John Wilson Rice

Statutory birth, death and marriage registration (in some jurisdictions called Vital Records) only started in Ireland in 1864, save for non RC marriages which were recorded from 1845 onwards. So you probably won’t find statutory birth, death or marriage certificates in Ireland for this family. For earlier years you usually need to rely on church records, where they exist. You obviously need to know the precise denomination in order to search the correct records. Not all churches have records for that period and not all are on-line.

RC records are mostly on-line on the nli site:  

https://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

For other denominations, the churches usually hold the originals but there are also copies in PRONI, the public record office, in Belfast. A personal visit is required to access them. Access to the records there is free. This link explains what records exist, parish by parish:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/proni-guide-church-records

I had a look at the 1901 census for Co Antrim. There were 454 people named Rice. A mix of all religious denominations, so no clues there. You have said that John came from “Ballyclare, Belfast.” The two are separate places about 20 miles apart. If you don’t know which he lived in, you would obviously need to check the records in both.

Would you check in Ballyclare, Ireland as I just located some letters that came from there by his relatives. He was born September 5th 1823. I dont know when he immigrated to the United States.

I can’t check for a birth as those records are not on-line, save for Catholic records. (The RC baptism records for Ballyclare start in 1821. They are in the parish of Larne). If the family was RC you can check those yourself on the nli site:  

https://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

For other denominations you would need to get a researcher to go through them in PRONI. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

Walkerflsue. I'm curious as to what information you have. John Wilson Rice is also my Great Great Grandfather. I can tell you i know where he was married and who he married. I went to the church in Dublin. He was RC. My grandfather, his son was Edmund Rice. Curious as to your lineage of how you're related to him. I haven't met any Rice relatives past my grandfather and his immediate siblings, and aunts and uncles. Please reach out to me. justinpaden506@gmail.com

Edmund was his grandson. Apologies 

Also to give you some information . He married Anne O'rourke. She was 17 years younger than him. Her parents were James O and Judy Quigley

I recently found John Wilsons death certificate and it named his parents Robert and Agnes (unknown maiden name) Rice possibly from Sligo Ireland Hope this helps.

John Wilson Rice was a brother of my great great grandfather Robert Rice (d. 1856).  The other brothers were James Rice, Hugh Rice and William Rice (and there may have been others), and there was also at least one sister, Mary Anne, who died as an infant in the 1820s and was buried at Old Rashee Cemetery, Ballyclare, County Antrim, in the same grave where her parents Robert Rice (c. 1789-1851) and Agnes Rice (died 1836), were subsequently buried.  The latter Robert Rice was a son of James Rice and Anne/Agnes (nee Wilson) of Donnybrook, Dublin; his maternal grandfather was Robert Wilson of Cogry, Ballyclare, and his maternal uncles, James Wilson, Thomas Wilson and Robert Wilson of Cogry, were among the leading landowning gentry in the Ballyclare area in the early to mid-19th century.  The last of the male-line Wilsons of Cogry was John Wilson (d. 1857), who was Robert Rice's first cousin, and it was presumably from him that John Wilson Rice got his name.

In 1854, John Wilson Rice married his first cousin Anna Martha (O') Rorke, only daughter of James Rorke and Mary Anne Rice (who was a daughter of James Rice and Anne/Agnes Wilson and a sister of Robert Rice of Ballyclare) of Middle Mountjoy Street, Dublin, and Anna Martha Rice survived into the 20th century and is recorded in the 1901 census residing in Sligo.  A copy of her will is available for consultation in the National Archives in Dublin. 

I hope this information is useful.

Apologies: Mrs Anna Martha Rice does not appear in the 1901 Irish Census; it's her daughter, Mrs Mary Louisa McCarthy of Sligo, who's in it.  However, if I remember rightly, according to Anna Martha Rice's will, she was living in Sligo with her daughter Mary Louisa and family at the time that she made the will, and she presumably died there also.   

I am inquiring again after running into walls if there is any descendants of John & Anna Rice who still live in either sligo or Dublin or Ballyclare as I plan on coming to Ireland next year and would like to meet any descendants that might still be there. Thanks for your help with this.