Rosella Rice

Rosella Rice (11 August 1827 – 6 June 1888) was an American author, poet, and lecturer born in Perrysville, Ohio. She was known for her direct and energetic comedy writing, her nature poems, and her vivid descriptions of folklore figure John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman.

Rice published hundreds of magazine articles over a 40-year career. Her writings appeared in Cleveland and Columbus newspapers, Godey's Lady's Book, Indiana Farmer, Arthur's Home Magazine, Interior, Watchman, Journal and Messenger, Presbyterian Banner, Household, Housekeeper, Little Corporal, The Children's Hour, Toledo Blade, Western Rural and Woman's Journal. who provided tutorials and recipes; Aunt Chatty Brooks, who ran a boarding house for young women; and Mrs. Sam Starkey, an elderly gossip with a sense of humor. She wrote columns from these points of view for Arthur's,

Rice is perhaps best known for writing prose and poetry about her encounters with John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman, who often visited Perrysville in his later years. Rice later corresponded with Chapman after he moved to Indiana, until his death in 1845.

Rice also wrote extensively to mythologize the nostalgia of American pioneer life and was also a public lecturer.

Anna B. Quillin, Rice's editor at Arthur's, described Rice as "witty, humorous, quick to see the ludicrous, pathetic, sympathetic, helpful and at times sarcastic". She lived her entire life in her homestead birthplace.

Her step-mother Mary Van Scoyoc died in 1854,

On September 15, 1882, Rice was part of the group that unveiled the Copus Monument, a mass grave monument built in response to the War of 1812's Copus massacre. His cenotaph reads "Johnny Appleseed died Mar. 11, 1845. Buried near Ft. Wayne, Ind."

On June 13, 1889, a year after Rice's death, Lillie May Rice married Daniel W. Stahl, a former schoolteacher who began a blackboard business. Shortly thereafter in February 1919, Daniel Stahl died. Lillie May Rice Stahl died at their home in Butler, Ohio, on April 7, 1943.

Writing and career In 1840, During that time, she was documenting her interviews of first-generation colonists of Greentown. Some time before 1854, she moved to Columbus to edit and write for the Cultivator, but she moved back home in 1854 to attend to family. The same year, the Ashland Ohio Union published her comedic poem compiling Ohioan reactions to the first locomotives. Historian Peggy Mershon claims it "pokes fun at the old folks who ... weren't quite prepared for how fast and noisy [trains] were". In 1856, Rice was listed as a delegate by the Ohio State Teachers' Association for both the Ashland and Franklin counties.

In 1859, Rice published her novel Mabel: Or, Heart Histories: A Tale of Truth under Follett, Foster & Company of Columbus, Ohio. The book was listed in an 1859 British Publisher's Circular as one of 17 new North American novels, being a "work of interest published abroad".

In 1863, Rice contributed to nonfiction book A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland County: From the Earliest to the Present Date by describing her encounters with John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman, possibly helping to mythologize him with her fantastical descriptions. Her writing was later published in an 1871 Harper's Magazine and used as a significant source of information about Chapman's life. In the 1880s, Rice continued to write about Chapman for national magazines. She eulogizes him, writing, "His bruised and bleeding feet now walk the gold-paved streets of the New Jerusalem ... [His was] a life full of labor and pain and unselfishness; humble unto self-abnegation; his memory glowing in our hearts, while his deeds live anew every springtime in the fragrance of the apple-blossoms he loved so well." thanked and credited her for her contributions.

In 1869, her children's short stories "The Children's Colt", "Mousie and Her Babies", were published in Philadelphia children's magazine The Children's Hour, published by T. S. Arthur & Sons.

In 1860, Rice was featured in William Turner Coggeshall's poetry anthology, The Poets and Poetry of the West: With Biographical and Critical Notices. The anthology included three of her poems, one of which was "Spirits of the Wildwood", written in full below:

In 1880 alone, multiple of Rice's writings were published in Arthur's under one of her pseudonym characters, Chatty Brooks. These included a comedy story, "Millwood Leaves", an essay about "Spending-Money for Women", and an advice article about appearance titled "Home Topics" in which she comedically makes reference to herself in third person as Aunt Chatty.

In 1885, she referenced Susan B. Anthony in her short story, "Affectionate John Baily" published in Arthur's:We laughed a sorry sort of a laugh when we read about Susan B. Anthony teaching school for two dollars a week. We were forcibly reminded of our own school ma'am days. Well, it was a good discipline, and helped to make tough, cheery, heartsome women of us, though it was somewhat like the reason our dear mother user to give for whipping us: "I do it because I love you." In 1887, her gingerbread recipe from the Toledo Blade was praised and published in Dr. Chase's Third, Last, and Complete Receipt Book. Dr. Chase writes, "This recipe is from Mrs. Rosella Rice, quite an extensive writer for the Blade 'Household.' It was given in answer to an inquiry for her gingerbread recipe, which, she says, 'I give with pleasure.' I take pleasure also, in giving it a place, for I know it is good."

In 1901, Richland County historian Abraham J. Baughman described Rice as,a born poet, a child of nature, and loved to roam over the hills and among the forest trees of her native heath and listen to the revels of the winds and commune with the spirits of the wildwood.

In 2020, the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District unveiled 10 vacation log cabins with optional supplemental packages containing homemade soft drinks. The flavors featured local history, including "Gold Rush Orange" and "Appleseed Vanilla Cream". One of the soda flavors was "Rosella Rice Strawberry" to honor Rice's contributions to Ohio history.