Isaac J. Rice

[2] He studied at Hamilton College in the Class of 1833,[2][3] as did Hiram Wilson, who also became a missionary in Ontario.

[4] Rice was a member of the Junior class of the Auburn Theological Seminary in New York.

Immigrants included recent runaway slaves as well as people who had lived free in the north but were afraid of being returned to slavery.

[4] It was a major Underground Railroad landing point for fugitive slaves, which he sheltered until homes could be found for them.

[7] It appears from all this that the recognition of the deplorable destitution of arriving fugitives was general among the aid societies and their representatives, and that prompt action was taken to meet wants that could brook no delay.Levi Coffin described Rice as someone who performed "devoted, self-denying work, and had received very little pecuniary help, and had suffered many privations.

He was not able to pay for the freight charges for supplies, while many people at the mission were in dire need of clothing.

[1] In 1852, he printed 5,000 copies of the Amherstburg Quarterly Mission Journal, asking for donations for bedding, clothing, and provisions.