Rice Family
Our story starts in New England and moves to New York, Michigan, and points west. We were active in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Our family trekked across the American plains to pioneer in Utah and Nevada.
come read our stories
Olive Emily Smith
Olive Emily Smith was born in Lee County, Iowa on December 12, 1845. Her parents were Utah pioneers who settled in Farmington, Utah. She married Hyrum Rice in December 1865, and they lived in Cache County, Utah before homesteading near Round Mountain in Cassia County, Idaho. In 1886 she fell from a wagon and broke her arm. She died from blood poisoning shortly afterward.
Oscar North Rice
Oscar North Rice was born on October 19, 1835, in Washtenaw County, Michigan. In 1842 his family his family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. Later in Utah, Oscar served as a scout in the Lemhi Valley Indian troubles. He married Jane Miller and Margaret Matthews and they lived in Providence, Utah. He died in 1880 at the age of 45.
Leonard Gurley Rice
Leonard’s family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Michigan. Shortly thereafter the Rice family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. After being driven from Nauvoo by mobs, the Rice family trekked west to Utah. Leonard helped lead other pioneer companies across the plains. Later he was involved in multiple rescue missions and a preaching mission to Europe. He passed away in 1886.
Ann Victoria Rose
Ann was born in Steuban County, New York to Abraham and Catherine Nicholson Rose. Her family had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and west to Ohio and Illinois to be closer to the main body of the Church. Her family crossed the plains with other pioneers and settled in Farmington, Utah. There she married William Kelsey Rice. Ann Victoria died following the birth of her twelfth child, on 26 May 1878.
Margaret Buckwalter
Margaret Buckwalter was born in 1828 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. She and her family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and they moved to Illinois to be with the main body of the Church. There she married Lemon Wickel, who died three years later in 1850. After crossing the plains and settling in Utah, she married Leonard Gurley Rice in 1853. She raised her family in Farmington, Utah before homesteading in the Teton Valley of Idaho in about 1889. She died in Victor, Idaho in 1918.
Lucy Witter Geer
Lucy Witter Geer was born in Perry, Ohio to Moses and Sarah Geer. She joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with her father when she was eight years old and settled in Illinois with the main body of the Saints. There she married William Kelsey Rice before traveling west to Utah. She spent the remainder of her live helping to colonize Utah, where she died in 1899.