By Linus Joseph Dewald Jr., Editor
Summer 2001 and Revised 19 Jan 2011
Update of 19 Jan 2011: Nelson Prentice is a son of Manassah Prentice and a descendant of Valentine Prentice. That eBook now replaces this article.
1. Nelson Prentice, a carpenter, and edb 5990 in our computerized database, appears in the 1850 Cazenovia, Madison Co., NY census with his wife and family.
He m. Electa. The 1950 Cazenovia census shows 6 children ranging in ages from 6 to 23. Not shown in that family unit are Nelson Prentice, Ransom and James Prentice . They are discussed in our Winter 1998 Prentice Newsletter. They may also be sons of Nelson and Electa:
- Nelson Prentiss was b. in Jul 1835 in NY. He appears in the 1860 Franklin, Lenawee Co., MI census with his wife, Mary.
- Ransom Prentiss, was b. c. 1837, MI. He m. Caroline, b. c. 1848, OH and was living in Lanawee in 1880.
- James Prentiss, was b. c. 1839, NY
Tthere are gaps in the ages of the children of Nelson and Electa which would be sufficient to allow the 3 men, above, to fit into that birth pattern.
One clue to the answer may be found in the 1840 Georgetown, Madison Co., NY census where Nelson was living at the time his son, Jerome, was born. Nelson's first name may be misspelled as "Nebon" in the census record.
Although 1840 census records do not give the names of children, they do identify the number and ages of males and females in the family. Our own records show, at most, 2 sons in 1840, but we might not have all the sons since our information came from 1850 and 1860 census records which may be incomplete.
If the 1840 census shows 4 or 5 sons in 1840 and the age groupings conform to our information, that would be a good indication that Nelson could be the father of Ransom, Nelson and James, especially since they all moved to Michigan and family members tended to move together in those days.
Correspondence: 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.
No comments