Frederick Rice Sr.

  General Notes:

Frederick was born near Bethlehem in Northampton Co., Pennsylvania on September 29, 1753 and enlisted in the revolution at the age of 23 in Westmoreland Co., Pa. He was a private in the regular army for two years and served among the troops under Gen. George Washington and Col. Clover that captured the 1000 Hessians at Trenton N. J. an Dec. 26, 1776. After his war experience, he served an additional two years under Col. Berry in battles with the Indians in western Pennsylvania.

After his military service he married Catherine Lauffer, daughter of Christian and Susanna Lauffer of Westmoreland Co., Pa. They had thirteen children, two of whom died in infancy

In 1815 Frederick Rice moved to Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio with sons, Simon, Christian, Barnhart and Henry. On May 21, 1821 - 320 acres of land in Wooster Twp. was transferred to Frederick Rice. The west half Of the farm was assigned to Simon Rice Mar. 1, 1822 and the east half to Barnhart on Mar. 7, 1822. Barnhart built a house of stone, quarried on the property, and on Simon's farm was built a house of brick.

Both of these homes and land have been the property of Ohio State University (OARDC) for over 100 years. The interior of the Barnhart Rice home is being restored as a guest house. This house is one of the finest examples of German vernacular architecture in Wayne Co. The Simon Rice house has been modernized. Until recently both houses were used as housing for OARDC employees. The Rice Family has a rich heritage and we are indeed fortunate that the homes are being maintained and restored by the state of Ohio.

Frederick married Anna Catherine Lauffer, daughter of Christian Lauffer Sr. and Susanah Catharina Best, about 1786 in Pennsylvania. (Anna Catherine Lauffer was born on 10 Sep 1764 in Moore Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania and died in Aug 1823 in Wayne County, Ohio.)