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larger view.
Rufus P. Rice was born about 12 miles east of Hamilton
in 1856, before the organization of Hamilton County or the location of the
town, on the headright of his grandfather’s surveyed in 1839, and is the
county’s oldest native son.
When young Rice was 16 years old he went with his father
to drive their cattle to Shreveport. They crossed the Brazos just below
Dallas, and he recalls that They sold about 50 head before reaching their
destination. They always sold in Shreveport, letting the buyers there make
the shipment on to New Orleans by boat.
Once he went with his father up the trail as far as
McAlister, Indian Territory, with a heard. M. K. & T. Railroad had
built into McAlister and they no longer had to drive as far as Abilene,
Kansas.
In 1879 he established a ranch in Fisher County on the
site of the present town of Roby. After several years he disposed of his
property there, and kept only his property in Hamilton County.
He was district clerk from 1904 to 1908 and at other
times served the county as deputy county clerk or deputy sheriff.
He was married to Martha Shockley, who died in 1904.
Their children were P. M. Rice, L. N. Rice, Bessie Rice, Edith, and
Margaret Rice.
PAGE THREE
PIONEER EDITION
HAMILTON COUNTY NEWS, Vol. VIII, No. 7
THE CARLTON CITIZEN, Vol. 30, No. 23
Friday, June 24, 1938
W. F. Billingslea, Publisher, Hamilton
County, TX
