The Prince Family, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Feb. 2007 Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ THE PRINCE FAMILY BY JIM PERRIN, Local Historian One of the few Jewish families to settle in Ponchatoula in the nineteenth century was that of the Jacob Prince family. Jacob was born in Ratzk in the Russian dominated section of Poland about 1835. His native tongue was Yiddish, but he probably also spoke Polish, German, Russian, and of course later English. He came to America as a child and his family settled in New Orleans by the 1850's. Jacob married Miss Alvina Wohl about 1868, who was born about 1845 in Prussia. The couple moved to the Ponchatoula area by the summer of 1869 where they operated a retail store. Living with them during the 1869-1871 period was Alvina's brother Mark or Marcus Wohl, (b. ca. 1844 in Prussia) who also was a retail merchant. In 1879, Jacob and Alvina purchased Lots 13 & 14 in Square 42 facing Southeast Railroad Avenue and operated their store in that location. In 1884, they purchased part of an adjacent lot to help their business. Their store was located in the area presently occupied by C. J.'s Antiques recently remodeled building. Besides operating a retail store in Ponchatoula, Jacob also bought and sold a large number of properties in and around the town. He purchased extensive swamp lands south of Ponchatoula and contracted with the Illinois Central Railroad Company to supply them with railroad ties. Jacob and Alvina sold their business and land on Southeast Railroad Avenue in 1887 to Louis and Adolph Goldstein of New Orleans. Jacob and Alvina moved to New Orleans in 1887, where Jacob continued to contract with the railroad for cross ties. In 1890, his business was located at 340 Barrone Street in the Crescent City. Jacob died on the afternoon of 10 Dec. 1904 in New Orleans and the funeral was conducted from his home on 542 South Rampart Street. Alwina also died in New Orleans, 19 August 1927 at age 82. She and Jacob were buried in the Metairie Cemetery. Jacob and Alvina were the parents of three children: Meyer G. Prince; Selina Prince (b. ca. 1872, probably in Ponchatoula, m. 1892 to Abe Koritzky, a retail shoe merchant in New Orleans); and Corinne Prince (1877-1954), m. 1900 to Max Zander. Meyer George Prince was born about 1871 in Ponchatoula. He returned to New Orleans with his family in 1887 and in 1890 was working as a clerk in his father's contracting business. Meyer married Julia Mansberg in Dec. 1896 in New Orleans and they had two children: Joseph G. Prince, b. 1897; and Harold Sidney Prince, b. 1899. Soon after 1900, Meyer returned with his family to his boyhood home of Ponchatoula. He rented a store in the newly constructed Campbell Building near the corner of Northwest Railroad Avenue and West Pine Street in 1906 and operated a store in that location for several years. The Prince Store was in the oldest of the brick Campbell buildings, which was completed in late 1902 making it the oldest brick business building in Ponchatoula. Mr. Campbell later added the large brick building which sits on the southeast corner of that block in 1904. Meyer and Julia were living on Pine Street with their family when the census was conducted in 1910, and probably lived in a rented apartment above their store in the Campbell Building. Living with the family in 1910 was Julia's widowed mother Rebecca Mansberg. Meyer styled himself "The Merchant Prince of Ponchatoula," and was very active in all the civic and business activities in the town. He was serving as one of the directors of the Ponchatoula Homestead in 1914. Meyer Prince operated a real estate business in Ponchatoula for many years. When he sold his retail store and moved to New Orleans he left the local real estate operations in the hands of a Ponchatoula manager. For a time in the early 1920's Meyer's real estate office was located next to E. P. Cowen's Meat Market, but in 1924 when Mr. Cowen expanded his business to include a grocery store, the real estate office moved to the Ponchatoula Hotel which was located on the second floor of the Edwards Building on East Pine Street. William T. "Bill" Fannaly served as the local manager of the Prince Realty Company's Ponchatoula branch for several years. Meyer's main office was located at 734 Union Street in New Orleans and he lived at 6014 Coliseum Street. Meyer Prince, "The Merchant Prince of Ponchatoula," died on the morning of 15 June 1932 at his home in New Orleans and was buried in the Gates of Prayer Cemetery. His passing marked the close of more than six decades in which the Prince family was important to the commercial development of Ponchatoula. Anyone with questions, comments, or suggestions for future articles, may contact Jim Perrin at 386-4476.