Samuel Prentiss
United States district judge for the District of Vermont
In office
April 8, 1842 – January 15, 1857
Appointed byJohn Tyler
Preceded byElijah Paine
Succeeded byDavid Allen Smalley
United States Senator
from Vermont
In office
March 4, 1831 – April 11, 1842
Preceded byDudley Chase
Succeeded bySamuel C. Crafts
Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
In office
1829–1830
Preceded byRichard Skinner
Succeeded byTitus Hutchinson
Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
In office
1825–1829
Preceded byJoel Doolittle
Succeeded byTitus Hutchinson
Member of the Vermont House of Representatives
from the Montpelier district
In office
1824–1825
Preceded byAraunah Waterman
Succeeded byWilliam Upham
Personal details
Born
Samuel Prentiss

(1782-03-31)March 31, 1782
Stonington, Connecticut
DiedJanuary 15, 1857(1857-01-15) (aged 74)
Montpelier, Vermont
Resting placeGreen Mount Cemetery
Montpelier, Vermont
Political partyFederalist
National Republican
Whig
Spouse
Lucretia Houghton
​
​
(m. 1804; died 1855)​
Children12 (including Theodore Prentiss)
Relatives
ProfessionAttorney

Samuel Prentiss (March 31, 1782 – January 15, 1857) was an associate justice and chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, a United States senator from Vermont and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont.

Education and career

Born on March 31, 1782, in Stonington, Connecticut,[1] Prentiss moved with his family to Worcester, Massachusetts, and then to Northfield, Massachusetts, in 1786, completed preparatory studies and was instructed in the classics by private tutor Reverend Samuel C. Allen.[1] He studied law in Northfield with attorney Samuel Vose,[1] and Brattleboro, Vermont, with attorney John W. Blake[1] in 1802.[1] He was admitted to the bar and practiced in Montpelier, Vermont, from 1803 to 1824.[2]

He was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1824 to 1825.[1] He was an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1825 to 1829,[3] and chief justice from 1829 to 1830.[3]

Political affiliations and unsuccessful candidacy

In addition to practicing law, Prentiss became active in politics, first as a Federalist,[4] and later as a National Republican[5][6] and Whig.[6] He was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1816.[4]

Congressional service

Prentiss was elected in 1831 to the United States Senate as a National Republican. He was reelected as a Whig in 1837 and served from March 4, 1831, to April 11, 1842, when he resigned to accept a judicial appointment.[6] He was Chairman of the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office for the 27th United States Congress.[6]

Anti-dueling statute

While in the Senate, Prentiss was the originator and successful advocate of the law to suppress dueling in the District of Columbia.[1]

Federal judicial service

Prentiss was nominated by President John Tyler on April 8, 1842, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Vermont vacated by Judge Elijah Paine.[1] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 8, 1842, and received his commission the same day.[1] His service terminated on January 15, 1857, due to his death in Montpelier.[1] He was interred at Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier.[7]

Family

Samuel Prentiss was the fourth in his line to be named Samuel Prentiss. He was the second of nine children born to Dr. Samuel Prentiss III and his wife Lucretia (née Holmes).[8] Two of his younger brothers also had notable political careers. John Holmes Prentiss served two terms as a U.S. congressman from New York.[8] William A. Prentiss was the 10th mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and served in the Vermont House of Representatives and the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Their father, Dr. Samuel Prentiss was a prominent physician and served as a combat surgeon for his father, Colonel Samuel Prentice II, during the American Revolutionary War. The Prentiss family were descendants of Captain Thomas Prentice, who emigrated from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1640s and served as a captain during King Philip's War.[8]

Samuel Prentiss IV married Lucretia Houghton (1786–1855), of Northfield, in 1804. They had twelve children, though at least two died in infancy. Their 8th child, Theodore Prentiss, moved to Wisconsin, became the first mayor of Watertown, Wisconsin, and also served in the Wisconsin State Assembly.[8][9]

Notable law student

Among the lawyers who received their education and training in Prentiss's office was William Upham, who later served in the United States Senate.[10]

Other service and honors

Prentiss was a trustee of Dartmouth College from 1820 to 1827;[11] he received the honorary degrees of Artium Magister[11] and Legum Doctor[11] from Dartmouth in 1817 and 1832.[11]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Samuel Prentiss (judge).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The History of the Town of Montpelier, pp. 447–451.
  2. ↑ "Samuel Prentiss". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  3. 1 2 History of Vermont, Natural, Civil and Statistical, p. 124.
  4. 1 2 "Vermont Election Results", p. 2.
  5. ↑ Annual Report of the American Historical Association, p. 507.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, p. 1762.
  7. ↑ "Prominent People Buried in Vermont:Samuel Prentiss".
  8. 1 2 3 4 Binney, C. J. F., ed. (1883). The History and Genealogy of the Prentice, or Prentiss Family, in New England, etc., from 1631 to 1883. C. J. F. Binney. pp. 161, 181, 190–191, 207–208. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  9. ↑ "In Memoriam". The Watertown News. August 10, 1906. p. 5. Retrieved August 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ The History of the Town of Montpelier, p. 454.
  11. 1 2 3 4 General Catalogue of Dartmouth College, p. 67.

Sources

Books

Internet

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