Page:One of a thousand.djvu/522

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5o8 KICK. RICE. At sixteen years of age he was employed as clerk by William B. Converse, with whom he remained five years. After the expira- tion of his minority, he engaged in the woolen manufacturing business with his father. For twenty-one years he and his brother, Theodore Reynolds, have been in- terested in the ownership and management of these mills which their father established. Mr. Reynolds has been selectman for three years, and two years chairman of the board. In 1876, and again in 1877, he represented his district in the Legislature. He was one of the original incorporators of the Monson Savings Bank, and has been a trustee since its organization. He is a director and vice-president of the Monson National Bank. With A. A. Gage he is interested in the manufacture of men's straw hats, also, with the estate of the late Alfred Norcross, is an owner of the Central Block, the largest and most elegant business struc- ture in the town. It was through his exer- tions that the beautiful Memorial Hall was erected. RICH, Alexander Hamilton, son of Thomas and Lydia (Smith) Rice, was born in Newton, Middlesex county, August 30, 1818. He attended the public schools, was pre- pared for college in the academies of those days, and having pursued his studies in Union College, was graduated in the class of 1844, from which institution he received his A. M. three years later. He was com- mencement orator in 1844, and received the degree of LL. D. from Harvard Uni- versity in i 876. After graduation he began business life in the house of Wilkins, Carter & Co, paper manufacturers, Boston. He has continued in the same line to the present time, having built up an extensive business, and is now senior member of the house of Rice, Kendall & Co., paper dealers. He has been twice married, and is the father of four children : two daughters and two sons, all of whom are married, except the youngest. Mr. Rice was mayor of Boston, 1856 to '58 ; a member of the national House of Representatives from 1859 to '67; and gov- ernor of Massachusetts from 1876 to '79. He is vice-president of the Webster Histor- ical Society; a member of the American Archaeological Society, and American His- torical Association ; a Trustee of the Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology, Art Museum of Boston, and of the Episcopal theological school at Cambridge; a director of the American Loan & Trust Company and of the Massachusetts National Bank, also of the Bunker Hill Monument Associ- ation; president of the National Sailors' Home, and honorary chancellor of Union University, N. Y., i'SSi. ALEXANDER H. RICE. Massachusetts, it is generally conceded, is unusually well equipped with public men, who, from their scholarly attain- ments, inherent ability and acquired ex- perience, reflect great credit upon their fel- low-citizens when called upon to exercise high and executive functions. No more conspicuous figure to-day fills the later his- tory of the old Bay State than Governor Rice. Of dignified and genial presence, possessed of a fertile imagination, winning address and felicitous grace of expression, he is universally acknowledged to be a model executive officer. In commercial circles his judgment and experience find scope and exercise upon the numerous boards with which he is connected, and in the walks of his private life are exemplified the virtues of one to the manner born. RICE, CHARLES J., son of Benjamin and Lucy (Whitney) Rice, was born in New Gloucester, Cumberland county, Maine, July 2, 1832. The common schools gave him his early education. He finished his school life in