Spouse Lucretia Prentiss | Name Samuel Prentiss Resigned April 11, 1842 | |
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Profession Politician, Lawyer, Judge Role Former United States Senator Political party National Republican Party, Whig Party | ||
Previous office Senator (VT) 1831–1842 | ||
Samuel Prentiss (March 31, 1782 – January 15, 1857) was a Vermont attorney, judge, and politician. He served as a Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, a United States Senator from Vermont and later a United States federal judge.
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Early life
Prentiss was born in Stonington, Connecticut on March 31, 1782. The fourth in his family to be named Samuel Prentiss, he was the son of Lucretia (Holmes) Prentiss and Samuel Prentiss III (1759-1818), a physician who served as an army surgeon during the American Revolution. His grandfather, Colonel Samuel Prentiss II (1736-1809), was also a veteran of the Revolution. The Dr. Samuel Prentiss family moved to Worcester, and then to Northfield in 1786, and the younger Samuel Prentiss completed his education in the schools of Northfield and with private tutoring in the classics from Reverend Samuel C. Allen. Prentiss studied law in Northfield with attorney Samuel Vose, and in Brattleboro, Vermont with attorney John W. Blake; he was admitted to the bar in 1802 and began a practice in Montpelier. Among the lawyers who received their education and training in his office was William Upham, who later served in the United States Senate. Prentiss was a trustee of Dartmouth College from 1820 to 1827; he received the honorary degrees of A.M. and LL.D. from Dartmouth in 1817 and 1832.
Career
In addition to practicing law, Prentiss became active in politics, first as a Federalist, and later as a National Republican, Anti-Jacksonian and Whig. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1816, and a member of the Vermont House of Representatives in 1824-1825. From 1825 to 1829, Prentiss was an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court; he was chief justice from 1829 to 1830.
In 1831, Prentiss was elected to the U.S. Senate as an Anti-Jacksonian. He was reelected as a Whig in 1837, and served from March 4, 1831 to April 11, 1842, when he resigned to accept appointment as a federal judge. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office (28th Congress), and he was the sponsor of the law to suppress dueling in the District of Columbia.
On April 8, 1842, Prentiss was nominated by President John Tyler to the seat on the United States District Court for the District of Vermont vacated by the death of Elijah Paine. Prentiss was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 8, 1842, and received his commission the same day. He served on the court until his death.
Death and burial
Prentiss died in Montpelier on January 18, 1857. He was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier.
Family
In 1804, Prentiss married Lucretia Houghton (1786-1855) of Northfield, Massachusetts. They were the parents of 12 children:
Theodore Prentiss was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Prentiss's brother John Holmes Prentiss was a United States Representative from New York.