Agnes (Bent) Rice (1631 - 1713)

Born 12 Dec 1631 in Weyhill, Hampshire, England

Ancestors

Wife of Edward Rice — married about 1646 in Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 4 Jun 1713 at age 81 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Province of Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

Agnes (Bent) Rice immigrated to New England as a child during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).

Agnes Bent was born or christened 12 Dec 1631 in Wayhill, Penton Grafton, Southamptonshire; she was daughter of John Bent and Martha _____^[1]

As "Ann" she is listed as one of the five children of John Bent of Penton, all under age 12, who embarked for New England from Southampton on the ship Confidence on 11 April 1638.^[2]

She married, about 1646, Deacon Edward Rice, who was born in Hertfordshire, Eng., in 1618, son of Deacon Edmond Rice (1594-1663), of Sudbury, Mass. He was a petitioner for Marlboro in 166?, and died there, August 16, 1712, ae. 93. ^[3][1][4]

The Rices were both numerous and prominent in Sudbury and Marlboro and have intermarried with the Bents more than a dozen times.

Barry's History of Framingham (and Andrew Henshaw Ward, following Barry) states Agnes Bent Rice died without issue, and that Edward's children were by a second wife, which is clearly wrong, as proved by the will of John Bent of 1672 which makes provision specifically for his daughter Agnes Rice and her son John Rice, which not only shows she was still living at that time, but also proves she was indeed the wife of Edward Rice (there being only one John Rice available as a grandson of John Bent). The confusion stems from the fact that the birth records of her children and the record of her death all show her name as Ann (a common variant of Agnes in her time). ^[4]

On 1 April 1686 at Sudbury, MA, Edward and Agnes Rice gave to their son Edmund Rice of Sudbury, half of the farm lying within the bounds of Sudbury, "near the spring". (Edward had purchased some of this land from his father Edmund and some of the land from his brother Benjamin. John Rice of Sudbury, a brother of Edmund, had the choice half.) Deed recorded 16 August 1734.^[3]

Agnes Bent died on 4 June 1713 at Marlborough, MA; aged 83 (others say in her 83rd year, making her 82), registered as Ann Rice.^[3][1][5]

Agnes and Edward are buried in Old Common Cemetery, Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.^{[citation needed]}

Children

Agnes Bent and Edward Rice were the parents of at least eleven children:^[4]

1. Lydia Rice b/d July 30, 1648
2. Lydia Rice, December 10, 1649-September 24, 1723
3. John Rice, December 20, 1651-July 28, 1733, married Tabitha Stone, May 20, 1655-1720
4. Edmund Rice, December 09, 1653-September 25, 1719
5. Daniel Rice, November 08, 1655-July 14, 1737
6. Caleb Rice, February 08, 1656-April 27, 1658
7. Jacob Rice, February 02, 1660-October 30, 1746
8. Dorcas Rice, January 29, 1663-March 24, 1753
9. Benjamin Rice, December 22, 1666-February 23, 1748
10. Abigail Rice, May 09, 1671-August 22, 1768
11. Anna Rice, November 19, 1661-May 02, 1731

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Edmund Rice (1638) Family Association, Rice Genealogical Register, Deacon Edward Rice (accessed 30 Oct 2022)
2. ↑ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, v. 14 (1860), page 334.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Andrew Henshaw Ward, A genealogical history of the Rice family : descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice, 1858; page 6 (contains the erroneous interpretation of the wife of Edward Rice that was introduced by Barry's history of Framingham).
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Allen H. Bent, Bent Family in America, Boston, Massachusetts : David Clapp & Son (1900), p. 14.
5. ↑ Marlborough MA, Marlborough, MA, Vital Records, p. 384.

See also:

• History of the Town of Marborough, Page 431