J. L. RICE, Webster County, was born July 1, 1835, in Hopkins County, Ky., now Webster County. He is a son of James R. and E. V. (Nichols) Rice, natives of Bertie County, N. C. About 1820 the family immigrated to Kentucky, and located four miles from Dixon, there the father died September 7, 1852. Our subject was reared on his father's farm, and at the age of fifteen assumed general charge of the place, and continued its management until he was nineteen years old. He then bought a farm of 115 acres, which he afterward increased to 250 acres, and continued farming until 1867, when he sold this farm and moved to Providence, where he was largely engaged in the tobacco business about four years. In 1873 he came to Dixon, and with the exception of four years, has since been engaged in the tobacco business at that point, handling now about 250,000 pounds a year. He was married, in 1853, to Martha Givens, of Hopkins County, who died in May, 1860, leaving three daughters. His second marriage was, in 1867, to Ann B. Gist, of Hopkins County. This union has been blessed with five children—three sons and two daughters. Mr. Rice is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Page 1047.