Ohio History Journal

Pa., January 10, 1911. For the main facts of his active and resultful life we are indebted to Pro- fessor W. N. Schwarze of the Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pa. William Henry Rice sprang from heroic, pio- neer Moravian stock. He was a direct descendant of the noble missionary among the Indians, the Rev. John Heckewelder. He was the son of the late James Alexander and Josephine Charlotte Sei- bert Rice and was born in Bethlehem, Pa., on Sep- tember 8, 1840. After receiving his early education in the Moravian Parochial School of Bethlehem, he entered Yale College as a member of the class of 1859.

134       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

After honorable discharge from the army the deceased completed

his theological course at Yale, and then his long and varied career as

a minister of the Moravian Church began. On August 17, 1862, he was

ordained to the ministry of the Moravian Church, in Bethlehem, by

Bishop Samuel Reinke.

From 1863 to 1867 he was active as a home missionary in New

Haven, Conn. From 1868 to 1876 he was pastor at York, Pa., and

during this pastorate the congregation completed a new church edifice.

On May 23, 1871, he was united in holy wedlock with Miss Mary

Elizabeth Holland, daughter of the late Rev. Francis R. and Augusta

Wolle Holland, then of Hope, Indiana.

From 1876 to 1879 he filled the pastorate of the congregation at

Nazareth, Pa. From 1879 to 1880 he ministered to the congregation in

Brooklyn, N. Y. From 1880 to 1885 he was minister of the First Mo-

ravian Church in the City of Philadelphia, Pa. From this city he re-

moved to New York City and became the active and beloved pastor of

the German Mission on Sixth street. Here he ministered from   1885

to 1892. During these years he made his influence felt beyond the circle

of his own congregation. He served acceptably as assistant chaplain

of St. Luke's Hospital in New York and as a member of the Board

of Managers of the American Trust Society and of the Evangelical

Alliance of the United States.

From 1892 to 1897 he was pastor of the Moravian Church at New

Dorp, Staten Island. He next followed a call westward. From 1897

to 1909 he was pastor of the congregation at Gnadenhutten, Ohio. Dur-

ing these, nearly twelve, years of devoted activity on historic ground,

the commodious John Heckewelder Memorial Church of Gnadenhutten

was built. After untiring effort this beautiful sanctuary was dedicated,

debt free, to the worship of the Triune God. On July 27, 1905, the

Board of Trustees of Scio College conferred upon the deceased the

degree of Doctor of Divinity.

Not quite two years ago, in February, 1909, Dr. Rice became pas-

tor of the Moravian congregation in South Bethlehem, Pa. He labored

in this place long enough to endear himself to his people and a large

circle of friends and to set in motion the forces that have succeeded in

putting under roof what promises to become a beautiful and comfortable

church edifice.

As a preacher and platform speaker, Dr. Rice excelled. He was

prominent in the councils of the church and a forceful speaker on the

floor of her synods. He was twice honored by being chosen to repre-

sent the American Moravian Church, Northern Province, at the General

Synod, held in Herrnhut, Saxony, Germany-in 1869 and again in 1899.

He made some valuable contributions to the literature of the Moravian

Church. He was the author of "David Zeisberger and His Brown Breth-

ren." Only a short time ago he turned over to the Governing Board

Editorialana.                       135

 

of the Northern Province of the American Moravian Church his share

of the work on a "Book of Order," which the Synod of the Church

had ordered published and the preparation of which had been entrusted

to a committee of three, Dr. Rice being chairman.

As a pastor Dr. Rice was tenderly sympathetic and carried into the

homes of his people a Christ-like spirit. He will be most gratefully

remembered by many whom he had helped on by his thoughtfulness

and consideration.

Suddenly, quietly and peacefully, he fell asleep while waiting for

the opening of the service, in which he was to participate, in the First

Baptist Church, in South Bethlehem, on Tuesday evening, January 10,

1911. His age was 70 years, 4 months and 2 days.

To the above tribute of Professor Schwarze we can only add a

few words concerning Reverend Rice's enthusiastic work in the field of

Ohio history. He had unbounded energy and infused the same into all

who came in contact with him. Life was not an existence of hard labor

with him, though no one ever worked more constantly or effectively-

but life was a joyful task, filled with cheer, sympathy, patriotism and

gratitude for the opportunity of labor. It was Dr. Rice who instigated

the celebration of the Gnadenhutten Centennial in the Fall of 1898-a

most succesful celebration of the founding of that famous Moravian

settlement by John Heckewelder in 1798. Thousands poured into the

little village to participate in the intensely interesting program arranged

for the occasion by Dr. Rice. Again in the Fall of 1908 Dr. Rice

planned for and successfully executed the one hundredth anniversary of

the death of David Zeisberger, whose remains lie buried in the little

cemetery at Goshen, some six miles distant from Gnadenhutten.

The Editor of the Quarterly will never cease to remember the days

of the celebrations just mentioned. The spirit-yes and the spiritual

--interest of Dr. Rice in the proceedings; his eloquence in speaking of

the lives and deeds of Heckewelder and Zeisberger-those first mission-

aries to the western redmen. The story of these celebrations and the

splendid orations of Dr. Rice may be found in the pages of the pub-

lications of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, where

generations yet to come will doubtless read them and be edified by the

history there so graphically told. Dr. Rice possessed a patriotism of

the fervid kind; he was easily put at "fever heat" when speaking of the

Civil War and the blessings of freedom arising therefrom. The altar

of his country was close to the altar of his religion. His fellow mem-

bers of the Grand Army of the Republic, recognized his services in the

war and his devotion to the memory of those days by electing him

chaplain of the Ohio State organization.

Dr. Rice was a man of rare ability, put to the best use, and the

world is the better for his living in it.