William Gorham Rice

William Gorham Rice, Sr. (1856–1945) was an American state and federal government official from Albany, New York, and civic activist engaged in the reform of the civil service system. He was a biographer of Grover Cleveland, and became an authority on carillons in America and Europe and authored several books on the topic.[1][2]

William Gorham Rice, Sr.
Rice, Sr, ca 1910 from the George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.
Born(1856-12-23)23 December 1856
Albany, New York
Died10 September 1945(1945-09-10) (aged 88)
Guilderland, New York
Resting placeAlbany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York
NationalityAmerican
Alma materThe Albany Academy class of 1875
Known forexpertise in carillons; advocacy of civil service reforms
Spouse(s)Harriet Langdon (Pruyn) Rice (1868–1939)
ChildrenWilliam Gorham Rice, Jr. (1892–1979)
RelativesAndrew E. Rice (1922–2010), grandson
Websitehttp://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc12866.htm

Biography

William Gorham Rice was born 23 December 1856 in Albany, New York to William A. Rice (1820–1906) and Hannah (Seely) Rice (1835–1911). Rice was a direct patrilineal descendant of Edmund Rice, an early English immigrant to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[3][nb 1] Rice attended The Albany Academy, graduating in 1875.[1] He married Harriet Langdon Pruyn (1868–1939) on 10 Feb 1892 in Albany,[4] daughter of Congressman John V. L. Pruyn. They had one child, William Gorham Rice, Jr. (1892–1979), who became a law professor at University of Wisconsin–Madison.[5][6]

Rice became active in Democratic Party politics in New York.[7] He was appointed to the staff of Governor Samuel Tilden as assistant paymaster general of the New York National Guard with the rank of colonel. From 1883 to 1889 Rice served as secretary to Governors Grover Cleveland and David B. Hill. In 1895 he was appointed to the United States Civil Service Commission, filling the vacancy created when Theodore Roosevelt resigned and serving until 1898. In 1903, he was a candidate for mayor of Albany, and in 1914 a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York, but he lost both of these elections.[7] In 1915 he became a member of the New York State Civil Service Commission, serving as president from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1931 to 1937. From 1922 to 1929 he was chairman of the Bureau of Public Personnel Administration, a private organization that promoted the reform of the Civil Service System.[1]

Rice and his wife were authorities on carillons and they wrote several books about them.[8] In 1927, Rice was the main promoter building the Albany City Hall carillon as a memorial to soldiers killed in World War I. He was also a collector of documents related to Grover Cleveland, and the papers Rice donated to the New York State Library included several newspaper and magazine articles on Cleveland, as well as many of his speeches and letters.[9]

Rice died 10 September 1945 in Guilderland, New York and was buried at the Albany Rural Cemetery.[1]

Selected publications
  • Rice, William Gorham. (1914). Carillons of Belgium and Holland. New York: John Lane Company.
  • Rice, William Gorham. (1916). The carillon in literature; a collection from various authors with some notes on the carillon art. New York: John Lane Company.
  • Rice, William Gorham. (1918). Presidents elected from New York: When Cleveland was governor. Albany:The States Service Magazine Company.
  • Rice, William Gorham. (1925). Carillon music and singing towers of the Old World and the New. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.

Notes
  1. The descendancy of William Gorham Rice from Edmund Rice is as follows: Edmund Rice (ca1594-1663); Benjamin Rice (1640–1713); Ebenezer Rice (1671–1724); Ebenezer Rice (1709–1793); Joseph Rice (1744–1826); William Rice (born 1778); William A. Rice (1820–1906); William Gorham Rice, Sr. (1856–1945).[3]

References
  1. "William Gorham Rice". Find-a-Grave. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 8 Feb 2015.
  2. New York Times, Col. William C. Rice, Cleveland's Ex-Aide, September 12, 1945
  3. Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2015. Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations. (CD-ROM)
  4. New York Times, Mrs. William Rice of Albany Family: Wife of Retired President of Civil Service Commission Dies at the Capital, July 4, 1939
  5. p. 24 In: Harvard University Alumni Bulletin Vol. 25, No. 1. 28 September 1922.
  6. "In Memoriam – William Gorham Rice (1892–1979)". Wisconsin Law Review. 1980.
  7. "William Gorham Rice". Political Graveyard. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  8. "A Guide to the William Gorham Rice Papers" (PDF). Albany Institute of History and Art. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  9. "William Gorham Rice Papers, 1873-1997, SC12866". New York State Library. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
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