Bertie County NcArchives Biographies.....Law, Prentis 1779 - 1811
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Gerald Thomas gerald_thomas00@comcast.net December 19, 2018, 2:44 pm

Source: Personal Research
Author: Gerald Thomas

PRENTIS LAW
ATTORNEY, LEGISLATOR, AND ARMY OFFICER
1779-1811
by
Gerald W. Thomas

About the middle of the first decade of the 1800s, Prentis Law  (1), a young
lawyer from New England, arrived in Windsor, Bertie County and established
residency in the town. Law, a native of Connecticut, was a member of a highly
influential and prestigious New England family. His father, Richard Law [Sr.],
graduated from Yale College in 1751 and became an attorney in Connecticut during
the mid-1750s. On September 21, 1760, Richard married Anna Prentis, daughter of
Capt. John Prentis and Sarah Christophers of New London. Richard served in the
Connecticut Assembly in 1765 and became a member of that state’s Council of
Safety in 1776. (2) He also served as a member of the Governor’s Council until
1786. Law served in the Continental Congress in 1777, and 1781 to 1782. In 1784
he was appointed Chief Judge of the New London County Court and the Superior
Court. He further served as a Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court until
1789. In 1789 President George Washington appointed Law the United States
District Judge for Connecticut – a position he held until his death (January 26,
1806). Furthermore, Law served as mayor of New London for more than two decades,
from 1784 until he died.
	Prentis Law was born in New London on April 15, 1779. He was one of nine
children born unto Richard and Anna. He may have graduated from Yale College –
his father’s alma mater – in the early 1800s. Upon relocating to Bertie County,
Prentis quickly gained the respect and confidence of Bertie County’s citizens as
they elected him to represent the county in North Carolina’s House of Commons
during the 1806 Assembly (November 17 – December 21, 1806). He served only
during that session.3
	Prentis apparently never married. However, during late spring 1807 he engaged
George Clifton (of Bertie County) in a duel over the desired affection of a Mrs.
Blanchard (apparently a widow). During the morning of June 11, Law and Clifton
met at Somerton, Nansemond County, Virginia. The two men faced off with dueling
pistols and Law shot Clifton in his side. The wound was not mortal. The ball was
immediately extracted from the wound and a week later a Raleigh newspaper
reported that "hopes are entertained for [Clifton’s] recovery." Clifton indeed
recovered and subsequently, he and Mrs. Blanchard were married. She died about a
year after the marriage.
	A little more than a month after the duel, Prentis Law and other leading Bertie
County citizens gathered in Windsor to express their anger over a British
warship’s recent attack on an American war vessel. At the time relations between
the United States and Great Britain were strenuous. On June 22, 1807, the
British frigate Leopard fired upon the American frigate Chesapeake. The
Chesapeake, unprepared for an armed confrontation, struck its colors and
surrendered after being fired upon. The incident occurred in the Atlantic Ocean
immediately off Norfolk, Virginia, and resulted in the killing of three United
States crewmen. A "large number" of the citizens of Bertie County—angered by the
British warship’s attack and other "unfriendly & hostile dispositions manifested
by the government of Great-Britain towards the U. States"—met at the courthouse
in Windsor. Those in attendance sought to express openly their resentment toward
the British. The group drew up several resolutions expressive of their
sentiments toward Great Britain. The resolutions were transmitted to President
Thomas Jefferson and North Carolina’s governor, Nathaniel Alexander.
	An Act of Congress of August 8, 1808, reactivated the Third Regimen United
States Infantry. (The regiment had been discharged from service in June 1802.)
Edward Pasteur of New Bern was appointed colonel of the unit for which men were
primarily recruited across eastern North Carolina. Congressman Thomas Blount
recommended Prentis Law for an officer’s appointment.4 As a result, Law was
appointed a captain in the regiment on July 1, 1808 and became a company
commander. In February 1809 the War Department ordered Colonel Pasteur to
rendezvous his regiment at Washington, N.C. and embark for New Orleans in the
Orleans Territory. Some men departed Washington on February 14 aboard the
schooner Experiment owned by John Gray Blount. However, all companies of the
Third Regiment did not depart at that time. Captain Law’s company apparently
remained at Washington since its members had not been provided arms. In March a
War Department official informed Pasteur that arms for Law’s men would be sent
to the cantonment at Washington. In April 1809 the War Department directed
Pasteur to have the remainder of the soldiers to sail "with the least possible
delay" for New Orleans. By the end of April 1809, the vast majority of the
members of the Third Regiment had arrived in the Orleans and Mississippi
Territories.
Capt. Prentis Law served with the Third Regiment until he died (apparently of
illness or disease) at Washington, the capital of the Mississippi Territory, on
May 11, 1811. Law was thirty-two years old.5


NOTES

1.	Law’s first name is recorded as "Prentiss" and "Prentice" in various records.
2.	The Connecticut Council of Safety was an advisory body to assist the Governor
in military matters during the Revolutionary War. The Council was entirely
subordinate to the Governor.
3.	In accordance with the North Carolina Constitution of 1776, each county was
allowed two members in the House of Commons. Only property owners were eligible
to serve – House members were required to own at least one hundred acres of
land. No deeds have been found in the records of the Bertie County Register of
Deeds office to document that Prentis Law acquired land in Bertie County.
Freemen who were twenty-one years of age and who had resided in the county for
twelve months immediately preceding an election were entitled to vote for
members of the House of Commons for the county in which they resided. Elections
to the General Assembly were held annually until the Constitution of 1835 was
effectuated (after which elections were held every other year except for a brief
period of annual elections during Reconstruction (1865-1877)). Joseph Eason also
served from Bertie County in the House of Commons during the 1806 session.
4.	Thomas Blount was the son of Jacob Blount and Barbara Gray. Barbara, a native
of Bertie County, was the daughter of John Gray. Thomas Blount was a wealthy
landowner, merchant, congressman, and Revolutionary War soldier. He was a member
of House of Representatives during four sessions of the United States Congress
(3rd, 4th, 9th, and 12th Congresses).
5.	Lyman Law, brother of Prentis Law, served in the United States House of
Representatives from Connecticut (1811-1817). Another brother, Richard Law Jr.
served as a captain in the United States Navy during the Revolutionary War. Law
became a career naval officer. A third brother, Benjamin Law, also served as an
officer in the nation’s military forces. John Law, son of Lyman Law (and nephew
of Prentis Law), served in the United States House of Representatives from
Indiana during the Civil War (1861-1865).



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