Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/151

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
PRINCE
PRINGLE

(1870). He published twenty-nine single sermons between 1717 and 1756; “An Account of the First Aurora Borealis” (1717); “Account of the English Ministers at Martha's Vineyard,” appended to Experience Mayhew's “Indian Converts” (1727); “A Sermon on the Death of Cotton Mather” (1728); “Memoirs” of Roger Clap, of Dorchester (1731); an edition of John Mason's “History of the Pequot War,” with introduction and notes (1736); “A Thanksgiving Sermon occasioned by the Capture of Louisburg” (1745); “Earthquakes of New England,” with an appendix on Franklin's discoveries in electricity (1755); and “The New England Psalm-Book, Revised and Improved” (1758). Several of his sermons are contained in the publications of the Massachusetts historical society, and six of his manuscript discourses were published after his death by Dr. John Erskine (Edinburgh, 1785). He also left a diary and other manuscripts. Mr. Prince began a work entitled “The Chronological History of England” in the form of annals, the first volume of which was published in 1736, and two numbers of the second in 1755. It is published in the collections of the Massachusetts historical society, and was edited by Nathan Hale, who published' it in book-form (Boston, 1826). Dr. Charles Chauncy said that Mr. Prince was “the most learned scholar, with the exception of Cotton Mather, in New England.” The Prince society, a printing association, was established in Boston in 1858.—His brother, Nathan, scholar, b. in Sandwich, Mass., 30 Nov., 1698; d. in the island of Ruatan, Honduras, 25 July, 1748, was graduated at Harvard in 1718, where he was tutor from 1723 till 1742, and of which he became a fellow in 1727. Subsequently he took orders in the Church of England, and was sent as a missionary to the Mosquito Indians in Central America. He published an “Essay to solve the Difficulties attending the Several Accounts given of the Resurrection” (Boston, 1734), and an “Account of the Constitution and Government of Harvard College from 1636 to 1742” (1742).—Thomas's son, Thomas, editor, b. in Boston, Mass., 27 Feb., 1722; d. there 30 Sept., 1748, was graduated at Harvard in 1740. He edited the earliest American periodical, which was entitled “Christian History,” and contained accounts of the revival and propagation of religion in Great Britain and America for 1743 (2 vols., 1744-'6).


PRINCE, William, horticulturist, b. in Flushing, L. I., 10 Nov., 1766; d. there, 9 April, 1842. In 1793 he bought eighty acres of land and extended the nurseries of his father in Flushing. He brought many varieties of fruits into the United States, sent many trees and plants from this country to Europe, and systematized the nomenclature of the best-known fruits, such as the Bartlett pear and the Isabella grape. The London horticultural society named for him the “William Prince” apple. He was a member of the horticultural societies of London and Paris, of the Imperial society of Georgofili of Florence, and of the principal American societies, and the meeting of horticulturists in 1823, at which De Witt Clinton delivered an address, was held at his residence. He published “A Treatise on Horticulture,” the first comprehensive book that was written in the United States upon this subject (New York, 1828).—His son, William Robert, horticulturist, b. in Flushing, L. I., 6 Nov., 1795; d. there, 28 March, 1869, was educated at Jamaica academy, L. I., and at Boucherville, Canada. He imported the first merino sheep into this country in 1816, continued the “Linnæan nurseries” of his father, and was the first to introduce silk-culture and the morus multicaulis for silk-worms in 1837, but lost a large fortune by this enterprise, owing to the change in the tariff, which destroyed this industry for several years. In 1849 he went to California, was a founder of Sacramento, and in 1851 travelled through Mexico. He introduced the culture of osiers and sorghum in 1854-'5, and the Chinese yam in 1854. With his father, he wrote a “History of the Vine” (New York, 1830); and, in addition to numerous pamphlets on the mulberry, the strawberry dioscorea, medical botany, etc., he published a “Pomological Manual” (2 vols., 1832); “Manual of Roses” (1846); and about two hundred descriptive catalogues of trees, shrubs, vines, plants, bulbs, etc.—William Robert's son, Le Baron Bradford, author, b. in Flushing, L. I., 3 July, 1840, is descended through his maternal ancestors from William Bradford, of the “Mayflower.” He was educated in Flushing, and was graduated at Columbia law-school in 1866. In 1871-'5 he was a member of the assembly for Queens county, and in 1872 was chairman of the judiciary committee which investigated the corrupt judiciary of New York city. He was a member of the National Republican conventions of 1868 and 1876. In 1876-'7 he was a member of the state senate. From 1879 till 1882 he was chief justice of New Mexico, and in 1880-'2 he was president of the bureau of immigration of that territory. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal general conventions between 1877 and 1886, and since 1877 has been a trustee of the Long Island cathedral. Since 1880 he has been chancellor of the jurisdiction of New Mexico and Arizona. He is the author of “Agricultural History of Queens County” (New York, 1861); “E Pluribus Unum, or American Nationality” (1868); “A Nation, or a League” (Chicago, 1880); “General Laws of New Mexico” (Albany, 1881); “History of New Mexico” (New York, 1883); and “The American Church and its Name” (New York, 1887).


PRING, Daniel, British naval officer, b. in England in 1780; d. in Port Royal. Jamaica, 29 Nov., 1847. He entered the navy at an early age, and was midshipman on the Jamaica station. He became lieutenant in 1807, at the beginning of the war of 1812 was in command of the Halifax station, and was subsequently assigned by Sir George Prevost to the charge of the provincial navy on the lakes. He was promoted commander in 1813, and while in charge of the "Linnet," a brig of sixteen guns and 100 men. in the squadron of Com. George Downie on Lake Champlain, participated in the battle of Plattsburg Bay. During a greater part of the fight the "Linnet" engaged the "Eagle," an American brig of twenty guns and 150 men, and forced her out of the line, but was subsequently compelled to strike her own colors. He was promoted post-captain in 1815 for bravery in that affair, and the next year was in command on Lake Erie. He became commodore in January, 1846.


PRINGLE, Benjamin, jurist, b. in Richfield, N. Y., 9 Nov., 1807. He received a good education and studied law, but gave up practice to become president of a bank at Batavia, N. Y. He was judge of Genesee county courts for one year, served two terms in congress in 1853-'7, having been elected as a Whig, and in 1863 was in the legislature. Subsequently he was appointed by President Lincoln a judge of the court of arbitration at Cape Town under the treaty of 1862 with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave-trade.


PRINGLE, John Julius, lawyer, b. in Charleston, S. C., 22 July, 1753 ; d. there, 17 March,