Clair M. Rice, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Clair M. Rice
CLAIR M. RICE, M. D. When Doctor Rice finished his medical education in the City of St. Louis in 1901, he chose as his first location and point of practice Jasper County. During the five years of his residence in that county he built up a promising patronage, and then in 1906 he removed to Rose Lawn in Newton County, and for the past ten years has been the leading physician in that rural community.
To his ample practice in this district, he has brought the ability and careful skill which would have gained him perhaps more distinction but not greater honors for substantial service in the populous urban centers. A special honor as a citizen was paid him in 1915 when the citizens of Lincoln Township elected him their trustee, and he is now filling that office and is giving much time and attention to the supervision of the schools and the other duties of his office. Doctor Rice is a stanch democrat and has taken an active part in behalf of his party. He is a member of the Newton and Jasper Counties Medical Society, and is medical examiner for a number of fraternal orders. His personal affiliations are with the Masonic Order, Earl Lodge of Rose Lawn, Indiana, the Knights of Pythias of Rose Lawn, and the Modern Woodmen of America of Morocco, Indiana.
The Rice family to which he belongs has been identified with Northwestern Indiana since pioneer days. Doctor Rice was born at Hebron in this state June 3, 1879, a son of James V. and Elizabeth Rice. His father was a native of Ohio, and his grandfather came to Hebron at an early day. His grandfather, whose name was James V. Rice, acquired a large amount of valuable farming land in the vicinity of Hebron, and was one of the men of substantial prominence in this locality until his death. He had the distinction of serving as a soldier in the Mexican war. James V. Rice, father of Doctor Rice, also followed the vocation of farmer, and died in 1913.
Doctor Rice is the youngest of his father's children. His father was married three times. Doctor Rice attended high school at Hebron, and after his literary training entered the Medical College at St. Louis where he took his degree M. D.
On January 3, 1902, at Kankakee, Illinois, he married Miss Mabel Burgess. Mrs. Rice is a woman of culture and well fitted by education and nature for the responsibilities of a home maker and also as a leader in her social community. She graduated from Valparaiso University, and taught school for several years before her marriage. Doctor and Mrs. Rice have a fine family of five children: Burgess, James V., Clair Malcolm, John H. and William K.
Source: Hamilton, Lewis H., and William Darroch. 1916. A Standard History of Jasper and Newton Counties, Indiana. Volume II. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 780 p.
Page(s) in Source: 703-704
Additional information and corrections to this biography of Clair M. Rice have
been provided by Gene Patterson, as follows:
Clair's grandfather did not serve in the “Mexican war." He served two tours in
the Ohio Militia in the War of 1812 as a private. Captain Isaac Butler’s Company
(9 August 1812 – 9 October 1812) and Captain Joseph W. Ross’ Company (1
September 1813 – 1 March 1814). For that service his grandfather filed for
bounty land in 1850 and was granted 160 acres of government land in Iowa.
Clair M. Rice was not “the youngest of his father’s children.” His father, James
V. Rice, was married three times. His first wife, Martha, had no children
before her death in 1872. His second wife, Vilora, had a daughter, Bertha,
before her death in 1876. His first two wives were sisters. James V. then
married a third time to Elizabeth Malcolm; they had three children. Clair was
the oldest of three children resulting from the union of James V. and Elizabeth
(Malcolm) Rice. That made Clair, the second of four children born to James V.
Rice.
Clair M. Rice had “six children not five as stated.” The youngest was a
daughter, Ruth E. Rice.
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook