Santa Cruz County Biographies

HENRY RICE

Submitted by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
        Henry Rice, ex-county judge, ex-assemblyman, pioneer, and a native of 
South Carolina, was born May 2, 1810.
        Judge Rice came with his family to California in 1852, crossing the 
plains in an ox team, and soon settled in Santa Cruz. For many years Judge Rice 
was a prominent figure in the political and other affairs of Santa Cruz County. 
He was second judge of the county and represented it in the State Assembly in 
1876. At this time he originated the well-known "Rice Free Bill," which for many 
years regulated the salaries of the officers of this county. When he retired 
from active political and business life, he assumed charge of a fine ranch in 
Blackburn Gulch, where, until his death, he and Mrs. Rice kept a comfortable and 
hospitable home, often gathering their old friends about them to interchange 
reminiscences of early days.
        Judge Rice died at his home September 29, 1889, being in the eightieth 
year of his age. He was a gentleman of the old school, strong in his likes and 
dislikes, and was a power in the local politics of Santa Cruz County.
 
HISTORY OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.-  E. S. Harrison, 
Pacific Press Publ. Co., San Francisco, 1891