Caleb Rice

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title: "Caleb Rice" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1792-births", "1873-deaths", "williams-college-alumni", "american-chief-executives", "american-businesspeople-in-the-insurance-industry", "mayors-of-springfield,-massachusetts", "members-of-the-massachusetts-house-of-representatives", "people-from-conway,-massachusetts", "19th-century-american-businesspeople", "19th-century-mayors-of-places-in-massachusetts", "19th-century-members-of-the-massachusetts-general-court"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "people/1790s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caleb_Rice" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Caleb Rice
image	Caleb Rice.png
office	1st Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts
term_start	1852
term_end	1853
predecessor	Board of Selectmen
successor	Philos B. Tyler
office2	3rd Sheriff of
Hampden County, Massachusetts
term_start2	1831
term_end2	1851
predecessor2	John Phelps
successor2	Patrick Boies
office3	Member of the
Board of Selectmen
of
West Springfield, Massachusetts
term_start3	1826
term_end3	1830
office4	1st President of the
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
term_start4	June 1851
term_end4	March 1, 1873
predecessor4	None
successor4	E. W. Bond
birth_date	April 4, 1792
birth_place	Conway, Massachusetts
death_date
profession	Attorney, businessman
alma_mater	Williams College
spouse	Marietta Parsons Rice (m. 1826)
children	Joseph Rice (1828–1831); Benjamin Stebbins Rice (1829–1831); Elizabeth D. Rice (b. 1835)
signature	Caleb Rice Signature.png
::

|name=Caleb Rice |image=Caleb Rice.png |caption= |order= |office= 1st Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts |term_start=1852 |term_end=1853 |predecessor= Board of Selectmen |successor= Philos B. Tyler |office2=3rd Sheriff of Hampden County, Massachusetts |term_start2=1831 |term_end2=1851 |predecessor2=John Phelps |successor2=Patrick Boies |office3=Member of the Board of Selectmen of West Springfield, Massachusetts |term_start3=1826 |term_end3=1830 |predecessor3= |successor3= |office4= 1st President of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company |term_start4=June 1851 |term_end4= March 1, 1873 |predecessor4=None |successor4=E. W. Bond |birth_date=April 4, 1792 |birth_place=Conway, Massachusetts |death_date= |death_place= |party= |profession= Attorney, businessman |alma_mater=Williams College |spouse= Marietta Parsons Rice (m. 1826) |children= Joseph Rice (1828–1831); Benjamin Stebbins Rice (1829–1831); Elizabeth D. Rice (b. 1835) |signature= Caleb Rice Signature.png |footnotes=

Caleb Rice (1792–1873) was an American politician and businessman. He was the first Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, when it became a city in 1852, and the first president of MassMutual Life Insurance Company, now a Fortune 100 company.

Early years

Caleb Rice was born on April 4, 1792, in Conway, Massachusetts. He was the son of Joseph Rice and Betty (Dickerson) Rice. Rice married Marietta P. Parsons, daughter of Israel Parsons, in 1826.

Career

Rice served as the first Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, when it became a city in 1852, and he was also the first president of MassMutual Life Insurance Company. Rice also served as the third Sheriff of Hampden County, Massachusetts, and on the Board of Selectmen of West Springfield, Massachusetts, Additionally, Rice served for five years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from Springfield. He died March 1, 1873.

Genealogy and family relations

Rice was a direct descendant of Edmund Rice an early immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony as follows:

• Caleb Rice, son of
  • Joseph Rice (1768-1823), son of
    • Israel Rice (1742-1833), son of
      • Joseph Rice (1712-1789), son of
        • Phineas Rice (1682-1768), son of
          • Joseph Rice (1638-1711), son of
            • Edmund Rice (circa 1594–1663)

References

| title = 1st President of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company | before=None | after= | years=June 1851 – March 1, 1873}} | title =President of the Springfield Aqueduct Company | before= | after= | years=1864 }}

References

1. Cutter, William Richard. (1916). "Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, Biographical—Genealogical, Volume IV". American Historical Society (Inc.).
2. {{Citation. Davis. William Thomas. "Bench and Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Volume II". The Boston History Company. Boston, Ma]]. (1895)
3. {{Citation. Copeland. Alfred Minott. "Our County and Its People: A History of Hampden County Massachusetts, Volume 3". The Century Memorial Publishing Company. Boston, Ma]]. (1902)
4. Putnam, Henry H.. (April 1903). "The New England magazine". America Company.
5. Ward, Andrew Henshaw. 1858. A genealogical History of the Rice Family: Descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice, Boston: C. Benjamin Richardson, Publisher. 379pp. [https://books.google.com/books/download/A_genealogical_history_of_the_Rice_famil.pdf?id=DKxOAAAAMAAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U3MH1Wk2ycAAqUP5Xs5hm4Uw5cqBg&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0 Download PDF]
6. Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2010. Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations. (CD-ROM)

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