WILLIAM J. RICE was born March 6, 1842, in Spencer County, Ind., and is the third child in a family of nine children born to John C. and Jennie (McDonald) Rice, The father was born and reared in Fayette County, Ky., but moved with his father, John L., to Trenton, Todd County, and resided there until his father's death. He moved to Indiana, where William J. was born; resided there five years; returned to Kentucky and in 1870 went to Texas, where two years later he died. His wife died in August, 1869. William J. was principally reared in Todd County, and well educated. When twenty-eight years of age, he was given charge of his uncle's (Clay Rice) business for three years. December 27, 1868, he was united in marriage with Sarah C. Martin of Crittenden County, and, after five years, moved on his present place. He owns 426 acres of land, 300 under cultivation, upon which he has many substantial improvements. In October, 1864, he enlisted in Company M, Seventeenth Kentucky Cavalry, and served until the close of the war. He is a strong Republican; member of the Fredonia Masonic Lodge 327, and with his wife a Baptist. Mr. and Mrs. Rice have five children: Henry C., Sarah J., Walter J., Mary Z., and James W.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Page 863.