Perez Prentiss Update

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Perez Prentiss 2001 Update
Fall 2001 and Revised 31 Aug 2002
Update of 15 Sep 2003: This article has now been replaced by our later Fall 2003 article about Perez Prentice .
Update of 31 Aug 2002:
Virginia Vater's email of 29 Aug 2002 suggests another possibility as to the identity of Perez's parents. She notes that he might be a son of Joseph Prentice and Mary Wheeler, born in the 6.5 year gap between Priscilla (Jan 1729) and Eleazer (Sep 1735). If we subtract pregnancy periods and allow a bit of recuperation time, say 3 months, that would place the next birth in that gap with a window of opportunity as probably no earlier than Jan 1730 and probably no later than Sep 1734.
She also reports finding a church record from Franklin, CT on the death of a Mrs. Orange Prentis on 17 May 1820 at the age of 87. She would have been born c. 1733 and so was of an appropriate age to be a wife of the hypothetical son of Joseph and Mary born between Jan 1730 and Sep 1734.
"Orange Prentice" is a most unusual name and likely found only in a single line of descent. And, since Perez Prentice named a son "Orange", it is quite within the realm of possibility that Perez' father was named "Orange."
There is another possibility. In the article about Nathaniel Prentice of Preston, CT , we have been exploring the possibility that Nathaniel had a first, unknown, marriage before he married Huldah Stallion in 1750 at the age of 45. It just might be that Perez's father (named Orange?) is a son of Nathaniel Prentice and an unknown first wife.
Earlier Article:
INTRODUCTION
In our Fall 1997 Issue we published an article about Perez Prentice, followed by an updating article in our Summer 2000 Prentice Newsletter. Recent information received from Marjorie Cooper has caused us to re-thing the contents of those articles. This Fall 2001 current article supersedes and replaces those earlier articles.
DISCUSSION
1. Perez Prentice's birth date and birth place are not clear. According to Binney's 1883 ed. at pg. 335, Perez was born in 1773 at Stonington, CT. However, an 1810 Hinsburg, Chittenden, VT census from Bill Semeyn in his letter of 30 Dec 1996, says Perez was born before 1765, and the Dickinson, Franklin, NY census of 1840 indicates he was born between 1750-60. Perez died at the home of his son, Amos, in Dickinson, Franklin Co., NY after 1840.
Just as his birth date and place is unclear, so also his first name, Perez, is also unclear. According to a footnote on pg. 336:
"Orange Benton Prentiss' letter to E. C. Prentiss, from Strickling, Texas, Dec 7, 1876...spelled his [Orange's] father's name [as] Peris..."

One could infer that "Peris" may be "Paris" who, in Greek legand, was a son of Priam, King of Troy; his kidnapping of Helen, wife of Menelaus, caused the Trojan War.
According to Binney's 1883 book at pg. 335, Perez was a blacksmith, a trade which Perez learned in New London, CT. He had a first marriage to a wife whose name is presently Unknown. Information from Marjorie Cooper, by email of 21 Aug 2001, says that she died in 1789 at the age of 28 in Preston, CT. Those dates, which have yet to be corroborated, would give her a birth date of about 1861.
From that information, one could infer that Perez may have been born 1 to 4 years or two before his wife; that would suggest for Perez a birth year of about 1566-60, a date consistent with the census records mentioned above.
Binney's 1883 book also relates that Perez had a son of that first marriage:

John Prentice, b. c. 1889, or earlier, who lived in OH. . . . . [2]

Perez Prentice married, 2nd, Rebecca Benton of Wethersfield, CT in 1797. Rebecca was b. 1773. After their marriage, Perez and his family moved to Hinesburg, Chittenden Co., VT. His daughter, Harriet (Prentiss) Potter, born 1804, indicates, in a letter apparently addressed to Binney, that the family moved to New York State about 1805 (but see Fn. 1). Children by his second wife:

Orange Benton Prentice.
Harriet Prentice.
Amos Prentice.
Julia A. Prentice.
Emily Prentice.

2. John Prentice. We don't have a birth date for John, but working backward from the 20 Apr 1813 birth of his first known child, John was probably b. c. 1788-89. Binney says John lived in OH.
We do not know for certain who "John Prentice" of OH is, but we have located a John P. Prentice in the 1820 Greene, Chenango Co., NY census as well as an older man, Stanton Prentice. In a more detailed discussion, below, we note that Binney's 1883 book, in a footnote on pg. 336, says Perez had a brother named Stanton Prentice.
While one might infer, based on their living in the same town, that Stanton is Perez' father, there might be another possibility. Since Perez, in 1788-9 was a widower with an very young son and did not marry again until 1797, Perez might have entrusted his brother, Stanton, to care for, and rear, young John if Stanton were married. We do not have any information whether Stanton was married and had a family, but Stanton was born sometime between 1760-75, so it is possible that he did have a family when John was an infant. (See Fn. 2)
Providing some corroboration about John P. Prentice being Perez's son, John, is that fact that John did live in OH. One could also speculate that the middle initial, "P." stood for "Perez."
Who are Perez Prentice's Parents?
According to a footnote in Binney's 1883 book at pg. 336, Perez had a brother named Stanton Prentice. Nowhere in Binney's book is there any Stanton Prentice whose age would fit the Stanton Prentice appearing in Greene, Chenango Co., NY (above).
In the past we have considered various possibilies as to the identity of the parents of Perez Prentice and Stanton Prentice:

1. Simeon Prentice, b. c. 1751, who appears in our PRENTICE book at pg. 268, #28. That now seems unlikely since Simeon was b. in 1751 and Perez was apparently born before 1760.
2. William Prentice, b. 9 Oct 1753. William appears in our new book on pg. 173, ##12vii. That now seems unlikely since Wiliam was b. in 1753 and Perez was apparently born before 1760.
3. Stephen Prentice, b. 3 Feb 1746. Stephen appears in our new book on pg. 173, #12iii. That now seems unlikely since Stephen b. in 1746 and Perez was apparently born before 1760.
4. Samuel Prentice and Esther Hammond: Binney says Perez was born in Stonington, CT. Although no such link has yet been established, all Stonington families so far traced have been traced to Samuel Prentice and Esther of Stonington, CT. They have at least 2 descendants who we have considered:

Jonas Prentice, b. 9 Feb 1742, shown on pg. 170, for whom no marriage or death is shown. He would have been only 18 in 1760 and even younger if Perez was born before that date. We cannot yet rule Jonas out as the father, but his paternity does not seem too likely.
John Prentice, b. 13 Masy 1733, shown on pg. 170 and #15 on pg. 179. We had considered him because there is gap in children listed for the 15 years between 1769 and 1784 when John's wife died at the age of about 50. We can now exclude John since Perez was apparently born before 1760.

5. Goerge Denison Prentice. We also discussed a footnote on page 336 of the 1883 edition in which Binney quotes Samuel Edward Prentiss of Cleveland, OH expressing the opinion that Perez's son, Orange Benton Prentice was a cousin of George Denison Prentice. From that, Binney inferred Perez may be a son of Joseph Prentice (a descendant of Valentine Prentice and his wife, Mary Wheeler. That possibility seems unlikely since Mary, born in 1701, would have been close to 60 when Perez was born.
6. Valentine Prentice Descendant. Perez's son, Orange Benton Prentice's letter of 1876 said he "thought" his grandfather (apparently meaning Perez's father) was Valentine Prentice and spelled his father's name as Peris. With the name Valentine, and if Orange was correct, Perez would almost certainly be a descendant of the Valentine who immigrated in 1631. Two possibilities occur to us:

Valentine Prentice of Woodbury: However, the only known Valentine Prentice in a possible time frame to be Perez' father would be the Valentine Prentice born in Woobury on 16 Mar 1745/6 (pg. 418, #8) but he would not appear old enough to be Perez' father and he has no known children named Perez or Stanton.
Nathaniel Prentice of Preston: Still, there is another possibility, though rather speculative at this point. Further down in this article, we discuss the possibility that Perez might be a son of Nathaniel Prentice of Preston, CT by a possible prior marriage. Since Orange Benton Prentice could reasonably be thought to know the name of his grandfather, his statement is entitled to serious consideration. One could speculate that he is correct about the "Valentine" name and that "Valentine" might be a son of a first marriage by Nathaniel Prentice of Preston. In that scenario, Perez might be a son of "Valentine."

7. Thomas Prentice of Stonington, CT: Thomas Prentice of Stonington, CT appears on pg. 334 of Binney's 1883 book. We do not have a birth date for him, but he had a son, also named Thomas, who was b. in 1786. We do not, however, know whether there were other children born before 1786. So, we can only infer that the elder Thomas was likely b. c. 1735 and 1765 in CT.
Might Perez be a son of Thomas Prentice of Stonington? Hard to say. It depends on Thomas' birthdate All we can say at this point is that Thomas cannot yet be excluded as a possible father for Perez. We do note that a Thomas Prentice, b. 7 Apr 1743, had a grandmother named Mary Stanton; he appears on pg. 171 on Binney's 1883 book and that no further information is shown. Whether that is the same Thomas Pentice is unknown, but if it is, than he could be excluded as Perez' father.

Nathaniel Prentice of Preston, CT: He is a possibility we have not in the past considered. Nathaniel Prentice was b. in 1705 in Preston. His first known marriage was at the age of 45 in 1750, but there are circumstances which seem to suggest the possibility of an earlier marriage to an unidentified spouse. For more details see our Winter 1997 Prentice Newsletter entitled Nathaniel Prentice of Preston, CT .
If Perez were born about 1750, a possibility suggested by the census of 1840 for Dickinson, Franklin, NY (see top of article), and if Stanton Prentice were also b. before that date, then there is a possibility that both might be sons of Nathaniel Prentice.
If you have any information about the folks mentioned in this article, please contact us at dewald@prenticenet.com.
Fn. 1. Move from VT to NY: : Marjorie Cooper notes that Binney, in a footnote on pg. 336, quotes Perez' daughter, Harriet, as saying that Perez moved from VT to NY when Harriet was a uear old. Marjorie points out that Harriet was b. in 1804 and that Harriet's letters implies that they moved to NY about 1805. However, Marjorie says:

Perez is shown in the 1810 Hinesburg, VT census.
Harriet's youngest sister, Emily, was b. in Chittenden Co., VT in 1814.
Perez is shown in the 1820 Hinsburg, VT census.
Emily Prentice m. Henry Hewitt in Charlotte, VT in 1833.

Thus, it would appear that Perez' move to NY was likely no earlier than 1820 and perhaps after 1833.
Fn. 2. Rearing John P. Prentice: One might ask, if John P. Prentice is Perez' son, why wouldn't John have moved back to live with Perez and his second wife when they married in 1797? Well, maybe not. If Stanton had a family, it would have been the only family that John ever knew and all parties may have felt it best to leave him with Stanton and his family.
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