Thomas Rice (June 30, 1654 – 1747) was a member of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts representing Marlborough in 1715 and 1716 and was a founder of Westborough, Massachusetts, on 18 November 1717, and a selectman for the town in 1718 and 1727.

Personal background

Thomas Rice was born on June 30, 1654, to Thomas Rice and Mary (King) Rice in Sudbury, Massachusetts.Ward, Andrew Henshaw.
A genealogical History of the Rice Family: Descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice
' Boston: C. Benjamin Richardson, Publisher, 1858, 379pp He was the grandson of Edmund Rice, a 1638 immigrant from England and founder of Sudbury. Rice married Anna Rice, daughter of Deacon Edward Rice and Agnes Bent, on January 10, 1681, at

Marlborough, Massachusetts Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high ...

, and they had 14 children. Rice's brother Jonas was an early resident and founder of Worcester. Rice was among the first to settle prior to 1675 in the southwestern portion of Marlborough known as Chauncey, the portion of Marlborough that later became Westborough.p. 20 In: DeForest, Heman Packard (1891). ''The History of Westborough, Massachusetts, Part I.'' Published by the Town of Westborough
online version
/ref> Rice's home was a fortified garrison house that was used by area settlers for refuge from Indian raids during

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...

1675-1676. During Queen Anne's War in 1704, two of Rice's sons, Adonijah and Ashur, were abducted from a

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...

field in Marlborough by Mohawk raiders from Canada. He was one of the founding members of the town on 18 November 1717, and one of the original members of the

Congregational Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

at Westborough begun by Ebenezer Parkman in 1724. He represented the Town of Marlborough in the Great and General Court of Massachusetts, the colonial legislature in Boston in 1715 and 1716. And he served as a selectman in Westborough in the years 1718 and 1727. Thomas Rice died in 1747, with the '' Boston Gazette'' claiming he died at age 94.''The Boston Gazette'', Boston, Massachusetts, December 26, 1768.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Thomas 1654 births 1747 deaths People from colonial Massachusetts People from Sudbury, Massachusetts People from Marlborough, Massachusetts Westborough, Massachusetts Members of the colonial Massachusetts House of Representatives