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EARLY SETTLERS OF SANGAMON COUNTY - 1876
By John Carroll Power

These biographies were submitted by a researcher and evidently abstracted from the 1876 History of Sangamon County, IL. Errors could occur, so one should always verify the correctness by obtaining copies of vitals and performing all necessary research to document what is contained herein.



PRENTICE, WILLIAM SWAIN, was born May 21, 1819, in St. Clair county, Illinois, moved with his father to Hillsboro, in 1827, and in 1829 to Shelby county, both in the same State. In 1836 he was employed by his brother, Col. Charles Prentice, who was Register of the Land Office at Vandalia. After the death of his brother Charles, in 1837, he was employed as chief clerk in the office of the Auditor of Public Accounts, and removed with the seat of government of the State of Ill., from Vandalia to Springfield, in 1839. Wm. S. Prentice was married in 1842, in Springfield, to Martha A. Wash, sister to Milton H. Wash. Sce his name. She was born Jan. 8, 1823, near Rnsselville, Logan county, Ky. Mr. and Mrs. Prentice had six children, namely--

OWEN D., born Sept. 21, 1844, at Cold Spring, Shelby county, Ill., and raised principally in Springfield.

ELLEN, born March 25, 1848, in Shelbyville, Ill., was married May 6, 1868, in Springfield, to Albert E. Peppers. They have two children, LULA and ALBERT PRENTICE, and reside in Detroit, Michigan.

HIRAM B., born May 21, 1853, in Paris, Ill., is now--1876--clerk in the United States Pension Office, in Springfield, Illinois.

LAURA, born May 19, 1858, in Springfield, resides with her parents.

WILLIAM C., born June 18, 1863, died Jan. 3, 1869.

LIZZIE M., born Sept. 5, 1866, in Springfield, lives with her parents.

In 1849 Wm. S. Prentice entered the ministry, in connection with the Methodist Episcopal church. He spent two years ??reaching at Paris, two years at Danville, two years at Carlinville, one year at Quincy, and one year at Jacksonville, all ?? Illinois. In the autumn of 1857 he ??as appointed Presiding Elder of Springfield District, where he served one term of four years. He was then four years Presiding Elder of Jacksonville District, three years pastor of the Second M. E. church of Springfield, and again four years as Presiding Elder of Springfield District. He is now--1876--near the close of a four years term as Presiding Elder of the Decatur District. Rev. Mr. Prentice was a delegate from Central Illinois Conference to the General Conference of the M. E. church, which convened in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1860. He was again a delegate to the General Conference that assembled in Brooklyn, N. Y., in May, 1872; also to the General Conference at Baltimore, Md., in May, 1876. He received the honorary degree of D. D. from the Illinois Wesleyan University, in Bloomington, June, 1876.

From the time Rev. Wm. S. Prentice became Presiding Elder in 1857, his home has been, and is now, in the city of Springfield, Illinois.--August, 1876.



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