William Hyde Rice

William Hyde Rice (July 23, 1846 – June 15, 1924) was a businessman and politician who served in the Kingdom of Hawaii, during the Kingdom's Overthrow, and in the following Republic of Hawaii and Territory of Hawaii governments. He collected and published legends of Hawaiian mythology.

The Honorable William Hyde Rice
William Hyde Rice in his uniform as Governor of Kauai
Governor of Kauai
In office 1892–1893
Monarch	Queen Liliʻuokalani
Preceded by	Lanihau
Personal details
Born	July 23, 1846 Honolulu, Oahu, Kingdom of Hawaii
Died	June 15, 1924 (aged 77) Territory of Hawaii, United States
Nationality	Kingdom of Hawaii Republic of Hawaii United States
Spouse(s)	Mary Waterhouse
Children	8
Occupation	Businessman, politician
Signature

Mary Waterhouse Rice

Life

William Hyde Rice was born at Honolulu, Hawaii on July 23, 1846. His father was William Harrison Rice (1813–1862), and mother was Mary Sophia Hyde; both were Protestant missionary teachers at Oahu College (later Punahou School). At an early age Rice began to amass knowledge of Hawaiian culture, myths and legends—along with his fortune. Like his father, he was a student of Hawaiian legends, especially the myth of Pele.

In 1854 the family moved to Līhuʻe on the island of Kauaʻi. His father became manager of a sugarcane plantation, and in 1856, his father completed the first irrigation system for sugar for the Lihue Plantation in East Kauaʻi.[1] He attended a boarding school at Kōloa, run by Reverend Daniel Dole.[2] He then attended Oahu College, and Braton's College in Oakland, California. In Honolulu, on October 17, 1872 he married Mary Waterhouse (1847–1933), and had eight children:

1. Son William Henry Rice was born June 24, 1874, married Mary Agnes Girvin on June 8, 1897, managed Līhuʻe ranch, and then became deputy Sheriff in 1900 and Sheriff of Kauaʻi county in 1905.[3] He died in 1945.
2. Son Charles Atwood Rice was born September 12, 1876 and married Grace Ethel King (1880–1940) on June 20, 1899. He served in the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii as representative from 1905 to 1911, and then in the Territorial Senate from 1913 through 1937.[4] He died in 1964, and his daughter Juliet Rice Wichman (1901–1987) was co-founder of the Kauaʻi Museum.[5]
3. Son Arthur Hyde Rice (July 25, 1878 – November 2, 1955) married 1905 to Elizabeth "Bessie" Smith Forest (1883–1969)
4. Daughter Mary Eleanor Rice (November 25, 1880 – January 22, 1923), married Walter Henry Scott (1873–1931).
5. Daughter Anna Charlotte Rice (called "Daisy") (August 5, 1882–1948), and married 1903 to Ralph Lyman Wilcox (1876–1913) (who inherited part of Grove Farm from uncle George Norton Wilcox and grandson of missionary David Belden Lyman).
6. Son Harold Waterhouse Rice (November 10, 1883 – June 5, 1962), attended Princeton for one year, and married Charlotte McKinney Baldwin (1884–1938) on December 7, 1907. She was daughter of Alexander & Baldwin founder Henry Perrine Baldwin. He was elected to the Territorial Senate for Maui from 1919 through 1947.[6][7]
7. Son Philip de la Vergne Rice (July 22, 1886 – January 14, 1974), married 1911 to Flora Flinn Benton (1891–1971) became Chief Justice for the Territory of Hawaii.[5][8]
8. Daughter Emily Dorothea Rice (September 30, 1889 – April 6, 1979) married 1910 to Leo Lloyd Sexton, MD. (1879–1966)[3]

In 1872, 26-year-old Rice formed Kipu Plantation and Lihue Ranch, purchasing the Kipu parcel from Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani for $3,000 to breed cattle and fine horses. His family became one of the top ten private landowners on the island.[9]

Rice served in the Hawaiian House of Representatives from 1870–1872 and from 1882–1884, and in the Senate from 1886–1890.[3] Rice helped to draw up the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii (known as the "Bayonet Constitution") and was one of the 13 committeemen who forced King David Kalakaua to sign it.[3] He was appointed the last of the Governors of Kauai in 1891 by Queen Liliʻuokalani, whom he later helped to overthrow and place under house arrest, participating in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. Rice then served his childhood friend Sanford B. Dole, son of his school-master, who was named President of the new Republic of Hawaii, in the Senate from 1895–1898.[10]

Rice spoke the Hawaiian language as his first language and published a valuable collection of Hawaiian legends, a reprint of which is available online from the Bernice P. Bishop Museum's Special Publications section.[11]

William Hyde Rice died June 15, 1924. Charles Atwood Rice took over the business at that time. Charles would serve in the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii from 1905–1937.[12] Still in the Rice family, Kipu Ranch offers ranch tours to visitors.

Family tree

See also

• Sugar plantations in Hawaii

References

1. "Lihue Plantation Company History (Kauai)". Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Plantation Archives. University of Hawaii at Mānoa Library. 2004. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
2. George F. Nellist, ed. (1925). "Rice, William Hyde". The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Honolulu Star Bulletin.
3. Siddall, John William (1917). Men of Hawaii: Being a Biographical Reference Library. 1. Honolulu: Honolulu Star-Bulletin. pp. 223–225. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
4. "Rice, Charles A. office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
5. Marylou Bradley, ed. (2002). "Rice Family Papers 1838–1964" (PDF). Kauaʻi Historical Society. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
6. "Rice, Harold W. office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
7. S. Viehweg (October 2004). "Makawao Cemetery, Makawao, Maui County, Hawaii". USGenWeb archives. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
8. "Rice, Judge Philip L. office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
9. "How Kauai's Owned" (PDF). Honolulu Record. 4 (1). August 2, 1951. pp. 12–13. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
10. "Rice, William Hyde office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
11. William Hyde Rice, preface by Edith J. K. Rice (1923). "Hawaiian Legends" (PDF). Bulletin 3. Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
12. "Rice, Charles A. office record". state archives digital collections. state of Hawaii. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
13. "Finding Aid to the Rice Family papers, 1838-1964" (PDF). Kauai Historical Society.
14. "Cooke Family History and Kūaliʻi • Manoa Heritage Center". Manoa Heritage Center. Retrieved 2020-04-06.

External links

• "History of Kipu Ranch" on About.com
• Kipu Ranch tours