Rose and Francis at Fernbrook Farm

In August 1903 Francis and Rose purchased a small farm in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, about eight miles north of Siloam Springs. 

The dairy farm was hidden in a fertile mountain landscape, surrounded by an impenetrable barrier of brushes and trees. Quietly making its way through this tangle of nature flowed an insistent, but insignificant stream, Little Flint Creek, shallow and small enough to cross, but rocky enough to require caution. From the fern covered sides by the water, Francis and Rose took the name of their new home, Fernbrook Farm.

By this time, Francis had retired from the ministry, although on occasion he continued to preach from the pulpit. Living with their parents were the three children: Edna, Zelda, and Leslie.

Lake Flint Creek

This picture virtually describes the beautiful Ozark area north of Siloam Springs. The lake shown here is from a manmade dam blocking the flows of the Little Flint Creek. It was constructed years after Francis and Rose settled in the area and possibly covers some of what was once Fernbrook Farm.

Early in life Francis was diagnosed as having glaucoma and in around 1877 he lost the sight of one eye.  While serving in Marysville, Kansas he began to have trouble with the other eye and by January 1910, after having retired, Francis was entirely blind.

Of their time on the farm Rose wrote in her autobiography of June 30, 1937:

“We celebrated fifty-five wedding anniversaries at twenty-six of which he was entirely blind.  But do not think of him as a decrepit old blind man. He adapted himself wonderfully well to his condition.  With the help that the family could give him, he learned to read the embossed type.  He had two magazines a month and lots of books.  He had his typewriter and could write to his friends, he frequently preached at neighboring churches and school-houses, he was interested in the farm, he purchased some registered Jerseys and he could find them anywhere.  He could tell a pedigreed animal from the grades.  Not until the spring of 1935 when his hands became palsied, did he become a care in the family.  He was then in his 82^nd year and on March 27, 1936 he passed away.  We laid him beside his mother in beautiful Oak Hill Cemetery.”

In March of 1904, Julia Martha Rice moved to Fernbrook Farm to live in the care of her son and daughter-in-law. It was during the autumn of 1902 that her eyes also began to fail and within the year she too was blind. Julia died on the farm on October 15, 1906.

Francis and Rose had three children (from left to right): 

Zelda Magdalina, born June 7, 1885 at Augusta, Kansas,


Leslie Francis, born March 7, 1889 at Salem, Kansas.

Edna Julia, born June 3, 1883 at Augusta, Kansas.  

The picture was taken a few years before moving to Fernbrook Farm.

The small dairy farm was a struggle, but was able to help their three children to collegiate educations. All three followed professionally in their Grandmother Julia’s footsteps. They were all teachers.

It was while living on the farm that Leslie Rice met Grace Rich from neighboring Gentry, a beautiful dark hair girl who was to be his future wife and mother to the first generation Rice Kids.

Fernbrook Farm

These pictures are scanned from a photo album owned by Leslie F. Rice. This particular page in his handwriting shows Fernbrook at different stages.

The pictures on the left hand side of the page are of the farm when it was first purchased in 1904. The picture at the right hand corner are from after a new house was built.

Northwest corner of Arkansas

A) Springtown, Arkansas.  This tiny community of 87 individuals (2010), four miles east of Gentry, Arkansas, was the hometown of Grace Lora Rich.  Grace married Leslie F. Rice on August 24, 1912.
B) Gentry, Arkansas. About 5 miles west of Fernbrook Farm. Population was over 3000 in 2010.  Here Edna, Zelda, and Leslie obtained their grade school and high school educations.
C) Fernbrook Farm. The placement on the map is only approximate.
D) Siloam Springs.  In the Oak Hill cememtery in this community of 15 000 are buried Julia, Francis, and Rose Rice.  Siloam Springs is about 12 miles south of Fernbrook, or about 8 miles as the crow flies or by road which existed in 1910.

Sources:
Map of Arkansas. Retrieved from Google. August 2012
Population figures: Retrieved from Wikipedia. August 2012
Photographs: Personal collection