~ RICE ~ Able Rice House - 2000
Picture taken by John BuczekAbel Rice and Mary Bigelow Home - 1895
Donated by William H. Drury
Abel Rice and Mary Bigelow Home - 1924
Donated by William H. Drury
CHILDHOOD OF WILLIS RICE
Source: "Our Heritage" by Marjorie Field, copyright 1985.
On August 9, 1845, Willis Rice was born in the family home on Mechanic Street in Marlborough. He was the fourth of five children born to Abel and Mary Bigelow Rice.
When Martin Rice, Willis' grandfather, married Sally Rice in 1784, he built the original part of the house, this is the ell today. Martin was a shoemaker by trade and at that time shoes were made in a little shop in the home. He owned a great deal of land surrounding the house, which gave hirn the opportunity to have a farm and keep the family as self sufficient as possible, as was the custom of the times. Behind the house were the usual farm buildings. In addition to the area around the house, he owned a woodlot and pasture one-half mile away. The pasture was referred to as the waterfall pasture and it was properly named.
In previous generations the usual custom was for one child to remain at home to help and care for the parents in their old age. Of Martin and Sally's 11 children, Abel was the one who stayed at home. Abel made shoes in the family shoe shop until the large shoe factories were built in Marlborough. The days of the small family business were over. Then he became a farmer, putting in an apple orchard, pear trees and small fruits such as currents, raspberries, strawberries and vegetables; some to be sold at the local market. At the time of Willis' birth the town of Marlborough was a small village with less than 3,000 inhabitants. Ten years later the population had doubled. During Abel's lifetime he rebuilt the house until it appeared much as it is today. Sometime after Martin's death, Abel made a separate apartment upstairs for his mother, Sally, where she lived until her death in 1871.
This house remained in the Rice family for over 150 years. After Mary's death in 1904, Viola inherited the house and lived there until her death in 1916. Martha Rice, Henry's widow, lived with Viola and continued to live on in the apartment in the ell until her death in 1940 at the age of 97. Edwin, brother of Viola and Willis, bought the house from Viola's estate and owned it until his death in 1928. His niece and Willis' daughter, Frances Rice, was the next owner but she finally sold the house after Martha's death in 1940. Unfortunately, the buyer was not a member of the Rice family. We girls remember that every Thanksgiving and Christmas morning our aunts and mother would prepare a holiday basket of food; sometimes one of us would accompany Aunt Frances as she carried it over to Aunt Martha.
William Drury, Chelmsford, Ma. - Able Rice Descendant
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