No. 2: Where Did The News Article Come From?

Sometime in the late 1960s, I was given a cardboard box of pictures, letters, and assorted documents.  These were remnants from the Rice family which had been accumulated through generations, simply thrown into a box, unsorted, unlabeled. The box was undoubtedly passed to my Grandfather Leslie F. Rice by his father or mother on the occasion of their deaths.  “Granddad” died in October 1965 which was before I gave much thought to my family history, and thus, before I began to ask questions about this box of memorials. Thus I can only make assumptions as to the path from originality to my Granddad’s possession.

Obviously and happily, the Rice family has through the years been “box collectors”, that is, various individuals have thrown diverse items into a box for safe but unsorted future keeping. When Granddad died in 1965, his belongings were distributed, some being passed on to my oldest cousins, and some to me.  Although, I do believe that most of what was passed on to my cousins was copied such that I have historical references.  For this I can thank my mother, Virginia Rice Bohn.

Most of these items in this box of adventure were unidentifiable as to who was being represented or when, yet among the papers and pictures are many treasures.  Among the remnants which I found in the box were letters written by or to my Great-grandfather Gilbert Jay Rice. The letters were written during the period 1897 to 1904, the last letter being written by his brother relating the death of Gilbert at a hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The dominant theme within these letters is Julia Martha Rice’s divorce from her husband in 1854. Gilbert’s loss emanates with each word, each sentence, and each paragraph.  Gilbert for over 40 years, mourned for his boys, and never recovered from the divorce. We are told that he never understood the reasons for his wife’s leaving, (in his words “deserting”), the family.  And, of course, the great sadness in all of these events was Gilbert’s loss of his two sons, Eddie and Frank.

One can only speculate as to the path of the news article, from the moment it was cut from the newspaper until it was found among Granddad’s possessions.  Keeping in mind the divorce itself and its participants, one can make a few assumptions.

1. The journalist is quite critical of the divorce process and, therefore, one can assume that Julia Potter Rice would not have kept the article for future memories. She very likely would not have wanted to be reminded of the entire affair.
2. The two boys, Edward and Francis were too young (2yrs, 7mths and 4 mths old) to have any interest in the article at the time. 
3.  Gilbert Jay Rice, however, would have had strong reasons for keeping the article. The journalist supports Gilbert’s opposition to the divorce and claims that this was also true of the Logansport community itself. 
4. After Julia left Logansport with the boys, Gilbert had no contact with either Julia or his sons.  Thirty-three years would pass until 1897 when letters were exchanged between him and Francis.
5. Gilbert’s letters are dominated with the sorrow and regrets which he experienced through all the years. From 1854 through 1897.  It is likely, therefore, that he kept the article as a reminder of the actual divorce and as a “support” for his opposition to the support.

One can also compare handwriting on the Gilbert Rice letters to that which is written at the top of the news article.

 

 Notice the following which occurs both in the letter and the article:

The “M” in the letter (My Julia…) with the “M” on the article. Both are written with a long “left arm”. 

The date is written with "th".  This form was surely not unusual, but we also know that Gilbert used this method frequently.  

Gilbert in his letters frequently underlined text. One can see that this is done both in the letter and in the article. 

 I, therefore, am concluding that the article was cut out of the newspaper in 1854 by Gilbert. He kept the article, reading it occasionally while still trying to understand what happened. Then, around the turn of the century when he began communicating with his son he sent it as "proof" of why he never accepted the divorce.

Francis who was a collector of family historical items, thew the article in the box which eventually was given to Granddad Rice. At Granddad's death, it was given to his children and from them to me.