century association biographical archive

Earliest Members of the Century Association

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William Packer Prentice

Lawyer

Centurion, 1867–1915

Born 26 August 1834 in Albany, New York

Died 22 December 1915 in New York (Manhattan), New York

Buried Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York

Proposed by Abram S. Hewitt and Eastman Johnson

Elected 4 May 1867 at age thirty-two

Archivist’s Note: Father of Robert Kelly Prentice and William Kelly Prentice; nephew of James H. Prentice; son-in-law of Robert Kelly; brother-in-law of Robert Kelly; uncle of E. Parmalee Prentice

Seconder of:

Century Memorial

One of our oldest and, it may be added, most constant Centurians was William Packer Prentice. Born in 1834, he graduated from Williams in 1855, his Alma Mater subsequently making him an LL.D. Pursuing the studies he loved, he went to Göttingen, and received its Ph.D., in 1858, and afterwards graduated from the Albany Law School. He entered the Civil War with a Captain’s commission, as Assistant Adjutant-General of Volunteers, and when he retired it was as Lieutenant-Colonel and Adjutant-General of the 10th Army Corps and Chief of Staff of Major-General O. M. Mitchel. He took up the practice of law in New York, and as counsel for the City and State Boards of Health proved himself a useful citizen. From youth to age a scholar, he was one of the oldest members of the Greek Club, and became a member of this Association in 1867.

Henry Osborn Taylor
1916 Century Association Yearbook