This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org
website
Theodore Prentiss
1818 -
1906
First Mayor of Watertown
Hon. Theodore Prentiss [*]
THEODORE PRENTISS was born
September 10, 1818, at Montpelier, Vermont.
He is the eighth son of SAMUEL PRENTISS, formerly chief justice of the
supreme court of Vermont, subsequently United States senator for two terms, and
afterwards judge of the United States district court. His father was a native of Stonington,
Connecticut; his mother, LUCRETIA HOUGHTON before her marriage, was a native of
Northfield, Massachusetts. His paternal
and maternal grandfathers served in the revolutionary war, and his paternal
great-grandfather was a colonel in the war, from Stonington.
Mr.
PRENTISS pursued a course of study in the academy of his native town,
preparatory for college, and entered the University of Vermont in 1838, but
left the same year by reason of ill health, and went south. He returned in 1842, and studied law in his
father's office at Montpelier, and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He removed to Wisconsin in October, 1844, and
settled in Watertown, Wisconsin, in February, 1845. He was elected a member of the first and also
of the second convention for forming a state constitution; was a member of the
state legislature in 1861, and the same year was elected a member of the Board
of Regents of the State University, and three several times he has been mayor
of the city of Watertown. He married
MARTHA J. PERRY, of Montpelier, Vermont, December 4, 1855, and has three sons. He has been successful in business so as to
have acquired a fair competence.
The
services of Mr. PRENTISS in the Constitutional Conventions of 1846 and 1847-8,
were quite varied and important. In the
first, he was chairman of the committee on the acts of congress for the
admission of the state, and reported the article upon that subject, which,
after a single amendment suggested by himself, was unanimously adopted. In the
second convention, he served as chairman of the committee on schedule and other
miscellaneous provisions, in a manner equally acceptable to his associate
members. While he took but small part in
general debate, his brief speeches upon several pending propositions are
strikingly terse, logical, and to the point, proving a high order of mental
culture, and clear and discriminating judgment.
His services in both bodies bear the impress of marked ability; and the
same is equally true of his subsequent legislative labors.
He has ever held the position of a
prominent, sagacious, and in all senses upright and worthy citizen of a state
whose organic law he so ably assisted to perfect.
[*] SOURCE: Memorial Records of the Fathers of Wisconsin Containing
Sketches of the Lives and Career of the Members of the Constitutional
Conventions of 1846 and 1847-8 with a History of Early Settlement in Wisconsin. prepared by H. A. Tenney
and David Atwood http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/FH28,11387
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Watertown
was incorporated as a village in 1849, but the first city charter was passed by
the legislature in 1853 and Watertown elected its first mayor.
Watertown's
first mayor was a native of Montpelier, Vermont. He was Theodore Prentiss
and held office as the city's first mayor from 1853 to 1855. He was also
elected in 1871 and served until 1872.
Mr. Prentiss was born in Montpelier on
The Prentiss family, through genealogical sources, has been found to
date back to English and Puritan stock as early as the year 1318.
Stopped in Milwaukee
When Theodore Prentiss came to Wisconsin in 1845 he stopped in Milwaukee
where he lived for a short time with a cousin, William Prentiss, who was at the
time associated with Solomon Juneau.
Milwaukee records mention William Prentiss as early as 1836, the same
year that Watertown's first white settler - Timothy Johnson - arrived here.
William Prentiss was Milwaukee's mayor in 1858.
In February, 1845, Theodore Prentiss decided to come to Watertown. He
had been here for several short visits and felt the community offered great
possibilities. He decided to become an attorney here and practiced law.
He had purchased considerable land in Watertown and in time became associated
with railroad, banking and other interests. These interests became so extensive
that he was forced to give up his law practice in order to devote his full time
to his own business interests and investments.
Married in Vermont
In 1855 he had gone back to Vermont for a visit. While there he was
married on Dec. 5, that year, to Martha Perry, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel
Perry who became a Civil War surgeon and who was at the time living in
Burlington, Vt. Mr. Prentiss and his bride came to Watertown in 1856 and
took up residence at the Van Alstine Hotel in
Main Street until their home on [802] Clyman Street
was completed.
Three sons were born to them, Theodore Collins Prentiss, James Fred
Prentiss and George Nathaniel Prentiss. Their old home, which was then listed as being
on Clyman and Pritchard Streets, is now 99 years old
and is still occupied by members of the Prentiss family, which consists of the
widow of James Fred Prentiss and two grandchildren, James Prentiss and his
wife, the former Olive Kreuziger, and Miss
Helen Prentiss.
Served State Convention
Mr. Prentiss had become an active leader in the Watertown community
almost from the day be arrived. He had been a member of the first
Constitutional Convention held in Wisconsin in 1846 and also served the second
such convention held the following year. He also served several terms as
alderman and was a member of the State Assembly in 1860 and 1861.
One of the city's early day editors, D. W. Ballou
of the Watertown Democrat, a weekly
paper here, wrote of Mr. Prentiss as being "most modest in demeanor, an
able lawyer, clear minded and universally respected."
While in the Assembly he introduced a memorial for an equitable tariff
for freight and passengers on the La Crosse and Chicago railroad. He also
sponsored a petition governing the duties of assessors and a bill to repeal
personal liberty laws.
Watertown's railroad history,
which later became a war in the state, began during the administration of Mr.
Prentiss. At that time $80,000 was voted for railroad bonds to cover the cost
of constructing the Milwaukee - Watertown Railroad. The bonds were to be
secured by a bond from the railroad company and a mortgage on their
property. The bond was executed but the mortgage was never issued. Soon
thereafter the people thought that if one railroad was good, three or four,
which would center in Watertown would be better. Succeeding administrations
then voted to help finance the Watertown and Madison line and the Chicago, St.
Paul and Fond du Lac branch. However, in 1869, Theodore Prentiss was the
trusted adviser of Daniel Hall, another highly respected gentleman of
English-Puritan lineage who fought the case through the courts.
In the charter election of 1871 Theodore Prentiss was again chosen mayor.
However, on
The law office of Theodore Prentiss was above the Bank of Watertown. His son, James Fred Prentiss,
was associated with him after attending Beloit College and graduating from the
Wisconsin University Law School. The Beloit College Year Book reveals that William H.
Woodard also attended Beloit College and after graduating in law
from the University Law School began his practice in the office of Theodore
Prentiss.
Theodore Prentiss died
________________________________________________________________________________________________
1861 The Member from Watertown
04 11 Horace Rublee
of the Madison Journal is writing a
series of personal sketches of the prominent members of the Assembly. Among the rest, he gives the following
estimate of the character and services of the representative from this city.
“Hon.
Theodore Prentiss, of Jefferson County [and Watertown], is held in high
estimation by the members of our Assembly.
He has said but very little during the present session, being in the
minority, as he is of the Democratic school in politics, and also of a rather
modest turn of mind, he has chose to remain rather quiet in his seat, giving
strict attention to the interests of his constituents.
“Mr.
Prentiss is a lawyer by profession and is considered in his own city an able,
clear minded advocate. As a man he is
universally respected. His talents are
of a high order, but his modest demeanor and fine sensibility prevent his
becoming what some would term a leader in the present line of Wisconsin
Democracy. He is a sound, practicable
and most reliable gentleman, and if he should ever feel disposed to join our
Republican party, we would welcome him with all our heart. As a citizen we now regard him every way
worthy of public confidence.” WD
________________________________________________________________________________________________
·
In
1855 Prentiss built his Greek Revival style home at
Elaborate Fireplaces
The
home contains seven fireplaces, though many are closed and only one is used
regularly. Fireplaces in the mid 1800's were built without dampers, allowing
both cold drafts and squirrels to, enter at will.
Fireplaces
began as simple fixtures for cooking, for heating, and later in the century
became more, elaborate with emphasis on special decorations for the hearth. All
the rooms are large, with high ceilings, and for all these years the home has
been maintained in good condition.
