When Martha J Kerby was born on 14 January 1816, in Warren, Kentucky, United States, her father, David Robert Kerby, was 20 and her mother, Mary Jane Roland, was 21. She married John Wesley Rice on 17 May 1835, in Huntsville, Randolph, Missouri, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 5 daughters. She died on 21 May 1896, in Caldwell Township, Appanoose, Iowa, United States, at the age of 80, and was buried in Union Cemetery, Appanoose, Iowa Territory, United States.