William Hyde Rice

Life

William Hyde Rice was born at Honolulu, Hawaii on July 23, 1846. His father was William Harrison Rice (1813–1863), and mother was Mary Sophia Hyde; both were Protestant missionary teachers at Oahu College (later Punahou School). At an early age Rice began to amass knowledge of Hawaiian culture, myths and legends—along with his fortune. Like his father, he was a student of Hawaiian legends, especially the myth of Pele.

In 1854 the family moved to Līhuʻe on the island of Kauaʻi. His father became manager of a sugarcane plantation, and in 1856, his father completed the first irrigation system for sugar for the Lihue Plantation in East Kauaʻi. He attended a boarding school at Kōloa, run by Reverend Daniel Dole. He then attended Oahu College, and Braton's College in Oakland, California. In Honolulu, on October 17, 1872 he married Mary Waterhouse (1847–1933), and had eight children:

1. Son William Henry Rice was born June 24, 1874, married Mary Agnes Girvin on June 8, 1897, managed Līhuʻe ranch, and then became deputy Sheriff in 1900 and Sheriff of Kauaʻi county in 1905. He died in 1945.
2. Son Charles Atwood Rice was born September 12, 1876 and married Grace Ethel King (1880–1940) on June 20, 1899. He served in the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii as representative from 1905 to 1911, and then in the Territorial Senate from 1913 through 1937. He died in 1964, and his daughter Juliet Rice Wichman (1901–1987) was co-founder of the Kauaʻi Museum.
3. Son Arthur Hyde Rice (July 25, 1878 – November 2, 1955).
4. Daughter Mary Eleanor Rice (November 25, 1880 – January 22, 1923), married W. H. Scott.
5. Daughter Anna Charlotte Rice (called "Daisy") (August 5, 1882 – 1948), and married Ralph Lyman Wilcox (who inherited part of Grove Farm from uncle George Norton Wilcox and grandson of missionary David Belden Lyman).
6. Son Harold Waterhouse Rice (November 10, 1883 – June 5, 1962), attended Princeton for one year, and married Charlotte Baldwin (1884–1938) on December 7, 1907. She was daughter of Alexander & Baldwin founder Henry Perrine Baldwin. He was elected to the Territorial Senate for Maui from 1919 through 1947.
7. Son Philip LaVergne Rice (July 22, 1886 – January 14, 1974), became a judge.
8. Emily Dorothea Rice (September 30, 1889 – April 6, 1979) married L. L. Sexton.

In 1872, 26-year-old Rice formed Kipu Plantation and Lihue Ranch, purchasing the Kipu parcel from Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani for $3,000 to breed cattle and fine horses. His family became one of the top ten private landowers on the island.

Rice served in the Hawaiian House of Representatives from 1870–1872 and from 1882-1884, and in the Senate from 1886-1890. Rice helped to draw up the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii (known as the "Bayonet Constitution") and was one of the 13 committeemen who physically pressured King David Kalakaua into signing it. He was appointed the last of the Governors of Kauai in 1891 by Queen Liliʻuokalani, whom he later helped to overthrow and place under house arrest, participating in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. Rice then served his childhood friend Sanford B. Dole, son of his school-master, who was named President of the new Republic of Hawaii, in the Senate from 1895–1898.

Rice spoke the Hawaiian language as his first language and published a valuable collection of Hawaiian legends, a reprint of which is available online from the Bernice P. Bishop Museum's Special Publications section.

William Hyde Rice died June 15, 1924. Charles Atwood Rice took over the business at that time. Charles would serve in the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii from 1905–1937. Still in the Rice family, Kipu Ranch offers ranch tours to visitors.