a son of Benjamin H., Sr., and Judith 
(Colvin) Rice. When he was thirteen years of age his parents took up 
their residence in Olmstead county, that state, and later to Pope 
county, Minnesota, where our subject was reared to manhood, having grown 
up under the sturdy discipline of the farm, while his educational 
training was secured in the common schools. He continued to reside in or 
near Sauk Center, Minnesota, until 1882, when he came to Brown county, 
South Dakota, arriving here in May and taking up a pre-emption claim of 
government land, which he improved and proved upon, while he also 
secured a homestead claim in the same township of Allison, and upon the 
same continued to reside until he was appointed to his present position. 
This homestead farm of one hundred and sixty acres is well improved and 
under excellent cultivation, and he retained possession of the property 
until 1901, when he sold the same. He was one of the very first settlers 
in the township mentioned and is highly esteemed in the county which has 
so long been his home. In politics Mr. Rice has been a most ardent 
worker in the cause of the Republican party, but has never sought 
official preferment as a candidate for elective position. Fraternally he 
is identified with the lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at 
Frederick, this county, this village being in the vicinity of his old 
homestead, and he has passed the official chairs in the same and been a 
delegate to the grand lodge of the state. 

	In Pope county, Minnesota, on the 24th of May, 1878, Mr. Rice was 
united in marriage to Miss Jennie Higginson, who was born in Watertown, 
Sanilac county, Michigan, whence she accompanied her parents on their 
removal to Minnesota when a young lady of nineteen years. She is a 
daughter of George and Jennie Higginson, both of whom are now deceased. 
Mr. and Mrs. Rice have no children.