Rice, Beebe T., Cornwall, was born in Bridport, Addison county, Vt., on January 27, 1836, and is the youngest living son of Asa and Elizabeth (Turrell) Rice. He was educated in the common schools of Addison and the academy at Shoreham, and had fitted himself for and entered Middlebury College, when ill health compelled him to leave school. He taught school at Bridport and Shoreham, Vt., for several terms, and in the spring of 1857 he went to Minnesota and remained West most of the time till the fall of 1869. He was married on February 7, 1870, to Mara J. Allen, of Bridport. After marriage they again went West and settled in Kansas on a farm of 160 acres. They had one daughter born to them — CarrieE., born on November 17, 1871. Mrs. Rice died in the summer of 1873, and in the winter of 1875 Mr. Rice married Belle S. Merritt., of Putnam county, Ill., who died after being married one year. He then returned East, and in March, 1877, married Emma A. Johnson, a daughter of Ayres Johnson, a former well-known resident of Bridport, Vt. They have one adopted daughter and son — Lulu H. and Varney H. While in Kansas he was county commissioner of Butler county one term. On his return East in March, 1879, he lived at the home place at Bridport for one year. In April, 1880, he moved and settled on the place which is his present home, and which he had purchased in 1879. It was the Dana farm and consists of 200 acres. Mr. Rice is a successful farmer and stock raiser, and is a prosperous and much esteemed citizen of this county.
