Noah Rice (1856 - 1925)

Born 4 Dec 1856 in Howard, Missouri, United States

Died 24 Oct 1925 at age 68 in Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado, United States

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Noah Rice is a part of US Black heritage.

Biography

Noah was born enslaved on Dec. 4, 1856, in Howard County, Missouri. He was the son of Spottswood Rice^[1] and Ara Ferguson, who contracted an unrecorded "slave marriage"^[2] in July 1844. His parents were enslaved by different slave owners, in an "abroad marriage."^[3] Spottswood Rice was enslaved by Benjamin Lewis on a large tobacco plantation in rural Howard County, Missouri. Ara Ferguson Rice and her children were enslaved by the Digges family in Glasgow, Howard County, Missouri. (See also Digges Family Plantation.) The couple had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Ara also had an older daughter, Cora Ferguson.

Noah's sister Mary A. Bell gave an interview to Grace E. White of the Federal Writers' Project in 1937.^[4] She reported that Spottswood Rice was allowed to visit his family only two nights a week, Wednesday and Saturday. Mary said, "So often he came home all bloody from beatings his old . . . overseer would give him. My mother would take those bloody clothes off of him, bathe de sore places and grease them good and wash and iron his clothes, so he could go back clean." After a particularly brutal and undeserved beating, Spottswood Rice ran away. Ara Rice tried to persuade him not to go, but he said he would die first. He hid for three days and nights under houses and in the woods until he was so weak and hungry that he gave himself up to a slave trader that he knew. The trader offered to buy him from Benjamin Lewis, but "Lewis said dere wasn't a plantation owner with money enough to pay him for Spot." Rice told his slave owner that if he was whipped again, he would run away "until he made de free state land."

In February 1864, Spottswood Rice escaped with 11 other enslaved men and enlisted in Company A of the 3rd Missouri Colored Infantry, later the 67th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops.^[5] Lewis and other slave owners pursued them but were turned away by Union officers. Lewis may have been compensated for the loss of his "property" since he officially supported the Union.

Spottswood Rice was injured while out on inspection and sent to Benton Barracks^[6] in St. Louis, where he recuperated from wounds and chronic rheumatism. Ara Rice and her sons, Noah and Spottswood Jr., joined him in St. Louis, but her daughters, Cora and Mary, remained enslaved in Howard County. In September 1864, Rice wrote two impassioned letters to Miss Kitty Digges, demanding the release of his daughter Mary and stepdaughter Cora, who were still enslaved—Mary by Kitty Digges and Cora by Kitty's brother, F.W. Digges. Rice's letters were featured in Episode 6 of Ken Burns' documentary "The Civil War."^[7]

To his daughters, Rice wrote: "I take my pen in hand to rite you A few lines to let you know that I have not forgot you and that I want to see you as bad as ever . . . be assured that I will have you if it cost me my life . . . Your Miss Kaitty said that I tried to steal you But I'll let her know that god never intended for man to steal his own flesh and blood. . . You tell her from me that She is the frist Christian that I ever hard say that a man could Steal his own child especially out of human bondage . . . Give my love to all enquiring friends tell them all that we are well and want to see them very much and Corra and Mary receive the greater part of it you selves . . . Spott & Noah sends their love to both of you Oh! My Dear children how I do want to see you."^[8]

By 1870, the Rice family was reunited and living in St. Louis, Missouri, where Spottswood (46, listed as "Spotsford") was working as a tobacconist. Ara (52, listed as "Orie") was keeping house. Their children Mary (18), Noah (13), and Spottswood ("Spotsford") Jr. (11) were living with them.^[9] Spottswood Rice was ordained by the African Methodist Episcopal Church as a deacon in 1870 and as an elder in 1874.

In June 1880, Spottswood Rice (56) and Ara ("Orry") Rice (59) and their family lived on Elliott Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri. Spottswood was a clergyman. The household also included Cora Bonnot (39, Spottswood's widowed stepdaughter); his sons, Noah (23) and Spottswood Jr. (21); his daughter Mary A. Bell (28), her husband Joseph Bell (37), and their children, James (8), Cora (5), Willie (2) and Ernest (5 months). Mary was a washerwoman. Noah, Spottswood Jr., and Joseph Bell worked in a tobacco factory.^[10] A second census report taken in November 1880 listed Spottswood Rice (55) as a minister and his wife Ara ("Arrah") Rice (55) living on Elliott Avenue in St. Louis with their sons, William (23) (instead of Noah) and Spottswood Jr. (21), and their daughter Mary (28) and her family.^[11]

Spottswood Rice served A.M.E. congregations in Missouri, Kansas, New Mexico, and Colorado. Ara Ferguson Rice died March 19, 1888. She was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Hillsdale, St. Louis County, Missouri.^[12]

On Oct. 7, 1888, Spottswood Rice married Eliza Lightner in Albuquerque, New Mexico. By 1889, they had moved to Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. Some time after 1890, Noah followed his father to Colorado. Mary Bell and Spottswood Jr. remained in St. Louis.

Spottswood Rice passed away Oct. 31, 1907, in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado.^[13]

In 1910, Noah Rice was living with his widowed stepmother, Eliza Rice, in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. Noah (51) was single and a laborer. Eliza (37) reported that she had borne five children of whom one was then living. The household also included a widowed roomer, Mary Strodder (47), a hairdresser.^[14]

Noah Rice passed away Oct. 24, 1925, in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado.^[15]

Slave Owners

• F.W. Digges
• Catherine L. "Kitty" Digges

Research Notes

• The Digges family enslaved several members of Ara Ferguson Rice's family. It is not clear which Digges family member enslaved Noah Rice.
• Mary Bell said that her older brother died in the Civil War. His name may have been William. Several soldiers in the 67th Regiment USCT were named William Rice.
• Mary Bell said that she had two sisters and three brothers. The identified children of Spottswood and Ara Rice are Mary, Noah, and Spottswood Jr. Cora Ferguson was their half-sister, Ara's daughter.

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Spottswood Rice," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spottswood_Rice&oldid=1029738711 (accessed April 26, 2022).
2. ↑ "Marriages such as this were not legal, since slaves could not acquire marriage licenses." Kristen Epps, Slavery on the Periphery: The Kansas-Missouri Border in the Antebellum and Civil War Eras. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2016, p. 106. https://www.kristenepps.com/publications : accessed 15 May 2022
3. ↑ "Abroad marriages—unions where the man and woman lived on different farms—were a common feature of slave life on the [Missouri-Kansas] border." Kristen Epps, Slavery on the Periphery: The Kansas-Missouri Border in the Antebellum and Civil War Eras. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2016, p. 72. https://www.kristenepps.com/publications : accessed 15 May 2022
4. ↑ Federal Writers' Project: Slave Narrative Project, Vol. 10, Missouri, Abbot-Younger. 1936. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mesn100/: https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.100/?sp=30&st=image : accessed 20 Apr 2022
5. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "List of United States Colored Troops Civil War units," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_United_States_Colored_Troops_Civil_War_units&oldid=1076543549 (accessed April 22, 2022).
6. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Benton Barracks," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benton_Barracks&oldid=1084244894 (accessed April 27, 2022).
7. ↑ 1864: "Valley of the Shadow of Death"/"Most Hallowed Ground": https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-civil-war/ : accessed 22 Apr 2022
8. ↑ Spotswood Rice, “Letter of Spotswood Rice to His Children and Kittey Diggs,” Textbook, accessed April 27, 2022, http://historymaking.org/textbook/items/show/88.
9. ↑ 1870 United States Federal Census: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4273878_00256?pId=3030233 : accessed 20 Apr 2022
10. ↑ 1880 United States Federal Census: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4242058-00513?pId=25910134 : accessed 20 Apr 2022
11. ↑ 1880 United States Federal Census: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4242108-00009?pId=34751679 : accessed 26 Apr 2022
12. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66723984/ara-rice : accessed 20 April 2022), memorial page for Ara Rice (1817–19 Mar 1888), Find a Grave Memorial ID 66723984, citing Greenwood Cemetery, Hillsdale, St. Louis County, Missouri, USA ; Maintained by Susan Ing (contributor 47043987) .
13. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35146577/spottswood-rice : accessed 26 April 2022), memorial page for Rev Spottswood Rice (20 Nov 1819–31 Oct 1907), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35146577, citing Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, USA ; Maintained by Joe & Connie, and Mariah (contributor 46889617) .
14. ↑ 1910 United States Federal Census: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/31111_4327322-00061?pId=134817023 : accessed 1 May 2022
15. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35146569/noah-rice : accessed 01 May 2022), memorial page for Noah Rice (4 Dec 1856–24 Oct 1925), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35146569, citing Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, USA ; Maintained by Joe & Connie, and Mariah (contributor 46889617) .

See also:

• Wikipedia: Spottswood Rice
• Wikidata: Item Q23988397, en:Wikipedia
• The USCT Chronicle, Angela Y. Walton-Raji, March 29, 2012: The Words, Actions and Life of Spottswood Rice - Freedom Fighter (Part 1): http://usctchronicle.blogspot.com/2012/03/words-actions-and-life-of-spottswood.html : accessed 27 Apr 2022
• The USCT Chronicle, Angela Y. Walton-Raji, April 4, 2012: The Words, Actions and Life of Spottswood Rice - Freedom Fighter (Part 2): http://usctchronicle.blogspot.com/2012/04/life-words-and-actions-of-spottswood.html : accessed 27 Apr 2022