To see full list of articles in this Winter '97 Issue, Click Here
By Linus Joseph Dewald Jr., Editor
Winter 1997 and Revised 12 Dec 2005
Update of 23 Oct 1998: The mystery is solved. Charles is 120/171 in our PRENTICE book, son of Amos Prentiss, and a descendant of Henry Prentice of Cambridge, MA.
Update of 21 Jun 1999: We are now in touch with Larry D. Prentiss, a descendant of Charles' son, Frank H. Prentiss, for whom we had not had any descendant information.
(This is a follow-up to an item in our Spring '93 Issue.)
The LDS Ancestral File contains a Family Group Record submitted in 1983 by Joan Elizabeth McNeeley and Lillian Mary Vickers relating to the family of Charles Bigelow Prentiss, but which did not indicated Charles' parents.
Charles was said to have been born in November, 1820 and married Ada Minerva Drew on 27 Nov 1842. She died 6 Aug 1899 at East Huntington, MA. No place is given for the marriage in the Ancestral File, but a separate Group Sheet submitted by "Lillie Prentiss" of Jerome, ID says Charles was married 27 Nov 1845 at Cambridge, Middlesex, MA. Both say their first child, Hanna M. Prentiss, was born 25 Jun 1846 in VT, as were the other 6 children, the last being Ellas G. Prentiss who was born 29 Jun 1860.
The location, East Huntington, gives a possible clue as to the identity of Charles' parents.
Joseph-6 Prentice, #58 on pg. 278 of our 1997 PRENTICE book, is shown by Binney's 1883 book as born about 1760-63, perhaps at Preston, CT. His parents, Joseph-5 and Mary (Wheeler) Prentice, moved to Worthington, MA about 1767 and died in Worthington in 1791. Binney then says of their son, Joseph-6:
- "Joseph m. Lydia Winn, in Worthington, and removed to Huntington, MA where he died, leaving two sons and four daughters."
Since Charles Bigelow Prentiss was born November, 1820, that date would be consistent with a likely marriage date of 1785-90 for Joseph-6.
There is one puzzling aspect to Charles Bigelow Prentiss' Family Group Record. Although it shows his 7 children born in Vermont between 1846 to 1860, it shows his wife as dying on 6 Aug 1899 in East Huntington and Charles as dying in 1901, no location given. Assuming the location is correct, presumably Charles was also living in East Huntington in 1899. Why did they return to East Huntington? Was it because Charles had kin there? Were those kin the other sons and daughters of Joseph-6 whose names we do not yet know?
If you have any information about the folks mentioned in this article, please contact us at dewald@prenticenet.com.
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