James Francis RICE

                   NOTES: September 2009 - Catherine G Young of Austin, Texas sent Gay pictures of this family Bible. This is what she said.
This is hand written on the third and fourth pages of the bible, and is very difficult to make out the
spelling of the first two names but I have spelled it out as it seems to appear. The lined through name is
just as it appears, with Joseph being written above George. The misspelling are as they are written.
"Xecnophon Lachaviah Oliver Rice born April 1st 1871, blessed July 2 by Brother (George)Joseph Hall (or Mall) at the residence of his Father Pole Patch Farm North Ogden Weber Co. UT. Hall 1871.
Francis Albert Oliver Rice son of James & Ann Oliver Rice born wensday Nov 6th 1872. Blest the 6th day of February 1873 by Elder Franklin Clifford at North Ogden Weber Co UT
Elizabeth Augusta Oliver Rice daughter of James & Ann Oliver Rice born Satturday Nov 21 1874. Blest Nov 24 1874 by Elder Avon Benedict West at her Fathers residence Pole Patch Farm North Ogden Weber Co UT.

NOTES: November 2010 - In the 1880 Census it lists James age 55, Elizabeth age 56 with David B age 15, James age 21. And
then Ann, wife age 27, Elizabeth A age 5, Mirrian age 3, Gertrude age 10 mons.
James was considered either a polygamist or was just married to these two women at the same time.

NOTES: Ann Oliver and James Francis Rice
(This history was taken from a History Book of North Ogden, Weber, Utah at the Ben Lomond Cemetery in North Ogden, Utah. 1 Nov 2010)

NOTES: James Francis Rice, son of Mark and Eleanor Walley Rice, was born 3 Nov 1824 at West Hoathly, Sussex, England.

NOTES: James married Elizabeth Murrell 22 Nov 1847, at Upper Norwood Church, Croyden, Surrey, England. She was the daughter of John and Jane Burden Murrell. She was born 17 April 1824 at Tentenden, Kent, England.

NOTES: They started housekeeping at Brighton, where their first child, Sylvesta, was born. They then moved to London, where Elizabeth Jane Arnetta and Agnes Charlotte were born.

NOTES: The family became acquainted with the Mormon missionaries and decided to emigrate to Utah to be with the main body of Saints. They set sail in 1855. Eight days after they landed in New York, Agnes Charlotte died, and a year later Elizabeth Jane Arnetta died.

NOTES: They resided in Williamsburg, New York, where three sons were born. Marshall Woolsey, Peter, and James.

NOTES: In the spring of 1862, they started for Utah by train to Florence, Nebraska, then they joined Captain Millers train, walking all the way. They arrived in Salt Lake City 12 Oct 1862, going right on to North Ogden, where they lived for three weeks in a wagon until they could get housed. Soon another son, David was born.

NOTES: James married (2) Ann Oliver in plural marriage in the Salt Lake Endowment House on 22 Mar 1870. Ann Oliver was born 5 Aug 1852, a daughter of Francis and Elizabeth Bailey Oliver, at Laudifglen, Morganshire, Wales. The Oliver family had heard the Mormon missionaries and were converted. They were baptized in June 1852.

NOTES: When Ann was a little over four years old, the family came to America. They sailed on the ship Columbia, reaching New York 1 Jan 1857. The family lived in Green county, New York for six years, then moved to Connecticut for three years, then on to Massachusetts for a year before starting for Utah in 1866.

NOTES: While living in Massachusetts Ann lost her eyesight, which was caused from being struck in the back of the head by a rock thrown by her sister. It was one year after the accident that Ann became permanently blind at the tender age of 14.

NOTES: The family crossed the plains in Captain Andrew Patersons and Captain John Hallidays companies by ox team. Although Ann was blind, she walked most of the way to Utah. She celebrated her fourteenth birthday during the crossing. Her sister died in August, 1866, and her mother died in September of the same year. Both were buried on the plains.

NOTES: The family arrived in Salt Lake City 25 Sep 1866, and Ann soon found work with Hugh Finley, the matchmaker. She boxed matches for him in return for her room and board. In October 1869 she went to North Ogden to live with her father and stepmother. Ann received a very unusual proposal of marriage. It happened when two loads of hay were passing each other. James Rice and his wife, Elizabeth, were on one load and Ann and her father were on the other one. Elizabeth Rice asked Francis Oliver if his daughter Ann could be her husbands second wife. Elizabeth promised that if there were any children she would help take care of them. This promise she faithfully kept. A short time later James Francis Rice and Ann Oliver were married in the Salt Lake Endowment House on 22 March 1870, he being 28 years her senior.

NOTES: After their marriage they lived on the Pole Patch, an area at the foot of Ben Lomond Peak, above Pleasant View. They lived there in the summer and in North Ogden in the winter, where James had built a large adobe house for his families.

NOTES: To the union of James and Ann, eight children were to come into their home: Zenophen Zachariah, Francis Albert, Elizabeth Augusta, Marion Evelyn Almedia, Gertrude Oratia Beatrice, Emily Ann Jane, Thomas Henry, and Joseph Lewis.

NOTES: The family moved from North Ogden to the Pole Patch in 1867, where he bought some land and homesteaded some more. He built a five room home and barn out of logs brought down from Monte Cristo, where he and Crit Williams owned a sawmill and brought lumber down to Ogden to sell.

NOTES: James Rice was the one who developed Rice Creek in North Ogden, and at that time he owned the land on which it ran. The Rice living was gained by farming. James planted lots of corn and Ann and the children would husk it, after which the husks were taken to Boyle Furniture Company in Ogden. The husks were used to fill mattresses.

NOTES: The first school was held on the Pole Patch in the Rice home with Thomas Budge as teacher. Later, the county built a brick school house on the Rice property.

NOTES: James Ricess first wife, Elizabeth Murrell, and his second wife, Ann Oliver lived in the same house together. Ann, being blind, knitted sox and stockings for the family while Elizabeth did the rest of the sewing for the two families.

NOTES: James served as constable in Pleasant View for two terms, and also in North Ogden.

NOTES: In 1890, James became ill and passed away 4 Sep 1890, and his first wife, Elizabeth died three years later on 18 Nov 1893. Both were buried in the North Ogden Cemetery, named Ben Lomond Cemetery in the 1980s.

NOTES: At the time of James passing, Ann had five living children, the oldest being seventeen, and the youngest being but four years old. August, the oldest, went to Ogden to work, while Almeda and Gertrude stayed at home to help their mother. Although she was blind, Ann could do almost anything  scrub the floors, milked the cows, gathered the eggs, raised and fed her chickens, everything to sustain the family. She did beautiful knitting  sox, sweaters, and mittens, both large and small, for which she won a prize at the Idaho State Fair. In her 77th year, she knit a little pair of slippers for each member of the Pleasant View Relief Society.

NOTES: Throughout her life, she maintained her faith in the Gospel and always had a happy cheerful disposition. She loved to entertain by singing old songs, reciting poems, and telling jokes.

NOTES: She lived with her daughter, Emily Beck, on the farm until she died on 18 May 1932 in Pleasant View, at the age of 79. She was buried in the Ben Lomond Cemetery in North Ogden, Utah.