association, though sharing less frequently in its exercises than some
others. His decided literary tastes finally led him to resolve upon the
enlargement of his education by a collegiate course of study. He
accordingly entered Union College, Schenectady, New York, then under the
presidency of the venerable Dr. Eliphalet Nott, where he was graduated
in 1844, receiving the highest honors of his class on Commencement Day.
His classmates bear testimony to the fact that his career in college was
in the highest degree honorable to himself and to the institution of
which he was one of the most respected and popular members.

At the time of his graduation his purpose was to study law and to pursue
it as a profession; but soon afterward delicate health interposed a
serious obstacle, and a favorable offer of partnership in business with
his former employers induced him to join them in the firm which then
became known as Wilkins, Carter, and Company, the senior member of which
was a graduate of Harvard College, and, at one time, a member of its
Faculty. The present firm of Rice, Kendall, and Company, of which he is
the senior member, is its representative to-day, and is widely known as
one of the largest paper-warehouses in the country.

In 1845, Mr. Rice married Miss Augusta E. McKim, daughter of John McKim,
Esq., of Washington, District of Columbia, and sister of Judge McKim,
of Boston, a highly-educated and accomplished lady, who died on a
voyage to the West Indies, in 1868, deeply lamented by a large circle of
acquaintances and friends, to whom she had become endeared by a life of
beneficence and courtesy.

After his graduation from college, Mr. Rice, having again engaged in
mercantile business, pursued it with great earnestness, fidelity, and
success. These qualities, together with his intellectual culture and his