Ringgold County was divided into townships in the year of 1869. The first settler to Rice Township was Alex McCARTY, who was also the first doctor to settle in Ringgold County, arriving in 1853 to a homestead southwest of Mount Ayr.

Edwin D. PAGE, arrived from New York State. He enlisted as a Private on November 26, 1861, from Mount Ayr, and was assigned to Company G of the Fourth Iowa Infantry, and died of disease at Cassville, Missouri, on March 27, 1862. He was 27-years-old at the time of his death.

Thomas H. HALL arrived from Indiana in 1855 and settled on a farm in Section 6 of Rice Township.

On October 27, 1855, Elias A. WHITE came from Maryland and settled in Rice Township. In 1889, William Benner GAMBLE and Able HOOVER assumed ownership of Elias' farm, working the farm together. Mr. GAMBLE later assumed ownership of the farm. It was believed by the locals that Mr. GAMBLE was of the Proctor and Gamble Soap Company family. Over the years, the farm had been owned and operated by I. M. LONG, C. D. BOWLES, A. STEPHENSON, George W. SEFRIT, HAYES Brothers, Clyde GALBRAITH, and Ralph BRAMMER. George W. SEFRIT operated a large purebred Poland-China hog facility on the farm. In 1979, Ralph BRAMMER operated a 1600 hog confinement facility on the farm, reported by WHO-radio that it was the largest farm in the State of Iowa with no road going through it at the time.

Some of the farms listed in the 1915 plat book included: A. E. DEIBERT of Shady Lawn Farm, William BLUNK of Grand River Jack &Mule Farm, Henry Anton LANGOR of Plain View Farm, James W. SHIEL of Poverty Ridge Stock Farm, John T. THIEL of Cedar Valley Farm, H. H. CLEWEL of Elm Hill Farm, Jim BROWN of Brown's West View Farm, and W. J. ELICK of Sunrise Farms.

SOURCE:
Delphos Centennial: 1880-1980

Early History of Ringgold County State Historical Society

Transcribed by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2009