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_Thomas Prentice ____
| (1649 - 1683) m 1675
_Rev. John Prentice _|
| (.... - 1748) |
| |_Sarah Stanton ______+
| (1655 - 1713) m 1675
|
|--Prudence Prentice
| (1719 - ....)
| _____________________
| |
|_Prudence Frost _____|
(.... - 1765) |
|_____________________
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INDEX HOME
_Thomas Prentice ____
| (1649 - 1683) m 1675
_Rev. John Prentice _|
| (.... - 1748) |
| |_Sarah Stanton ______+
| (1655 - 1713) m 1675
|
|--Rebecca Prentice
| (1727 - 1802)
| _____________________
| |
|_Prudence Frost _____|
(.... - 1765) |
|_____________________
INDEX HOME
_Thomas Prentice ____
| (1649 - 1683) m 1675
_Rev. John Prentice _|
| (.... - 1748) |
| |_Sarah Stanton ______+
| (1655 - 1713) m 1675
|
|--Relief Prentice
|
| _____________________
| |
|_Prudence Frost _____|
(.... - 1765) |
|_____________________
INDEX HOME
_____________________
|
_Thomas Prentice ____|
| (1649 - 1683) m 1675|
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Rev. John Prentice
| (.... - 1748)
| _Thomas Stanton _____+
| | (1617 - 1677) m 1637
|_Sarah Stanton ______|
(1655 - 1713) m 1675|
|_Ann Lord ___________+
(.... - 1688) m 1637
[526] Pastor of the Congregational Church in Lancaster, Mass. from
1705 until his death. His first wife, Mrs. Mary Gardiner, was
the widow of his predecessor.
_Eleazar Prentice ___+
| (.... - 1805) m 1758
_Rufus Prentice _____|
| (.... - 1826) m 1800|
| |_Sarah Stanton ______+
| (1738 - 1805) m 1758
|
|--Rufus Prentice
| (1801 - 1869)
| _Nathan Stanton _____+
| | m 1781
|_Sarah Stanton ______|
(.... - 1816) m 1800|
|_Cynthia Kinney _____
m 1781
[1264] Mr. Prentice was a Kentuckian by adoption and a "Yankee" by
nativity. His parents were comparatively poor, but his fondness
for learning was early evinced, and he graduated at Brown
University, Providence, RI, in 1823, just as he had attained
his majority. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar,
but was driven to literature for the obtainment of present
needs, and in 1828 he took charge of the New England
Review[:ITAL], where he quickly attracted attention by his
tersse, incisive and epigrammatic style. Two years later he
left the charge of the Review to John Greenleaf
Whittier, the sweet poet, "Who sang the chains of slavery
away," amd went ot Kentucky to write the life of Henry Clay.
"Old Harry of the West" was then the price of the Whig party,
and its bright particular star. The leaders of his party had
chosen him as their candidate for President, and Mr. Prentice,
being an ardent admirer of Mr. Clay, began the biography for
the laudable purpose of showing the American public the
greatness of the man. In November of 1830, Mr. Prentice went to
Louisville to take charge of the Journal, a
newspaper which had been started by Whigs especially for him,
and quickly he was in the foremost focal fires of the political
battles of those days, and hand to hand with Shadrock Penn, the
editor of the Louisville Advertiser, the ablest
journalist then in the west. It was expected by Penn's
partisans that he would overwhelm the youngster at once, but he
iddn't. They fought like giants for eleven years, and at last
Penn yielded before the stining shafts of Prentice's satire,
wit, sarcasm, irony, and logic. Prentice became famous
throughout the land, and Penn retired to St. Louis. Then
Prentice wrote of him one of the most graceful, touching, grand
and beautiful things that ever appeared editorially in the
columns of a newspaper. By excessive writing Mr. Prentice
brought upon himself, in 1840, an affliction called "writer's
paralysis." He tried to write lefthanded, but failed; he
attempted to write with both hands, and would wrap his pen or
pencil with bandages to enlrage it, indeed, all sorts of
remedies, methods and contrivances were resorted to in order to
overcome the difficulty, but none were satisfactory - the
typewriter of today (1891) would have been a blessing - so he
employed an amanuensis thenseforward, tough he could, little at
a time, manage, with both hands, to write a few sentences when
imperative necessity demanded. In dictating to his amanuensis
he usually walked the floor, or say toying with a kitten or
something else, and spoke as though he were talking to himself,
and his voice, which grew in his later years to be piping, had
a nasal twang. He always puntuated his matter while dictating,
and it was amusing to hearhim call between his stop, "comma,"
"semi-colon," "full-stop," etc., as the sense of the matter
required. When the sentiment of secession began to grow in the
South Mr. Prentice was a strong Unionist, though both of his
sons, his only children, Courtland and Clarence, went into the
Confederate Army. Courtland was killed early in the struggle,
at Augusta, KY., and Clarence, who lived near Louisville
several years after the war, was killed by being thrown from a
buggy. George D. PRentice, Clarence's son, is a lawyer in
California. His mother was a Hungarian lady of noble lineage,
and he is the only living descendant of the great poet and wit.
Despite the fact that Mr. Prentice was one of the hardest
political fighters, and said such bitter and cutting things
that they made him many enemies, he never allowed his political
feelings to affect his personal likes or dislikes. He deeply
admired Horace Greeley, who for many years was his bitterest
political enemy. Once, when Mr. Greeley came ot Louisville to
lecture, Mr. Prentice occupied a seat on the stage near the
speaker and listened attentively to every word that fell from
the old philosopher's lips. Mr. Greeley afterward called upon
Prentice at his editorialrooms, and was received by the poet
and wit with every manisfestation of pleasure and hospitality.
Shortly afterward Mr. Prentice wrote for the NY
Ledger his poem beginning "I send three, Greeley,
words of cheer, Tho bravest, truest, best of men, For I have
marked thy strong career As traced by thy own sturdy pen."
Sometimes it is said by those who knew but little of the man
that he wrote verses simply for recreation, and that he
estimated lightly all poetry. The truth is that he was
peculiarly of a poetic temperament, and wrote poetry because he
loved it. Yet he used, oten, to advise others not to bother
about it, saying: "It is the most unmarketable article in all
the booths of Vanity Fair." This, however, it is thought, he
did only in the cases of those who he felt could never produce
creditable poetry; for 'tis certain that he was patron and
encourager of numberless poets and poetesses, many of whom
became famous, among them the sweetsinger "Amelia," and Sallie
M. Bryan, who is now MRs. J. J. Piatt. Besides these he used to
doctor up and make pressentable the halt and lame and limping
verses of many who rode a ring-boned and spavined Pegasus.
Concerning Prentice's greatest poem, which is one of the finest
in the language, a strange story is told. It is said that one
New Year's Eve, somewhere alongin the 50's, the carriers of the
Journal came into the editor's room, complaining
bitterly that they had no "Carrier's address" for the next
morning. This was a serious matter to them, for in those days
this annual poem was a rich perquisite to the boys, and the
dimes and dollars which came to them from the patrons of the
paper for the "Address" had much to do with making each
carrier's New Year a happy one. Mr. Prentice knew this, and,
prompted by that warm kindliness which was ever a
distinguishing trait of his remarkable character, he at once
determined to help the youngsters, and so, to some one present,
he said: "Please write for me and I will dictate a "Carrier's
Address'". The result was the "Closing Year," the grand poem
which begins: "Tis midnight's holy hour - and silence now, Is
brooding like a gentle spirit o'er The still and pulseless
world." Mr. Prentice was peculiarly a happy person in the days
of his youth and strong manhood, and wit and humor were the
strongest pillars in his temple of fame. He compiled a book for
his own paragraphs, which was called "Prenticeana." In the
preface of his book he excuses himself for the volume by saying
that as others were inclined to make the compilation he
preferred doing it himself, as some one else might not be so
careful in the elimination of matter calculated to hurt the
feelings of persons with whom he was then on terms of
friendship, acquired subsequent to the time when the painful
paragrphs were written. There is a sort of general idea that
Mr. Prentice was "a bad man with a gun," a duelist, and all
that. Nothing could be more errroneous. The fact is he never
fought a duel, but was sometimes, from the nature of his
business, forced to personal and sudden encounters. He once
said that he was naturally a timid man, but that he knew when
he went to Kentucky he would find it necessary to "show fight"
to keep from having fights, and per consequence he made a great
many successful "bluffs." He was frequently challanged to
duels, but always made fun of the belligerent messages. Once he
wrote his challenger that it only took one fool to send a
challenge while it took two to fight, and he didn't wish to be
classed in the category. Although Mr. Prentice had remarkable
command of the language he nearly always used the smallest and
most commonplace words in writing; nevertheless he frequently
consulted the dictionary. On once occasion when he found that
valuable tome had been stolen from the editorial room he
forthwith directed that another be suplied immediately,
remarking at the same time, "Any one who would attempt to edit
a newspaper without an unabridged dictionary is a shamless
egotist." In 1868, Henry Watterson, became editor and part
owner of the Journal, and Mr. Prentice, who had
then grown prematurely old and feeble, did very little work. In
the course of six months the Journal was
consolidated with the Courier and became what is
now known as the Courier-Journal. About a year
afterward Mr .Prentice died at the residence of his son, Col.
Clarence Prentice, a ew miles below Louisville on the Ohio
River. He was a powerful editor and the most brilliant
paragrapher of the age - indeed, the first one of any note. His
wit was bright and sparkling, his satire keen, his eloquence
grand, his poetry beautiful, his logic unanswerable. A deep
thinker, a profound reasoner, genial, hopeful, humane, and,
therefore, sometimes erring, he had the best of friends, the
bitterest enemies, and he was, all in all, a great and gifted
man - a genius.
[1265] At the residence of his son, Col. Clarence Prentice.
_Joseph Prentice ____
|
_Eleazar Prentice ___|
| (.... - 1805) m 1758|
| |_Mary Wheeler _______
|
|
|--Rufus Prentice
| (.... - 1826)
| _John Stanton _______+
| | (1706 - 1774) m 1735
|_Sarah Stanton ______|
(1738 - 1805) m 1758|
|_Desire Denison _____+
(1716 - ....) m 1735
INDEX HOME
_Eleazar Prentice ___+
| (.... - 1805) m 1758
_John Prentice ______|
| m 1791 |
| |_Sarah Stanton ______+
| (1738 - 1805) m 1758
|
|--Sally Prentice
|
| _Joseph Cliff _______
| | m 1774
|_Elizabeth Cliff ____|
m 1791 |
|_Elizabeth Stanton __+
(1751 - ....) m 1774
INDEX HOME
_____________________
|
_Thomas Prentice ____|
| (1649 - 1683) m 1675|
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Samuel Prentice
| (.... - 1728)
| _Thomas Stanton _____+
| | (1617 - 1677) m 1637
|_Sarah Stanton ______|
(1655 - 1713) m 1675|
|_Ann Lord ___________+
(.... - 1688) m 1637
[525] [S307] William L. and Judy Slager, GE
INDEX HOME
_Joseph Prentice ____
|
_Eleazar Prentice ___|
| (.... - 1805) m 1758|
| |_Mary Wheeler _______
|
|
|--Sarah Prentice
|
| _John Stanton _______+
| | (1706 - 1774) m 1735
|_Sarah Stanton ______|
(1738 - 1805) m 1758|
|_Desire Denison _____+
(1716 - ....) m 1735
INDEX HOME
_Thomas Prentice ____
| (1649 - 1683) m 1675
_Rev. John Prentice _|
| (.... - 1748) |
| |_Sarah Stanton ______+
| (1655 - 1713) m 1675
|
|--Sarah Prentice
| (1719 - ....)
| _____________________
| |
|_?? ?? ______________|
(.... - 1719) |
|_____________________
[11257] Handwritten note in the margin of the Stanton book indicates
they "six children, not named".
The information on this page was last revised02/25/2002 02:58:43 AM Pacific Standard Time .
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