Deacon Edward Rice

     Deacon Edward Rice was born circa 1622 at Suffolk, England.¹ He was the son of Deacon Edmund Rice and Thomasine Frost. Deacon Edward Rice was baptized on 27 October 1622 at Stanstead, Suffolk, England; The baptismal name was Edmund, not Edward.¹ He married Agnes Bent, daughter of John Bent and Martha Blanchard, circa 1647; Barry's History of Framingham states Agnes Bent was without issue, which is clearly wrong. The will of John Bent of 1672 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). She was also known as Anna Bent.¹ Deacon Edward Rice died on 15 August 1712 at Marlborough, Middlesex Co, Massachusetts; A 1712 obituary in the Boston News Letter gave the death year as 1711 and said he had been born in Berkhamstead in 1618. It also said he had 142 descendants at that time, of which 119 were living. It further said that Edward's brother Henry, who had died in Framingham in 1711, had a similarly large number of descendants.¹
     Edward initially resided at Sudbury, but removed to Marlboro about 1664, and was deacon of the church there. His approximate year of birth is taken from a paper in the files at Cambridge, where, on 2 Oct 1666, his age was given as 47.
Deacon Edward Rice and his wife Anna conveyed to their son Edmund, half of the farm he held "near the spring" in Sudbury on 1 Apr 1686. This land was obtained from his own father Edmund, and some of the land he purchased from his brother Benjamin. This particular deed was acknowledged 16 April 1706, recorded 16 August 1734.