One of my persistent brick walls is my maternal great grandfather, John William Rice. The only clues to his existence are the 1880 US census for Cleveland, OH, in which he's enumerated with wife Minia (Mina?) E. and two children, and the birth returns for those two children which I recently received from the Cuyahoga County archives. In the census, John's age is given as 30, which implies a year of birth of 1850, give or take, and his occupation shown as boot and shoe maker. He's reported as being born in Vermont, as are his parents. The birth returns for the children seem to confirm his birth in 1850 but offer no other clues. I do know that Minia/Mina and the children next appear in Denison, Grayson County, Texas, in the 1900 census, in which Minia reports herself as a widow. What happened between 1880 and 1900 is anybody's guess, tho' there are indications that John did NOT die in the interval (as the family were Catholics, divorce was probably out of the question, but ...). And that, dear hearts and gentle people, is what I know or think I know. There's no question that John is the father of my maternal grandfather, but he's otherwise something of an enigma.

I realize that John Rices are a dime a dozen on a good day, but I wonder if anybody here might have some sort of clue, hint, tidbit, dope slap, what-have-you that'd help me get past this roadblock.

Help?

Bob Melson