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HONORABLE H. J. PRENTISS.

HANDSOME COTTAGE HOME OF HONORABLE H.J. PRENTISS

The subject of this sketch is H.J. Prentiss, the present mayor of Miltonvale and dealer in grain and coal. Mr. Prentiss has been a resident of Miltonvale since the autumn of 1890. He was at that time manager for the Chicago Lumber Company, having been transferred from their yards at Glasco to Miltonvale. He was in their employ from 1885 until 1895, when he became associated with Frank Stanton, in the Miltonvale Grain Company. In 1899 he bought the interest of a Mr. Stanton. He leases and operates the H.G. Light elevator, which has a storing capacity of five thousand bushels.

Mr. Prentiss is a son of Kentucky, born in Monterey in 1860, but was practically reared in Frankfort, where he was educated in the common schools and learned the trade of miller. In the autumn of 1884 he came to Kansas and after stopping in Centralia a few months, entered the employ of the Chicago Lumber Company at Belleville. Mr. Prentiss' father was Luther S. Prentiss, of Massachusetts, born in 1815. He was an engineer on a Mississippi river steamer. In 1849 he went overland to California, where he was employed to put in mining machinery. He came to Kansas in 1888 and died in January, 1896.

Mr. Prentiss is one of eight children, three of whom are living: A brother in Kentucky and a sister in Kansas City. His mother was Charlotte A. Ross, of Frankfort, Kentucky, born May 25, 1821, and died July 3, 1891.

The Prentiss and Ross families were slaveholders in Kentucky. Luther S. Prentiss was a Union man and after he freed his slaves they stayed with him. H.J. Prentiss learned his alphabet from a slave, who cut them on a shingle.

Mr. Prentiss was married in August, 1886, to Virginia A. Graber, of Iowa. She was visiting an uncle when she met and was married to Mr. Prentiss. They have two daughters, Nora, aged twelve, and Ruth, aged ten. In 1901 Mr. Prentiss bought the residence property of C.E. McDaniel, one of the best homes in Miltonvale a cottage of eight rooms, modern bath room and water connections, a fine lawn and trees, irrigated from the well. Mr. Prentiss has thirty-three acres of ground with residence adjacent to Miltonvale. Politically he is a Democrat and has been a member of the council several times and served as police judge. He is a member of the Ancient Order United Workmen and has been through all the chairs of that order, being at present overseer. He is also a member of the Triple Tie.