By Linus Joseph Dewald Jr., Editor
Fall 2003 and Revised 16 Nov 2009
Update of 16 Nov 2009: We have placed Chloe Prentice as #15.1 in our Robert Prentice eBook on the basis that her parents probably are John Prentice and Mary McClellan. That eBook now replaces this article.
We are helping Jeff Davis in researching his Prentice family tree. Here is what we have so far:
1. Chloe Prentice is shown in various Ancestry.com websites as b. 1763, Warwick, Franklin Co., MA.
She m. Seth Drake in Warwick, Franklin, MA on 12 Sep 1784. The Ancestral File indicates that Seth was b. c. 1761 in Sutton, Worchester, MA, son of Abijah Drake and Tabitha Plumley. A website listing the descendants of Abijah Drake indicate that Chloe was Seth's 3rd wife.
In 1786 Chloe and her husband, Seth, were living in Athens, Windham Co., where they were warned out.
The 1790 Vt shows them in Chester, Windsor Co., VT, however apparently by 1791 they had moved again to Brookline, Windham Co., where their daughter, Chloe, was born. In 1810 Seth Drake family can be found in the Hartford, Windsor, Vermont Census. In 1818, Seth Drake applied for a pension at Norwich, Windsor, Vermont. Children of Chloe and Seth (per IGI):
- (son) Drake, b. c. 1785 Of, Putney, Windham, Vermont
- John Drake, b. c. 1787 Of, Putney, Windham, Vermont
- Daniel Drake, b. 14 Jan 1789 Brookline, Windham, Vermont
- Chloe Drake, b. c. 1791 Brookline, Windham, Vermont
- Sally Drake, b. c. 1793 Of, Brookline, Windham, Vermont
In checking the IGI, we see that there are also others who are shown as seeking information about Chloe:
- John Clark of Ogden, UT.
- Harold J. Doud of Fullerton, CA.
- Myrtle Hyde of Ogden, UT.
- Shara-Dee Seiter of Tempe, AZ.
- David White of Provo, UT.
- James Christensen of Fruit Heights, UT.
- Toni Norman of Haslet, TX
Additional descendants of Chloe and Seth may be found at the above website.
We do not yet know the identity of Chloe's parents, but we have some possible clues.
1. Franklin County Marriages: In checking our Marriage Index, we note that the following persons were also married in Franklin Co., MA in that same general time frame and might be related to Chloe Prentice who m. in 1784:
- John Prentice m. Anne Kendell in Franklin Co., MA on 2 Sep 1777. We have not yet identified his parents.
- Jerusha Printice m. Luke Hitchcock in Franklin Co., MA on 1 Apr 1779. She is 53/47iii in our PRENTICE eBook. Although Jerusha is not yet known to have a brother, John, or sister, Chloe, Jerusha's father's age was such that he could well have had additional children.
2. Prior Marriage:
On the other hand, if Chloe was Seth's 3rd wife, then there may be a likelihood that Chloe also had 1 or more prior marriages and that "Prentice" might not be her maiden name.
3. John and Mary Prentice of Uxbridge, MA: Jeff Davis' email of 5 Jul 2003 relates that John Prentice of Uxbridge and Mary McCleren of Sutton m. in Uxbridge on 29 Jan 1756 (per Vital Records of Uxbridge, Film 0758485) and that Mary Mary d. 12 Feb 1771 (38) in Sutton, MA (per Vital Records of Sutton, Worcester, MA). Jeff has a record indicating that John of Uxbridge enlisted in the revolutionary war 6 May 1775 (Binney appears to indicate he enlisted at Uxbridge).
Chloe's husband, Seth Drake, b. in Bristol Co., MA c. 1762, enlisted on 7 Jul 1777 at Sutton, MA. In addition, Binney's 1883 book tells us at pg. 257 that John Prentice:
- "... was "called 'cooper and housewright' in two deeds in 1740 and 1741
to John Prentice in Sutton, Mass...[and that John] resided in Sutton..."
There is, therefore, an interesting possibility. Seth enlisted in the army in 1777, John Prentice was probably living there in 1777. Therefore, one might infer that it was in Sutton that Seth met his future wife, Chloe, and that Chloe might, therefore, be a daughter of John.
On the other hand, just because Seth was in Sutton in 1777 doesn't necessarily mean that he met his future wife there, and it is equally likely that he may have met Chloe at some other time and location. In addition, Chloe married Seth in Warwick, Franklin, MA on 12 Sep 1784. Traditionally, marriages took place where the bride lived. In this case, such tradition would place Chloe's family in Warwick in 1784. For now, there is no presently known evidence that any of John's family ever lived in Warwick.
Finally, there are parallel residences in Windsor Co., VT between Chloe Prentice and Elkanah Prentice which suggest that they may be brother and sister. For more, see our Summer article about Elkanah Prentice of Uxbridge, MA .
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.
Caution: If you don't use the above email link, your email to us may be deleted as spam by our email filter.
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