Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= USGenNet Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A History of Northern Michigan and its People. Vol. II Perry Francis Powers, Lewis Publishing Co., - 1912 [844-845] FRANCIS Y. RICE. - Among those who are actively concerned with the industrial and business interests of northern Michigan and who have here stood exemplar of the most progressive policies and appreciative civic loyalty is FRANCIS YALE RICE, secretary of the W. W. RICE Leather Company up to 1906, one of the important industrial enterprises of the beautiful little city of Petoskey, Emmet county, whose prestige as a manufacturing and commercial center should not be subordinated to its widely known attractions as one of the most popular summer resorts of northern Michigan. Inasmuch as the upbuilding of the splendid enterprise of the W. W. RICE Leather Company is adequately outlined in the memoir to WILLIAM WIRT RICE, its founder, and in that of GEORGE S. RICE, its president, it is deemed unnecessary to repeat the same in the present sketch. WILLIAM WIRT RICE, father of him whose name initiates this paragraph, left an indelible impress upon the industrial and social history of Petoskey, where he founded the business which is now carried forward with all of energy and success by his sons, of whom the younger is he to whose career attention is now briefly directed. FRANCIS YALE RICE, the fourth in order of birth of the six children of WILLIAM W. and MARTHA A. (GOWDY) RICE, was born at Louisville, Lewis county, New York, on the 12th of November, 1872, and thus he was a lad of about thirteen years at the time of the family removal to Petoskey in 1885. His rudimentary education was secured in the public schools of his native place and was supplemented by attendance in the schools of Petoskey, after which he prosecuted high academic studies in Alma College, at Alma, Gratiot county, and completed a commercial course in the Ferris Institute, in the city of Big Rapids, this state. After leaving school he became actively associated with the tanning business established by his father, and after the honored father passed away, in 1891, the two sons incorporated the business, which has since been conducted under the title of the W. W. RICE Leather Company, and GEORGE S. RICE, the elder of the brothers, is president of the company, while FRANCIS Y. has given most effective service in the office of secretary. In 1906 MR. RICE also en- gaged in the livery business, and he has since conducted one of the leading establishments of this kind in Emmet county, with the best of equipment and service. He is one of the progressive business men of the city that has been his home from his boyhood days and here his standing in business circles is on a parity with his popularity in the community, in which his sterling character and genial personality have gained to him a host of friends. In politics MR. RICE is found aligned as a loyal sup- porter of the cause of the Democratic party, but he has had no pre- dilection for the honors or emoluments of public office. He is affiliated with Petoskey Lodge, No. 629, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Inawandiwin Lodge, No. 56, Knights of Pythias,; and Petoskey Lodge, No. 282, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On the 12th of December, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of MR. RICE to MISS EMMA RAYMOND, who was born and reared in the city of Grand Rapids, this state, and who is the only daughter and the eldest of the four children of MORRIS and LAURA E. (WAUPERTON) RAYMOND both of whom were born in Maryland. MORRIS RAYMOND was for twenty-seven years state agent in Michigan for the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, and later he became general agent for the Royal Exchange Insurance Company, of England. He was a Republican in politics and was affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. A man of winning personality and the highest principles, he ever commanded the unequivocal esteem of his fellow men, and he died, at Grand Rapids, in 1910, at the age of sixty years; his widow now maintains her home at Grand Rapids. MR. and MRS. RICE have two fine little sons,- FRANCIS YALE, JR., and EDWARD RAYMOND. ================================================================================ If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ ================================================================================