Henry Mower RICE, Congress, MN (1816-1894)

RICE Henry Mower , a Delegate and a Senator from Minnesota; born in Waitsfield, Vt., November 29, 1816; attended common schools and academies in Detroit and Kalamazoo, Mich.; resided in the Territories of Iowa and Wisconsin; moved to the Territory of Minnesota in 1839; post sutler for the United States Army at Fort Atkinson, Iowa; engaged in the fur business; negotiated a treaty with the Winnebago and Chippewa Indians in 1847; settled in St. Paul in 1848; through his personal influence secured the consent of the objecting Sioux Indians to confirmation of the treaty of 1851 whereby all of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River and south of Ojibway County was opened to white settlers; elected as a Democratic Delegate to the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1857); was not a candidate for renomination in 1856; upon the admission of Minnesota as a State into the Union was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from May 11, 1858, to March 3, 1863; was not a candidate for reelection in 1862; member of the board of regents of the University of Minnesota 1851-1859; unsuccessful candidate for election as Governor of Minnesota in 1865; president of the State historical society; president of the board of public works; treasurer of Ramsey County 1878-1884; United States commissioner in making several Indian treaties 1887-1888; died while on a visit in San Antonio, Tex., January 15, 1894; interment in Oakland Cemetery, St. Paul, Minn.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Marshall, William. 'Henry Mower Rice.' Minnesota Historical Society Collections 9 (1901): 654-58.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present