EDWARD C. RICE.
The character of a community is determined in a large measure by the lives of a comparatively few of its members. If its moral and intellectual status be good, if in a social way it is a pleasant place in which to reside; if its reputation as to the integrity of its citizens has extended to other localities, it will be found that the standard set by the leading business men is high and their influence such as to mold the character and shape the lives of those with whom they mingle. In a general way, all this may be claimed for Audubon county, Iowa, and in placing Edward C. Rice, the cashier of the Farmers Savings Bank, of Gray, Iowa, in the front ranks of the citizens of this part of Audubon county, recognition is accorded a very worthy citizen. Although a quiet and unassuming man with no ambition for public position or leadership, he has contributed much to the material, civic, moral and financial development of his community. His admirable qualities of head and heart, and the straightforward, upright course of his daily life, have won for him the esteem and confidence of his business associates.
Edward C. Rice, cashier of the Farmers Savings Bank, of Gray, Iowa, was born on November 10, i860, in Port Byron, Rock Island, Illinois, the son of Warren C. and Rachel (Marshall) Rice, natives of New York and Ohio, respectively. Warren C. Rice came west when a young man and settled in Illinois. He emigrated to Iowa in 1884 and settled in Audubon county, where he followed the vocation of a farmer. After he retired from active farm life he moved to Audubon, where his death occurred. Warren C. and Rachel (Marshall) Rice were the parents of four children: Mrs. Emma R. Moore, of Omaha, Nebraska; Frank M., who is clerk of the courts of Audubon county; Edward C., the immediate subject of this review, and Millie, who died at the age of five years.
Edward C. Rice was educated in the schools of Port Byron, Illinois, and came to Audubon in the fall of 1881. He purchased a tract of eighty acres of land in section 8, Greeley township, for which he paid seven dollars an acre. This land was raw prairie and had never been touched by a plow. Mr. Rice hauled corn to Exira, which he sold for fifteen cents a bushel, and during a part of the time when this corn, the product of his first farm, was being hauled to Exira, the snow was up to the bottom of the wagon bed. During this period, Mr. Rice boarded with his brother, who lived about a half-mile away. He farmed here for five years, and then for the following five years, he clerked in a grocery store in Audubon. Subsequently, he worked for a pioneer clothing merchant of Audubon, for twelve months, after which he engaged in the mercantile business at Alta, Iowa, for four years. On December 3, 1901, Mr. Rice took charge of the Farmers Exchange Bank, owned by Messrs. Leet and Boysen. After Mr. Leet's death, the partners became Lida L. and Helen C. Leet.
The Farmers Savings Bank, of Gray, Iowa, of which Mr. Rice is the cashier, was first established in 1892. It was founded by George P. Wiley, as the branch bank of Remsen, Iowa. Mr. Wiley was succeeded by Mr. Greglow, of Remsen, Iowa, and later by Leet and Boysen, and then by Lida and Helen Leet. In 1912 it was organized as the Farmers Savings Bank, and Mr. Rice took a very active part in the organization of this bank.
Edward C. Rice was twice married, his first marriage occurring in February, 1883, to Hattie E. Mulhollen, who died in January, 1887. Mr. Rice was afterwards married, on July 10, 1896, and to his second marriage two children were born, Homer and Raymond, twins, born July 12, 1901.
Mr. Rice is a Republican, but his many business interests do not permit of his taking a very active part in political matters. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, at Audubon, and takes an active interest in the welfare of this organization.
|
Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 396-397.
|
|
