Henry D. Rice Biography


	This biography appears on pages 367-368 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				HENRY D. RICE.  

	Henry D. Rice holds the responsible position of vice president of 
the Citizens National Bank of Watertown, South Dakota, and is one of 
the prominent business men and financiers of that town. He entered the 
bank many years ago in the capacity of clerk and has risen to his 
present position by merit and industry. He was born in Winchester, New 
Hampshire, on the 3d of August, 1875, and his parents were Denzil S. 
and Belle (Dawson) Rice, the former a native of New Hampshire and the 
latter of St. Louis, Missouri. They were married in Cascade, Iowa, 
where the mother had gone as a child with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. 
Rice located in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, where the former engaged in 
photography and also worked at his trade of carpentering. He passed 
away in 1882 and later the mother removed with her three children to 
Jones county, Iowa, where she resided until the spring of 1887, when 
she eame to South Dakota and located at Watertown.  

	Henry D. Rice was a lad of twelve years when he was brought to 
Watertown and attended the city schools for two years. In 1889, just 
prior to his fourteenth birthday, he went to work as office boy for the 
capitol committee of Watertown and in the winter of 1889-90 he attended 
a commercial college in his home city. The following spring he secured 
a position in the Citizens National Bank as stenographer and clerk and 
has been identified with that institution continuously since, with the 
exception of about two and a half years in the '90s, when he was in the 
Watertown branch agency office of the New Hampshire Trust Company. He 
manifested a decided aptitude for the banking business and rose 
steadily from the minor position of clerk through the various stages of 
advancement and in 1910 was elected to the vice presidency of the 
institution. He has since served in that capacity and, as he is 
thoroughly familiar with banking in all of its phases, he has proven an 
official of great value to the institution. Aside from his detailed 
knowledge of the business, he has an organizing mind and manifests 
sound judgment in deciding those larger questions that face an 
executive in any line of human endeavor.  

	Mr. Rice was married in 1906 to Miss Mary Thornton, of Winona, 
Minnesota, and to this union have been born two daughters, Elizabeth 
and Helen. The parents are members of the Baptist church and 
consistently follow its teachings. Mr. Rice is a republican and for 
five years, from May, 1900, to May, 1905, served as city clerk, and 
since 1910 he has been a member of the board of education. Fraternally 
he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern 
Woodmen or America and has many friends in those organizations. He is 
identified with all movements seeking the advance of Watertown and is a 
prominent member of the Watertown Commercial Club. He is one of the 
foremost men of his city and county and has not only done much to 
secure the growth and stability of the bank with which he is connected 
but has also contributed in large measure to many movements which have 
resulted in the development of Watertown and of Codington county.