PrenticeNet

Thanks to Floyd Kelling of Mayfield Heights,OH we now have a copy of C. J. F. Binney's 1852 Edition of his PRENTICE book.

Not surprisingly, since Binney was a descendant of Henry Prentice of Cambridge, MA, 60 percent of the 6" x 9" book (147 pages of 243) is devoted to descendants of Henry Prentice. Valentine Prentice and his descendants have only 10 pages. Thomas Prentice of Newton, MA did better; he had 50 pages.

It is a valuable research tool and will greatly aid our research for at least three reasons:

First, it contains some material and anecdotes that were edited out of the 1883 Edition, apparently because of space limitations. For example, the 1852 Edition mentions at pg. 5 that Valentine Prentice's son, John, was fined 5 Pounds in 1664 for notching a colt's tail. However, John's status in the community was such that, at a General Assembly held at Hartford, CT on 13 Oct 1664, John Winthrop, Esq., Governor, and Major Mason, Deputy Governor, asked that the Court abate half the fine and that he pay 10 shillings for his petition.

Second, it contains drawings of residences of some of the persons mentioned which drawings are not in the later work. From them, one can draw inferences as to the probable types of dwellings of one's own ancestors.

And third, in the 1883 Edition he makes references to events which seem to have happened shortly before 1883; however, reference to the earlier book will help clarify whether, instead, they happened shortly before 1852.