It’s almost lyrically fitting that the original funding for Kittery’s town library derived from a fortune earned from the sea.
Rice Public Library opened on November 5, 1888, but the institution’s birth actually took seed with the death of Arabella Rice in 1872. In her will, the spinster heiress left behind a fortune that included $30,000 for the creation of a “free public Library” in Kittery -- even though she was a lifelong Portsmouth resident.
Arabella was once described by the late local historian Dorothy Vaughan as “just a very quiet soul who lived a very quiet life in Portsmouth.” She was, however, descended from a renowned clan of Kittery-based privateers and sea merchants.
Led by William Rice, this maritime family rose to prominence as privateers during the Revolutionary War and on thru the War of 1812. Privateers were essentially legalized pirates, licensed by the government to attack merchant ships of U.S. enemies. The clan also operated the Rice Tavern in Kittery, and a public ferry.
It is William’s portrait which today hangs behind the circulation desk of the Rice building.
Born in 1822, Arabella was the youngest of four daughters born to Captain Robert Rice and his wife Charlotte. Robert, William’s nephew, was already 33 years old when he married Charlotte, a widow with powerful family connections of her own and a seven-year-old son, John Thomas Goddard.
Capt. Rice had a magnificent mansion of pink brick built on Islington Street in Portsmouth -- now site of an auto parts store -- and raised a family that included four daughters: Charlotte, Lucretia, Anna and Arabella.
By the time of Arabella’s birth the Rice clan had settled into the more respectable shipping trade and other business interests, including the Eastern Railroad. Capt. Rice eventually left the sea, invested in several notable Seacoast area ships, and took over leadership of the Rice empire.
Rice was co-owner of the 696-ton vessel Arabella, which henamed after his youngest daughter. One of the largest merchant ships built on the Piscataqua at the time, the Arabella was notedfor transporting ice from Boston to India during two voyages in the 1850s.
Through marriage, the Rice family was connected with the Badgers of Badgers Island, the Dennetts of Dennetts Island, New Hampshire Gov. Ichabod Goodwin, and even the great naval hero Admiral George Dewey, of Spanish-American War fame.
“By 1830, the Rices were the leading commercial dynasty on the Piscataqua,” another local historian, Bruce Ingmire, wrote in 1992. “As the 1840s arrived, the Rices led Portsmouth into industrialization.”
However, when Arabella was only eight years old, her sister Charlotte died at the age of 15. Before the end of 1843, Arabella would lose her two remaining sisters and her half-brother as well.
When her father died in 1853, the 73-year-old former sea captain was one of Portsmouth’s leading merchants and a director of the Rockingham Bank. His wife Charlotte followed him in death ten years later.
At the age of 41, Arabella was sole heiress to the fortunes of both her mother and Capt. Rice. According to Vaughan, she was “most likely the richest woman in town.”
Otherwise, she remains something of a mystery. Despite her local prominence and affluence, there do not appear to be any known portraits or surviving photographs of this wealthy patroness.
Local lore tells us there were a number of gentlemen interested in escorting Arabella down the aisle and her money into their own pockets. She reportedly had a knack for picking out the fortune hunters, and a distaste for those who imbibed in alcohol.
Finally, a dashing young naval officer came along who seemed attracted to Arabella for herself rather than for her money. And he was a teetotaller to boot.
As Vaughan once recounted in a lecture to the Friends of Rice Public Library, the suitor knocked on the door of the Rice mansion one night ready to pop the question. Expecting to be greeted by a maid, he was startled to find himself facing the lady of the house herself when the door opened -- so startled, in fact, that he jumped backward, rolled down the front steps and spilled onto Islington Street.
Arabella, assuming her visitor was drunk, slammed the door on him and his prospects. The young officer reportedly picked up his flowers, dusted off his uniform and could be heard murmuring as he slunk away: “Well, there goes a fortune.”
He was correct. When Arabella died of typhoid fever at the age of 50, unmarried and childless, she bequeathed in her will more than $172,000 to a wide range of worthy causes. These included $20,000 to the Asylum for the Insane in Concord; another $20,000 for the Sailors’ Snug Harbor of Boston; $5,000 to the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, and $3,000 to the Portsmouth Athenaeum, among others.
A total of $30,000 was left for the creation of a library in honor of her beloved father, whose wish had been to “give a sum of money for educational purposes to the inhabitants of his native town of Kittery.” Gov. Goodwin, who was married to Arabella’s cousin Sarah, was one of the first library trustees appointed the year after her death. (He also received $6,000 himself from Arabella’s will.)
It’s unlikely, of course, that Arabella could have foreseen the institution that bears her family name today, where patrons can access e-readers, audio books, computers, DVDs, CDs, mp3 units, portable video players, online learning programs, and the like. Her bequest has truly become the proverbial gift that keeps on giving, and may be expected to do so for generations to come.
-- D. Allan Kerr
Rice Public Library Board of Directors
By Dave Choate
July 02, 2009 2:00 AM
KITTERY, Maine — Built on a foundation of local history, Rice Public Library on Tuesday celebrated a century of serving the town's residents with a special guest.
Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap spoke and presented members of the library's board of directors and Library Director Steve Russo with a plaque commemorating the special occasion.
The historic library building celebrated 100 years of incorporation Tuesday.
Dunlap also spoke of his love of books and institutions such as Rice as he stood in the young adults section upstairs, rattling off a list of prices from 1909, when a newspaper cost a penny and a roast chicken could be had for 22 cents a pound.
"I'm a bit of a fool for libraries," Dunlap said. "(These kinds of events) I try never to miss."
In return, Russo and the directors gave Dunlap a bag that read "I (heart) Rice Library" with some town-related goodies inside.
The celebration also marked well over 100 years since Arabella Rice donated the then-princely sum of $30,000 for the creation of the library. Some $18,500 was used to put together the brick facade, towers, columns and arches that mark the Wentworth Road library, according to library board of directors member Dr. Barbara Fein, and the facility has expanded since to include a location on Walker Street.
Oddly enough, Fein said Rice lived her whole life in Portsmouth, N.H., and never made her home in Kittery, though her father was a Kittery shipping merchant.
Russo said the honor comes in a year when circulation and visitors are up by about 30 percent over the year before, which he partially credited to the poor economy driving residents to seek free entertainment in books and DVDs offered by the library. He said the continued growth of the library after such a long time gives him further pride in the centennial milestone.
"It's great to be part of an organization that has given so much to the community, and is not resting on its laurels," Russo said.
Board of directors member Lou Proctor agreed, saying the seven-member board has seen "significant growth" the last couple of years. He also partially credited the economy, as well as library staff keeping up with Internet-based technology and inter-library loans.
"We all have a passion for the library," he said.