Gershom Rice

Other Events and Attributes:

• Married: say 1692; Elizabeth Balcom, the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Hayes) Balcom. She was born on 16 August 1672 in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Issue: 1. Gershom Rice (c1696-____) 2. Elizabeth Rice (1696-____) 3. Abishai Rice (1701-____) 4. Sarah Rice (1703-____) 5. Matthias Rice (1707-____) 6. Ruth Rice (1710-____) There may have been a seventh child.
• Moved To: Before 1698, Groton, New London County, Connecticut
• Moved to: Before 1713, Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
• History: 1713; In 1713, he was one of the petitioners for a new settlement at Worcester to replace that destroyed by Indians. In his house in Worcester, the first meetings of the church were held and he planted the first orchard in the town.
• Obituary: 26 Dec 1768; From The Boston Gazette, 26 December 1768 as reported by Ward (1858): "This day died here Mr. Gershom Rice, who completed the age of 101 years some time last May, besides retaining his reason and understanding in a very good degree to the last. He enjoyed a long and almost uninterrupted state of bodily health; was able, till very lately, to travel on foot a mile or two a day among his neighbors; eat his food with a good appetite, and slept quietly at night without any attendance. He was naturally of very pleasant disposition, very courteous in his behavior towards all, and withal grave and serious. Of late the decays of nature came on him fast; and he went away calmly and quietly at last, expressing his hope and trust in his Redeemer for admission to a better world."