Ohio History Journal

EDITORIALANA.

NEW TRUSTEES OF THE SOCIETY.   REV. WILLIAM HENRY RICE, D. D. Among the historic characters who played a thrilling and imperish- able part in the early annals of Ohio were the three Moravian mission-

aries, Christian Frederick Post, David Zeisberger and John Heckewelder. From the last named in direct descent is the Rev. W. H. Rice, for many years past a life and active member of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and at the last annual meeting (February 26), elected a Trustee. His grandmother was Anne Salome, daughter of John Heckewelder, and born August 13, 1784. She married Joseph Rice, of that fa- mous family of Bethlehem Moravians who were members of the church colony sent over from Europe by the Moravian church in 1742 to become the first settlers of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, of which history has preserved a full account. A

son of this marriage was James Alexander Rice, who married Josephine Charlotte Leibert, descendant of a Moravian family. William Henry Rice, the son of this union was born at Bethlehem (Pa.), September 8, 1840, during the Harrison campaign, whence his name, as we learn from the history of Tuscarawas county by Byron Williams. From the same source we condense the facts concerning the life of Mr. Rice. Mr. Rice enjoyed the home and school training of Bethlehem, that famous center of Moravian learning, until he was received into Yale College before his fifteenth birthday as a member of the Class of 1859, when he was graduated as one of the "scholars of the House", standing number seven in a class of one hundred and ten students, although he was the youngest but one of the class. On graduation he became a mem- ber of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. The next two years were spent in teaching in the public and select schools of New Haven, Conn., after which he entered Yale Theological Seminary. In his middle year he joined the Union Army and was elected Chaplain of the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Pennsylvania Infantry. He took part in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. (350)

• 1
 

Editorialana.                      351

 

He re-enlisted as a private in the Thirty-Fourth Pennsylvania, an

emergency regiment that served in the Gettysburg campaign. After being

honorably discharged he completed his theological course at Yale and

was appointed to the pastoral charge of a German Moravian Home Mis-

sion Church in New Haven. He then served by successive appointments

through the following forty odd years from 1867 to 1907 in the Moravian

pastorates of York, Nazareth and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; in Brook-

lyn, New York City and on Staten Island, New York; and for the past

ten years at Gnadenhutten, Ohio. He is the Dean of the American

Moravian Pastors, having seen more years of service than any other

minister on the active list. He also served as the assistant Chaplain in

St. Luke's Hospital in New York. In 1869 and again in 1899, he was

sent to the General Synod of the Moravian Church which meets once

every ten years in Hernhut, Saxony, having been elected both times by

the American Moravian Synod. In Ohio he is the Moravian Vice Presi-

dent of the State Christian Endeavor Union. He is a Vice President of

the Moravian Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and a life member in

the Pennsylvania Historical Society. He is the author of "David Zeis-

berger and His Brown Brethren," a most graphic and accurate account

of the religious labors of Zeisberger among the Delaware Indians

of Eastern Ohio. The historical address delivered by Mr. Rice at

the Gnadenhutten Centennial, in 1898, was published in a previous

volume of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society annuals.

During his Gnadenhutten pastorate he had a large part in the erection

and dedication, free of debt, of the beautiful memorial sanctuary, the

John Heckewelder Memorial Moravian Church. On July 27, 1905, the

Board of Trustees of Scio College conferred upon him the honorary

degree of Doctor of Divinity. On June 13, 1907, in the Encampment of

the Grand Army of the Republic at Canton for the Department of Ohio,

Dr. Rice was elected Chaplain for the Department. He has successively

been a Comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic in Rankin Post No.

10, Brooklyn, New York; in Anna M. Ross Post, Philadelphia, and J. K.

Taylor Post, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and lastly of Alexander Rank

Post No. 534, Gnadenhutten, Ohio, where he is serving his fifth term as

Post Commander. During his pastorate at York, Pennsylvania, he was

married to Miss Mary Elizabeth Holland, eldest daughter of Rev. Francis

R. and Augusta Wolle Holland, of Hope, Bartholomew County, Indiana.

They have two children, Doctor James Francis Rice, of Buffalo, New

York, and Rebekah Holland Rice, of Gnadenhutten. Mrs. Rice is a de-

scendant, on her mother's side, of the Benezet family of Philadelphia,

Huguenot exiles from France. Mr. Rice is an accomplished theological

scholar and linguist, an earnest and eloquent speaker and unites a ripe

maturity of experience and wisdom with the enthusiasm of vigorous

youth. He will enter con amore into the work of the Society of which

he now becomes a Trustee.

• 2
 

352        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.     ALBERT DOUGLAS. The county of Ross is one of the richest in Ohio in historic lore. It figured potently in the pioneer and early state annals. Chillicothe was

the first capital of the state. There on April 25, 1852, was born Albert Douglas, who at the last annual meeting of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, of which he has long been a life and interested member, was elected a Trus- tee. Mr. Douglas was educated in the Chillicothe public schools, a preparatory school and Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, graduating in the Class of 1872. He received his legal education at Har- vard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., receiving the degree of LL. B. in 1874. He immediately took up the practice of his profession and showed such proficiency in his calling that the Republicans of his county nominated and elected him prosecuting

attorney in 1876. His success was all the more marked as the county at that time was largely Democratic. He was re-elected in 1878. He held no other political office until he was placed upon the State Republican ticket in 1896, as one of the presidential electors-at-large.  When the Electoral College met he was made chairman of that body. Two years ago (1906) he was the choice of the Republicans of his district for repre- sentative in the Sixtieth Congress. He was elected by a handsome ma- jority. In 1905 Mr. Douglas received the honorary degree of LL. D. from the Ohio University and the same degree from Kenyon College in 1906. In 1880 he married Lucia C. Taylor of Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. Douglas is a man of scholarly tastes and a most polished and forceful speaker. His ability in this line places him in the front rank of the political orators of the state. He is constantly called upon to deliver addresses before colleges and literary societies. At the annual meeting of the Society, held March 22, 1907, Mr. Douglas delivered the address, his subject being "Arthur St. Clair." It was later published in the annuals of this Quarterly.       ETHICAL FUNCTION OF THE HISTORIAN. The International Congress of Historical Sciences, whose annual session attracted scientists from all parts of the world, was held this year (from August 6 to 12) in the great Philharmonic Hall at Berlin, Germany. The governing body selected Dr. David Jayne Hill, Ambassador

• 3