FOOTPRINTS OF IRA RICE

My great, great Grandfather Ira Rice was born Oct.28, 1793 in Berkshire, Ashworth, Franklin
Massachusetts. My great, great Grandmother Sarah Ann Harrington was born Jan. 30, 1801
in Glouchester, Providence, Rhode Island. Ira enlisted in the War of 1812 when he was just
18 years old. During Ira's eighteen months of service (he felt it was his patriotic duty) and,
while at Fort Erie, the British set fire to a powder keg that exploded with great force. The blast scattered a small force of two hundred men in every direction. Most of the Americans either
drowned trying to cross the river, or were shot while still on the banks. Ira survived by
swimming downstream four miles to safety. His survival skills would serve him well during his lifetime. Ira married Sarah Ann Harrington and they moved to the 'wilds' of Michigan. Ira along with the other frontiersmen cut down trees, built cabins, and planted crops. Ira and his older sons learned to hunt bears for bed coverings and rugs. More than once he found himself staring into the gaping jaws of a very large, very angry bear. Ira always won the fight. In time Ira became a very wealthy landowner. The Rice Family was introduced by Missionaries to the LDS Church. They became Members about 1840. The family then moved to Nauvoo, Illinois where Ira again owned extensive property and livestock, had they stayed, they would have become very wealthy again. Instead, they crossed ice covered streams and rivers with icy water rising up to the bottoms of the wagon beds soaking feet and legs. Many of the Saints had to leave their homes in the middle of the night.
Ira and his family crossed the mighty Mississippi into snow covered wilderness. Ira was asked several times to go back to Nauvoo for more grain and supplies before leaving Council Bluffs, Iowa with the first Company of Immigrants. He owned good teams and wagons and was able to freight supplies and assist families to Winter Quarters. The Lorenzo Snow and Orson Pratt families were among those being helped. Eventually Ira and a few family members left to go to the Valley. He left his wife and several children behind so he could first establish a home and would then send for them. When the rest of the family finally arrived in Salt Lake City, Sarah was not with them. It was assumed she was too ill to make the journey and died. Ira was sent to settle many communities and in his later years went on a Colonizing Mission in
Southern Utah. He died at Washington, Utah.