Comments
from her husband Francis Jay Rice:
A very
prolific writer, Francis Jay Rice on numerous occasions wrote about himself,
his wife, his mother, and occasionally the Rice family history. Among his writings is a small, leather-bound
notebook in which he wrote an autobiography, on 143 numbered pages. The exact
date of this writing is unknown, although the last date given in this
autobiography is 1904 in which he records the death of his father, Gilbert Jay
Rice. He does not mention the death of his mother in 1906 and thus we can
assume that the autobiography was written sometime between 1904 and 1906.
In his
autobiography Francis Rice wrote the following about his wife in a chapter he
entitled:
Marriage
Among the first persons I met on my first visit
to Valley Falls was my future wife. I
saw her on Saturday night at a Christmas bazaar and festival which the women of
the church were holding. The next morning she was the first person to enter the
church after myself, and tho alone for some little time yet we contented
ourselves with looking at each other from opposite ends of the room. She was one of the first three candidates
whom I baptized soon after my ordination.
She had been led to become a Christian some months before I met her and
was only awaiting a convenient time for church union and baptism. She was at the time and continued thruout my
pastorate to be church and S. S. organist and was also a teacher in the Sunday
School. In both positions she was
faithful and efficient. Her
foster-parents were German Evangelicals and prejudiced against the Baptists,
and were much displeased to have her join there. In later years however, they laid aside this
displeasure together with the prejudice which caused it.
I was attracted
to this young lady by her strong character and intellectual traits, by her
religious earnestness and efficiency in S. S. work, and by her high ideals and
courageous loyalty to her convictions.
After an acquaintance of three years at Christmas 1879, I wrote her a
letter broaching the subject of marriage and received to my great satisfaction
a favorable answer. On the following
June 18, 1880, we became engaged , and on Tuesday Dec. 28, 1880 we were married
in the little stone church around the corner.
Rev E. Nisbet D.D. then pastor of the Baptist church of Leavenworth,
officiated and a number of the church members and friends were present. The day was very cold and a deep snow lay
upon the ground. We rode to the church
in a sleigh. We were married at 10 A.M.
and immediately took the train for St. Louis and Chicago where I was to have my
eyes examined. After spending nearly two
weeks we returned, arriving home on Saturday night Jan. 8th.
In this
same autobiography Francis continues:
Rose attended the public school of Valley Falls
and in the spring of 1878 began teaching school in the country near town, a
vocation which she pursued four winters or until marriage, finishing her last
school term in the spring after marriage.
She took several terms of lessons on the organ and gave special
attention to the study of Church Music.
She attended both Methodist and Congregational Church and
Sunday School until about 1875 when she began attending Baptist services. The members of the church showed an interest
in her and as a result---
On November 20, 1934
Francis wrote a “LIFE SKETCH OF ROSE HEITZ RICE” which included the following
paragraphs:
Under the earnest and genial ministry of Rev.
Granville Gates who was at that time the missionary pastor of the Church, she
came to accept the Baptist ideas of religion and the Bible and to experience a
gradual spiritual awakening. In the
Spring of 1877, after I became pastor, she was received by the church as a candidate
for baptism. On the Sunday immediately
following my ordination to the ministry, or about June 20 of that year, I baptized
her with two others.
I became interested in her because of her earnest Christian
life and her sterling qualities of mind and heart. We were married on December 28, 1880, in the
little stone “church around the corner” as one of our young men fitly called
it. Rev. Dr. E Nebit, pastor of the Leavenworth Baptist church, performing the ceremony.
With cordial admiration I bear testimony to her
faithfulness as wife, Mother, and Christian worker. Her ability as organist and choir director
was always recognized. As Mission Circle
worker at Augusta and elsewhere, as W.C.T.U. worker, especially at Asherville,
and as Sunday School work in all my pastorates but especially at Marysville,
she developed and displayed talents which would have fitted her for much wider
activities had the fortunes of life opened them to her.
From Virginia Rice
Bohn:
In her notes which are a part of her Rice
family research my mother, Virginia Rice Bohn, wrote the following about Rose:
I met my grandmother once in 1936 and found her a very
sweet person and who delighted in listening to her radio --- an old one with
head phones!
She was of small statue but seemed to be quite lively
person. I delighted in the fact that she
and her daughters got along just fine—saying that they all agreed to disagree!
She was brought up in the Swiss Reform Church but joined
the Southern Baptist Church just before her marriage to F. J. Rice.
Notes:
At the beginning of
these writings, Francis refers to “Valley Falls”. This is Valley Falls, Kansas and the location
of his first ministerial position. He began his work in the spring of 1877 and
was ordained at the church on May 18, 1877.
Francis also refers to
the trip he and Rose made to Chicago immediately after the wedding. In Chicago
he had his eyes examined. This was a
follow up in connection with Glaucoma in his left eye. Three year previous, in
1877, he had surgery on the left eye, but after a few weeks “the sight of the eye entirely failed”. Some
years later he lost sight in the other eye, becoming completely blind and yet he
continued to serve as a minister.
The WCTU mentioned by Francis is the Women’s
Christian Temperance Union, founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1874. The purpose of the WCTU is to create a "sober and
pure world" by abstinence, purity and evangelical Christianity.
The
WCTU is now considered the oldest voluntary, non-sectarian women's organization
in continuous existence in the world. It was among the first organizations to
keep a professional lobbyist in Washington, D. C. to promote its agenda.
My observations
Rose Heiz Rice must truly
have been an impressive lady. She apparently was true to the values she
cherished and which she carried with her from her childhood. At the same time she made new, and at the
time, daring choices. She seems to have been a highly motivated, goal
orientated, and determined young woman.
A valid indicator of
the personality of Rose Rice, although lacking in objectivity, is found through
the written expressions of her husband, Francis. Time and time again he wears
his feelings on his sleeve, describing his love for his wife, his pride, his
respect. “I was attracted to this young lady by her strong character and
intellectual traits, by her religious earnestness and efficiency in S. S. work,
and by her high ideals and courageous loyalty to her convictions.”
Francis describes a
Sunday morning immediately after their first meeting. They both arrived at the
church, separately, but obvious of each other.
They were alone, but that, of course, was the intention. Their presence
in the church was undoubtedly related to arrangements for the religious
service, but Francis hints at ulterior motives.
Did each involve themselves in preparation activities, glancing at each
other from afar? Or were they bold enough to sit at each end of the room and
dream. Whatever the case this was a bold
move made by a young nineteen year old girl as she followed her feminine
instincts toward which were her goals for the future. She obviously knew what she wanted and how to
get it. (Francis never really had a
choice).
An article
from the Valley Falls New Era of Dec. 28, 1878 reads:
“At the literary society last Saturday
night we were particularly entertained by the speeches made by Miss Kate Ritter
and Miss Rosa Hefty on the question that woman is more courageous then man.
They both did remarkably well and exhibited more courage than many of the
younger men.”
Another
from the same newspaper written March 1880:
“A towship Sabbath School Convention will
be held March 24, 1880 at the Baptist church. Progarmme for March 24th…
Essay, Miss Rosa Hefty”
The enormous personal
strength and convictions of Rose Rice are most powerfully evident through her
choice of Church membership, a choice which she made independently of Francis
and in direct opposition to her foster parents. On several occasions both Rose
and Francis refer to this religious conflict between Rose and her foster
parents, Marcus and Magdalena Hefty. But when one becomes aware of the
background for this conflict, one realizes that the opposition Rose experienced
must have been painful, and probably came not only from her parents, but from
the entire Swiss immigrant community. On
occasion the hostility must have been nearly unbearable.
The young girl’s leanings
towards the Baptist Church were the essence of the conflict she had with her
foster parents. The causes were
undoubtedly differences in religious beliefs and practice, but also were from
remembered experiences which the Swiss Evangelical Reformists brought with them
from their home country. In Switzerland the
Evangelical Reformists were in direct conflict with the Baptist movement which
openly, actively, and heatedly criticized the Reformists and their beliefs.
Among the many
differences was that of baptism. The Swiss Reform Church practiced child
baptism, whereas the Baptists practiced adult baptism, this to the extent that
child baptism was not only not recognized, but considered directly wrong.
Balthasar Hubmaier of the newly formed Baptist movement wrote “I teach, and say that infant baptism is a
robbery of the right baptism of Christ”.
One can only imagine the hurt, despair, and possible anger experienced
by the Heftys when Rose chose to become a part of and later be baptized for a
second time by a faith which truly struck at the very heart of their beliefs.
At the time Rose was
no more than 18 and 19 years of age. One could understand her choices if they
were made by an infatuated young mistress under the influence of a handsome
Baptist pastor, but her choices were initiated before Francis became a part of
her life. At the time of their first meeting, Rose was already active in the
Sunday school as the organist and teacher.
The occasion of her
second baptism, supposedly nullifying the first, and then later marriage to the
Baptist minister must have been a true heart breaking experience for these
devout Swiss Reform immigrants, but also a demonstration of the internal
personal strength of Rose Rice.
On this subject
Francis wrote:
Her foster-parents were German Evangelicals and
prejudiced against the Baptists, and were much displeased to have her join
there.
In her own autobiography Rose writes:
In 1880 I was married to Francis J. Rice, Pastor of
the Baptist church. There were no joy bells ringing at that wedding, my foster
father and mother were bitterly opposed to my marriage and there were some in
the congregation who were not exactly pleased with his choice. But we were satisfied and life went merrily
on. We celebrated fifty-five wedding
anniversaries….
However, in reading
through the histories of the Swiss Reform Evangelists, one becomes easily
impressed by their humanitarian beliefs and even more so by their practice of compassion,
forgiveness, concern, and love.
Francis writes of
this: “In later years however, they laid aside this
displeasure together with the prejudice which caused it.”
When the
Coal Creek Church, near Valley Falls, was destroyed by a tornado in 1905, Magdalena
Hefty contributed money to help rebuild the facility. Later, a relative, Melchior Hefty, took care
of her husband’s brother who suffered from mental problems, thus she remember
him in her will.
One reads of the financial contribution
made by the Swiss immigrants in 1861 to their home community of Glarus,
Switzerland when a terrible fire destroyed much of the community. The fire,
which started in a shed and was fanned by high winds, destroyed 593 buildings;
over 3000 people lost their roofs and everything they owned.
In closing, I would
also mention the personal writings of Rose. Her letters and descriptions are both
grammatically and expressively correct, and flow through her command of the
written language.
Sources:
The autobiography written by Francis Jay Rice is currently in my possession
The “Life Sketch of Rose Heitz Rice” is from a
transcript made from the original by Virginia Rice Bohn. The location of the
original manuscript is unknown to me.
Articles from the Valley Falls New Era are from the
Jefferson County Historical Society at Oskaloosa, Kansas
