Prentice, Charles

Born: 1800-10-20 Pennsylvania

Died: 1837-11-22

Flourished: 1819-1837 Vandalia, Illinois

As early as 1819, Prentice lived in Vandalia, Illinois, when he began operating the town's first store. In 1826, he married Mary Hinds. Prentice served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1828 to 1830, and in 1829 he was one of three men who donated the land on which the city of Decatur was established. In 1835, he was named a commissioner of the State Bank of Illinois and the following year, he was one of the incorporators of the state's first attempt to create the Illinois Central Railroad.

Gravestone, Old State Cemetery, Vandalia, IL; History of Fayette County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1878), 26, 46; John Clayton, comp., Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 201; History of Macon County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1880), 52-53; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Fayette County, 1 June 1826, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; An Act to Incorporate the Subscribers to the Bank of the State of Illinois; An Act to Incorporate the Illinois Central Rail Road Company.