HON. JAMES MONTGOMERY RICE. The Rice family is of Welsh ancestry and settled in Virginia in 1690, and from that State the grandfather of our subject removed to Kentucky about 1804. He was a surveyor and planter.  His son, George Poague Rice, born in Kentucky, settled in Monmouth, Ill., in 1835, residing there for many years. He is now a resident of Omaha, Neb., his age being seventy-eight years. He marred Caroline Montgomery, a native of Danville, Pa., which place was largely owned by her great-grandfather, Gen. William Montgomery, a soldier of the Revolutionary War and was named in honor of her great uncle, Gen., Daniel Montgomery, was also born in that town. Mrs. Rice died in Nebraska, January 15, 1886, in the sixty-first year of her age and was buried in Monmouth, Ill. Of the children whom she had borne, the subject of this notice is the eldest. 

The gentleman of whom we write was born in Monmouth, March 8, 1842. His early school days were passed in the district schools and his physical powers were developed by labor on a farm. After acquiring a preliminary education he entered Monmouth College, prosecuting his studies therein until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted in Company E, Tenth Illinois Infantry. He served in the Union Army a little over three years, belonging to the First Brigade, Second Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland. He was present at the Siege of Atlanta, and had previously taken part in the noted battle of Missionary Ridge. During Sherman’s advance from Chattanooga to Atlanta his cars were saluted with the noise of the enemy’s guns for one hundred and twenty-three consecutive days. He took part in many of the less important engagements during his term of enlistment, as well as some of the most bloody, and earned and retained the confidence of his superior officers. 

On September 14, 1864, Mr. Rice was mustered out of service, soon after which he entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Mich., from which he was graduated in the class of 1866. He immediately opened an office in Oquawka, Ill., becoming Master in Chancery. In January, 1867, he removed to Peoria, where after practicing alone for a twelvemonth, he became a partner of the Hon. David McCulloch. The connections continued until Mr. Rice was elected to the legislature, which met in January 1871. This was the first session after the adoption of the new revision of the State statutes, the work consuming fifteen months time altogether. 

Mr. Rice has served as City Attorney and for the past nine years has been Treasurer of the Peoria Law Library Association, and has been Secretary of the Peoria Improvement Association, from its organization. For some years he was in legal partnership with Leslie Robison and Col. William S. Brackett, but for five years pas he has been in partnership with his cousin, Cyrus Walker Rice. 

For nearly thirty-four years Mr. Rice has been a member of the Presbyterian Church. His political adherence has ever been given to the Republican party. He belongs to Post No. 67, G. A. R., has been chairman of the Committee on Legislation of the National Guard Association of Illinois, for the past seven ;years, and is one of the executive committee of the National Guard Association of the United States. He holds the rank of Colonel, in the Illinois National Guard and is General Inspector of rifle practice, on the Governor’s Staff. 

He married September 14, 1871, Miss Eliza Balance, fourth daughter of Col. Charles Balance, who settled in Peoria in 1831. She is a native of this city and a graduate of Monticello Seminary. Her social qualities fit her for the sphere in which she moves and add to her usefulness. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Rice comprises five children named respectively: Lillie Balance, Caroline Montgomery; Mary Virginia, Montgomery and Willis Balance.

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