** Editors note -- The following article was written by Edward Nathaniel Rice of this city. This article won a prize for the best article submitted on a pioneer family of the country. The prize was a book given by Cale Young Rice.

The Rice Family is one of the pioneer familes of Western Kentucky. The first of this family to come to Webster County were: James Rhodes and Edward Rice, of Orange County [actually Bertie County], North Carolina.They came in the early days to what was then known as Henderson County. As they were riding along they saw a beautiful girl sitting on a woodpile near a two-story house. Edward told his brother that he meant for her to be his wife. Two years later, in 1825, Edward returned and married this girl, Macy Nichols. He was twenty-seven and she was fourteen at this time. [The marriage is recorded as 5 Jan 1826. Macy was 15.] They went to his former home in North Carolina on horseback on their bridal trip.

Later Edward and James Rice established a trading post at Bellville, on Tradewater River. A few years afterwards they moved about 8 or 9 miles north of a place named Shiloh, now known as Lisman. James married Macy's sister, Elizabeth.

Noah Nichols, the father of the two girls, was a preacher in Raleigh, North Carolina. While he was traveling near the coast in Bertie County, North Carolina, he met and married a widow named Early. [Mrs.Sarah (Godwin) Early. Noah Nichols was also from Bertie Co.] They were the parents of four daughters [and possibly more children]:
     Sarah, who married a man by the name of Johnson.
     Helen, who married a man by the name of Kevil.
     Macy, who married Edward Rice.
     Elizabeth, who married James Rice. [married 7 Nov 1822]

The children of Edward and Macy were:
     James Monroe Rice, who married Sibbie Givens
     Kearney Goodwin [Godwin] Rice, who married first a Miss Wynn, and later Mary Johnson.
     Rachel Taylor Rice, who married first Thomas Givens, later Nathaniel Smith
     Joseph [Josiah in the family bible] Rice, who married Elizabeth Givens
     Francis [Marion] Rice, who married Nettie Dobbins.

The children of James Monroe and Sibbie Givens Rice were:
     Thomas Kearney Rice
     Edward C. Rice
     Jennie Francis Rice
     Wade Rice
     Fee Rice.

The children of Kearney Goodwin [Godwin] Rice were:
     Jennie Rice
     Agnes Rice
     Jack Rice
     Sally Rice
     Mattie Rice
     Ashby Rice
     Clay Rice.

The children of Rachel Taylor Rice, who married Thomas Givens and Nathaniel Smith, were:
     Macy Givens -- married Whittinghill
     Sallie Givens
     Byrd Smith -- [married] Dr. A. O. Williams.

The children of Joseph and Elizabeth Givens Rice were:
     Macy Rice
     Jennie Rice
     Mary Rice
     Edward N. Rice -- married Miss Nettie Baker
     Frank Rice
     Kate Rice.

The children of Francis and Nettie Dobbins Rice were:
     [Thomas] Randall Rice.

The children of James Rhodes RIce and Elizabeth Nichols Rice were:
     James Lawrence Rice, who first married Martha Gist and later Ann Gist
     Laban [Marchbanks] Rice, who first married Eliza Wilson, next Mattie Lacy and later Nannie Lacy
     Noah Rice, married Miss [Mary Ann] Kevil, from Caldwell County
     Thomas [E.] Rice, a prominent farmer, maried Maria Wilson
     Macy Rice, married William Lisman
     Sally [Sarah] Rice, married Henry Tapp
     Nannie [Nancy] Rice, married first John Brooks and later John Kuykendall.

The children of James Lawrence Rice were:
     Jennie Rice
     Mollie Rice
     Mattie Rice
     Peyton Rice
     Gist Rice
     Laban Rice
     Maud Rice
     Annie Rice
    Kevil Rice.

The children of Laban [Marchbanks] Rice were:
     John Rice
     Lacy L. [Laban Lacy] Rice
     Cale Young Rice
     Tandy Rice
     Goldie Rice
     Cottie Rice.

The children of Noah Rice were: The children of Thomas and Maria Wilson Rice were:
     Laura Rice
     Jennie Rice
     Helen Rice
     Ed Rice

The children of Macy Rice and William Lisman were:
     Jim Lisman
     Sallie Lisman
     Macy Lisman
     Labe Lisman
     Thomas Lisman
     Floredah Lisman
     Noah Lisman.

The children of Sallie Rice and Henry Tapp were:
     John Calvin Tapp
     Martha Tapp
     Fannie Tapp
     Nettie Tapp
     Macy Tapp
     Josephine Tapp
     Noah Tapp
     Ida Tapp.

Nanny Rice who married John Brooks and John Kuykendall had no children. [Not true -- Nancy had one son, Sidney Brooks, who became a lawyer in Galveston, [San Antonio] Texas. His son, Sidney Brooks, Jr. was the first American pilot to die in World War I. Brooks Air Force Base in Texas is named for him. Dr. Laban Lacy Rice knew him and told me about him. [The Brooks house in San Antonio has been featured in a book on haunted houses]

The Rice family has been noted throughout this locality from earliest times for industry and honor. The members of the family have always been found on the side of truth and right. Most of them have been prosperous farmers and businessmen. From earliest times, they have been outstanding in their community.

Among these were Kearney Rice, farmer, tobacconist, and capitalist of Providence. [and a Confederate veteran]

John Calvin Tapp, son of Henry and Sallie Tapp, who at the age of eighteen enlisted in the tenth division [10th Regiment] of the volunteer cavalry of Kentucky, and attained there the rank of Sergeant Major under Gen. John H. Morgan.

Dr. E. N. Rice, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Rice, was a prominent and beloved physician of Providence for many years. He was married to Miss Nettie Baker of Lisman, Ky.

Col. L. L. Rice, son of Laban and Nettie Rice, was a prominent educator and owns a camp for boys and girls in Tennessee. [Dr. Laban Lacy Rice, Ph.D. died in 1975 at the age of 104. The "Col." must have comes from his years as owner and founder of Castle Heights Military Academy.]

Cale Young Rice, brother of L. L. Rice, whose fame as a poet and dramatist is equal to that of anyone in America, was born December 11, 1872 [in Dixon] and is remembered there as a pleasing and charming boy.

By Edward Nathaniel Jefferson,
Freshman -- Age 13.