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Munroe Prentiss of Bovina, Warren Co., MS


Munroe Prentiss of Bovina, Warren Co., MS
By Linus Joseph Dewald Jr., Editor
Summer 2004 and Revised 27 Mar 2004

A Black and Mulatto Prentiss Family in the 1870 Mississippi Census

By email of 21 Mar 2004, H. Prentiss Cooper has provided us with information about his ancestry. We have supplemented that information with material gathered from the 1870 and 1880 Warren Co., MS census.

1. Munroe Prentiss was b. c. 1834, MS. He appears in the 1870 census in Bovina, Warren Co., MS census where he is classified as Black and a Blacksmith. His wife was Jane, b. c. 1836, LA. She is classified as a Mulatto. Webster's New World Dictionary, College Ed., 1957, defines "Mulatto" as a person, one of whose parents is a Negro and the other a Caucasion, or white. That census classification does not break down further so it is unknown what percentage of each ancestry Jane has (see footnote 2).

We do not yet know Monroe Prentiss' father, but he might be either Beni Prentis, b. c. 1814, LA, or Jordon Prentis, b. c. 1809, KY, both of whom were living in Warrenton, Warren Co., MS in the 1870 census.

Children of Monre and Jane shown in the 1870 census, all classified at Mulatto:

  1. Madison Prentiss, b. c. 1854, MS.
  2. Adecres Prentiss, b. c. 1856, MS.
  3. William Prentiss, b. c. 1857, MS.
  4. Fannie Prentiss, b. c. 1859, MS.
  5. Indiana Prentiss, b. c. 1861, MS.
  6. Lexington Prentiss, b. c. 1863, MS. . . . . . . . . [2]
  7. Alace (Alice?) Prentiss, b. c. 1865, MS.
  8. Jefferson Prentiss, b. c. 1866, MS.
  9. (illegible) Prentiss, (dau.), b. c. 1868, MS.
  10. James Prentiss, b. c. 1869, MS.

2. Lexington Prentiss, b. c. 1863, Vicksburg, Warren Co. MS. He m. Dora Whitfield in Vicksburg. Dora was b. 1865, dau. of Hager Whitfield (female) (see footnote 1). Dora Whitfield worked as a servant in the home of H. Nanan in Vicksburg, MS when she was 15 years old. Dora died at an early age and her son, William, raised his siblings. Children:

  1. William Prentiss. He m. Hattie Jordan
  2. Mary Prentiss Gaskin
  3. Hal Prentiss
  4. Frank Prentiss
  5. Blanche "Charity" Prentiss
  6. Ben Prentiss
  7. Mary "Aunt Lallie" Prentiss. She m. Mr. Gaskin.
  8. Dora "Aunt Vanie" Prentiss. She m. Mr. Gardner.

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.


Footnote 1: The 1880 census for Beat 4, Warren Co., MS, tells us that Hager Whitfield was then age 35, b. c. 1845 in NC, was widowed, Black, and was a farmer.

Footnote 2: In reading historical works, one finds references to a "quadroon" (a caucasion with a black grandparent) and an "octoroon" (a caucasion with a black great grandparent).


 
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