{{Short description|American politician (1826–1896)}} {{other people|William Rice}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = William W. Rice | image = WWRice.jpg | caption = Rice in 1888 | office1 = Member of the<br>[[U.S. House of Representatives]]<br> from [[Massachusetts]] | term_start1 = March 4, 1877 | term_end1 = March 3, 1887 | predecessor1 = [[George Frisbie Hoar]] | successor1 = [[John E. Russell]] | constituency1 = [[Massachusetts's 9th congressional district|9th district]] (1877–83)<br>[[Massachusetts's 10th congressional district|10th district]] (1883–87) | order2 = [[Massachusetts House of Representatives]] | term_start2 = 1875 | term_end2 = 1876 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | order3 = District Attorney of [[Worcester County, Massachusetts]] | term_start3 = 1868 | term_end3 = 1873 | predecessor3 = Hartley Williams | successor3 = Hamilton B. Staples | order4 = [[List of mayors of Worcester, Massachusetts|Mayor of Worcester, Massachusetts]] | term_start4 = 1860 | term_end4 = 1861 | predecessor4 = [[Alexander H. Bullock]] | successor4 = [[Peleg Emory Aldrich]] | birth_name = William Whitney Rice | birth_date = March 7, 1826 | birth_place = [[Deerfield, Massachusetts]], U.S. | death_date = March 1, 1896 (aged 69) | death_place = [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], U.S. | party = [[Free Soil Party]], [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] | spouse = Cornelia A. Moen died June 16, 1862; <br>m. September 28, 1876 Alice M. Miller | children = William Whitney Rice, Jr., Charles Moen Rice }}
<!-- This article was automatically created by [[User:polbot]] from http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000205. The prose may be stilted, and there may be grammatical and Wikification errors. Please improve in any way you see fit. --> '''William Whitney Rice''' (March 7, 1826 – March 1, 1896) was a [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. representative]] from [[Massachusetts]].
Born in [[Deerfield, Massachusetts]], Rice attended [[Gorham Academy]], Maine, and graduated from [[Bowdoin College]] in [[Brunswick, Maine]], in 1846. He served as the [[preceptor]] of [[Leicester Academy]], [[Leicester, Massachusetts]] from 1847 to 1851 before studying law in [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]]. He was [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admitted to the bar]] in 1854 and commenced practice in Worcester. In 1858 he was appointed judge of insolvency for Worcester County.
Rice was elected mayor of the city of Worcester in December 1859.<ref>{{Citation| first=Franklin Pierce|last= Rice | title = Worcester of Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Eight: Fifty Years a City | page = 728 | publisher = F.S. Blanchard & Company| location = Worcester, MA | year = 1899}}</ref> He served as district attorney for the middle district of Massachusetts from 1868 to 1874 and was a member of the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives|State house of representatives]] in 1875.<ref>Hoar, Rockwood. 1897. ''William Whitney Rice Biographical Sketch''. Press of Charles Hamilton, Worcester, MA. Library of Congress E664-R49-H6</ref>
Rice was elected a member of the [[American Antiquarian Society]] in 1885.<ref>[http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistr American Antiquarian Society Members Directory]</ref>
Rice was elected as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] to the [[45th United States Congress|Forty-fifth]] and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1887). After a failed re-election bid in 1886, he returned to Worcester and resumed the practice of law. He died there on March 1, 1896, at age 69, and was interred at Worcester [[Rural Cemetery (Worcester, Massachusetts)|Rural Cemetery]].
==Rice family and relations== William was a direct descendant of [[Edmund Rice (1638)|Edmund Rice]], an English immigrant to [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]].<ref>Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2007. Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations.</ref> He married Alice Miller (1840–1900), whose mother Nancy Merrick Miller was sister to Massachusetts judge [[Pliny Merrick|Pliny T. Merrick]].<ref name="Merrick">Merrick, George B. ''Genealogy of the Merrick-Mirick-Myrick Family 1636-1902''. Madison, WI: Tracy, Gibbs & Co.,1902, p. 283.]</ref><ref name="AMR"> ''Alice Miller Rice'', privately printed commemorative pamphlet, ca. 1900.</ref> Alice's sister, Ruth Ann Miller, married U.S. Senator [[George Frisbie Hoar]], making Rice and Hoar brothers-in-law. Alice founded a children's day nursery in Worcester.<ref name="AMR" />
==See also== * [[1875 Massachusetts legislature]]
== References == {{Bioguide}} *William Whiitney Rice. [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/03/02/104111474.pdf ''New York Times'' obituary March 2, 1896]. *Hoar, Rockwood: [https://books.google.com/books?id=GVYEAAAAYAAJ&q=William+Whitney+Rice William Whitney Rice A Biographical Sketch (1897)].
== Notes == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{CongBio|R000205}} * {{Find a Grave|7504925}}
{{S-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box |state=Massachusetts |district=9 |before=[[George Frisbie Hoar|George F. Hoar]] |after=[[Theodore Lyman (Massachusetts)|Theodore Lyman]] |years=March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1883}} {{US House succession box |state=Massachusetts |district=10 |before=[[Amasa Norcross]] |after=[[John E. Russell]] |years=March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, William W.}} [[Category:1826 births]] [[Category:1896 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Massachusetts]] [[Category:Mayors of Worcester, Massachusetts]] [[Category:Bowdoin College alumni]] [[Category:Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives]] [[Category:District attorneys in Worcester County, Massachusetts]] [[Category:Massachusetts Free Soilers]] [[Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Massachusetts]] [[Category:Burials at Rural Cemetery (Worcester, Massachusetts)]] [[Category:People from Deerfield, Massachusetts]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]