Edmund Rice was born about 1594 at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. He was christened Aug 11, 1600 at Buckinghamshire, Sudbury, England. He married 15 Oct. 1618, at St. Mary's, Bury, Suffolk, England, Thomasine Frost, daughter of Edward Frost, of Stanstead, Suffolk, and his wife Thomasine.
Edmund was a Puritan dissenter, moved from Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England to Berhasmsted, Hertfordshire, England in 1626, and immigrated to New England about 1637-38, arriving at Watertown, Mass on the Charles River.
He settled in Sudbury, Mass in 1638-39, where he "took abode on great road on North side of Pond, near Williams Tavern". Sudbury, called the plantation, lying near to Concord, was incorporated in 1639. His residence was on the east side of Sudbury river, in the southerly part of what is now Wayland. He was Selectman in 1644, deacon of the church in 1648. In 1656, he was one of the thirteen petitioners belonging to Sudbury who besought the General Court for a new plantation. Their petition was granted, and the new plantation was incorporated in 1660. The village plot of Sudbury, now Wayland, was laid out in 1639, and Edmund Rice was one of the first build his house there. His house lot was on Old North Street, near Millbrook. He received his share in the meadow lands in the division, September 4, 1639, April 20, and November 18, 1640. He shared also in the division of all the uplands, and had altogether two hundred and forty-seven in grants.
His wife died in Sudbury 13 June 1654 and he married secondly, Mercie Hurd, widow of Thomas Brigham. He removed to Marlborough in 1660. He died at Marlborough, 3 May 1663, and was buried at Sudbury. The inventory of his estate amounted to 743. His widow married in 1664, William Hunt.
RHYS, REES, OR RICE FAMILY The name of Rice is of Welsh origin, and in Wales was written and spoken with the prefix, Ap. Ap Rice. The name "was borne nearly eight centuries ago by Rhys ap Tewdwr ab Einean ab Owen ab Howell dha, or as sometimes styled, Rhys am Tewdwr Mawr, i.e., Rice son of Tudor, Eineon, son of Owen, son of Howell the Good; or Rise son of Tudor the Great.”
1. DEACON EDMUND RICE was born in Barkhamstead, in the County of Hertfordshire, England, about 1594; died at Marlborough, 3 May 1663, aged 69 years, buried at Sudbury. He married first in England, TAMAZINE - - who died 13 June 1654 in Sudbury, Mass. He married, secondly, 1 March 1655, MERCY BRIGHAM, widow of Thomas Brigham. Dea. Rice came to America probably early in 1638, and settled in Sudbury, Mass., in 1638-9. His wife and family of at least seven children came with him. He took the freeman's oath 13 May 1640. The village plot in Sudbury, now Wayland, was laid out in the fall of 1639, and he was one of the first to build there. His house lot of 4 acres was on Old North Street near Mill Brook. He received his share of the meadow land, 4 Sept. 1639, 20 April 1640, and 8 Nov. 1640, amounting in all to forty-three and threequarters acres. He also shared in all the divisions of uplands and common lands, the full number of acres he received as an original inhabitant, amounted to 247. He sold his home farm to John Moore, 1 Sept. 1642, and 13 Sept. 1642 took a six-year lease of the Dunster farm, located on the shore of Lake Cochituate. In 1643 he bought land of the widow Axtell, between Philemon Whale's place and his own at Rice's Spring. He built a second house in the south part of the town, between Timber Neck and the Glover farm, near the Spring. Later he bought Whale's house and 9 acres, forming the nucleus of the Rice homestead, which remained in the family until a recent date. On the 29 Sept. 1647 he leased for ten years the Glover farm, which is within the present limits of Framingham. He bought the Jennison farm of 200 acres, extending from the Dunster farm to the Weston line. Here some of the family still reside. In 1659 he and his son bought the Dunster farm. Besides these grants and purchases the General Court gave him 50 acres at Rice's End, in 1652, and 80 acres near the Beaver Dam in 1659.1 On 4 Sept. 1639, he was on the first committee to apportion the meadows; selectman 1639, 1644 and later; deacon after 1648; deputy to the General Court, 1654-56, and one of the original petitioners for Marlborough grant in 1656, and received a house lot and moved there in 1660. In 1662 he was empowered to marry. He died at Marlborough. His estate amounted to £566; house, etc., £170. He was a leading man, and one of the most influential in the plantation of Sudbury.
[ref: Homer Dixon's "Surnames," in New England Family History, Vol. I, p. 35; Cutter's Gen. and Personal Memoirs of Mass. Families, Vol. I, p. 445; Vol. IV, pp. 2153, 2227; Ward's Rice Family, p. v; Bigelow's, Hist. of Marlborough, pp. 156-57.]
