Isaac J. Rice
Isaac J. Rice (1808–February 20, 1880) was a minister and missionary for fugitive slaves from the United States. He operated a mission for arriving black people and a large school for black children at Fort Malden at Amherstburg, Ontario. It was a major landing point for African Americans and the main station of the American Missionary Association.[1]
Personal life and education
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Rice was from Wayne, Ohio.[2] He studied at Hamilton College in the Class of 1833,[2][3] as did Hiram Wilson, who also became a missionary in Ontario.[4] Rice was a member of the Junior class of the Auburn Theological Seminary in New York. He was in Vienna, Ohio in 1836.[2] Rice was a pastor of the Presbyterian Church from Ohio.[4] He was married to Sarah Alden Carpenter and had a son, Benjamin Bartlett Rice.[5]
Missionary
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About 1848 or 1849, Rice went to Amherstburg as a missionary.[6] He ran a mission for former slaves and a large school for negro children at Fort Malden in Amherstburg (often the name of the town and the fort were switched).[4][a] He was a pastor, teacher, and a missionary who provided food and clothing. He helped people by writing letters for them and mediating debates.[6]
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At Amherstburg, lake boats and ferries arrived with as many as 15 people per boat, having crossed the Detroit River from the United States. In and after 1850, that number had doubled with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Immigrants included recent runaway slaves as well as people who had lived free in the north but were afraid of being returned to slavery.[4] The fugitives arrived impoverished, illiterate, and neglected from years of slavery. Rice kept a supply of goods that fugitives might need, including clothing.[4] It was a major Underground Railroad landing point for fugitive slaves, which he sheltered until homes could be found for them.[1] Entire families arrived, all needing care.[7]
It appears from all this that the recognition of the deplorable destitution of arriving fugitives was general among the aid societies and their representatives, and that prompt action was taken to meet wants that could brook no delay.
— Wilbur Siebert, The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom [4]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Malden_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Malden_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Levi Coffin described Rice as someone who performed "devoted, self-denying work, and had received very little pecuniary help, and had suffered many privations."[4] By 1849, the mission was out of funds. He was not able to pay for the freight charges for supplies, while many people at the mission were in dire need of clothing. He provided beans and bread to feed people. He needed to sell beds and his watch for food. Of the 20,000 black people in Canada, 3,000 lived near him.[1] In 1852, he printed 5,000 copies of the Amherstburg Quarterly Mission Journal, asking for donations for bedding, clothing, and provisions.[7] In 1855, the mission and all of the contents were ruined in a fire. Rice wrote an appeal for donations that was published in newspapers.[8]
Pastor
Around 1866, Elder Isaac John Rice was pastor for one year at Westover Baptist Church in Westover, Ontario. In 1871, he was the interim preacher and after three years, he accepted the position of pastor. Rice held revival meetings five to seven times a week in April and May, 1877. This led to 90 baptisms in one two-week period and 122 new members over the year. Due to ill health, he resigned in 1877. He died of inflammation of the lungs on February 20, 1880. He was buried in Westover Cemetery, with a gravestone inscription of: "For 14 years pastor of the Baptist Church, Westover."[9]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b c Frost, Karolyn Smardz; Walls, Bryan; Neary, Hilary Bates; Armstrong, Frederick H. (2009-01-19). Ontario's African-Canadian Heritage: Collected Writings by Fred Landon, 1918-1967. Dundurn. pp. 120–121. ISBN 978-1-4597-1024-5.
- ^ a b c General Catalogue of the Auburn Theological Seminary: Including the Trustees, Treasurers, Professors, and Alumni. 1883. Daily Advertiser and Weekly Journal Printing House. 1883. p. 47.
- ^ The Hamilton Record. Hamilton College. 1902. p. 33.
- ^ a b c d e f g Siebert, Wilbur (1898). The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom. pp. 194, 214.
- ^ Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Daughters of the American Revolution. 1919. p. 257.
- ^ a b Prindle, Eld. Cyrus (1846-11-12). "The Freeman: Tour among the colored refugees of Canada West". Green-Mountain Freeman. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
- ^ a b c Frost, Karolyn Smardz; Walls, Bryan; Neary, Hilary Bates; Armstrong, Frederick H. (2009-01-19). Ontario's African-Canadian Heritage: Collected Writings by Fred Landon, 1918-1967. Dundurn. pp. 181, 189. ISBN 978-1-4597-1024-5.
- ^ "Rev. Isaac J. Rice makes an appeal". Hartford Courant. 1855-06-16. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
- ^ Belzile, Michel R. (1994-01-01). A History of Mountsberg and Westover Baptist Churches. pp. 13–15 (Westover columns).
- v
- t
- e
- William Brinkley
- John Brown
- Owen Brown
- Samuel Burris
- Levi Coffin
- Richard Dillingham
- Frederick Douglass
- Calvin Fairbank
- Isaac S. Flint
- Thomas Garrett
- Frances Harper
- Laura Smith Haviland
- David Hudson
- Daniel Hughes
- Peg Leg Joe
- William Cooper Nell
- Harriet Forten Purvis
- Robert Purvis
- John Rankin
- Hetty Reckless
- Gerrit Smith
- William Still
- Calvin Ellis Stowe
- Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Charles Turner Torrey
- Harriet Tubman
- Delia Webster
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Ursa_major_icon.svg/110px-Ursa_major_icon.svg.png)
- Emeline and Samuel Hawkins flight (1845)
- Pearl incident (1848)
- Kentucky raid in Cass County (1847)
- The South Bend Fugitive Slave Case (1849)
- Christiana Riot (1851)
- Jerry Rescue (1851)
- Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852 book)
- Joshua Glover rescue (1854)
- Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856 book)
- Dover Eight (1857)
- Oberlin–Wellington Rescue (1858)
- Tilly Escape (1856)
- Ann Maria Jackson and her seven children (1859)
- Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
- Abolitionism in the United States
- Fugitive slaves
- Fugitive slave laws
- Quilts
- Reverse Underground Railroad
- Signals
- Slave catcher
- Songs of the Underground Railroad
- The Underground Railroad Records (1872 book)
- National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
- Harriet Tubman Memorial (Boston)
- Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park
- Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park
- Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center
- Underground Railroad Bicycle Route
- The Railroad to Freedom: A Story of the Civil War (1932 book)
- A Woman Called Moses (1978 miniseries)
- Roots of Resistance (1989 documentary)
- The Quest for Freedom (1992 film)
- Freedom: The Underground Railroad (2013 board game)
- The North Star (2016 film)
- Underground (2016 TV series)
- Harriet (2019 film)
- The Underground Railroad (2021 miniseries)
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