The present work would be incomplete were it not to record the life of Frank Rice, an eminent lawyer of Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, who has risen to a position in the first ranks of his profession by a series of successful efforts, who has achieved prominence as a statesman and whose tenure of office has always been beneficial to his city, state and country.
Frank Rice was born in Seneca, Ontario county, New York, January 15, 1845. His preparatory education was acquired in the Geneva Classical and Union School and Canandaigua Academy, and he then matriculated at Hamilton College, from which institution he was graduated in 1868. Subsequently he read law in Canandaigua, and was admitted to the bar in June. 1870. His rise in his chosen profession was a rapid and uninterrupted one and soon after his admission to the bar he became clerk in the surrogate’s office, a position he filled with success for several years. He was elected to the office of district attorney of Ontario county in the fall of 1875, reelected in 1878. holding the office altogether for a period of six years. In 1882 he was elected a member of the assembly, and reelected the following year. In the fall of 1884 he was elected to the office of county judge, resigning this honor at the expiration of five years in favor of that of secretary of state, to which office he had been elected in the fall of 1889. He was reelected to fill the latter office in 1891. Since retirement from that office he has been engaged in the active practice of law in Canandaigua. He had formed a co-partnership with Bradley Wynkoop, January t, 1876, and this association is still in force at the present time (1910) . Mr. Rice is a member of the Chi Psi fraternity, and a charter member of the Red Jacket Club, of which he has served as vice-president for many years.