News & Features
September 2005

Tilly Rice, Patriot of Brookfield
By Pauline Merrick
Brookfield Historical Commission

Strolling through the Brookfield Cemetery, it is easy to see that the Rice family played an important part of the early days in Brookfield; the family name is well represented on the monuments therein. One of the family members rose to prominence not just in this town but also in the battle for the independence of the country.

Tilly Rice was born in Brookfield in November of 1724, son of Obadiah Rice and Esther Merrick Rice. He descends from one Edmund Rice, who emigrated from England during the Great Migration in 1638. He married Mary Buckminster, also of Brookfield, in 1748, and they raised a family here. Some years later, he and the other Patriots at Brookfield, would risk everything in pursuit of freedom from British tyranny.

As early as 1770, the citizens of Brookfield had publicly stated their position. Published in the Boston Post on April 9 were the results of a meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the town, decrying the actions of the British Parliament for assessing duties on various trade goods. They thanked the area merchants who had refused to deal in the taxed goods, sacrificing profits. They voted to discourage the use and consumption of all foreign tea, the tax on tea being one of the most despised.

The British fired on Lexington in April of 1775. The General Court of Massachusetts Bay called for provisions to support the Militia. Brookfield responded, sending barrels of corn and rye, and articles of clothing. In May of 1776, the town voted to support the Congress if they should see fit to declare independence from Great Britain. Militia training, compulsory for all able-bodied men throughout the Colonial period, was reorganized into regiments and companies. Tilly Rice was appointed Captain of the Fourth company of the Fourth Worcester regiment.

By the summer of 1777, Great Britain had stepped up efforts to bring order to the unruly colonies. And on July 19th, 1777, Tilly Rice wrote the following in an open letter to the men of Brookfield:

"The Company of Trained Band Militia... in this Town are all strictly required immediately to be Equipt with arm ammunition and accoutrements and six days provisions ready at a minute warning to march in defense of the New England States as it is expected the enemy will make an Invasion suddenly...
"In case of an Alarm, every one of said Company is ordered to repair to the alarm post being the parade (grounds) by the Meeting House ready provided with all things needful for a march without further notice — and on penalty of the highest forfeiture.

"The Officers of this Company hope that the good people of this town will not need any other stimulus than the duty they owe to God, their Country, themselves, and their Dearest Connections."

On behalf of the Honorable Council of this State, he expressed regrets for calling people "at this busy season from their labor which is so much needed," as farmers were needed to provide food for the militia. That need was realized within months, as the troops suffered through the long winter at Valley Forge.

Patriots who penned their names to such documents knew the risks. If the colonies had lost the war, these people would be singled out for punishment from the British government. The memory of their bravery and sacrifice should not be forgotten.