By Linus Joseph Dewald Jr., Editor
Fall 2002 and Revised 11 Jul 2002
Update of 16 Jul 2002: Charles William Prentice is a descendant of Thomas Prentice of Oundle about whom we have an article in our Fall 2000 PRENTICE NEWSLETTER. All information from this article has now been added to that additional article.
Original Article: We are helping Karen (Prentice) Raspin in tracing her Prentice roots. She indicates that both her grandfather and great grandfather were showmen and also high ranking officers in the Masons. Here is what we have so far:
1. Charles William Prentice. We do not yet have his birth date, but it may have been c. 1845-55. Charles was called "Professor Johnson" on stage and was regarded as a "leading exponent of the Black Art" (comments made by the World's Fair newspaper on the death of Charles John).
Charles m. either Caroline Mary Farrell (per son Charles' birth and death record) or Catherine Rosenberg (per son Charles' marriage record). As a rule-of-thumb, the earliest record is probably the correct record. They had 1 or more children, including:
- Charles John Prentice, b. Oct 1878. . . . . . . . [2]
2. Charles John Prentice was b. Oct 1878 at 2 East Mount Terrace, Whitechaple, d. Jun 1946 and is bur. in Easter Road Cem., Edinburgh. He traveled throughout the British Isles with his parents joining the "act" at the age of 14. He settled in Edinburgh around 1900 and married the love of his life, Emily Burton in 1906. She d. 1952, 6 years after Charles.
Emily's family were also show and fairground people, with her father being Alfie Burton of Galloper fame. Emily came from a large family and is said to have 7 sisters and 1 brother. Charles served in WW I with distinction with the Royal Marines He later became Secretary of the Scottish Section of the Showmen's Guild in 1920. Children of Charles and Emily:
- Alfred Prentice. He d. of tuberculosis in 1936.
- William Prentice. He d. before 2001.
- Walter Prentice. He d. before 2001.
- Charles Prentice, He d. before 2001.
- Hugh Prentice. He d. 2001.
- Leslie Prentice. He is Karen (Prentice) Raspin's father.
If you have any information about the folks mentioned in this article, please send your information to us at the Prentice Newsletter. Be sure to give the full title and date of this article in the Subject line of the email.
Caution: If you don't use the above email link, your email to us may be deleted as spam by our email filter.
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