Henry Rice was born in the 1500s in England and, as might be expected, records are not complete for this family.
To begin, Henry’s birth year is unknown. He married Elizabeth Frost, daughter of Edward Frost and Thomasine Belgrave on 12 November 1605 in Stansted, Suffolk, England.
From this, one might calculate a possible birth year of c1580 if Henry was about 25 years old when he married, which was a typical age for men in this time period.
However, there is also an Edmund Rice in Stanstead, aged 11 years in 1605. Therefore, suggestions have been made that Elizabeth Frost was Henry’s second wife and that Edmund is a child of Henry’s first marriage. If this theory is eventually proven to be true, Henry’s year of birth would then be closer to c1564.
For now, I am assuming that Henry Rice had but one wife, Elizabeth Frost.
In either case, Henry Frost died at the young age of about 40 years by November 1621 in Stansted, Suffolk, England.
Elizabeth Frost married (2) Philemon Whale, c1622, probably in Stansted, Suffolk, England and by the 1640s, the family made the decision to leave England for a new life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Henry and Elizabeth were the parents of six known children:
1. Henry, born c1606; buried in November 1608, Stansted, Suffolk, England.
2. Edward, baptized 8 May 1608, Stansted, Suffolk, England; no further record.
3. Henry baptized February 1609/10, Stansted, Suffolk, England; no further record
4. Elizabeth, baptized 18 November 1612, Stansted, Suffolk, Eng;land; died 14 December 1690, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts; married John Moore, 27 November 1633, Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, England.
5. Mary, baptized 20 January 1615, Stansted, Suffolk, England;no further record.
6. Ann, baptized 10 March 1617/18, Stansted, Suffolk, England; no further record
Elizabeth Frost married (2) Philemon Whale, c1622, probably in Stanstead. They had three children born in England:
1. Sarah, baptized 8 December 1622; buried October 1623, both in Stansted, Suffolk, England.
2. Philemon, baptized 27 November 1625; buried 23 December 1625, both in Stansted, Suffolk, England.
3. Jonas, baptized 17 April 1627; buried 18 May 1629, both in Berkhamsted, Suffolk, England.
The Frost/Whale family is a further reflection on the reality of losing many children in infancy or youth as only daughters Elizabeth and Mary seem to have reached adulthood and married.
Elizabeth (Frost) (Rice) Philemon died on 20 June 1647 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts.
Philemon Whale went on to marry (2) Sarah (MNU) Cakebread, the widow of Thomas, on 7 November 1649 and (3) Elizabeth (Upson) Griffine, widow of Hugh, on 9 November 1657, both in Sudbury.
Philemon Whale died on 24 February 1675 in Sudbury. He left a will (Middlesex County, MA File 24194) naming wife Elizabeth and four sons of “daughter Elizabeth Moore.”
