Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ========================================================================== Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa W. S. Dunbar & Co., Chigago - 1889 [page 605-606] JAMES NICHOLAS RICE was born in Crawford County, Indiana, April 25, 1836, and is a son of NICHOLAS and CAROLINE (SAMUELS) RICE. The father was a native of the State of Pennsylvania, and the mother of Kentucky. They were married in Indiana, and removed to Knox County, Illinois, in 1839. In 1851 they removed to Hardin County, Iowa, where the father died in 1859. His widow survived him thirty years, her death occurring in Cherokee County, January 3, 1889, in her eighty-fourth year. Their family consisted of nine children, all of whom are living (July, 1889): JACOB K., HENRY HARRISON, WILLIAM C., MARILDA, wife of W. B. FAIL; CATHERINE, wife of JOB LEEDS; EMMA, wife of DAVID JOHNS; CLEMENTIA P., wife of CHARLES MARKS; NOBLE JOHN and JAMES N. JAMES was fifteen years of age when the family removed to Hardin County, and there he grew to manhood, actively engaged in all kinds of farm work. He was married in that county, January 4, 1857, to Miss MARY A. WILLIAMS, who was born in Shelby County, Indiana, July 24, 1842. Her parents were JOHN and SARAH (PORTER) WILLIAMS, both of whom died in Hardin County, where they had settled in 1852. They had removed from Mahaska County, having settled there two years previously. After his marriage JAMES N. was engaged in running a saw- mill near Steamboat Rock, Hardin County, for seven years, and was then in agricultural pursuits for a number of years. In 1868 he decided to locate in the beautiful county of Cherokee. He had made several trips to this section of the State on elk-catching expeditions. In 1865 there were numerous herds of elk in this part of the country, and having contracted with a New York firm for a certain number of young animals, he and two brothers came in the spring for several years. They camped out and devoted several weeks to the exciting sport. The young elk could be raised as easily with cows as if they were calves. In the spring of 1866 they captured and shipped thirty-four head of these young animals. In the fall of the year they would return and have a hunt, there being a demand for all the game they could capture, and they found this very profitable sport. Mr. RICE settled in the county in the fall of 1868, having secured land which he began to cultivate. He has ever since lived upon this tract, improving it and adding to it until he now owns 200 acres, besides a nice body of timber land in Cherokee County, near the town of Cherokee. In 1874 he purchased of HARVEY WAMSLEY, one of the earliest pioneers of the township, his original homestead which he had entered about 1867. Mr. RICE has a beautiful home; lying higher than the sur- rounding country, it commands a magnificent view. He does a general farming business, and usually feeds from two to three car-loads of cattle annually. Mr. and Mrs. RICE are the parents of eleven child- ren: WILBURN R., JACOB W., HENRY H., U. S. GRANT, M. RHODA, JAMES K., HARVEY E., FRANCIS E., CHARLES C., ELVA AMANDA and OPAL MAY. It is an interesting and intelligent family, and one of which any man might well be proud. ===========================================================================