Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/428

 PRENTISS

PRENTISS

in 1861 reorganized and was elected colonel of his old comi>any. which joined the Ttli Illinois volun- teers. Ue was promoted to the rank of brigadier- general. May 17, 1861; commanded Cairo for tlnee months; conducted the expedition that raided southern Missouri from Pilot Knob, and on Dec. 28. 18(51, routed a force of Confederates at Mount Zion, Mo. He was relieved by Gen. U. S. Grant at Cape Girardeau, and ordered to northern Missouri. He joined General Grant at Pittsburg Landing, April 3, 1862, where he com- manded the 0th division, and in the first day's figlit, April 6. 1S62. he was taken prisoner with most of his command, while stubbornly holding his position. He was released in October, 1862; promoted major-general of volunteers, Nov. 29, 1802; served on the court-martial of Fitz John Porter (q.v.) in November, 1862. and commanded Helena, Ark., in 1863, where he repulsed the attack of Generals Price and Holmes on July 3. He resigned his commission Oct. 28, 1863, and engaged in the practice of law in Bethany, Mo., where he died, Feb. 8. 1901.

PRENTISS, Charles, author, was born in Reading. Mass., Oct. 8, 1774; son of the Rev. Caleb and Pamela (Mellen) Prentiss; grandson of Caleb and Lydia (Whittemore) Prentiss, and of the Rev. John and Rebecca (Prentiss) Mellen, and a descendant of Valentine Prentise. He was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1795, A.M., 1798, and was married, Nov. 1-9. 1795, to Sophia, daughter of the Rev. Francis Gardner of Leo- minster, Mass. He edited the Rural Repository, published at Leominster, Mass., in 1795; the Political Focus, afterward known as the Wash- ington Federalist, Richmond, Va., 1800-04; the Virginia Gazette, Richmond, in 1805; the Anti- Democrat and The Child of Pallas in Baltimore, Md., 1806-OS, and The Tltistle, a theatrical paper, in Boston. Mass., in 1809; he was a congressional reporter and also editor of the Independent Ameri- can, Washington, D.C., in 1810, and settled in Brimfield, Mass., in 1811. He is the author of: A Collection of Fugitive Essays in Prose and Ferse (1797); Life <>f Robert Treat Pa?ne (1812); Life of Gen. William Eaton (1813); Poe/H.s (1813); History of the United States (1819); and The Trial of Calvin and Hopkins (1819). He died in Brimfield, Mass.. Oft. 19, \^'iO.

PRENTISS, Elizabeth Payson, author, was born in Portlaml, Maine, Oct. 26. 1818; daughter of the Rev. Edward and Ann Louisa (Shipman) Payson. She attended .schools in Portland. Maine, and Ipswich. Mass.. and was a teacher in Port- land and Richmond, Maine, 1810-43. She was married, Apr. 22, 1845. to George Lewis Prentiss (q.v.). Her many published volumes include: Little Snsy Series (185.3-56); The Flower of the Family and Only a Dandelion (1854); Henry and

Bessie; Little Tltreads; Fred, Maria ayidMe (1868), Urban and his Friends; Hymns and Songs of the Clvistian Life; Stepping Heavonatrd (1869) TJie Percys (1870); Religions Poenis (1873); The Home at Greylock (1870); Pemaquid (1877) Avis Benson {\819) and Life and Letters (1882). She died at Dorset. Vt., Aug. 13, 1878.

PRENTISS, George Lewis, educator, was born in Gorham, Maine, May 12, 1816, son of Capt. William and Abigail (Lewis) Prentiss and grand- son of Maj. George Lewis and of Samuel and Rebecca (Cook) Prentiss. He was graduated from Bowdoin college, A.B., 1835, A.M., 1838; was assistant at (xoriiam academy, 1835-36; attended the universities of Halle and Berlin, 1839-41, and was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1845. He was married in 1845 to Elizabeth Pa\'- son (q.v.). He was pastor of the South Trini- tarian church, New Bedford, Mass., 1845-50; of the Mercer Street Presbyterian church. New York city, 1851-58; of the Church of the Covenant, New York city, 1862-73; professor of pastoral theology, church polity, and mission work at Union Theo- logical seminarv, 1873-97 and was made professor emeritus in 1897. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Bowdoin college in 1854. He is the author of: Our National Bane (1877); Tlie Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss (1882); Sixty Years of Union Seminary ( 1889); The Agree- ment Between Union Seminary and the General Assembly (1891); The Problem of the Veto Poirer (1892); Another Decade of Union Seminary (1 899); and memoirs of Sergeant S. Prentiss (1855), and Thomas Harvey Skinner (1871).

PRENTISS, Samuel, jurist, was born in Stonington, Conn., March 31, 1782; son of Dr. Samuel and Lucretia (Holmes) PrentLss; grand- son of Col. Samuel and Phoebe (Billings) Pren- tice and of Capt. John Holmes, and a descendant of Valentine Prentise. He was educated in the public schools of Northfield, Mass., and under a private tutor; was admitted to the bar in 1802; settled in practice in Mont- pelier, Vt., in 1803, and was married, Oct. 3, 1804, to Lucre- tia, daughter of Ed- ward Houghton of Northfield. He de- clined a judgeship of the supreme court of Vermont in 1822; was

a representative in the state legislature, 1824-25; an assistant justice of the .supreme court, 1825-29, and chief justice, 1829-.30. He was a whig U.S.