Martin Luther Rice: Take Two

 

After writing my last post, I started trying to track down the two possible brothers living with Martin in the 1870 Census. They shared his surname, were close in age to Martin and all three were listed as having been born in Ohio. I quickly located them in the 1850 census living in Indiana which initial inspection was one state off but after looking at the actual document I saw why. In the house of Justus and Babarba Rice, both from Germany, I found five children living with them Henry (thus far unknown to me), Justus and Martin L. all born in Ohio going back to 1840 and Peter N. and Elizabeth (also new to me) both born in the last five years in Indiana. What are the chances of three boys named Justice, Peter N. and Martin L. spelled exactly that way initials and all to be living together in two difference census records and being from the same locations? I'm guessing pretty slim. Thus I'm more confident that I have found Martin's true father and mother.

Justus Rice Sr., possible father to Martin, immigrated from Germany and set up shop as a potter in Clark county, Ohio for a handful of years before moving to Indiana for another handful of years. So the Civil War record listing Martin Luther Rice meshes well with that. Justus Sr. moved the family to Illinois where Martin and Justus Jr. both enlisted in the military for the Union and fought in the Civil War though at separate times. Justus being older, served in 1862 while Martin served in 1864. 

I can follow Justus Sr. up until the 1870's where someone by the same name proved up land in NW Iowa, not to far where Martin, Justus Jr and Peter were living in the 1860 Census. For some reason, Justus Sr. doesn't appear in the 1870 Census though his wife and children do. They are living with a plasterer which isn't that far from a potter in many ways. By 1880, his wife Barbara, still living with kids, is listed as a widow. I've been able to identify 9 children in their census record trail so there are a lot of avenues to pursue for further proof and confirmation of the connection which right now is only linked to two census records. The 1850 where Martin appears with his parents and the 1860 where Martin appears with two of his brothers in the vicinity where he father and brothers would later set up shop.

On another note, in my last post on Martin, I mentioned much was unknown of his life due to there not being newspapers in the area that have been digitized and searchable. Well I stand corrected. Sometime since my last search, four newspapers in the town he lived closest too have been digitized and are now online. In short order, I found 22 articles about him and his wife Amanda including both of their death notices. But I'll save all that stuff for future posts. Hopefully by the time they post on here, I'll have more information on Justus Rice Sr. and wife Barbara to share.