Here’s my recurring announcement: “Susan Rice” as identified in this story (and as viewed recently on television) is not a known relative of mine and is not to be confused with me, “Susan Elizabeth Rice” (a/k/a “Suzy Rice”).

I believe this Liberal, Democrat “Susan Rice” in this story married someone of Rice surname and I’m not a known relative of whoever she married, either (though the surname at some point in the distant past was one large family of relatives — long reproduced way beyond “connections” without a lot of figuring out the branches of a huge family tree).

I’ve met a number of people who are “Rice” by birth surname and we do tend toward a family resemblance, however, but it’s just that the family’s gone through so many generations for so many centuries that by now, it’s somewhat like “Smith” in the U.S.

The family surname, however, as to MINE, was originally “Rhys” or “Rhyse” and was from Wales and Ireland with branches of “Rice” in both areas from there, and before and simultaneously, a Welsh pronunciation of a variety I can’t easily recall with looking it up (so will spare any readers).

I should go write an updated post about this on my own blog, now that I think about it…I just wanted any readers to know that when you see and read “Susan Rice” as to this one depicted and referenced in this article — formerly a member of Bill Clinton’s Cabinet — it’s not ME, “Susan Elizabeth (Suzy) Rice.” Nor do I know this “Susan Rice.” Which I’m glad about (both) because our socio-political views could not be any more opposite.

S on June 20, 2008 at 4:16 AM

is she any relation to Condi Rice?

james23 on June 18, 2008 at 12:09 PM

I THINK that *this* (^^) “Susan Rice” (former Clinton Cabineteer, former Kerry/Edwards campaign, etc.) MARRIED a man whose surname is Rice. Thus, she became “Susan Rice” by marriage (I THINK she married some exec. with ABC from what I tend to recall from years and years ago), whose last name was “Rice,” and thus, she became “Susan Rice” by marriage.

So her HUSBAND might be a distant relative (of Condi Rice, of me, of all the rest of us Rice’s), but this “Susan Rice” isn’t due to her marrying the name, not being born to it.

Like I wrote earlier here, the surname, “RICE,” was originally one large family who immigrated but in two stages/two historical events, as I’ve learned. The primary group was begun by Eadmund Rice in Massachusetts (easy to find him on the internet, was a Protestant preacher, went on to Mayor and civic leader) but so many centuries ago as to place the surname in North America while the East was English Colonies.

MY “Rice” branch, and I believe that of Condi Rice also, her family, was originally “RHYS” from Wales and Ireland (and the family surname is still that today in those areas, also “Rice” version there as here, same family originally).

I’m decidedly Caucasian (Anglo Saxon ancestry on the Rice family side) as were the Rice’s in these two branches who immigrated to North America prior to the War of Independence. BUT, a large group of that “non Massachusetts” bunch of Rices lived and worked in Virginia for ages and were tobacco farmers, among other things. They did own “Negro” slaves. Thus, there was some interbreeding on some of the branches of the family and those are the ones from whence Condi Rice has been birthed, so to speak, also Jerry Rice, football player and several others, though on my branch, so to speak, we do not share any intermingled relative, just some distant ancestors who had some children who sponsored their side of things and some who sponsored my side of things.

In other words, the family branched off during many years of slave-agribusiness family farming in Virginia and branched out from there. Some intermarried with Blacks, gave birth to the Rice group in North America who are Black today (Condi Rice, Jerry Rice, etc.), the rest remained apart from that and gave rise to my branch of the family, so there’s only distant sharing of ancestry as to original group of Rice immigrants, is my point, not now racially between them and my “side” or branch of the surname.

There are even some Mohawks who claim to be “full blooded Mohawks” who have the surname of Rice. I wondered about that and looked into that.

What I found was that at some very distant point in the past while the Colonies were still England’s, there were a set of male twins born to a Rice family in Massachusetts and they were kidnapped by the Mohawk and raised as Mohawk and grew to adults who claimed to be Mohawk accordingly, then had their own children and many generations later, they now say they’re “full blooded Mohawk” whose last name is Rice. But, of course, they’re not, otherwise, they’d not have that Rice surname.

There’s also some fellow who is a Jewish Rabbi in Northern CA who I’ve read of (never met him) who looks surprisingly like my Dad did. I have not the faintest idea how he could be Jewish and be named “Rice,” though it has to be someone I’m at least a long while ago shared an ancestor with. Isn’t someone deemed Jewish if their mother’s Jewish? In which case, it would explain this Rabbi’s surname of Rice and him being Jewish and me not hardly no how.

I do have quite a bit of family ancestry researched but most of that is from my grandparents-other-than-Rice, but enough colloquialisms about the Rice family to know where we started and how we got to ‘Merica.

S on June 20, 2008 at 4:46 AM