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    Perez Prentice 2003 Update
    By Linus Joseph Dewald Jr., Editor
    Fall 2003 and Revised 22 Feb 2006

    Introduction: Over recent years we have, from time to time, published articles about Perez Prentice. In this article we have pulled together all the information in those earlier articles. This article now covers all presently known information about him.

    1. Perez Prentice. The first half of his life is an enigma:

      His name: His first name may, or may not, be Perez. According to a footnote on pg. 336 of Binney's 1883 PRENTICE book, "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.

      A review of Preston and Stonington birth and church records seem to leave it an open question whether "Perez" is a misspelling of "Peris", or vice-versa, or whether both were correct spellings of separate names. Those records show the following baptisms:

      1. Perez Partridge, son of Samuel Partridge and Deborah Rose, b. Jun 19, 1720
      2. Periss, son Saxton Palmer and Sarah Richardson of Stonington, b Feb 17, 1724/25
      3. Peris Swan, son John Swan and Lucy Denison, b Oct 3, 1739, Stonington, CT.
      4. Perez Swan, son John & Mary, b May 18, 1767
      5. Peris Hewitt, son Charles Hewitt & Hannah, b Apr 29, 1770
      6. Peris Hillard/Hilliard, son Asariah Hillard/Hilliard & Sarah, b Nov 4, 1792
      7. Peris Swan (b. c. 1770-4?), m Hannah Brown, b of Stonington, May 25, 1794, by Eleazer Brown, Elder. They had at least 1 daughter, Hannah Swan, b June 24, 1795
      8. Perez Hewitt (b. c. 1800?) & Abby S. Crandall m. 13 Nov 1823 - by Rev. Ira Hart Notes: "Perez Hewitt of North Stonington,"
      9. Perez F. Stoddard, b. c. 1827 and d. Ledyard, CT Feb 10, 1849, age 22

      Birth Date and place: According to Binney's 1883 ed. at pg. 335, Perez was born in 1773 at Stonington, CT. There are, however, problems with both the date and place:

      1. Date: 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.

      2. Place: A review of Preston, Stonington, Barbour, and IGI records do not show any record of any Perez/Peris Prentice in any of those time frames. From that absence, one could reasonable infer that he may have been born elsewhere.

      Death: Perez died at the home of his son, Amos, in Dickinson, Franklin Co., NY after 1840.

      Occupation: According to Binney's 1883 book at pg. 335, Perez was a blacksmith, a trade which Perez learned in New London, CT.

      First Marriage: Perez m. 1st Unknown. The only information we have about her is from Marjorie Cooper's email of 21 Aug 2001 (based on a Preston record) showing that she died in 1789 at the age of 28 (b. c. 1861) in Preston, CT. She is not called a "widow" in those records as seems to be customary in those records. From that record, one can infer 2 things:

      1. That Perez was likely about the same age; that Perez was likely b. c. 1856-61 (a date consistent with census records), and

      2. That Perez was probably living in Preston in 1789 and that it was after that date that he moved to VT approximately 1804-5.

      Binney's 1883 book also relates that Perez had a son of that first marriage:

      1. John Prentice, b. c. 1889, or earlier, and probably in, or near, Preston, CT.. . . . . [2]

      Second Marriage: Perez Prentice married, 2nd, Rebecca Benton of Wethersfield, CT in 1797. Wethersfield lies just south of Hartford and about 33 miles NW of Preston. Rebecca was b. 21 Feb 1773, Wethersfield Twp., Hartford Co., CT, dau. of John Benton and his wife, Mary. For a more complete ancestry of Rebecca Benton, see Footnote 3.

      She might be related to "Orange Benton" who appears in the 1800 census in Loonenburgh, Greene Co., NY and in the 1820 census in Athens, Greene Co., NY, but, if so, the link goes back 4 or moregenerations (see Footnote 3).

      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:

      1. Orange Benton Prentice.
      2. Harriet Prentice.
      3. Amos Prentice.
      4. Julia A. Prentice.
      5. 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."

      Much additional information about Perez' descendants can be found in our eBook about him and can be obtained by contacting us at the Prentice Newsletter. Be sure to give the full title and date of this article in the Subject line of the email. If you don't use the foregoing link, your email to us may be deleted as spam by our email filter.

      Who are Perez Prentice's Parents?

      Orange Prentice, perhaps b. c. 1830-34. His place of death is unknown, but it may have been in the vicinity of Preston or Franklin, CT. Virginia Vater 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.

      We exchanged emails with Mrs. Althea D. Stadler, Chairman, Historian and Memorial Gifts Committee, Mansfield Center, CT in an effort to locate Franklin church records which might shed light on Franklin's church membership during the period that Mrs. Orange Prentis there and prior to her 1820 death. It seems likely that the 87 year old Mrs. Orange Prentis must have been living with someone in your congregation for a period of time prior to her death. If there were church donation records from that period, it would be the equivalent of showing the church's membership which might indicate the household in which Mrs. Prentis had been living. Unfortunately, Mrs. Stadler reports that such records apparently no exist.

      She did mention church records showing that a Clarissa Prentice m. Erastus Tracy on 29 Nov 1792. We have not yet identified Clarissa's parents. So, if Clarissa and her husband were still living in Franklin in 1820 and shown as church members, then one might infer that Mrs. Orange Prentis was living with them in 1820 and that Clarissa was her daughter. However, as mentioned above, no donation/membership records are known for that period.

      Franklin Church Patriarch:   Mrs. Stadler did note that one of the patriarchs of the Franklin Church Prentice Orrin Smith [1817-1898}, the eldest of the seven sons of Prentice Park Smith [1795-1881], who moved to Franklin in 1844 from Ledyard CT. However, his 1844 move to Franklin was some 24 years after Mrs. Orange Prentis died so the connection is not immediately apparent. Mrs. Stadler also commented on the similarity of the names "Orange" and "Orrin" and also suggested that maybe the original spelling might have been "Aurange". A check of the IGI and our own database did not show any MA or CT families of that name. We did find a small handful of "Orange" families in colonial New England, but so far have not connected them to any Prentis (Prentice, Prentiss) family.

      Unique Name:   "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." Since parents of that period often selected a surname in the mother's family, or father's mother's family, as a first name, it may be that "Orange" is such a name. However, a search of our database has not yet turned up any "Orange" ancestor or kin although additional research might locate one.

      So far we have been unable to locate any birth record for Orange Prentice in Preston, Stonington, and IGI records. One could reasonable infer that he was born elswhere, and perhaps even in England, although, as indicated, he does no appear in any IGI record for England.

      Joseph Prentice and Mary Wheeler: 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.

      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.

      Stanton Prentice: 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).

      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.

      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.

      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.

      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:

      1. 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.

      2. 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.

      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.

      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:

      1. 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.

      2. 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."

      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.

    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.

    Footnote 3: Ancestry of Rebecca Benton. The following material is from the Shoop-Lunan Family at http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=:2631946&id=I532173105&ti=4317 : 
      1 Nathaniel BENTON b: 9 Apr 1718 d: 3 Dec 1753 (son of Samuel Benton and Mary Bradford, per IGI)
  + Dorothy COOK b: 20 Jul 1720
    2 John BENTON b: 13 Mar 1746 d: 6 Feb 1808
      + Mary BLIM b: 1744 d: 6 Jun 1789
        3 Rebecca BENTON b: 21 Feb 1773
          + Perez PRENTICE b: 1773
            4 Emily PRENTICE b: 27 Jan 1814 d: 15 Mar 1898
              + Henry HEWITT b: 16 Oct 1810 d: 29 Dec 1897
                5 Maude Idell HEWITT b: 15 Jan 1859 d: 15 Jul 1942
                  + Hendrich Alfred BRADLEY b: 8 Jan 1857 d: 14 Jun 1917
                    6 Leland R. BRADLEY b: 30 Jan 1883
                    6 Vivian K. BRADLEY b: 8 Mar 1886
                    6 Leo H. BRADLEY b: 3 Feb 1890
                    6 Percy P. BRADLEY b: 3 Jul 1892
                    6 Grace P. BRADLEY b: 22 Jul 1894
                      + Ray P. BROTEBRECK b: 1883
                    6 Harvey V. BRADLEY b: 23 Jul 1896
                    6 Hazel D. BRADLEY b: 5 May 1898
                    6 Beulah Belle BRADLEY b: 22 Mar 1900 d: 1977
                      + Francis Alexander LUNAN b: 8 Feb 1894 d: 1982
                5 Aseneth HEWITT b: 1835
                5 Caroline HEWITT
                5 Ezekial G. HEWITT b: 26 Jan 1838
                5 Anson HEWITT
                5 Nancy Louise HEWITT b: 8 Oct 1846 d: Mar 1927
                5 Cyrus Washburn HEWITT b: 22 Oct 1846 d: 3 Oct 1929
                  + Mary THOMPSON d: 1934
                5 Emeline HEWITT
                5 Electra HEWITT b: 1853
                5 Harriett HEWITT
                5 Everetta HEWITT b: 1855
                5 Mary HEWITT
                5 Henrietta HEWITT
                5 Orson HEWITT b: 4 Nov 1843 d: 9 Dec 1862
            4 Orange PRENTICE b: 1807
            4 Harriet PRENTICE b: 1804
            4 Amos PRENTICE
            4 Jules PRENTICE
        3 Nathaniel BENTON b: 29 Jun 1765
        3 George BENTON b: 1 Jul 1765
        3 Mary BENTON b: 30 Jan 1771
        3 Hannah BENTON b: 14 May 1775 d: 14 May 1775
        3 Dorothy BENTON b: 22 Aug 1776
        3 John BENTON b: 16 Feb 1779
        3 Simean BENTON b: 15 Apr 1781
        3 Nancy BENTON b: 14 Mar 1784
        3 Hariet BENTON b: 22 Mar 1786
    2 Mary BENTON b: 30 Mar 1751\

    If you have any information about the folks mentioned in this article, please send your information to us at the Prentice Newsletter. Be sure to give the full title and date of this article in the Subject line of the email.

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