USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 7
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Valentine died soon after he arrived at Roxbury.
John married in Roxbury. The girl's name was Esther. They moved to New London in 1651 or 1652, and he died in 1691. He had ten children, six sons and four daughters.
The son, Jonathan, was born July 15, 1657, married in 1691, and died in 1727. He had six children, two sons and four daughters. His son, John (II), was born in New London, in 1705.
This John (II) had a son, John (III), who was born in New London about 1730, and who died in Richmond, Virginia, late in 1800, leaving a consider- able estate in lands and personal property, which he left to various relatives by will. He was the great- grandfather of George House Prentis.
He was a resident of New London, Connecticut, in 1781, and was living there on the 6th day of Sep- tember, when the Traitor Arnold burned that city, and caused the murder of many of its citizens. He went to Forts Trumbull and Griswold as a volunteer, with Captain Adam Shapley, (an uncle of Ebenezer (II) Prentis) the commander of the forts at that time, and remained until the surrender to the British. He had seven wounds, and he feigned death until the British left, "when he crawled from the place where he had lain among the dead and gave water to the dying ones."
He had one son and three daughters. The son was Ebenezer (I) Prentis, born about 1756, (the grand- father of George House Prentis). This son, during the Revolutionary war was captain and part owner of a privateer, which ship with its prizes was burned by Arnold, in New London, September 6, 178I.
Captain Ebenezer (I) Prentis married Elizabeth Shapley, daughter of John Shapley and Elizabeth (Harris) Shapley and they had three children.
Some time after the close of the Revolutionary war, this John (III) Prentis, with his son, Captain Ebenezer (I) Prentis, moved to Richmond, Virginia, where they continued in business up to the time of their death, Captain Ebenezer Prentis having died prior to his father's death. The father, John Prentis, died late in the year 1800.
The children of Captain Ebenezer Prentis and Eliza- beth Shapley Prentis, were a daughter and two sons. The daughter, Elizabeth Prentis, was born August 12, 1786, and married Edward Pratt of New London, in 1806. One son, Ebenezer (II) Prentis, was born in August, 1788, and was the father of George House Prentis. John (IIII) Prentis, the third child, was born in 1792. He never married. He always resided with his brother, Ebenezer (II) Prentis. John (IIII) Prentis was a lawyer and died in Detroit in 1858.
Ebenezer (II) Prentis, the father of George House Prentis, was color sergeant in Captain Smith's com- pany, Third Connecticut Regiment, in the War of 1812. George House Prentis now has the flag he carried at that time.
Mr. Prentis also has a document showing that his
GEORGE H. PRENTIS On His 88th Birthday
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father was one of eight who volunteered, upon the dismissal of the Militia, at the close of the War of 1812, to stand guard upon the beach at New London, and was the only one who did stand guard during the whole time, until relieved by a detachment from the United States Squadron.
Ebenezer Prentis, the father of George House Prentis, was married to Rebecca M. Gager, (daughter of William and Harriet Baldwin Gager), March 30, 1817. He lived in New London, where he was in mercantile business, until June, 1832, when he moved to Michigan.
The Gager Family in America.
In 1630, ten years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Governor Winthrop brought over an addi- tion to that colony. With that company came the first Gager to America; Dr. William Gager, his wife, and son, John, from Suffolk, England. He was called a skillful chyrgeon (surgeon). He and his wife died in September, 1630, from disease contracted on the voy- age over, by reason of ill diet, etc., as did a number of others.
Governor Winthrop and his son became friends of this John Gager and Governor Winthrop remembered him in his will.
John and his wife, Elizabeth, had ten children, three sons and seven daughters. He died in Norwich, in 1703.
His son, Samuel, married Rebecca Raymond. They had two sons.
The elder son, William (II) was a graduate of Yale, and was ordained a minister in 1705.
The younger son, Samuel (II), was born in 1701, and lived single until he was seventy-two years of age. He married Hannah Calkins July 29, 1773. In 1774 he liberated three slaves and provided for them by leasing a farm to them at a nominal rent. He had two sons. The son, William (III) married Har- riet Baldwin, and they had seven children. Esther, the oldest danghter, married Ezra Huntley, in 1822, and their descendants are still living in Connectient.
The next daughter, Rebecca M. Gager, the mother of George House Prentis, was born February 22, 1800. She was a pupil of Mrs. Lydia Huntley Sig- ourney, who was a very dear friend. She married Ebenezer Prentis, the father of George House Prentis, March 20, 1817.
In 1832, Ebenezer Prentis, in company with his father-in-law, William Gager, left New London for the west, looking for a place to locate. They came as far as Monroe, Michigan, and purchased farms in that county. Mr. Gager remained in Monroe county, and Mr. Prentis returned to New London. Upon his return the families prepared to move.
The Prentis and Gager families left New London for Michigan, June 5, 1832, and landed at Monroe, June 27, 1832. The party consisted of Mrs. William Gager and her four daughters, Harriet, Eunice,
Frances and Jernsha. The Prentis family consisted of Ebenezer Prentis, and his wife, Rebecca Gager Prentis, and their three children, Sarah Foulton Prentis, Harriet Gager Prentis, and John Foulton Prentis; and Elizabeth Shapley Prentis, the mother of Eben Prentis, all of whom are now dead.
The trip was made by a sail vessel from New London to Albany, by canal from Albany to Buffalo, and by sail vessel from Buffalo to Monroe, Michigan. The four Gager daughters all married in Michigan, and are all dead. Most of their descendants are now living in Toledo, Ohio.
Ebenezer and Rebecca Gager Prentis had two sons, born after they came to Michigan, George House Prentis, born April 28, 1834, and Browse Trist Pren- tis, born January 22, 1837.
In April, 1843, the father of George House Prentis moved with his family to Detroit, where he lived until his death in 1868, his wife having died in Detroit in 1843. The trip from the farm to Detroit (fifty miles), with horses, the only conveyance at that time, took three days.
The family residence was established on the east side of Woodward avenue, between Gratiot and Grand River avenues, in a two-story twelve-room frame house, at an annual rental of one hundred and thirty- five dollars, and before the expiration of the lease he purchased the lot, having two houses on it, for twenty-one hundred dollars. The property now be- longs to George House Prentis.
In April, 1843, the actual city of Detroit was con- fined to the area bonnded by the river, Adams avenne, Brush and Wayne streets, and had no pavements, street lights, or gas, and had only plank sidewalks and frame buildings, with the exception of about twenty-five of brick construction, most of which were churches and business places.
In the early years of his residence in Detroit, Eben Prentis did a private banking business.
In 1843 there were a number of private schools in Detroit, located in different parts of the city. They were called "select schools" at that time. There were also a few public schools. The first school George H. Prentis attended was a select school in the basement of a Methodist church, a frame building standing on the northeast corner of Woodward avenue and Congress street. He afterward attended private schools, on Monroe avenne, near Farmer street, on the southwest corner of Griswold and Lafayette, on the northeast corner of Griswold and Michigan avennes, and afterward on the north side of Jefferson avenue, near Antoine street. All were frame build- ings. The final school he attended, which was a public school, was "the old Capital school," on Gris- wold street, where the statue of Governor Mason is placed.
After leaving "the Capital school," he studied with private tutors for between one and two years, during which time he spent his summers on the farm
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where he was born, doing farm work, thus building up his bodily strength and a constitution that has proved true to his training, and enabled him to do the work he has done and retain his health up to the present time, 1921.
After he was fully prepared to enter the Junior class at the University of Michigan he decided to study law instead of going to college. Late in 1854 he entered the law office of Backus & Harbaugh, then one of the leading law firms of the city. He was admitted to practice on examination in open court in August, 1857, and immediately thereafter entered upon his chosen profession. His first office was in a building on the northeast corner of Jefferson avenue and Gris- wold street. Possessed of a legal mind, with an un- usual capacity for work, and the physical strength to endure it, together with a firm determination to sue- ceed, he was fairly successful from the start and by 1868 he had built up for those days an unusually large and lucrative practice.
From that time, for the next eighteen or twenty years, he was engaged in a large percentage of the important cases tried in the Michigan Wayne circuit court, one of the most prominent of which was "the celebrated Ward Will case." In this case Mr. Prentis was associated with Colonel Theodore Romeyn and Judge J. Logan Chipman of Detroit, for the contest- ants, while for the proponents the attorneys were Mr. Ashley Pond and Mr. Elijah Meddaugh of Detroit, Mr. D. Darwin Hughes of Grand Rapids, and Mr. Wirt Dexter of Chicago. The questions involved were vigorously contested by both parties and the trial lasted for upwards of two months.
Even in his boyhood Mr. Prentis was interested in politics and went to political meetings and con- ventions with his father. In his early manhood he took part in the proceedings of his party and soon became active in the affairs of the city and county. This activity continued up to about 1900. When judicial offices were in question Mr. Prentis was never a partisan. He voted at times for more republicans than democrats, at judicial elections. For Judge Dur- fee, as judge of probate, he always voted. He never sought nor held any political office, with the excep- tion of circuit court commissioner, to which office he was three times elected during the first years of his practice.
His practice was general but he specialized some- what in chaucery and suits in which realty became involved, and for years he was employed in almost every election case, largely on the democratic side of the question, but quite a number of times for the republicans.
One very notable election case was the case of the people, on the relation of Edward V. Cicott, a democrat, against David E. Harbaugh, republican, candidates for police justice. In that case Mr. Pren- tis was engaged for Harbaugh, with Alfred Russell, and Colonel Theodore Romeyn and Elijah Meddaugh
for Cicott. This was a bitterly contested case. Cicott had the verdict and judgment in the circuit court and Harbaugh appealed to the supreme court, which court reversed that judgment and Mr. Harbaugh retained the office. The case is reported in volume 33, Michigan reports, page 241.
Mr. Prentis usually avoided criminal practice. . However, he had some criminal cases, largely murder cases, of which he had quite a number.
Mr. Prentis, notwithstanding his activity as a lawyer, has found time to add a considerable number of store buildings and residences to the city. He built on Woodward, Jefferson, Michigan and Monroe avenues; also on Broadway, and on a number of other streets. His first building was a dwelling built in 1864, on Elizabeth street, East, at which time there were very few buildings between Adams avenue and Montcalm street on the north, and Woodward avenue and John R street, on the east. The house rented for six hundred dollars per year.
In May, 1866, Mr. Prentis was united in marriage to Miss Lovina Carrie Griffin of New York, who died iu January, 1906. They had three children, all living at this time (1921): Caroline R., the wife of Mr. Edward Atkins of Detroit; Ida A., the wife of Mr. Charles Ackerly of Cuba, New York; and George Griffin Prentis, a practicing attorney and member of - the firm of Prentis & Mulford of Detroit. George G. married Miss Edyth Lindsay, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Lindsay of Detroit, and they have one child, a daughter, Lindsay Prentis.
Mr. Prentis continued in active practice up to 1919 and is still in his office daily, where, among other things, he advises with his old friends and clients as they call upon him.
THE RT. REV. FRANCIS J. VAN ANTWERP, LL.D., S.T.D., pastor of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary for thirty years and a native son of Detroit, was born April 22, 1858, his parents being Francis and Mary E. (Gore) Van Antwerp. He is descended from the most honorable Dutch ancestry and is a representative of one of the oldest and most prominent families of Detroit, his father a native Detroiter, and his grandfather both having been resi- dents of the city.
Early determining to enter the priesthood he pur- sued his education in Assumption College, at Sand- wich, Ontario, and in St. Mary's Seminary at Balti- more, Maryland. Father Van Antwerp was ordained on May 6, 1881, in the chapel of Assumption College by Bishop Borgess of the Detroit diocese. In the same year he was assigned to the pastorate of the Catholic church at Hastings, Michigan, but in 1882 he was transferred to Grosse Pointe, where he remained until 1885, and for three years thereafter was in charge of a parish at Battle Creek, Michigan. Ia 1889 he became the first pastor of his present parish.
On the 14th of June, 1914, Father Van Antwerp
2
RT. REV. FRANCIS J. VAN ANTWERP
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was the recipient of the Doctor of Laws degree from Notre Dame University and in 1918 he received from the St. Mary's University in Baltimore the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology, at the same time being appointed a domestic prelate of the Pope's household, carrying the title of monsignor. The degree of doctor of sacred theology is one much prized by members of the priesthood and has rarely been granted by the Baltimore institution. In its one hundred and twenty- eight years of existence it has conferred scarcely one doctorate a decade. Of the few conferred Father Van Antwerp is the second Detroiter so honored. The first was Rev. Charles O. Reilly, one time pastor of St. Patrick's church, now the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. The appointment of domestic prelate is not uncommon, but in the case of Father Van Antwerp it was much different. Usually the honor is given upon recommendation of the bishop of the diocese, but in this case it was conferred when Detroit was without a bishop. The appointment came directly through the delegate at Washington.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Van Antwerp is widely known as a man of scholarly attainments, keeping in touch with the trend of modern thought and progress. He has ever been in close touch with Detroit's welfare and upbuilding and lends the weight of his aid and in- fluence to every project which is a determining factor in civic betterment.
In his political views Rev. Father Van Antwerp is a republican. Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Knights of Colun- bus, the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association and the Knights of St. John. He is also a member of the American Catholic Historical Society, the Board of Commerce of Detroit, the American Geographic So- ciety, the Records of the Past Exploration Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the ranking member of Bishop Gallagher's board of consulters, secretary of the board of examiners of teachers, and president of the diocesan board of examiners of the Junior clergy.
In his church, throughout his three decades of loyal service, Father Van Antwerp has maintained a close relationship with the people, not standing aloof as one set apart from the world but at all times keenly interested in everything that has to do with the material, intellectual and moral progress of his par- ishioners and of his native city at large. His rich fund of humor, his intellectual force and his strong moral character have made him a favorite in Detroit and among his colleagues in the great calling to which he has devoted his life.
VAUGHAN REID, president of the City Pattern Works, a mammoth business enterprise of its kind, scarcely excelled in size in the United States and surpassed by none in the quality of its product nor in the standardization of its business, is numbered among the substantial citizens which Scotland has
furnished to Michigan. He was born at Dundee, in the land of hills and heather, on the 25th of May, 1884, his parents being David C. and Isabella (Halley) Reid, in whose family were nine children, Vanghan being the youngest of the household. The others are: David; Thomas; Margaret; James; Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Chambers; Agnes; and Isabella.
Vanghan Reid attended the public schools of Dundee and also the Science & Arts Drawing School, in which he made a specialty of the study of sciences. His training and preparation for the business world were thus thorough and comprehensive. For a time he was associated with the Anchor Line Ship Building Company of Glasgow and then determined to try his fortunes in the new world. He crossed the Atlantic in May, 1905, making his way first to Montreal, Canada, where he became identified with the Allis Chalmers Bullock Company, electrical engineers. It was in December of the same year that he arrived in Detroit and here he secured employment with the Detroit Steel Casting Company, continuing with that corporation for about six months. He next became inspector of patterns in the Packard Motor Company, being thus occupied until May, 1911, when he accepted a position with the Michigan Malleable Iron Com- pany as master mechanic. In August, 1913, the City Pattern Works was incorporated, with a capitalization of two thousand dollars. In 1915 the capital stock was increased to ten thousand dollars and in 1919 to thirty-five thousand dollars. By keeping the capital- ization down it is possible to keep the business in the hands of the original incorporators and Mr. Reid has been the president and general manager of the concern since its inception. The company manufac- tures wood and metal patterns of all descriptions, together with foundry equipment. It takes blue prints and produces every character of pattern nec- essary in making castings. The concern employs over one hundred and twenty pattern-makers and has ten thousand square feet of floor space in its factory. On the 20th of August, 1921, however, the City Pat- tern Works removed to a new factory which it par- chased. The building formerly housed the Utility Compression Company and the Detroit Torch Company and thus the City Pattern Works secured over thirty- five thousand square feet of floor space. The equip- ment installed for pattern-making required an outlay of over one hundred thousand dollars. The pattern- making industry is of greater extent in Detroit than in all of the rest of the world put together and the new plant of the company will make it the largest of its kind. Associated with Mr. Reid, who is the president of the company, is Fred J. Coulton, who acts as secretary and treasurer. The development of the business is the direct result of their definite purpose and clearly defined industry, combined with a recognition of the needs and demands of the busi- ness world that has arisen in connection with the development of Detroit as an industrial center. Mr.
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Reid is now the first vice president of the National Association of Pattern Makers and is also on the advisory board of the Detroit Employers Association. He is a member of the American Foundrymen's As- sociation and is general chairman of the joint com- mittee on standard pattern practice.
In September, 1908, Mr. Reid was united in marriage to Miss Edith M. Coulton and they have one son, Vaughan C., who was born September 28, 1910; and a daughter, Margaret Isabella, who was born January 23, 1919, the anniversary of the 77th birthday of Mr. Reid's mother.
In fraternal circles Mr. Reid is well known because of his prominence in connection with Masonry. He belongs to the City of the Straits Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; King Cyrus Chapter, R. A. M .; Damascus Com- mandery, Kuights Templar; and the Michigan Sov- ereign Consistory, in which he has attained the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite. He is also a member of the Masonic Country Club. He was the official delegate from America to the convention for the election of officers of the Masonic body in Europe in 1920. He has membership in the Michigan Manu- facturers Association, in the Engineers Club and in the Board of Commerce and he is likewise a member of the Aviation Country Club, the Detroit Auto Club and other social organizations. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is active in support of those interests which are a matter of civie virtue and of civic pride. Truly a self-made man he deserves great credit for what he has accom- plished. Starting out in the business world empty- handed he has steadily worked his way upward to a point of notable success and enjoys the high esteem and admiration of business men, while his circle of friends is very extensive. Mr. Reid resides at 2270 Edison avenue.
JAMES A. VAN DYKE was a citizen of whom Mich- igan had every reason to be proud. The strength of his intellect-and he was one of the most eminent members of the Michigan bar-was matched by the nobility of his character and he was long an out- standing figure in connection with those interests and activities which shaped the destiny and guided the interests of the commonwealth.
A native of Mercersburg, Franklin county, Pennsyl- vania, James Adams Van Dyke was born in December, 1813, his parents being William and Nancy (Duncan) Van Dyke, the former of Holland Dutch ancestry, while the latter came of Scotch lineage. While America was still numbered among the colonial pos- sessions of Great Britain the Van Dyke and the Dun- can families were planted on the soil of the new world and both Mr. and Mrs. William Van Dyke were natives of Pennsylvania, where they spent their lives.
The eldest of a family of six children, five sons and a daughter, James A. Van Dyke acquired his early education under the instruction of private tutors
and when fifteen years of age hecame a student in Madison College at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1832. His desire to become a member of the bar led him to enter the law office of George Chambers at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, as a student and there he eagerly pursued his reading for a year, at the end of which time he went to Hagerstown, Maryland, and resumed his studies under the direction of William Price. He afterward read law for a time in Baltimore and found interest and instruction in attendance upon the local courts. In December, 1834, he went to Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, intending to locate there, but found the place unattractive and turned his atten- tion to the west, soon afterward becoming a resident of Detroit. Here he entered the law office of Hon. Alexander D. Frazer, one of the leading members of the Detroit bar, to whom he bore a letter of intro- duction, and six months later he was admitted to practice in the territory of Michigan. At the time of his death there appeared a memorial which con- tained the following statements: "From the very out- set of his career Mr. Van Dyke devoted himself with the utmost assiduity to his profession. It was the calling of his choice, aud his peculiar and rich gifts rendered him entirely fit to pursue its higher, more honorable and more distinguished walks." In 1835 Mr. Van Dyke became the law partner of Hon. Charles W. Whipple, with whom he was thus asso- ciated until the latter's elevation to the bench of the supreme court. In 1838 Mr. Van Dyke entered into partnership with E. B. Harrington and following the death of the latter in 1844 became associated with H. H. Emmons in a partnership that was maintained until 1852, when both practically retired from the profession. It was in that year that Mr. Van Dyke became attorney for the Michigan Central Railroad Company. In the meantime he had been appointed city attorney of Detroit in 1835 and in 1839 and in 1840 received appointment to the office of prose- cuting attorney of Wayne county. A writer of that period said in this connection: "He established a new era in the efficiency, energy and success with which he conducted the criminal prosecutions and cleared the city and county of numerous and flagrant criminals." It was but natural that a man of his ability should be called upon for public service and in 1843 he was elected alderman from the third ward and was made chairman of the ways and means com- mittee of the city council, at which time the city's finances were in a deplorable condition, and his labors constituted a most potent element in upbuilding De- troit's financial reputation. His election to the mayor- alty of Detroit in 1847 followed as a natural sequence and his administration was characterized by business- like and progressive methods that worked great bene- fit for the city. In 1853 he was made a member of the first board of commissioners of the Detroit water works and continued to serve in that capacity until his
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