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MAUD BELLE RICE, daughter of Andrew and Clara Elizabeth Rice, was born on the Rice farm on March 6, 1881.  She grew up on the farm, attended grade and high school in Neligh, graduating in 1900.  Maud became interested in declamatory and oratory in school.  In 1900, she won the state oratorical contest at Kearney, Nebraska.  After graduation, she was recommended by Representative John Robinson for a government job in the Census Bureau.  She traveled to Washington D C, took and passed the Civil Service exam and began work at the Bureau.  She attended Law School at night and also took elocution classes.  She became a teacher and taught school from 1903 to 1909.  She also taught home economics for colored girls.  Later she taught drama and physical culture in the Holy Cross Catholic School in Washington.  In 1907, Maud met Ernest Stevens, from Iowa.  He was born on a farm near Aplington, Iowa in August 1872.  His parents were George Washington Stevens and Mary Monroe.  In 1909, Maud left Washington for a teaching position in Valley City, North Dakota.  She taught for two years and became the principal of the Valley City Grade School in 1911.  Ernest in the meantime had left Washington and homesteaded in Montana.  Maude went to Wyoming in 1911 and filed on a homestead in Van Tassell in 1911.  She taught school in Van Tassell for two years.  In May 1914, Maud and Ernest were married in Billings, Montana and lived in Rose Bud County for two years and then moved to Van Tassell where they lived for the next nine years.  They gave up farming in 1925 and moved to Denver.  Maud taught and Ernest worked as a commercial artist.  They returned to Nebraska in 1929.  Maud’s mother died in April, 1933.  The Stevens moved into Neligh in 1934.  Ernest continued to paint along with Maud’s help.  They moved back to Van Tassell in 1935.  Ernest died suddenly on May 30, 1938.  Maud returned to teaching in  the 1940’s and 50’s.  She retired in the 1960’s.  Maud died August 19, 1968.

Source Unknown: Originally submitted for this website in Mar 2008