Name/Title
Prentice CorrespondenceEntry/Object ID
2023.50.05Scope and Content
Willard Prentice of Timonium, Maryland, who grew up in Douglas while his father was head of the Saugatuck Fruit Exchange, sends excerpts from a couple of letters his grandfather wrote to his nephew, Warren Prentice Rathbun and family in Connecticut. Willard writes, "I was fortunate to obtain the letters from the Rathbun family, who were savers in the true New England fashion." The writer, Warren Prentice, was born in Connecticut in 1827 and died in Allegan County in 1916.
"Douglas Feb. 6, 1907
To Warren, Wife and Family.
Well I think I have put it off long enough, so will try to make a few crow tracks and call it a letter.. . Well we are jogging along after the old fashion. Betsey is pretty well most of the time. Eva is here most half the time. They get up at 4 o'clock get their breakfast and she gets over here a little after sunrise and do a big days work here and then go home and do another one. You ought to see the basket of apples she fetched over here. They would make them that you got like small taters for they hung on the trees till they got their growth and colour of crimson and gold ... They commenced last fall to put thru that electric road from Douglas to South Haven. They got about two miles done and stopped for want of iron. Perhaps they will go with it again in the spring I don't know. If they get the road through it will be easy to get here, come to Kalamazoo and then to South Haven and then to Douglas..."
Note: "Betsey" is Betsey (Burdick) Prentice (1839-1921), Warren's wife. "Eva" (1879-1944) was Warren and Betsey's daughter. She married George Pshea and lived several miles from the Prentice farm. She pronounced Eva with a short "e" as in bed. Parts of another letter to the same nephew and wife about three years later follow:
Jan. 19, 1910
... Joe was elected Treasurer for this Township and that requires a great amount of writing and figuring especially where there is so much non resident land. He had to be in Douglas part of the time and in Saugatuck part of the time and there was a great many came here to pay their taxes and between the tax payers and other visitors it has kept things on a whirl most of the time. Well there was many things came here for Christmas. . . i could not remember them all ... but I remember the knit shaul and allso Warrens picture. Thank you very much as they are both appreciated. .. Betsey is sick and under the Doctors care for the last week.
Betsey and Ida send love.
Warren Prentice
Note: Joseph Prentice (1877-1961) was Warren's son. He was Saugatuck Township Treasurer in 1909 and 1910. Later he served as Township Supervisor and in other positions. He lived on the Prentice farm which was located on what is now called the Blue Star Highway, one and a half miles south of Douglas. In 1919 the Prentice family, moved to Douglas and the following year bought the large white house that had been built by D. C. Putnam and still stands behind the Douglas Municipal Building. Joseph Prentice was president of the Village of Douglas 1929 to 1931. "Ida" was the wife of Joseph Prentice.
Joseph and Ida Prentice had only one child, Willard Jenison Prentice, who became an engineer and worked 40 years for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. He was an observant resident of Douglas from 1919 until he left for college about 1927 and a frequent visitor thereafter.
Article author unknownContext
Background about the Prentice family, the Prentice farm, a failed railroad,Collection
SDHS NL Inserts, Family HistoryCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2023.50Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionNotes
SDHS Newsletter insert pages 5-6Location
* Untyped Location
Digital data in CatalogItRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Prentice, Betsy (Burdick) 1838-1921, Prentice, Warren 1827-1916, Prentice, Joseph Warren 1877-1961, Prentice, Ida (Brown) 1882-1964, Prentice, Willard Jenison 1908-2000, Pshea, Eva Lena (Prentice) 1879-1944General Notes
Note
This information was OCR text scanned from SDHS newsletter supplements. A binder of original paper copies is catalog item 2023.50.01Create Date
November 7, 2023Update Date
November 18, 2023