Presented to Princeton Theological Seminary 
 By the $ev. Wendell Prime, t).t>. 
 
 To be Kept Always as a Separate Collection. 
 
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THE PRIME FAMILY 
 
NOTES 
 
 GENEALOGICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL AND 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL, 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PRIME FAMILY 
 
 By E. D. G. PRIME, D.D. 
 
 PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE 
 
 1888 
 
COPYRIGHT SECURED. 
 
PREFATORY. 
 
 THESE Notes are printed, not for publication, but 
 for more convenient preservation and reference, in 
 one branch of the family to which they relate. They 
 are dedicated by the compiler to the memory of his 
 father, the Eev. Nathaniel Scudder Prime, D.D., a 
 man of rare intellectual endowments, an accomplished 
 scholar, a faithful minister of the Gospel, a friend and 
 active promoter of popular and liberal education, a 
 fearless and uncompromising advocate of what he be- 
 lieved to be true and right. He left his impress upon 
 the generation in which he lived, and especially upon 
 the hearts of his children ; one chief incentive in whose 
 lives has been a desire to emulate his zeal in the acqui- 
 sition and diffusion of useful knowledge, and to keep in 
 honor his name by carrying out the principles and aims 
 which he instilled into their minds. 
 
 E. D. G. P. 
 New York, 
 
 January 2, 1888. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 Page 
 
 The Puritan Exodus 7 
 
 Milford Plantation 9 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Prime 17 
 
 Benjamin Y. Prime, M.D 37 
 
 Rev. Nathaniel S. Prime, D.D 49 
 
 Mrs. Maria M. Cumings 71 
 
 Alanson J. Prime, M.D 75 
 
 Rev. S. Iren^eus Prime, D.D 79 
 
 Rev. Edward D. G. Prime, D.D . 91 
 
 Mrs. Cornelia P. Stevenson 97 
 
 G. Wendell Prime 99 
 
 William C. Prime, LL.D 101 
 
 James B. and John P. Jermain 107 
 
 Prime Family Library Ill 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS. 
 
 THE earlier colonies of New England were appro- 
 priately called " Plantations." The seed was here 
 sown which for two centuries and a half has been bear- 
 ing fruit, not alone on this continent, but the world 
 over. The full harvest has not yet been garnered, and 
 will not be until the Son of Man shall send forth his 
 reapers at the end of the world to gather the sheaves 
 from the four quarters of the globe. 
 
 The story of the settlement of New England is a 
 familiar one. It was the fruit of the spirit of persecu- 
 tion that prevailed in Old England in the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries. That spirit was kept alive 
 during the reign of Henry VIII. ; it burst into a name 
 under " the bloody Mary ; " it was only partially sup- 
 pressed in the days of Elizabeth; it broke out with 
 fresh violence under James I. During these latter 
 reigns many of whom England and the world were 
 not worthy were driven from their native land to 
 this Western wilderness, to seek a place where they 
 might worship God according to the dictates of their 
 own consciences, and the way was preparing for the 
 greater exodus that took place under Charles I. Of 
 the more than twenty thousand Puritans who left Eng- 
 
8 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 land for America before the opening of the Long Par- 
 liament in 1641, nineteen-twentieths emigrated during 
 the period in which Charles I. held the royal sceptre, 
 and Archbishop Laud the torch of persecution. Of 
 this period the historian Bancroft says: "The pillory 
 "had become the bloody scene of human agony and 
 " mutilation as an ordinary punishment, and the friends 
 " of Laud jested on the sufferings which were to cure 
 " the obduracy of fanatics. They were provoked to the 
 " indiscretion of a complaint, and then involved in a per- 
 " secution. They were imprisoned and scourged ; their 
 " noses were slit ; their ears were cut off ; their cheeks 
 " were marked with a red-hot brand. But the lash and 
 " the shears and the glowing iron could not destroy 
 " principles which were rooted in the soul, and which 
 " danger made it glorious to confess." 
 
 Alarmed by the departure of so many whom it could 
 ill afford to lose, though professing to despise their prin- 
 ciples, the Government took active measures to prevent 
 the increasing emigration. But the tide continued to 
 flow out and to set irresistibly toward the New World, 
 which was predestined as the land of freedom, — religious 
 and civil. 
 
 Among those who left England during this period 
 were James and Mark Prime, brothers. The latter 
 joined the colony which settled the town of Piowley, 
 Mass. From him was descended the family distin- 
 guished in the financial history of New York city in 
 connection with the banking-house of Prime, Ward, and 
 King. James Prime joined the colony that settled 
 Milford, Conn. To him and to his descendants in one 
 direct line the following records will be confined. 
 
MILFORD PLANTATION. 
 
 MILFOKD was one of the six independent settle- 
 ments which were afterward united in what was 
 known as the " Old Jurisdiction of New Haven." The 
 colonies that formed this union were New Haven, Mil- 
 ford, Guilford, Branford, and Stamford in Connecticut, 
 and Southold on Long Island. The main body of these 
 colonists arrived in detachments in 1638, and made 
 New Haven their common place of rendezvous; but 
 they did not unite in any common government, nor 
 did the several colonies join in any church relation. 
 The majority of them remained at New Haven, waiting 
 until they should decide on their respective locations. 
 Either before leaving England, or while on the way 
 hither, they had chosen for settlement the tract of land 
 on Long Island Sound between the Connecticut Eiver 
 and the New York boundary, — » a region which was still 
 inhabited exclusively by Indians ; but the precise lo- 
 cality of each colony had not been selected, except in 
 the case of New Haven. 
 
 The land eventually chosen by the Milford Colony, 
 situated about ten miles west of New Haven, was 
 purchased of the Indians in the winter of 1638-39. 
 The deed bears date Feb. 12, 1639, but the settlement 
 
10 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 was not begun until the following summer. On the 
 22d of August, 1639 (the day on which the church of 
 New Haven was organized), the Milford church also 
 was formed at the same place. As soon as the latter 
 organization was completed, the colonists took up the 
 line of march through the primeval forest, following 
 an Indian trail by a devious route to the site of the 
 present town of Milford. Arriving at their destina- 
 tion, they set up their banner in the name of the Lord, 
 — a little company in a great wilderness, but a free and 
 independent people, owning no allegiance, civil or reli- 
 gious, save to the King of kings, the Supreme Head of 
 the Church. 
 
 At the first general meeting of the colonists, called 
 "The General Court," it was voted "That they would 
 " guide themselves in all their doings by the rule of the 
 " written Word of God till such time as a body of laws 
 " should be established." 
 
 At the same meeting it was voted " That the power 
 " of electing officers and persons to divide the land into 
 " lots, to take order for the timber, and to manage the 
 " common interests of the Plantation, should be in the 
 " church only ; and that the persons so chosen should 
 "be only from among themselves." Those who were 
 thus exclusively invested by their church membership 
 with the rights of citizenship in the colony were called 
 " freemen." The Indian name of the place, Wepowaug, 
 was retained until the meeting of the " General Court," 
 Nov. 24, 1640, when it was changed to Milford. The 
 earliest map of the colony known to exist, bearing date 
 1646, has, among the names of settlers and owners of 
 lots designated, that of James Prime. He arrived at 
 
MILFORD PLANTATION. 11 
 
 Milford in 1644, coming, it is believed, from near Don cas- 
 ter, Yorkshire, England, and being of Huguenot descent. 
 The name was variously written in England, — Prime, 
 Pryme, Preem, etc. In the early official records of Mil- 
 ford, James Prime is called " Ereeman " and " Planter." 
 He died in 1685, leaving a considerable estate, a minute 
 inventory of which, including several tracts of land in 
 and around Milford, personal property, household fur- 
 niture, and farming implements, made out by appraisers 
 and sworn to before E. Treat, governor, is on record in 
 the Probate Court of New Haven County. 
 
 James Prime, of Milford Colony, left a son, James 
 Prime, 2d, who, according to the family record, lived 
 to be a hundred and three years and some months old. 
 He died at Milford, July 18, 1736, his wife, Sarah, 
 having died Aug. 20, 1721. He had three sons, James, 
 Joseph, and Ebenezer ; and seven daughters, Martha, 
 Elizabeth, Sarah, Eebekah, Mary, Deborah, and Hannah. 
 James Prime, 2d, was a large landholder, as appears 
 from the town records of Milford, which contain thirty- 
 four deeds of land executed by him during the period 
 extending from 1686 to 1736, the year of his death. 
 He was also one of the original proprietors of the 
 township of New Milford, on the Housatonic Eiver, 
 which was purchased in 1702, and settled chiefly by 
 families from Milford. He does not appear to have 
 resided at New Milford at any time, but is set down 
 in the records among the non-residents, on whom a 
 special tax was levied for the building of the meeting- 
 house and the support of the ministry. James Prime, 
 3d (son of James Prime, 2d), purchased the " Eights " 
 of his father at New Milford, became a resident of that 
 
12 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 town, a deacon in the church, and the progenitor of a 
 numerous branch of the family at that place and in 
 the township of Washington, which was subsequently 
 set off from New Milford by State enactment. 1 
 
 The last will and testament of James Prime, 2d, of 
 Milford, copied from the Eecords of New Haven County, 
 is here given as a specimen of the legal documents of 
 that period. It does not materially differ from the 
 forms that are in use at the present day, but its per- 
 sonal features are interesting. 
 
 "LAST WILL & TESTAMENT OF JAMES PRIME, 
 OF MILFORD, CONN. 
 
 " In the name of God Everlasting, Amen. This 
 " 23 d day of September, in the Sixth yeare of y e 
 " Reigne of o r Sovereign Lord, George y e Second, 
 "King of Great Britain, Anno Dom. 1732, J, James 
 " Prime of Milford, in y e County of New Haven, in 
 " His Majesty's Colony of Connecticut, in New Eng- 
 
 1 In some of the New England settlements, after the first meeting- 
 houses were built, one of the problems appears to have been to seat 
 the people according to rank, so that all should be satisfied. At New 
 Milford, for instance, Deacon James Prime was appointed on a com- 
 mittee to gather timber for the completion of the meeting-house, 
 which had already been occupied in an unfinished state. When it 
 was completed, the matter of seating the congregation came up. It 
 was voted that " Dignity shall be allowed in the business ; that the 
 " highest seat is the pew next to the pulpit ; the second is the forward 
 "seat in the body of seats; the third is the hinder pew." It was 
 then voted that " All men in this town that bear lists shall be first 
 " seated in four ranks, according to tax-lists ; then all that are 16 
 "years of age shall be seated according to their age; the widows 
 " shall keep their seats ; Mr. Samuel Brown's wife shall keep her 
 " seat ; and Deacon Prime's wife shall sit in the middle pew." 
 
MILFORD PLANTATION. 13 
 
 " land, Being arrived to Old Age & Being weak of 
 " Body but of Sound Mind & Memory (thanks be 
 "given unto God therefore), calling unto mind the 
 " Mortality of my Body, & knowing it is Appointed 
 " for man once to Dye, do Make & Ordain this my 
 " last Will & Testament; that is to say: Principally 
 " & first of all, J Give & Recommend my soul into 
 "y e Hands of God y* Gave it, & my body J recom- 
 " mend unto y e Earth to be Buryed in decent & Chris- 
 " tian Buryall by my Executors, & at their Discretion, 
 " nothing doubting but at the General Resurrection 
 " I shall Receive y e same again by the Mighty power 
 " of God ; & as touching my worldly Goods & 
 " Estate wherewith it has pleased God to bless me, J 
 " Give, Devise, & Dispose in the following manner 
 " & form, viz. : — 
 
 " Imp r -. My Will is that all my just Debts, Dues, 
 " & Demands y l may be made upon my Estate & my 
 " Funerall charges be first Payd by my Ex rs . 
 
 " Item. J Give, Dispose, & Bequeath to my daugh- 
 " ter Sarah Plumb the sum of One Hundred Pounds 
 " as money, to her & her heirs forever, to be paid 
 " out of my Estate by my Executors. 
 
 " Item. J Give, Dispose, & Bequeath to my eldest 
 " daughter Martha Prindle y e sum of One Hundred 
 " Pounds as money, to be paid to her out of my 
 " Estate by my Executors. 
 
 " Item. J Give, Dispose, & Bequeath to my daugh- 
 ter Rebekah Clarke, & to her heirs forever, the 
 " sum of One Hundred Pounds as money, to be paid 
 " by my Executors out of my Estate. 
 
 " Item. J Give, Dispose, & Bequeath to my daugh- 
 
14 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 " ter Mary Ford, & to her heirs forever, the sum of 
 
 " One Hundred Pounds as money, to be paid out of 
 
 " my Estate by my Executors. 
 
 " Item. J Give, Dispose, & Bequeath to my daugh- 
 
 " ter Deborah Prime, & to her heirs forever, the sum 
 
 " of One Hundred Pounds as money, to be paid out 
 
 " of my Estate by my Executors. 
 
 " Item. J Give & Bequeath unto my daughter 
 
 " Hannah Prime, & to her heirs forever, the sum of 
 
 " One Hundred Pounds as money, to be paid out of 
 
 " my Estate by my Executors. 
 
 " Item. My Will is if either of my daughters y t 
 
 " are not yet married shall dye before Marriage & 
 " without ifsue, y e s d Legacy given to y e daughter y* 
 " shall lodge shall be Equally Divided by the Sur- 
 viving Children. 
 
 " Item. J Give, Dispose, & Bequeath to my three 
 " sons, James Prime, Joseph Prime, & Ebenezer Prime, 
 " all the rest & remainder of my Goods & Estate, 
 " both Reall & Personall whatsoever, y* is not before 
 " Given & Disposed of by me, to them & their heirs 
 " & assignes forever, Equally to be divided, that is to 
 " say, to each of them y e s d James, Joseph, & Eben- 
 " ezer, one third part thereof, to them, their heirs & 
 " assignes forever. 
 
 " Item. My Will is, & J do hereby Constitute & 
 " Nominate & Appoint my three sons, James Prime, 
 "Joseph Prime, & Ebenezer Prime, to be the only 
 " & sole Executors of this my last Will & Testament, 
 " & J do hereby dysanyull, revoke, & make void all 
 " other Testaments, Wills, Legacys, Bequests Exe- 
 " cuted by me anyways before made, namd, willd, & 
 
MILFORD PLANTATION. 15 
 
 " bequeathe!. Ratefying & Confirming of this to be 
 " my last Will & Testament, J have hereunto sett my 
 "hand & affix d my seal y e day & date first above 
 " written. 
 
 " James Prime, his 
 
 " Signed, Sealed, Published, & dec d by James Prime 
 " as his last Will & Testament, in y e Presence of John 
 " Fowler, Ephraim Strong, John Gand. 
 
 " Proved, Milford, Sept. 6th, 1736." 
 
REV. EBENEZER PRIME. 
 
 EBENEZEE PEIME, third son of James Prime, 2d, 
 and Sarah his wife, was born at Milford, Conn., 
 July 21, 1700. He pursued his studies under the direc- 
 tion of his pastor, the Eev. Samuel Andrew, who was 
 then acting-president of what afterward was known 
 as Yale College. At the beginning of the last century 
 there were only two collegiate institutions in the coun- 
 try, — Harvard in Massachusetts, and William and Mary 
 in Virginia. In 1701 the Legislature of Connecticut 
 chartered a collegiate school, which in the early diplo- 
 mas was styled Gymnasium Academicum. It was nom- 
 inally located at Saybrook, but for many years it waited 
 on the convenience of its presiding officer. On the 
 death of the first " rector," the Eev. Abraham Pierson, of 
 Killingworth, in 1707, the Eev. Samuel Andrew, pastor 
 at Milford, was chosen " rector pro tempore" and con- 
 tinued to discharge the duties of the position until the 
 college was permanently located at New Haven in 1716. 1 
 
 1 Rev. Samuel Andrew (pronounced " one of the best scholars of 
 his time") was fifty-two years pastor at Milford. He was born at 
 Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 29, 1656, and was graduated at Harvard Col- 
 lege in 1675. He was one of the projectors and founders of Yale 
 College, was a trustee from the date of its charter until his death, 
 thirty-six years, and rector, or president, pro tempore nine years. He 
 
 2 
 
18 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 The senior class was under his immediate instruction 
 at Milford, the lower classes being under tutors at 
 Saybrook. 
 
 Ebenezer Prime was graduated in 1718, 1 when the first 
 college building was completed at New Haven and in- 
 augurated in time for holding the Commencement ex- 
 ercises within its walls. A history of the College says, 
 " This Commencement was a memorable occasion, and 
 " was celebrated in a style which far surpassed anything 
 " known before in the history of the College." The name 
 "Yale" was given to the new building in honor of the 
 benefactor of the College, Governor Elihu Yale ; it was 
 not adopted as the corporate title of the institution 
 until the year 1745, when a new charter was obtained 
 from the Legislature. 
 
 After his graduation Mr. Prime began the study 
 of divinity, — probably under his pastor, Mr. Andrew. 
 In 1719, before he had completed his eighteenth year, 
 he received an invitation from Huntington, Long 
 Island, to become an assistant to the Kev. Eliphalet 
 Jones, who was for nearly sixty years pastor of the 
 church at that place. He accepted the invitation, 
 and preached his first sermon at Huntington, June 
 21, 1719. After serving as assistant-minister four 
 years, he was ordained and installed pastor, June 5, 
 1723. 
 
 The following records were made in the session-book 
 
 was one of the ministers who, by order of the General Court of Con- 
 necticut, met in synod at Saybrook in 1708 and adopted the manual 
 of doctrine and discipline known as "The Saybrook Platform." He 
 died at Milford, Jan. 24, 1737-8, aged eighty-two. 
 
 1 Ebenezer Prime was two years in college with Jonathan Ed- 
 wards, who was three years his junior in age, and two in graduation. 
 
REV. EBENEZER PRIME. 19 
 
 of the Presbyterian Church of Huntington by the hand 
 of the Eev. Ebenezer Prime : — 
 
 " My ordination to the Sacred Service of y e gospel 
 "ministry in Huntington was attended on June 5, 1723. 
 " The Reverend Presbyters that carried on y e solem- 
 " nity were : 
 
 " M r - Eliphalet Jones, Huntington; 
 
 " M r - Joseph Webb, Fairfield ; 
 
 " M- Ebenezer White, Bridgehampton ; 
 
 " M' Stephen Buckingham, Norwalk ; 
 
 " M- Samuel Chapman, Greensfarm ; 
 
 " M- Benjamin Woolsey, Southold. 
 
 " The sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Chap- 
 " man, & the charge was given by the Rev. Mr. Jones 
 " in the following words : " 
 
 Here follows the charge, copied in full. 
 
 " Recognitio Mortis Parentum tempore elapso. 
 
 " On y e 20 of August, 1721, Sarah Prime, my ten- 
 " der & godly mother, departed this life at Milford. 
 
 " In the same town dyed mine aged father on y e 
 " 18th of Iuly, 1736. Lam. 3, 19: Remembering mine 
 "affliction & my misery, y e wormwood & y e gall; 
 " (v. 20) my soul hath them still in remembrance, & is 
 "humbled in me. 
 
 " The clouds return after the rain ; & I have rea- 
 " son with deep humiliation to say to my God, at Job, 
 " ch. 10, 17: Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, 
 "& increasest thine indignation upon me; changes 
 " & war are against me, For, 
 
20 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 " On October 3-, 1736, after a short but violent 111— 
 " ness, dyed at Huntington, of the throat distemper, 
 " my dear Sister Hannah Prime. 
 
 "Job 17: 14: I have said to corruption, thou art 
 " my father, to the worm, thou art my mother & my 
 " sister. 
 
 " Ebenezer Prime & Margaret Sylvester were mar- 
 "ried at Shelter-Island Oct. 2^, 1723, by y e Rev. M r - 
 " Benjamin Woolsey, of Southold. 
 
 " Ebenezer, Son of Ebenezer Prime & Margaret 
 " his wife, was born at Huntington, July y e 11-, 1724, 
 " between one & two post meridiem, it being Satur- 
 " day, & baptized July y e 12th anno eodem. 
 
 " Margaret, daughter of Ebenezer Prime & Mar- 
 " garet his wife, was born at Huntington on Saturday 
 " morning about two or three of y e clock, it being 
 "Aprily e 9-, 1726. Baptized the day following. 
 
 " Horresco Refer ens. 
 " On the 26th day of Sept., 1726, between twelve & 
 " one post meridiem, Margaret, wife of Ebenezer Prime, 
 " y e Beloved wife of his Youth, departed this life in 
 " Huntington, having lived in a married state three 
 " years wanting six days. 
 
 " Ebenezer Prime & Experience Youngs were mar- 
 " ried at Southold, November y e 12th, 1730, by y e 
 " Rev. M^ Benj n Woolsey, of Southold. 
 
 " Mary Prime, daughter of Ebenezer Prime & Ex- 
 " perience his wife, was born at Huntington, Sep* y e 
 " 12th, 1731, at about 12 o'clock in y e morning, & bap- 
 " tized Sept. y e 19th anno eodem. 
 
REV. EBENEZER PRIME. 21 
 
 " Sarah Prime, Daughter of Ebenezer Prime & 
 " Experience his wife, was born at Huntington, Sept. 
 " y e 15th, 1732, on Friday, about eight o'clock in y e 
 " morning, & baptized y e Lord's day following, Sept. 
 " 17th ; 
 
 " And dyed, Precious Babe ! December 12th, 1732, 
 " aged three months, wanting three days. 
 
 " God is righteous in all his ways & holy in all his 
 works. Rom. v: 13, 14. 
 
 " Benjamin Youngs Prime, son of Ebenezer Prime 
 " & Experience his wife, was born December y e 9th, 
 " 1733, at about 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning, it being 
 " the Lord's day, & was baptized in the afternoon 
 " of the same. 
 
 "Breach upon breach! Job 16: 14. On y e first 
 " day of January, 1733-4, dyed at Huntington, in child- 
 " bed, Experience Prime, the second wife of Ebenezer 
 " Prime, in the 35th year of her age; being born at 
 " Southold, Novemb r y e 6th, 1699, & having lived in 
 " a married state three years, one month, & nineteen 
 " days. Job 10: 12. 
 
 " Gen. 11 : 28 : And Haran died before his father 
 " in the land of his nativity. But when the order of 
 " nature is inverted, the appointment of God takes 
 " place & is executed. Heb. ix: 27. 
 
 "Wednesday morning, Octob r 20, 1742, between 
 u one & two, my dear Son Ebenezer Prime departed 
 " this life, aged 18 years, 3 months, & 9 days. And 
 " I trust is now triumphing with Christ in glory. 1 With 
 
 1 Ebenezer Prime, Jr., whose death is here recorded, was a student 
 in Yale College. While in his junior year, and spending a vacation 
 at his home in Huntington, he was taken ill with a fever. He had 
 
22 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 " low submission, O God ! enable me to bow to thy 
 " D. sovereignty, for Jesus' sake. Amen. 
 
 "January 19th, 1749-50. Alas! Alas! I have rea- 
 " son to mourn bitterly & to be deeply humbled 
 " before the Lord ; For on this day, between eleven 
 " & twelve, departed this life my dear daughter 
 " Margaret Brown, in Huntington, wife to the Rev. 
 " Mr. James Brown, of Bridgehampton, agtd 23 
 "years 9 months & 10 days. 
 
 " The only branch of my family by my first mar- 
 " riage is now taken away. But blessed be God for 
 " the abundant reason I have to hope that she is now 
 " triumphing with Christ in glory, whither I trust her 
 " dear brother ascended more than three years ago. 
 
 " But, Alas ! Alas ! I am here in a world of sin & 
 " sorrow. The root is waxed old & dried up in the 
 " earth, & both the sprigs are cut off as with a prun- 
 " ing hook, so that I am as a poor old tree bereaved 
 " of these precious branches. Yet I desire to bless 
 " God & to say, as in Job 1:21. 
 
 given evidence of sincere piety, and had been admitted to the com- 
 munion of the church. When informed that his end was near, after 
 addressing a few affectionate and earnest words of exhortation to 
 his younger brother, he exclaimed : " My flesh and my heart faileth, 
 but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever ; " and 
 immediately passed away. Most affectionate allusions to his early 
 death and his lovely Christian character are made in the diaries both 
 of his father and his brother. The following inscription was placed 
 upon his tombstone : — 
 
 " Here lies a youth, adult in virtue grown, 
 In whom the beams of heavenly knowledge shone ; 
 His early zeal, the consequence of faith, 
 Denotes him bless'd in his lamented death ; 
 Too good to live, he quits this earthly stage 
 T'enjoy the bliss of an eternal age." 
 
EEV. EBENEZER PRIME. 23 
 
 " Ebenezer Prime & Hannah Carll were married at 
 " Huntington, March y e nth, 175 1/2 0. S., by y e Rev. 
 " Mr Naphtali Dagget. 
 
 " Dec. y e 10th, 1756. This day departed this life 
 " my dear & only daughter, Mary, the wife of Jer. 
 " Wood, aged 25 years, 2 months, & 19 days, having 
 " lived in a married state 3 years, 3 months, & 24 
 " days. Left two motherless, a son & daughter. 
 
 " A bitter day ! a bitter dispensation ! But Oh how 
 " much more bitter is Sin ! my sins ! Yet blessed be 
 " God, I do not mourn altogether without hope. 
 
 " On Fryday morning, about 6 o'clock, February y e 
 " 9th, 1776, my third loving wife departed this life, 
 " having completed the 70th year of her age." 
 
 End of records by Ebenezer Prime. 
 
 Ebenezer Prime, as appears from the foregoing records, 
 was three times married. 
 
 First Marriage : Oct. 2, 1723, to Margaret Sylves- 
 ter, of Shelter Island, by whom he had two children ; 
 namely, — 
 
 Ebenezer, born July 11, 1724, died at Huntington, 
 Oct. 20, 1742 ; 
 
 Margaret, born April 9, 1726, married Dec. 14, 1749, 
 to Rev. James Brown, of Bridgehampton, died Jan. 19, 
 1750; 
 
 Margaret Sylvester, wife of Rev. Ebenezer Prime, 
 died Sept. 26, 1726. 
 
 Second Marriage : Nov. 12, 1730, to Experience 
 Youngs, of Southold, Long Island, who was born Nov. 
 6, 1699. She was a daughter of Benjamin Youngs, and 
 
24 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 granddaughter of the Eev. John Youngs, first minister 
 of Southold, who came from Hingham, Norfolk, Eng- 
 land, in 1640, with his church, to New Haven, Conn., 
 where his church was reorganized, and whence pastor 
 and people together went to Southold. The sister of 
 Experience Youngs was the mother of John Ledyard, 
 the celebrated traveller, who accompanied Captain Cook 
 on his third voyage around the world. 
 
 The children of Ebenezer and Experience Youngs 
 Prime were: 
 
 1. Mary, born Sept. 12, 1731, who was married to 
 Israel Wood, of Huntington, Long Island, Aug. 16, 
 1753, and died Dec. 10, 1756. 
 
 2. Sarah, born Sept. 15, 1732, and died December 12 
 the same year. 
 
 3. Benjamin Youngs, born Dec. 20, 1733, o. s. His 
 mother, Experience Youngs Prime, died Jan. 1, 1734, 
 leaving him an infant three weeks old. 
 
 Benjamin Youngs Prime survived all his immediate 
 kindred. By him alone in this particular line of the 
 family the name of Prime was perpetuated. On coin- 
 ing of age he dropped the final letter of his middle 
 name, being known thereafter as Benjamin Young 
 Prime. 
 
 TJiird Marriage: March 11, 1751, 0. s., to Hannah 
 Carll, widow, who died Feb. 9, 1776. 
 
 A parchment-bound volume, now in the hands of the 
 writer, contains a Diary by Mr. Prime, commenced when 
 he entered upon his ministry at Huntington, and ex- 
 tending to the year 1764, — a period of forty-five years. 
 It is entitled Miscellanea Qu^edam, Aut Ephemems 
 
REV. EBENEZER PRIME. 25 
 
 Meditationum Divinarum, Usui Peivato, E. P. De- 
 lineata, etc. The first entry possesses historic as well 
 as personal interest. It is a copy of the original Church 
 Covenant adopted by the Milford Church on its organi- 
 zation at New Haven, Aug. 22, 1639 : — 
 
 " A copy of Milford Church Covenant, unto which 
 
 " I confented & into which I entred with the Lord 
 
 "& with y e members of Xts Church at Milford, when 
 
 " I was made a member in full communion w th the 
 
 " church abovef d . 
 
 " Anno Domini, 1719. 
 
 " Since it hath pleased y e Lord of his infinite good- 
 " nefs & free grace to Call us, a company of poor 
 " miferable wretches, out of the world unto fellowlhip 
 " with himfelf in Jesus X, & to bestow himfelf upon 
 " us by an Everlasting Covenant of his free grace, 
 " sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, to be our God, & 
 " to make & avouch us to be his people, & hath un- 
 " dertaken to circumcize our hearts, y l we may love 
 " y e Lord Our God & fear him & walk in his ways, 
 " wee Therefore do this day avouch y e Lord to be Our 
 " God, Even Jehovah the only true God, the Almighty 
 " maker of heaven & earth, the God & father of Our 
 " Lord Jesus Christ ; & we do this day Enter Into an 
 " holy Covenant with y e Lord & one with another 
 "thro' y e Grace & help of Christ Strengthening us 
 " (without w m we can do nothing) to deny our Selves & 
 " all ungodliness & worldly Lusts, & all Corruptions 
 " & pollutions wherein in any Sort we have walked : 
 "& do give up ourfelves wholly to y e Lord Jesus 
 " Christ to be taught & governed by him in all our 
 
26 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 " Relations, Conditions, & Conversations in this world, 
 " avouching him to be our only prophet & teacher, 
 " our only prieft & propitiation, our only king & law- 
 " giver : and we further bind ourfelves in his strength 
 " to w r alk before him in all proffefsed subjection to all 
 " his holy ordinances according to the Rules of the 
 " Gospel, & alfo to walk together with this church & 
 " the members thereof in all brotherly love & holy 
 " watchfulnefs to y e mutual building up one another 
 " in faith & Love ; all which y e Lord help us to per- 
 " form through his Rich Grace in Christ according to 
 " this Covenant. 
 
 " Amen. 
 "Subfc: by = E. Prime." 
 
 Soon after taking charge of the church at Hunting- 
 ton, the Rev. Ebenezer Prime purchased a farm with a 
 residence near the church, which remained in the pos- 
 session and occupancy of himself and his direct descen- 
 dants of the name more than a hundred and fifty years. 
 Here he devoted himself to the care of his flock, 
 to preparation for his pulpit services, and to general 
 study ; enjoying the affection and commanding the re- 
 spect of all whom he reached with his influence. He is 
 described by one of his contemporaries as " a man of 
 " sterling character, of powerful intellect, wdio possessed 
 " the reputation of an able and faithful divine." Culti- 
 vating, from the commencement of his ministry, a taste 
 for learning, he early began the collection of what 
 became, for that period, a large and valuable library, 
 chiefly imported from England, and including choice 
 editions of the Greek and Latin classics ; many of his 
 theological works being London editions in large folio. 
 
REV. EBENEZER PRIME. 27 
 
 A portion of his own and of his son's library which 
 escaped the vandalism of the British soldiers in the 
 lievolutionary War was subsequently destroyed by fire, 
 but a few of the volumes still remain, distributed among 
 their descendants. Of these are Pool's " Synopsis Criti- 
 " corum," Latin, large folio ; Matthew Henry's Commen- 
 tary, 6 vols, folio; Bishop Burnet's "History of the 
 "English Preformation," 3 vols, folio; Florio's transla- 
 tion of Montaigne's Essays, quarto ; an Aldine edition 
 of Martial, etc. 
 
 Mr. Prime kept a register of his sermons, with the 
 texts, dates, and places of their delivery ; from which it 
 appears that he prepared more than three thousand. 
 This register, and also a large number of the discourses, 
 are still preserved. They are written in a clear hand, 
 and give evidence of careful study and preparation. 
 Some of his discourses on special occasions were printed 
 and are to be found in collections of American publica- 
 tions of the last century. Two of these were on " The 
 " Divine Institution of Preaching the Gospel," and on 
 "Ordination to the Gospel Ministry." He held some 
 peculiar views in regard to the gospel commission, 
 maintaining that authority to preach the gospel could 
 be conferred only by the laying on of the hands of the 
 Presbytery, as in the case of ordination to the full 
 work of the ministry. 1 
 
 1 In a note to one of his printed sermons on ordination, Mr. 
 Prime says : — 
 
 " The Licensing of Candidates to preach without Ordination having 
 " obtained as a custom long before I had a being, upon my entering 
 " into the Ministry I came into & continued in it for many years, as 
 " there was Occasion, without my particular Examination of the Point 
 " 'Till for some Years past, my Mind being filled with Hesitations & 
 
28 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 Mr. Prime was by birth and education a Congrega- 
 tionalist ; and the church of which he was pastor — in 
 common with the other churches on the island, of Puri- 
 tan origin — was Independent. But early in his minis- 
 try he became convinced that the Presbyterian form of 
 government was better adapted for promoting order 
 and discipline in the church. 
 
 Several neighboring pastors who were of the same 
 mind resolved to hold a meeting for conference and 
 prayer on the subject. Accordingly, as the record states, 
 "A number of the ministers of the gospel within the 
 " County of Suffolk, on the Island of Nassau, in the Pro- 
 " vince of New York, convened at Southampton, April 
 "the 8th, 1747, in order to concert measures for the 
 " promotion of the great Eedeemer's kingdom, especially 
 "within the above-mentioned bounds ; and having taken 
 " into consideration the broken state of the churches of 
 " Christ within said County, the prevalence of separations 
 " and divisions, together with the growing mischiefs these 
 " disorders are big with ; after repeated addresses at the 
 " throne of grace for divine direction," — they came to 
 the conclusion that the disorders spoken of were owing to 
 " the want of stated rules of ecclesiastical government." 
 Accordingly, they voted to organize themselves into a 
 Presbytery, to be called "the Presbytery of Suffolk," 
 and adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith, Cate- 
 
 " Doubts put me upon a more critical Inquiry into the Orders of 
 " Christ's House ; & finding that as all ministerial Power is derived 
 " from Christ to the ordinary Ministers of the Gospel, by the grand 
 " Commission, Mat. XXVIII., & that they, according to divine Institu- 
 " tion, are invested with those Powers by Ordination, so Preaching the 
 " Gospel being one principal Branch of their Work, none consequent- 
 " ly have a right to preach the Gospel but those that are ordain'd." 
 
REV. EBENEZER PRIME. 29 
 
 chisms, Directory for Worship and Discipline. The 
 Eev. Ebenezer Prime was chosen the first moderator, 
 and, with the Eev. Samuel Buel, of Easthampton, was 
 appointed to attend the Synod of New York to request 
 that the Presbytery might be received into that body. 
 The request was granted, and the Congregational 
 churches on Long Island generally became connected 
 with the Presbytery. Almost from the time of their 
 organization these churches, together with many of 
 those of the same order in Connecticut, were quite 
 commonly called Presbyterian. 1 
 
 In the early part of the French and Indian War 
 (1756-63), which ended with the conquest of Canada 
 
 1 The following Declaration was made, in 1799, by the Hartford 
 North Association of Ministers, composed of such men as Drs. Strong 
 and Flint of Hartford, and Dr. Perkins of West Hartford : — 
 
 " This Association gives information to all whom it may concern, 
 " that the constitution of the churches in the State of Connecticut, 
 "founded on the common usages and the Confession of Faith, Heads 
 " of Agreement, and Articles of Church Discipline, adopted at the 
 " earliest period of the settlement of the State, is not Congregational, 
 "but contains the essentials of the government of the Church of Scot- 
 " land, or [the] Presbyterian Church in America, particularly as it gives 
 "a decisive power to ecclesiastical councils ; and a Consociation, con- 
 " sisting of ministers and messengers, or a lay representation from the 
 "churches, is possessed of substantially the same authority as Presby- 
 " tery. The churches, therefore, in Connecticut at large, and in our 
 " district in particular, are not now, and never were, from the earliest 
 "period of our settlement, Congregational Churches, according to the 
 "ideas and forms of church order contained in the Book of Discipline 
 " called the Cambridge Platform. There are, however, scattered over 
 "the State, perhaps ten or twelve churches (unconsociated) which are 
 "properly called Congregational, agreeably to the rules of church 
 "discipline in the book above mentioned. Sometimes, indeed, the As- 
 " sociated Churches of Connecticut are loosely and vaguely, though 
 "improperly, termed Congregational." (See Gillett's "History of 
 the Presbyterian Church," i. 438, 439.) 
 
30 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 by the English, a regiment of Provincials was raised in 
 Suffolk County to join the expedition against Quebec. 
 They assembled at Huntington, May 7, 1759, and Mr. 
 Prime was invited to preach to them, which he did 
 from the text, Judges iv. 14 : " And Deborah said unto 
 " Barak, Up ; for this is the day in which the Lord hath 
 " delivered Sisera into thine hand : is not the Lord gone 
 " out before thee ? " The discourse was printed, in com- 
 pliance with the request of the " Soldiers, Inhabitants, 
 "and Strangers that were hearers." A printed copy, 
 and also the original manuscript, are preserved among 
 the family papers. 
 
 The long-extended ministry of Mr. Prime at Hun- 
 tington was greatly blessed in promoting the spiritual 
 welfare of the people, and at different periods in large 
 additions to the church. In common with many others 
 on the Island, this congregation was specially visited in 
 "The Great Awakening" of 1740-41. In his private 
 diary Mr. Prime makes repeated mention of the scenes 
 that accompanied this remarkable religious movement. 
 As showing the prevailing influence, he mentions that 
 on one occasion, when the people were gathered together 
 at a " military training " (usually a scene of a very differ- 
 ent character), he was requested to preach to the assem- 
 bled multitude, and adds : " At this meeting the main 
 " part of the congregation were in tears, and several were 
 " brought under strong convictions." A few days later 
 he writes : " Preached on John vii. 37. Great numbers 
 " cried out in distress ; the power of God was marvel- 
 "lous." At a much later period (Sept. 2, 1764), when 
 he was assisted at a communion season by his friend, 
 the Eev. Dr. Buel, of Easthampton, he writes : " God 
 
REV. EBENEZER PRIME. 31 
 
 "has poured out his Spirit in a surprising manner 
 " upon this people. Glory be to his name ! " 
 
 In the War of the Bevolution, immediately after the 
 battle of Long Island, which was fought Aug. 27, 1776, 
 the British took possession of the whole Island and held 
 it until the conclusion of the war. It was extensively 
 ravaged again and again, and those who favored the 
 cause of the Colonies were made the victims of British 
 and Tory vengeance. The property of the inhabitants 
 was rudely confiscated or wantonly destroyed. Those 
 who had been at all conspicuous by their patriotism 
 were compelled to flee to the mainland, or were treated 
 with personal severity. The churches and congrega- 
 tions were in many cases broken up, and for seven 
 years an almost chaotic state of things existed. 
 
 There was one conspicuous example of a pastor who 
 was allowed to minister to those of his flock who re- 
 mained in their homes and on their farms. The Eev. 
 Samuel Buel, D.D., who has just been mentioned, was 
 the third pastor in succession at Easthampton whose 
 ministry in that church extended over half a century. 
 He was a man of learning, of eloquence, and of un- 
 bounded influence with his people. The veneration in 
 which he was held was so proverbial that a British offi- 
 cer stationed at the place once asked to be permitted to 
 see Dr. Buel. When he left his presence he remarked, 
 " I have seen the god of Easthampton." Dr. Buel was 
 warmly attached to the cause of the Colonies, and did 
 not conceal his sentiments ; but he decided to stay with 
 his people and share with them the fortunes of the war. 
 Such, however, was the respect that his character in- 
 spired among the officers of the British army, he was 
 
32 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 allowed to remain unmolested during the whole of the 
 conflict without in any measure compromising his patri- 
 otism ; and he was often able by his influence to obtain 
 a mitigation of the treatment of his parishioners and 
 others who favored the American cause. 1 
 
 No part of Long Island suffered more severely in the 
 war than Huntington, the parish of Mr. Prime, which 
 was a prosperous town, and specially important to the 
 enemy on account of its central position and its well- 
 
 1 Dr. Buel's gentlemanly bearing and sparkling wit made him a 
 special favorite with Sir William Erskine, who was commander of the 
 British forces in that part of the Island, and the traditions of East- 
 hampton have many anecdotes of their intercourse. At one time Sir 
 William informed Dr. Buel that he had issued an order to the people 
 of his parish to appear with their teams and tools at Southampton the 
 next day (which was the Sabbath), to attend to some work which he 
 wished done at that time. Dr. Buel replied that he had heard of the 
 order, but being commander-in-chief on that day, he had countermanded 
 it. The precedence of the pastor on the Lord's day was pleasantly 
 admitted, and the order was revoked. 
 
 On another occasion Dr. Buel was invited by Sir William Erskine 
 to join a party of British officers in a deer-hunt. Being behind the 
 appointed hour in making his appearance on the ground, the entire 
 party, tired of waiting, had mounted when he arrived. The younger 
 officers (of whom Lord Percy, afterward Duke of Northumberland, 
 was one) manifested no little impatience at the delay, especially as it 
 was caused by a rebel parson. Their chagrin was increased by an 
 order from Sir William to dismount to receive his friend with becom- 
 ing respect. Lord Percy, being introduced, did not conceal his ill- 
 humor, and on being asked by Dr. Buel what portion of his Majesty's 
 forces he had the honor to command, replied, with an evident intent to 
 insult the clergyman, " A legion of devils just from hell." " Then," 
 said Dr. Buel, " I suppose I have the honor to address Beelzebub, the 
 prince of the devils." Lord Percy, stung by the witty repartee, in- 
 stantly put his hand to his sword, but was rebuked by Sir William ; 
 and though the laugh of the party was turned upon Percy, the polite- 
 ness and pleasantry of Dr. Buel restored his good-humor before the 
 day was over, and compelled him to respect and admire the man whom 
 in his resentment he had called " an old rebel." 
 
REV. EBENEZER PRIME. 33 
 
 protected harbor. The British troops were quartered 
 on the inhabitants, whom they treated with all the 
 rigors of war, destroying their crops and wasting their 
 goods, or using them without recompense. The Presby- 
 terian church, in which Mr. Prime had so long min- 
 istered, was taken for a military depot, and the pulpit 
 and pews were broken up and used for fuel. The 
 pastor's house was occupied by the troops, and his 
 valuable library used for lighting fires, mutilated by 
 the destruction of portions of sets of books, or reck- 
 lessly scattered abroad. His study-chair, which still 
 remains in the family, bears the marks of the rough 
 usage to which all his property was subjected. He 
 was an object of special hostility on account of his 
 having warmly espoused and advocated the cause of 
 the country before the war broke out. Driven from 
 his own home in his seventy-seventh year, he retired 
 to a quiet part of the parish, preaching in private 
 houses wherever he could gather any of his people to- 
 gether. He died before the war was over, having min- 
 istered to this one church for sixty years. He was 
 buried among his people in the ancient cemetery, and 
 a stone was erected at the head of his grave with this 
 inscription : — 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 The EEV D EBENEZER PRIME, 
 
 Ob. Sept. 25, 1779, 
 M 79. 
 
 This head-stone, with others marking the graves of 
 members of his family who had died previous to the 
 war, has a curious history in connection with those 
 
 3 
 
34 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 troublous times. The cemetery covered a hill in the 
 midst of the village of Huntington, overlooking the 
 town and harbor. Toward the close of the war Colonel 
 Thompson, of the British army (afterward Count Rum- 
 ford), was sent with a body of troops to occupy the 
 place. By his orders the venerable church building in 
 which Mr. Prime had so long ministered was torn 
 down, and the timber used for constructing barracks 
 and blockhouses in the cemetery, which was occupied 
 as a fort. 1 The graves were levelled, and the grave- 
 stones used by the soldiers for the bottoms of their 
 ovens. The traditions of Huntington state that the 
 loaves of bread came out of the ovens bearing, in relief 
 and in reverse, the inscription, " In Memory of," etc. 
 Colonel Thompson, who was violent in his hostility to 
 the American cause, and who cherished a special hatred 
 to the memory of the late patriotic pastor, had the grave 
 of Mr. Prime pointed out, and gave orders that his own 
 marquee should be pitched at the head of it, so that 
 he might have the satisfaction of treading on the 
 
 " old rebel" every time he went in and out of 
 
 his tent. 
 
 Several years after the war was over, on the first 
 occurrence of a death in the family, the friends went 
 into the graveyard to select a place for the burial as 
 near as possible to the former location of the family 
 graves, then completely obliterated. One of the per- 
 
 1 By a noteworthy coincidence, this ancient church was wantonly 
 demolished on the very day on which the Preliminary Treaty of Peace 
 was signed by the Commissioners of Great Britain and the United 
 States, at Paris, Nov. 80, 1782. It was a fitting close to the numerous 
 acts of vandalism perpetrated by the British soldiery on Long Island 
 during the war. 
 
REV. EBENEZER PRIME. 35 
 
 sons, having an iron bar in his hand, let it drop with 
 the point upon the ground, saying, " I think it was 
 just about here." The iron, sinking into the soil, struck 
 something that sounded hollow, and on removing the 
 earth the old pastor's head-stone was discovered. On 
 further examination they found the head-stones of all 
 the members of the family who had died before and 
 during the early years of the war. They had been 
 taken up by some careful hand, laid upon the graves 
 a few inches below the surface, and covered with earth. 
 The explanation was, that when the pastor's family 
 were driven from their home by the British, the house 
 and farm were left in charge of an old colored servant, 
 a slave, who died during the war. It was presumed 
 that when he saw the graveyard about to be occu- 
 pied as a fort by the British troops, the graves levelled, 
 and the head-stones destroyed, he took up the family 
 stones and laid them flat upon the graves to which 
 they severally belonged, covering them with earth suf- 
 ficiently to protect them from observation and disturb- 
 ance. These stones, replaced, are now standing (1888), 
 the only monuments in this ancient cemetery which 
 antedate the Revolutionary War. 
 
 The following is a list of the publications of the Bev. 
 Ebenezer Prime, copies of all which are still preserved 
 in the family : — 
 
 PUBLICATIONS OF THE REV. EBENEZER 
 PRIME, A.M. 
 
 The Pastor at Large Vindicated, From a Consider- 
 ation of the Edification of Christ's Mystical Body as the 
 great End & Design of the Institution & Perpetuation 
 
36 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 of the Evangelical Ministry ; in a SERMON Preached at 
 the Oyster Ponds, on Long Island, Nov. 10, 1757, Pre- 
 vious to the Ordination of the Reverend Messieurs Jona- 
 than Barber & John Darbie. By Ebenezer Prime, A.M. 
 & Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Huntington, on 
 Long Island. Published at the Desire of the Ministers 
 Present & others. New- York : Printed & Sold by H. 
 Gaine, at the Bible & Crown, on Hanover Square. 
 M,DCCLVIII. 
 
 The Divine Institution of Preaching the Gospel 
 Considered ; The Nature & Quality of the Gospel Mission 
 Opened & Illustrated, and the Necessity of an Investiture 
 with Office Power, by Ordination, in order to the Preach- 
 ing of the Gospel according to Divine Institution, evidenced 
 & improved, in A SERMON Preached at Brook-Haven, 
 on Long-Island, June 15, 1758, Previous to the Ordination 
 of the Rev. Mr. Abner Brush. B}^ Ebenezer Prime, A.M. 
 and Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Huntington on 
 Long-Island. Published in Compliance with the Desire 
 of Suffolk Presbytery. New- York: Printed & Sold by 
 H. Gaine, at the Bible & Crown, on Hanover Square. 
 1758. 
 
 The Importance of the Divine Presence with the 
 Armies of God's People in their Martial Enterprises 
 Considered & Improved, and a Christian Soldier Admon- 
 ished, Counselled & Encouraged : a Sermon Preached to 
 the Provincials of the County of Suffolk, at Huntington 
 on Long Island, May 7, 1759. By Ebenezer Prime, A.M., 
 Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Huntington. Pub- 
 lished in Compliance with the desires of a number of the 
 Soldiers, Inhabitants & Strangers that were hearers. New 
 York : Printed by Samuel Barker at the New Printing 
 Office in Beaver Street. MD.CC.LIX. 
 
BENJAMIN YOUNG PRIME, M.D. 
 
 BENJAMIN YOUNG PEIME, son of the Eev. Ebe- 
 nezer Prime and Experience Youngs, his wife, was 
 born at Huntington, Long Island, Dec. 20, 1733, N. s. 
 His mother lived but three weeks after his birth, and 
 being the only surviving child, he was the object of 
 special solicitude and care in his training and education. 
 His father early instilled into his mind his own thirst 
 for knowledge, and thus laid the foundation for his 
 great attainments in classical, scientific, and professional 
 learning. He entered the College of New Jersey, then 
 located at Newark, under the presidency of the Eev. 
 Aaron Burr. He was graduated in 1751, sharing the 
 honors of the class with his intimate friend Nathaniel 
 Scudder. 1 
 
 He prosecuted his medical studies under Dr. Jacob 
 Ogden, of Jamaica, Long Island, and commenced prac- 
 
 1 Nathaniel Scudder was his early schoolmate, his college class- 
 mate and room-mate, and his fellow-student in medicine. He filled 
 several important offices in State ; he was one of the Council of 
 Safety of the State of New Jersey at the opening of the Revolu- 
 tionary conflict, and a member of the Continental Congress from 
 1777 to 1779. He was killed at Shrewsbury, N. J., Oct. 16, 1781, in 
 a skirmish with an invading party of British. Dr. B. Y. Prime wrote 
 an elegiac ode on the occasion of his death, which was published in 
 "Muscipula," and named his youngest son Nathaniel Scudder, in 
 memory of his friend. 
 
38 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 tice at Eastliampton, Long Island. In 1756 he was 
 chosen tutor in the College of New Jersey, which was 
 removed to Princeton the same year. He accepted the 
 appointment after much deliberation, and while fulfil- 
 ling the duties of his position devoted his leisure to 
 general literary pursuits. In 1757 he resigned the office 
 of tutor, receiving from the Board of Trustees the fol- 
 lowing expression of their regard and appreciation of 
 his services. This certificate is subscribed by one of 
 the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who 
 was then clerk of the Board of Trustees of Princeton 
 College : — 
 
 " Thursday, the 29th of Sept., 1757. 
 " Mr. Prime, one of the Tutors, applying to this Board 
 " for a dismission from his office, It is ordered that at the 
 " request of the s d Mr. Prime he be dismissed accord- 
 " ingly. Nevertheless the Trustees, being fully sensible 
 " of the abilities of the said Mr. Prime & of his having 
 " faithfully executed his s d office during the time of his 
 " continuance therein, do with reluctance part with the 
 " s d Mr. Prime; & as a testimony of their sense of his 
 "good conduct & merit, do present him with £10 over 
 " & above his salary, & are sorry that the smallness of 
 " their fund will not admit of their giving him a larger 
 " sum. 
 
 " Signed, Eichard Stockton, Clk." 
 
 In 1760 he received the honorary degree of A.M. 
 from Yale College, having taken the same, in course, 
 at Princeton College. 
 
 After a few years' practice Dr. Prime resolved to 
 visit some of the medical schools of Europe, in order 
 
BENJAMIN YOUNG PRIME, M.D. 39 
 
 to enjoy better advantages for perfecting his knowledge 
 and experience in medicine and surgery than this 
 country at that time afforded. He had already become 
 an accomplished general scholar, and had made him- 
 self master of several languages. Under the instruc- 
 tion of his father he had become familiar with the 
 Hebrew; he not only read the ancient Greek and 
 Latin authors as freely as English poetry or history, 
 but his published works contain poems in both these 
 languages. At one period of his life it was his favorite 
 pastime to write in Latin verse, and he left among his 
 papers Latin versifications of one of the Psalms in all 
 the varieties of metre of the Odes of Horace. Among 
 his published writings is an extended Greek poem. He 
 had also acquired several modern languages, in which 
 he wrote and spoke with as much facility as in his own. 
 He was accordingly well prepared to profit by a visit 
 to the European universities and capitals. 
 
 He embarked at New York for England, June 16, 
 1762. The vessel was attacked on the way by a 
 French privateer, and in the engagement Dr. Prime 
 was wounded. He spent some months in London, 
 where he attended a course of anatomical lectures, and 
 enjoyed the privileges of the hospitals. He visited 
 Edinburgh with the same objects in view, and prose- 
 cuted his studies more at length at the University of 
 Leyden, which was once the most renowned of the 
 universities of Europe. At that time it was the resort 
 of scholars from England and all parts of the Continent. 
 After a thorough medical course at this centre of learn- 
 ing, and after an examination (as his diploma reads) 
 "per Universam Medicinam," on presenting a Latin 
 
40 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 essay upon an assigned thesis, and defending the same 
 "prompte adversus Professorum opponentium argu- 
 " menta, objectionesque," he received his medical degree 
 at the university, July 7, 1764 His essay was pub- 
 lished at Leyden in large quarto, and, in addition to its 
 scientific and literary merit, is, in typography and style 
 of publication, not unworthy of the celebrated seat of 
 learning at which it was presented and printed. 
 
 He travelled as far as Moscow, and returned to New 
 York, Nov. 14, 1764. 1 Of this visit to Europe the Hon. 
 Benjamin Thompson, the historian of Long Island, says: 
 "He was honored with a degree at most of the institu- 
 " tions, and was much noticed for his many accomplish- 
 " ments." While on his way homeward he published 
 in London a volume entitled, " The Pateiot Muse ; or, 
 " Poems on some of the Principal Events of the Late 
 "War in America" (the French and English). 
 
 In December, 1764, Dr. Prime commenced the prac- 
 tice of surgery in the city of New York. He had 
 
 1 The Rev. Ebenezer Prime in his private diary alludes as follows 
 to the departure and the safe return of his son : — 
 
 " Huntington, June 14, 1762. — This day my only son & only 
 "child yet living took his leave of us & went to N. York, with a 
 " design to embark on board the Hariot packet for England. A try- 
 ing season! I desire to resign him up unto the Lord, to whom I 
 "have given him. O may the divine presence go along with him. 
 "God the Father, Son, & Holy Ghost be his Father & friend, his por- 
 " tion, shield, & exceeding great Reward. Amen and Amen." 
 
 " November 17, 1764. — Last Tuesday my son, my only son & only 
 "surviving child, B. Y. P., returned from Europe to N. York, & this 
 " day came to us in Huntington, having been gone from us two Years, 
 " five Months, & three Days. Glory be to God for his great Good- 
 "ness, in numerous instances of it, to him, & to us, abroad & at 
 "home, & for his safe return. All our salvations are of God. To 
 " Him be all the Glory, for ever & ever. Amen. 
 
 " E. P." 
 
BENJAMIN YOUNG PKIME, M.D. 41 
 
 scarcely entered upon his professional career when the 
 wrongs of the American Colonies at the hands of the 
 English Government began to awaken public discus- 
 sion. With the enthusiasm of a true patriot, he threw 
 himself into the conflict, foreseeing that it was to be 
 a struggle for liberty, if not for independence. He had 
 been loyal to the mother-country in her contest with 
 the French for supremacy in America, but he was 
 still more ardent in defending the Colonies against the 
 oppressive measures adopted by the British Govern- 
 ment in its endeavor to hold them in absolute subjec- 
 tion. The time had not yet come for drawing the 
 sword, but he took up the pen and wielded it with 
 effect. On the passage of the Stamp Act he wrote " A 
 Song for the Sons of Liberty in New York," which was 
 extensively used to stir up the spirit of American 
 patriotism. The following stanzas are taken from one 
 of the printed copies : — 
 
 "In story we're told 
 
 How our fathers of old 
 Braved the rage of the winds and the waves, 
 
 And crossed the deep o'er 
 
 To this desolate shore, 
 All because they were loath to be slaves, Brave boys, 
 All because they were loath to be slaves. 
 
 " Heav'n only controls 
 
 The great deep as it rolls ; 
 And the tide which our continent laves 
 
 Emphatical roars 
 
 This advice to our shores, 
 O Americans, never be slaves, Brave boys ! 
 O Americans, never be slaves. 
 
42 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 " The birthright we hold 
 
 Shall never be sold, 
 But sacred maintain'd to our graves ; 
 
 And before we '11 comply 
 
 We will gallantly die, 
 For we must not, we will not, be slaves, Brave boys ; 
 For we must not, we will not be slaves ! " 
 
 When the Eev. Ebenezer Prime was becoming en- 
 feebled by age, Dr. B. Y. Prime, being his only surviving 
 child, gave up his lucrative practice in the city and 
 took up his residence at Huntington, to watch over 
 his father's declining years. They dwelt together in the 
 old homestead, and while discharging the duties of their 
 respective professions, spent much time in their favorite 
 literary and scientific pursuits. The son had provided 
 himself with chemical and philosophical apparatus, and 
 was much interested in electrical experiments, having 
 been moved thereto by the discussions which followed 
 the discoveries of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He was an 
 astronomer as well as a mathematician. Among the 
 numerous and varied scientific papers which he left 
 behind him are elaborate calculations of the orbits 
 of the planets and the erratic movements of comets. 
 Devoted with equal ardor to the cause of the country, 
 the condition of which was constantly assuming graver 
 importance, both father and son labored earnestly to 
 fan the flame of patriotism which was burning in the 
 hearts of the people, and to prepare the way for coming 
 independence. 
 
 Soon after he had settled himself at Huntington, Dr. 
 Prime received a visit from his kinsman, the renowned 
 but eccentric traveller, John Ledyard, whose name has 
 
BENJAMIN YOUNG PRIME, M.D. 43 
 
 been mentioned in the family genealogy. Ledyard 
 began his wanderings over a great part of the known 
 world by abruptly leaving Dartmouth College in 1773 
 and spending several months among the Indians of the 
 " Six Nations." Eeturninff through Canada to the head- 
 waters of the Connecticut, he dug out with his own 
 hands from a log, after the style of the Indians, a canoe, 
 in which, with a Bible and a copy of Ovid for his only 
 companions, he floated down the river. Crossing the 
 Sound, he made a tour of Long Island on horseback. 
 In a characteristic letter written to his friends soon 
 after, among other incidents of the journey he made 
 mention of his visit to the home at Huntington : — 
 
 " At Easthampton I met with a kind reception from 
 " the Eev. Mr. Buel, moderator of the Synod, an influ- 
 " ential man and a glorious preacher. . . . After a ride of 
 " about one hundred miles I arrived at Huntington, a 
 " large town about forty miles from New York, where 
 "I visited the minister of the place, old Mr. Prime. 
 "After about twelve days' feasting upon his great 
 "library, and a quickly made friendship with Dr. 
 " (B. Y.) Prime, formerly of New York, I returned to 
 " Mr. Buel's, and stayed a short time with that her- 
 " mit, where and with whom I longed to be buried in 
 " ease." 
 
 On the 18th of December, 1774, Dr. Prime married 
 Mary Wheelwright, widow of the Eev. John Greaton, 
 rector of the Episcopal Church at Huntington. She was 
 born at Boston, July 10, 1744, and was the great-great- 
 granddaughter of the Eev. John Wheelwright, founder 
 and pastor of Exeter, N. H. Her maternal grandfather, 
 Colonel Goffe, commanded a regiment of Provincials in 
 
44 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 the expedition against Louisburg in 1745, when this for- 
 tress was captured from the French by New England 
 troops, some of whom lived to take part in the battle of 
 Bunker Hill, thirty years later. 
 
 At the opening of the Eevolutionary War, when Long 
 Island fell into the hands of the British, Dr. Benjamin 
 Y. Prime was compelled to flee from the island to 
 escape the vengeance of the enemy, which he had 
 aroused by his patriotic writings. With his wife and 
 child he crossed into Connecticut, where he remained 
 until the conclusion of peace in 1783, — a period of seven 
 years. He resided at New Haven and Wethersfield, 
 three of his children being born during this exile. The 
 departure of the family was so sudden that they were 
 compelled to abandon the homestead with all its con- 
 tents, furniture, library and valuables, to the ravages 
 of the soldiery. Mrs. Prime hastily put the family 
 silver into a canvas sack and secretly dropped it into a 
 well, where it remained during the seven years of the 
 war, in which the well was in constant use, no one sus- 
 pecting the treasure it contained. When the war was 
 over and the family returned to their home, reinforced 
 by three children who had been born in Connecticut in 
 the mean time, the sack with its contents was drawn 
 up, not a piece of silver missing or injured. These 
 relics, including tankards and goblets, are still pre- 
 served in various branches of the family as heirlooms 
 and memorials of the experiences of the Eevolutionary 
 period. 1 
 
 1 These pieces of silver are engraved with the arms of the Wheel- 
 wright family, which Mary Wheelwright bore as heiress of the estate. 
 She inherited large tracts of land in New Hampshire and Maine, of 
 
BENJAMIN YOUNG PRIME, M.D. 45 
 
 In mature life Dr. Prime became a man of humble 
 piety, and illustrated in his personal walk and pro- 
 fessional career the influence of the early instructions, 
 the life-long counsels, and the consistent example of 
 his godly father. An autobiographical sketch, without 
 date, entitled "Some Eemarkable Passages in the Life 
 " of B. Y. P.," is a record of several striking providences 
 in the early years of the writer which had made a deep 
 impression upon him. A diary, running through a 
 series of years, found after his death among his private 
 papers, contains an almost daily record of his spiritual 
 exercises, with frequent references to the emotions 
 awakened by his visits to his patients. Among his 
 published poems is one entitled, "Meditation over a 
 " Dying Patient," commencing, — 
 
 " Well ! I have done : I can no more, 
 But must my baffled aim deplore ; 
 I '11 lay my drugs and cordials by, 
 For art is vain, and he must die." 
 
 Dr. B. Y. Prime died suddenly of apoplexy at Hunt- 
 ington, Oct. 31, 1791. His widow, Mary Wheelwright 
 Prime, lived to an advanced age. She was a woman of 
 remarkable vigor of intellect and great practical wisdom. 
 Left by the death of her husband with five young 
 children, with a farm and a large property which had 
 
 which portions were sold from time to time down to 1798. In the 
 year 1826 she made a deed of gift of all her then unsold lands to her 
 son, Nathaniel S. Prime. Although situated in New England, they 
 were esteemed wild lands, for which there was no sale ; and when in 
 later times they had become valuable, Mr. Prime declined to assert 
 his title as against actual settlers or holders in good faith, and they 
 were suffered to pass out of the family. 
 
46 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 become depreciated in value by the ravages of war, and 
 involved by expenses incurred during the seven years' 
 exile of the family, she managed the estate with such 
 prudence and sagacity that it was wholly redeemed from 
 embarrassment. She brought up her children with ex- 
 emplary fidelity and success, and gave to each of them 
 a good education. Possessed of a strong constitution, 
 she survived and recovered from repeated attacks of 
 paralysis, retaining her mental vigor to the last. She 
 died March 7, 1835, aged 90 years and 8 months. Her 
 epitaph, written by herself, was in these words : — 
 
 Her Frailties and Infirmities bury with her : 
 
 If there was anything commendable in her Life, 
 
 Practise and Follow it. 
 
 The children of Benjamin Young Prime and Mary 
 Wheelwright his wife were : — 
 
 1. Ebenezer, born at Huntington, Long Island, Oct. 
 7, 1775 ; died at Huntington, Feb. 20, 1842 ; 
 
 2. Liberty, born at Wethersfield, Conn., Oct. 13, 
 1777 ; died at New York, May 20, 1855 ; 
 
 3. Ann Wheelwright, born at New Haven, Conn., 
 Jan. 10, 1780 ; died at Huntington, Sept. 18, 1813 ; 
 
 4. Mary Wood, born at New Haven, Conn., Sept. 1, 
 1782 ; died at New York, Feb. 25, 1835 ; 
 
 5. Nathaniel Scudder, born at Huntington, Long 
 Island, April 21, 1785 ; died at Mamaroneck, N. Y, 
 March 27, 1856. 
 
BENJAMIN YOUNG PRIME, M.D. 47 
 
 PUBLICATIONS OF BENJAMIN Y. PRIME, M.D. 
 
 Dissertatio Medic A Inauguralts, De Fluxu Muliebri 
 Menstruo, Quam, Favente Summo Numine, Ex Auctoritate 
 Magnifici Rectoris, Ewaldi Hollebeek, Theologiae Doctoris 
 et Professoris in Acad. Lugd. Bat. Ordlnarii, nee non 
 Amplissimi Senatus Academici Consensu, et Nobilissiince 
 Facultatis Medicae Decreto, Pro Gradu Doctoratus, Sum- 
 misque in Medicina Honoribus et Privilegiis, rite ac 
 legitime consequendis, Eruditorum Examini fubmittit. 
 Benjaminus Young Prime, A.M. Nov. - Eboracensis 
 Americanus. Ad diem 7 Julii MDCCLXIV. H. L. Q. S. 
 Lugduni Batavorum, Apad Theodorum Haak, 1764. 
 pp. 46. 
 
 The Patriot Muse ; or, Poems on some of the Princi- 
 pal Events of the Late War : Together with a Poem on 
 the Peace : Vincit Amor Patriae. By an American Gen- 
 tleman. London. 1764. 8vo. pp. 94. 
 
 Columbia's Glory; or, British Pride Humbled: A 
 Poem on the American Revolution : Some part of it be- 
 ing a Parody on an Ode entitled Britain's Glory ; or, Gal- 
 lic Pride Humbled : composed on the Capture of Quebec, 
 a. d. 1759. By Benjamin Young Prime, M.D. New 
 York : Printed by Thomas Greenleaf for the Author. 
 1791. 
 
 Muscipula: Sive Cambromyomachia. The Mouse- 
 trap ; or, the Battle of the Welsh and the Mice : in Latin 
 and English. With Other Poems in different Languages. 
 By an American. New York : M. W. Dodd. pp. 96. 
 1840. [The English translation of the Muscipula is the 
 work of Dr. B. Y. P. ; the other poems are original.] 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 
 
 NATHANIEL SCUDDER PRIME, son of Benjamin 
 Young Prime, M.D., and Mary Wheelwright, his 
 wife, was born at Huntington, Long Island, April 21, 
 1785. He was baptized, was admitted to the commu- 
 nion of the church, was licensed to preach the gos- 
 pel, preached his first sermon, was ordained to the 
 ministry, and at length preached his semi-centennial 
 sermon, all in the same church edifice, which was 
 erected the year before his birth on the spot where 
 the church building occupied by his grandfather dur- 
 ing the whole sixty years of his ministry had been 
 torn down by the British just at the close of the Rev- 
 olutionary War. His father dying when the son was 
 only six years old, his mother had the care of his edu- 
 cation. He pursued his preparatory studies at Hunt- 
 ington Academy, and entered the College of New Jersey 
 (at Princeton), under the presidency of the Rev. Dr. 
 Samuel Stanhope Smith. Among the active professors 
 of the College at that time was one for whom Mr. 
 Prime always expressed the warmest regard, — John 
 Maclean, M.D., father of the Rev. Dr. John Maclean, 
 late President of the College. 
 
 While Mr. Prime was in his Sophomore year, the 
 college building, Nassau Hall, which had been erected 
 
 4 
 
50 THE PKIME FAMILY. 
 
 before the Eevolution, and which was then " the largest 
 " stone edifice in America/' was set on fire at noonday, 
 March 2, 1802, and was consumed, with the exception 
 of the substantial walls, which have withstood two 
 conflagrations. 1 This venerable structure, the interior 
 having been twice restored, is now standing, the central 
 figure of one of the finest ranges of college buildings 
 grouped together in the world, — certainly unsurpassed 
 in this country. The writer has heard his father nar- 
 rate some very amusing incidents connected with the 
 fire of 1802, by which the whole body of the students 
 were driven out to seek quarters in the town and the 
 surrounding country. Mr. Prime was graduated in 
 1804, in the largest class which up to that time ever 
 left the institution. Among his classmates were the 
 Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, Hon. Joseph E. Inger- 
 soil, Eev. Philip Lindsley, D.D., Hon. Samuel L. 
 Southard, etc. 
 
 When he left college there was no well-established 
 theological seminary in the country to which he could 
 resort in preparation for his chosen life-work, the gospel 
 ministry. Accordingly, he pursued his studies at Hunt- 
 ington, in the mode common at that day, under the 
 counsel of his pastor, the Eev. William Schenck, and 
 with the advice of other neighboring ministers, enter- 
 ing at once upon such practical service as every congre- 
 gation afforded, — a kind of theological training-school 
 which has sent out into the great field a host of labor- 
 ers who would compare most favorably, in fitness and 
 ministerial success, with the graduates of the theologi- 
 cal seminaries of the present day. 
 
 1 Nassau Hall was burned the second time March 10, 1855. 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 51 
 
 Among those to whom Mr. Prime was largely in- 
 debted for counsel, both before and after entering the 
 ministry, were the Eev. Dr. Aaron Wool worth, of 
 Bridgehampton, one of the most saintly ministers of 
 his day ; the Eev. Herman Dagget, of Fireplace, a man 
 of great dignity, who, according to all local report, 
 " was never known to laugh," but who was proverbially 
 genial in character and manners, and of whom the re- 
 mark was made by one of his co-presbyters, " Brother 
 " Dagget is just fit to preach to ministers ; " and the Eev. 
 Lyman Beecher, then settled at Easthampton, to whom 
 Mr. Prime was wont to acknowledge himself as greatly 
 indebted for fraternal advice during the first years of 
 his ministry, while he was settled at Sag Harbor, a few 
 miles distant from Easthampton. 
 
 He was licensed by the Presbytery of Long Island, 
 Oct. 10, 1805, at Huntington, where he preached his 
 first sermon among his kindred and friends. He im- 
 mediately left home on a missionary tour eastward on 
 the Island. Stopping, an entire stranger, at Cutchogue, 
 he was asked to tarry and preach on the coming Sab- 
 bath to a congregation which, owing to dissensions, had 
 long been without a pastor. He remained at this place 
 five months, preaching and laboring with all the ardor 
 of a youth just entering upon the great work of his 
 life. He succeeded in reconciling the differences among 
 the people and in building up the church, — though 
 not, apparently, in developing their liberality ; for at 
 the end of this term of service he received his salary at 
 the rate of three dollars per week, and left. 
 
 He performed missionary service for several months 
 at other places on the Island, and in the following June 
 
52 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 started to make a tour of New England on horseback. 
 Crossing the Sound, he spent the first Sabbath at Nor- 
 walk, Conn., where he preached for the Eev. Dr. Bur- 
 nett, pastor of the Congregational church. As he was 
 taking leave of his host on Monday morning, Dr. Bur- 
 nett, apparently in perfect health, accompanied him to 
 the door, and bidding him farewell, re-entered the house. 
 He was immediately stricken with apoplexy, and died 
 within two hours after parting with his guest, who was 
 then prosecuting his journey wholly ignorant of what 
 had befallen his friend. At Meriden, Conn., Mr. Prime 
 was seized with a severe illness, which compelled him 
 to turn his steps homeward as soon as he was able to 
 travel ; and it was several months before he had fully 
 recovered from the attack. 
 
 In the autumn of 1806 he was appointed by his 
 Presbytery to supply the pulpit of the church at Sag 
 Harbor. His labors here were marked by an extensive 
 religious awakening, in which, within the space of six 
 months, one hundred persons in the congregation be- 
 came hopefully the subjects of renewing grace, and 
 many were also added to the neighboring churches. 
 Nearly forty years afterward, in 1845, the pastor of 
 this church, in which Mr. Prime's ministrations had 
 been so signally blessed, bore this testimony to their 
 permanent results : " The stamina of this church at 
 " this time ; the piety and wisdom of the eldership ; 
 " the ability and efficiency of Sabbath-school instruction ; 
 " and, in a word, its power of doing good, are obviously 
 "to be traced to the revival of 1808-9." 
 
 On the 5th of July, 1808, he married Julia Ann 
 Jermain, daughter of Major John Jermain, of Sag 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 53 
 
 Harbor, who was the happy and useful companion of 
 his subsequent life. 1 
 
 He was ordained at Huntington, Oct. 24, 1809 ; and 
 after preaching two years at Smithtown and Freshpond, 
 Long Island, he left the Island for the interior of the 
 State, spending the first winter at Milton, Saratoga 
 County. He made the voyage up the Hudson, with his 
 wife and two children, in a sloop, and in the ordinary 
 length of time, seven days, — longer than is now re- 
 quired to cross the Atlantic. 2 
 
 1 The mother of Mrs. Prime, Margaret Pierson Jermain, was a 
 lineal descendant, in the sixth generation, of Henry Pierson, who 
 came from England to Southampton, Long Island, in 1640. John 
 Jermain and Margaret Pierson, his wife, had four sons and five 
 daughters, of whom all but one were born in the last century, and of 
 whom all but two lived to be over eighty years of age ; one dying in 
 his ninety-fifth year. One still survives, in her eighty-fourth year. 
 They all early in life became members of the Christian Church, 
 and have lived consistent Christian lives. They were : — 
 
 Mary, born May 7, 1782, wife of Daniel Latham ; died Jan. 28, 
 1811, aged 29. 
 
 Sylvanus Pierson, born July 31, 1784; died April 20, 1869, 
 aged 85. 
 
 Rebekah, born Oct. 2, 1787, wife of Alden Spooner ; died Nov. 
 15, 1824, aged 37. 
 
 Julia Ann, born Jan. 31, 1789, wife of Rev. Nathaniel S. Prime ; 
 died Aug. 24, 1874, aged 85. 
 
 Alanson, born Feb. 10, 1791 ; died Nov. 5, 1885, aged 94. 
 
 Caroline, born Jan. 25, 1794 ; wife of Rev. Stephen Porter ; died 
 June 18, 1877, aged 83. 
 
 John, born March 22, 1796 ; died March 14, 1881, aged 85. 
 
 George Washington, born Sept. 29, 1798; died Sept. 21, 1879, 
 aged 81. 
 
 Margaret Pierson, born March 4, 1804; wife of Joseph Slocum, 
 now living in her eighty-fourth year. 
 
 2 To give an idea of the voyage up and down the Hudson in a 
 sloop — the packet-ship of that day — we make an extract from the 
 Journal of an older sister of Mr. Prime, written several years previous, 
 in going from New York to Albany and returning. This was ten 
 
54 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 The following summer he accepted a call to the first 
 Presbyterian Church of Cambridge, Washington County, 
 
 years before the first steamboat passed up the Hudson. The writer 
 of this Journal was then a girl of seventeen : — 
 
 "April 9, 1797. Two o'clock in the afternoon set sail from New 
 " York for Albany ; sailed twenty miles, and dropped anchor for 
 " that day. 
 
 "10th. Head-wind continued; lay at anchor under the Palisade 
 " mountains ; P. and myself very sick ; set sail about noon ; reached 
 " West Point, and anchored for that night. 
 
 " 11th. Set sail in the morning; about noon reached Newburg ; 
 "landed Mr C, Captain 0. and son ; took on board Mr. W. ; set sail 
 "and came as far as Poughkeepsie ; anchored and lay all night. 
 
 " 12(h. Set sail ; came as far as Rhinebeck ; dropped anchor in 
 "the afternoon, and went ashore. 
 
 " 13th. Set sail in the morning ; raining very hard ; disagreeable 
 "sailing; toward noon began to snow ; very cold; reached Livingston 
 " Manor. Anchored, and lay all night rolling and tossing ; very much 
 " frightened ; called to Captain Williams. After being assured there 
 " was no danger, went to sleep, and slept till morning. 
 
 " 11th. In the afternoon set sail ; got as far as Catskill ; cleared 
 "off very pleasant; dropped anchor ; boatmen went on shore ; very 
 "calm all night. 
 
 " 15th. Set sail, with head-wind continuing ; had a fine view of 
 " Hudson ; went to Loonenburgh ; dropped anchor, with prospect of 
 "a storm. 
 
 " 16th. Lay all day at Loonenburgh ; about noon Mr. B. came 
 " on board and invited us on shore; came on board in the evening. 
 
 " 17th. Wind springing up southerly, set sail in the afternoon ; 
 " had a fine breeze ; arrived at Albany at night after a long and 
 " tedious voyage of nine days from New York." 
 
 The return voyage was shorter by two days. 
 
 " May 1st. Set sail for New York about twelve o'clock with a fair 
 " wind ; reached New Baltimore, where we stopped to take in wood ; 
 "raining very hard ; not able to do anything. 
 
 " 2d. Rainy all day ; still forced to lie idle, with a fair wind. 
 
 " 3d. Cleared off pleasant ; wind springing up southerly, felt 
 " quite discouraged ; went on shore and gathered flowers. 
 
 " 4th. About eleven o'clock set sail with a head-wind ; readied 
 " Loonenburgh about noon, with hardly perceiving that we moved at 
 " all ; got as far as East Camp ; anchored, and lay all night. 
 
 " 5th. Set sail in the forenoon ; wind springing up ahead ; had a 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 55 
 
 N.Y, and was installed pastor July 14, 1813. This 
 was the scene of his longest and most important pasto- 
 ral labors, and here he exerted, in other public rela- 
 tions, his most widely extended influence. " The Old 
 "White Meeting-House," a volume by his son, S. Irenseus 
 Prime, published without names of persons or place, is 
 a faithful sketch of this pastor and his flock. The 
 Synod of Albany, which then covered the whole north- 
 ern and a large portion of the middle and western 
 parts of the State, was more or less the field of his 
 ecclesiastical influence. 
 
 Within less than a year after entering upon his pas- 
 torate at Cambridge, Mr. Prime performed an act 
 which is best related in the words of his semi-centen- 
 nial sermon : — 
 
 " Being now settled on a competent salary and with 
 " a large charge, extending over twelve miles square, I 
 " felt the importance of setting myself down to study. 
 "And yet, from the strong desire of the congregation to 
 
 "rough time ; got as far as Rhinebeck ; went up to the clock ; Cousin 
 " P. and myself so sick, could not help ourselves ; with the help of 
 " Captain Schenck made out to get on shore ; felt much better. Went 
 "up to the 'Cottage of Content/ where the brown loaf and maple 
 " sugar were administered with a hearty welcome. 
 
 " Qth. On Captain Schenck's going out in the morning, we heard 
 " the joyful sound of ' fair wind.' Set sail ; had a very light breeze ; 
 " about noon wind sprang ahead ; beat down as far as New Baltimore ; 
 " lowered sail, went on shore ; in the lime-kiln saw many curiosities. 
 " Lay all night there. 
 
 " 1th. Set sail in the morning ; made one mile, and forced to lower 
 " sail ; P. and I with great difficulty got on shore ; frightened on 
 "board with the sight of a snake six feet long. About eleven o'clock 
 " set sail ; after getting into the Highlands had a fair wind ; very 
 "sick; in Tappan Bay most delightful sailing; went to bed about 
 " dark ; could not sleep for thinking of getting to New York ; reached 
 "there between ten and eleven o'clock. — Seven days from Albany." 
 
56 THE PKIME FAMILY. 
 
 " see their new minister at their respective houses, I was 
 " often tempted to spend days in visiting when I ought 
 " to be otherwise employed. After pursuing this course 
 " for four months, relying on my old stock, I found I 
 " had economized time to write only ten sermons. 
 " Under the deep conviction that this would not answer, 
 " I performed an act which, from the benefits resulting, 
 " I can recommend to every young minister upon chang- 
 " ing his field of labor. Taking out all my old sermons, 
 " to the number of three hundred and fifty, and having 
 " selected about a score, as specimens of my early essays 
 "at sermonizing, I made a bonfire of the residue. It 
 " was the noblest act, on my own behalf, I had ever per- 
 " formed, and I presume it was no less beneficial to the 
 " world. This act imposed on me the necessity of devot- 
 ing three or four days in each week exclusively to 
 " study, as I had formed the determination not to be a 
 " sluggard in the Lord's Vineyard." 
 
 Mr. Prime devoted himself with assiduous care to 
 the education of his children, and in doing so acquired 
 wisdom from experience. His two earliest born were 
 started like hot-house plants, being taught to read be- 
 fore they were three years of age, and early advanced 
 in the study of the ancient languages and in science. 
 After these experiments he became convinced that he 
 had committed an error in forcing their tender minds 
 at too early an age, and his younger children were not 
 allowed to open a book or even to learn the alphabet 
 until they were five years old. He was inclined to 
 defer the commencement of their school education to a 
 still later period. 
 
 In the course of a few years, with an increasing 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 57 
 
 family to be reared and educated, and with a salary not at 
 all commensurate with his enlarged expenses, he was 
 induced in 1821 to accept the charge, as Principal, of the 
 Washington Academy at Cambridge, — an institution 
 which for many years had been sending out into the 
 world a large number of influential men. This afforded 
 him an opportunity immediately to superintend the 
 education of his own children, to send his five sons to 
 college, to sustain them through their entire course, 
 and to give a liberal education to his two daughters. 
 He tendered to his congregation his resignation of his 
 pastorate ; but it was declined, and for several years he 
 continued to discharge the duties of both offices. 
 
 Throughout his life he preserved and cultivated the 
 scholarly tastes of his youth. He was an accomplished 
 Greek and Latin scholar, delighting to find rest and 
 refreshment from arduous labor in reading the ancient 
 classics in the original languages, or in hearing them 
 read by his children. 
 
 He became an enthusiast in electrical science, con- 
 structing with his own hands for his laboratory, bat- 
 teries and apparatus, with which he spent much time 
 in experimenting. He was accustomed to prophesy in 
 his public lectures and in his family, more than sixty 
 years ago, that the time would come when electricity 
 would do all the lighting, warming, and cooking work 
 of civilization, and drive its engines also. At that time 
 there was in the city of Albany a young watchmaker, 
 named Henry, with whom Mr. Prime became acquainted 
 in the ordinary way of his business. He was a friend 
 of the Eev. Dr. Peter Bullions, the eminent Greek 
 scholar who was Principal of the Albany Academy and 
 
58 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 an intimate friend of Mr. Prime. Finding that young 
 Henry had devoted much attention to the subject of 
 electricity and magnetism, and had made some re- 
 markable experiments, Mr. Prime cultivated the ac- 
 quaintance, which ripened into a life-long friendship. 
 Impressed with his extraordinary capabilities and at- 
 tainments, Mr. Prime joined with Dr. Bullions in urging 
 him to bring out his discoveries in a public lecture, and 
 promised, if he would do so, to drive from Cambridge 
 to Albany, a distance of thirty-five miles, to hear him. 
 The result was the first appearance before the public 
 of the eminent Joseph Henry, who was successively 
 professor in the Albany Academy and in Princeton 
 College, and still later Secretary of the Smithsonian 
 Institute. The present writer (though at that time a 
 mere lad) remembers well the enthusiasm with which 
 his father, on his return from Albany, detailed the lec- 
 ture, described the experiments, and entered at once 
 upon their repetition in his own small laboratory. 
 
 An incident that occurred soon after the commence- 
 ment of Mr. Prime's ministry at Cambridge shows his 
 early and efficient interest in the cause of foreign mis- 
 sions. The first missionaries to the Holy Land ap- 
 pointed by the American Board were Levi Parsons 
 and Pliny Fisk. On completing his studies at Andover 
 Theological Seminary in 1818, Mr. Parsons was ap- 
 pointed by the Board to spend a year visiting the 
 churches, to awaken an interest in the cause, and to 
 collect money for the Board, which was then in its in- 
 fancy, and greatly in need of funds for sending out and 
 supporting its missionaries. He spent several weeks 
 among the churches of Vermont, but met with little 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 59 
 
 success. One evening he came, a stranger, to the house 
 of Mr. Prime, greatly discouraged with his failure, hav- 
 ing collected in the State of Vermont only $155. By 
 his gentle manners and Christian spirit he won the 
 hearts of the pastor and his household, including his 
 young children who have never ceased to cherish his 
 memory with tender affection. The writer, who was 
 then just four years old, has the most vivid recollection 
 of this man of God and of many of the incidents of 
 his visit. 
 
 On the following Sahbath, December 20, Mr. Parsons 
 preached on the subject of his mission to the Holy 
 Land, and made a deep impression upon the people. 
 His appeal was warmly seconded by the pastor, and 
 liberally responded to by the congregation. As he was 
 about leaving the place, the pastor of a Scotch Presby- 
 terian Church in the same town called upon the mis- 
 sionary and asked him to visit some of his people and 
 present the cause to them personally. The result was 
 that Mr. Parsons left Cambridge inspired with fresh 
 hope and taking with him $505, contributed at this 
 place to the funds of the Board. This was a remark- 
 able offering to the cause for that day ; nor was it an 
 evanescent expression of interest on the part of Mr. 
 Prime and his church. The work of missions continued 
 to call forth their prayers and their liberal contribu- 
 tions, and the monthly concert of prayer for missions 
 became one of the most interesting meetings of that 
 church. 
 
 Mr. Prime was constitutionally a reformer, — not a 
 mere ideal, but a practical reformer. He allowed his 
 reason and good sense to regulate his action; but in 
 
60 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 considering questions of duty he never took counsel from 
 his fears, and in carrying out his conscientious convic- 
 tions he conferred not with flesh and blood. He was 
 one of the earliest pioneers in the temperance refor- 
 mation. On entering the sacred ministry, long before 
 there was any popular movement in this direction, he 
 became convinced that intoxicating drinks were not 
 necessary to the enjoyment of health and vigor, and he 
 resolved personally to abstain. But in obedience to the 
 laws of hospitality of that day the decanters were al- 
 lowed to remain on his sideboard, and were in requisi- 
 tion at all social gatherings, not excepting ministerial. 
 In the year 1811 the celebrated essay by Dr. Benjamin 
 Rush, of Philadelphia, entitled "An Inquiry into the 
 "effects of Ardent Spirits on the Human Body and 
 "Mind," was distributed in the Presbyterian General 
 Assembly, and a copy of it was put into the hands of 
 Mr. Prime. It produced upon him such an impression 
 that as he rose from its perusal he went to his side- 
 board, locked up his decanters, and never again " put 
 " the bottle to his neighbor's lips." Under the inspira- 
 tion of Dr. Rush's treatise he wrote a sermon from the 
 passage in Proverbs : " Who hath woe ? Who hath sor- 
 " row ? Who hath contentions ? Who hath babbling ? 
 " Who hath wounds without cause ? Who hath redness 
 "of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine ; they that 
 " go to seek mixed wine," etc. This sermon he preached 
 at the opening of the Presbytery of Long Island, Nov. 
 5, 1811. It produced a great sensation. Some of his 
 ministerial brethren thought he was beside himself. 
 One of them said : " Brother Prime is the youngest 
 "member of the Presbytery, and does he presume to 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 61 
 
 " teach us old men on this subject ? " The Presbytery 
 on the following day took up the matter, and after a 
 full discussion unanimously adopted the following 
 resolution : — 
 
 " Resolved, That hereafter ardent spirits and wine 
 " shall constitute no part of our entertainment at any 
 " of our public meetings • and that it be recommended 
 "to their churches not to treat Christian brethren or 
 " others with ardent spirits as a part of hospitality in 
 " friendly visits." 
 
 The Presbytery sent to the churches under its care a 
 pastoral letter on the same subject, which, according to 
 the records of the time, had a very salutary effect in 
 promoting a wholesome public sentiment in regard to 
 the evils of intemperance. 1 By a unanimous vote of 
 the Presbytery, Mr. Prime's sermon was published and 
 circulated on Long Island, and in some communities 
 led to the adoption of strictly temperance principles 
 and action. After his removal to Cambridge he took a 
 leading part in promoting the cause by its public advo- 
 cacy, by the organization of temperance societies, by 
 writing for the public Press, and by his own consistent 
 personal example. 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1825, which opened the fiftieth 
 or jubilee year of the independence of the United 
 States, Mr. Prime delivered in his own pulpit at Cam- 
 bridge a discourse on the subject of slavery, taking for 
 his text a passage from the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence : " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
 " all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by 
 
 1 A copy of this letter and the action taken by the Presbytery 
 may be found in the appendix to Prime's " History of Long Island." 
 
62 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 "their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that 
 "among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of 
 " Happiness." It was a calm but thorough discussion 
 of the subject of American slavery, with all its wrongs 
 and sins and perils to the country. The discourse 
 was preached on a week-day to a large congregation, 
 which immediately took measures for its publication. 
 It was printed with the title, " The Year of Jubilee, 
 "but not to Africans." 
 
 During his residence of eighteen years at Cambridge, 
 Mr. Prime took a leading part in the religious and 
 benevolent movements of the day, and was specially 
 active in promoting the cause of popular education 
 and sound learning. Here he was associated with a 
 number of professional gentlemen, some of them grad- 
 uates of the Scotch universities, who formed a club for 
 classical and scientific study, and were largely instru- 
 mental, by public lectures and other means, in promot- 
 ing widely in the community a taste for learning. He 
 was a trustee of Middlebury College from 1822 to 1826, 
 and of Williams College from 1826 to 1831, when, hav- 
 ing removed to a distance, he resigned. 
 
 In the spring of 1830 he accepted an invitation to 
 become Principal of the Mount Pleasant Academy at 
 Sing-Sing on the Hudson, and also took charge of the 
 Presbyterian Church, again performing this double ser- 
 vice for several years. In 1831 he established at the 
 same place a female seminary, which, under the im- 
 mediate superintendence and instruction of his eldest 
 daughter, afterward Mrs. A. P. Cumings, soon acquired 
 a high reputation. The building occupied by this semi- 
 nary was destroyed by fire in October, 1835, when the 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 63 
 
 institution was removed to Newburgh, where it con- 
 tinued to nourish under the same direction. 
 
 On the night of May 17, 1849, Dr. and Mrs. Prime 
 had a narrow escape from being buried alive in a watery 
 grave. Intending to visit some friends at Ballston Spa, 
 they left New York at evening in the steamer " Em- 
 pire," bound for Troy. They retired to their berths 
 about ten o'clock, and not long after were aroused by a 
 sudden shock. The engine having stopped, they has- 
 tened on deck in their night clothing, to find a crowd of 
 passengers in a state of alarm and confusion, which was 
 increased on learning that there were several feet of 
 water already in the cabin, but no one seemed to know 
 what had happened. As the steamer was sinking, they 
 were assisted, in some way they knew not how, to 
 climb to the upper deck, from which they got on board 
 a schooner loaded with lumber, — the vessel that had 
 caused the disaster by running into the " Empire " in the 
 darkness. The steamer almost immediately went down 
 in deep water, with a number of the passengers con- 
 fined in the cabin, between twenty and thirty of whom 
 perished. The schooner continued to float, and Dr. 
 and Mrs. Prime were taken off and landed at New- 
 burgh, where they were supplied by friends with cloth- 
 ing. Taking a steamer that was passing down the river, 
 Mrs. Prime was in New York again before morning, 
 bringing to the family the first news of their peril and 
 of their remarkable escape. 
 
 On retiring from active responsibility as an educator, 
 Dr. Prime declined to accept a pastoral charge. He 
 continued, as had always been his wont, to be diligent 
 in business, devoting his time and energies largely to 
 
64 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 gratuitous public service. He wrote much for the Press, 
 he performed missionary labor in various localities, he 
 occupied different pulpits in New York city, Brooklyn, 
 Newark, and other places, — in some cases for a year or 
 more, — preaching with as much vigor and acceptance 
 as in former years. Nor in fulfilling these engagements 
 did he draw upon his old stock of sermons, but contin- 
 ued to prepare for the pulpit as studiously and with as 
 much interest as in the earliest days of his ministry. 
 
 On the 21st of October, 1855 (the day succeeding the 
 fiftieth anniversary of the one on which he preached his 
 first sermon at Huntington, Long Island, his native 
 town), he preached at the same place and in the same 
 church a discourse commemorative of his ministerial 
 life. This was subsequently amplified for the benefit 
 of his children. The private portion of these reminis- 
 cences concluded as follows : — 
 
 "In closing this review I ought to record the peculiar 
 " goodness of God to me through a life and ministry ex- 
 " tended so far beyond the average of human existence 
 "on earth, and under circumstances of peculiar comfort 
 " and enjoyment. Trials I have had — and who has not ? 
 " — but they have always appeared to me, not only 
 "smaller than my deserts, but lighter than those of 
 "others. It has been the prevailing sentiment of my 
 " heart that few have passed through as long a life as I 
 "have lived, and enjoyed as large a share of happiness as 
 " has been assigned to me by a kind Providence. I have 
 " been blessed with a family of children who have never 
 " dishonored their parentage; and the most of them have 
 "passed the meridian of life with qualifications and with 
 " a disposition to labor in the service of God and for the 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 65 
 
 " benefit of the world. Only one of them has been cut 
 " down by the way ; and in that case we had the un- 
 speakable consolation to believe that he had the honor 
 " of being the first of the family to be bid welcome to 
 " his Father's and our Father's house above." 
 
 During several of his later years Dr. Prime resided 
 in the city of Brooklyn. The last year he spent at the 
 country home of his son-in-law, Mr. A. P. Cumings, at 
 Mamaroneck. Almost from the period of his reaching 
 manhood he had anticipated a sudden death, having 
 had early and frequent intimations of a tendency to 
 apoplexy. More than once on this account he had been 
 advised for a brief season to suspend public service, and 
 especially pulpit labor. But such attacks soon passed 
 away. The end came in a different form, though not 
 less suddenly. On the 27th of March, 1856, he spent 
 the day writing a sermon, which he had commenced in 
 the morning, on a subject that had recently impressed 
 itself upon his mind, — "Love is the fulfilling of the 
 "law." He had nearly completed the sermon as the 
 daylight was passing away. Laying down his pen, he 
 spent the evening in cheerful conversation with the 
 family, and retired at his usual hour, apparently in 
 perfect health. About midnight he awoke and com- 
 plained of pain in the region of the heart. While his 
 wife and daughter were ministering to his relief, with- 
 out a thought that his end was near, his heart suddenly 
 stood still, and his active, useful life was ended. 
 
 Dr. Prime was a man of fine personal appearance and 
 commanding presence. He had a clear, strong voice, 
 which added much to his power in the pulpit and in 
 deliberative assemblies. He was an easy extempora- 
 
 5 
 
QQ THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 neous speaker, a forcible debater, with a ready flow of 
 language, strongly argumentative in the pulpit as well 
 as in debate, seldom indulging in rhetoric, and never 
 employing it as a substitute for thought or logic. His 
 preaching was "in simplicity and godly sincerity, not 
 " with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demon- 
 " stration of the Spirit and of power." When he spoke 
 on any occasion, no one who heard him was in any doubt 
 as to what he meant; if it was on any controverted 
 point, no one doubted on which side he stood. As a 
 theologian his views were clear, and clearly expressed. 
 He was not only firmly, but intelligently attached to 
 the Presbyterian Church, in which he had his birth, — 
 to its system of doctrine and form of government. As 
 an expounder of Presbyterian law and order, and as an 
 advocate in the church courts, he had no superior. His 
 counsel was often sought in cases of discipline, and he 
 was frequently appointed on commissions to determine 
 difficult cases of ecclesiastical procedure. 
 
 The degree of S. T. D. was conferred on him in 1848 
 by Princeton College, — an honor which he accepted 
 with pleasure, chiefly because it was conferred by his 
 own Alma Mater. 
 
 Of his general character and bearing, the Eev. 
 Dr. Sprague wrote in his "Annals of the American 
 "Pulpit:" — 
 
 " I knew the venerable Dr. Prime quite well during 
 " the latter years of his life, and always regarded him 
 "as a noble specimen of a man and a minister. He had 
 " a mind of uncommon force and discrimination ; a noble 
 "and generous spirit; simple and engaging manners ; an 
 "invincible firmness in adhering to his own convictions; 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 67 
 
 * an earnest devotion to the best interests of his fellow- 
 " men ; an excellent talent for the pulpit ; great tact at 
 " public business ; and a remarkably graceful facility at 
 "mingling in a deliberative body. He inherited from 
 " his father and grandfather a taste for letters, which 
 "he cultivated through life and transmitted to his 
 " posterity." 
 
 His widow, Mrs. Julia Ann Prime, survived him 
 nearly eighteen years. After enjoying a serene old age, 
 cherished in the affections and homes of her children, 
 retaining her mental faculties unimpaired, and enjoying 
 bodily vigor and health to the last, she passed away from 
 earth peacefully, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Cum- 
 ings, at White Plains, August 24th, 1874. As in the 
 case of her husband, neither she nor any of her family 
 were anticipating her departure. She had a slight ill- 
 ness, from which she was apparently recovering. On 
 the morning of her decease she awoke bright and cheer- 
 ful ; without rising, she sat up for a short time in her 
 bed, and as she laid her head again upon the pillow, 
 she closed her eyes and repeated aloud the first words 
 of the simple prayer of her childhood : — 
 
 "Now I lay me down to sleep, 
 I pray the Lord my soul to keep ; 
 If I should die before I wake, 
 I pray the Lord my soul to take." 
 
 While the words were yet on her lips, and before she 
 had finished, the prayer was answered ; she had gone 
 to be " forever with the Lord." 
 
 The following notice of the decease of Mrs. Prime is 
 taken from the " Washington County Post," published at 
 
68 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 Cambridge, N. Y., where she had spent nearly twenty 
 years of her life as a pastor's wife : — 
 
 " No son or daughter of the ' Old White Church ' during 
 " the pastorate of the distinguished Dr. Prime over that 
 " church ever failed to love, esteem, and — we had al- 
 " most said — to worship the subject of this obituary. 
 " Nature had vouchsafed to her in a remarkable degree 
 " the rare qualities of grace and beauty. These, together 
 " with richly endowed and highly cultivated powers, en- 
 " abled her to wield an influence that few of her sex can 
 " claim, and the impress of which is indelibly stamped 
 " upon the moral and religious character of not a few in 
 " our community unto the third and fourth generation. 
 " She was permitted to live and witness her family of 
 "sons and daughters grow up and take rank among 
 " the most distinguished scientific and literary men and 
 " women of the land, all of whom, we doubt not, will 
 " prove bright stars in her crown of rejoicing." 
 
 The children of Nathaniel Scudder Prime and 
 Julia Ann Jermain, his wife, were, — 
 
 Maria Margaretta, born at Sag Harbor, Long 
 Island, Aug. 14, 1809 ; 
 
 Alanson Jermain, born at Smithtown, Long Island, 
 March 12, 1811; died at White Plains, N. Y., April 3, 
 1864. 
 
 Samuel Iren^eus, born at Ballston, N. Y., Nov. 4, 
 1812 ; died at Manchester, Vt., July 18, 1885. 
 
 Edward Dorr Griffin, born at Cambridge, N. Y., 
 Nov. 2, 1814. 
 
 Cornelia, born at Cambridge, N. Y, Nov. 29, 1816. 
 
REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 69 
 
 Gerrit Wendell, born at Cambridge, N. Y., July 13, 
 1819 ; died at Hudson, N. Y., April 12, 1837. 
 
 William Cowper, born at Cambridge, N. Y, Oct. 31, 
 1825. 
 
 PUBLICATION'S OF REV. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, D.D. 
 
 A Collection of Hymns, Original and Select, for the 
 use of Small Assemblies and Private Christians. By Na- 
 thaniel S. Prime, Sag Harbor. Printed by Alden Spoon er. 
 1809. pp. 139. 
 
 The Pernicious Effects of Intemperance in the use 
 of Ardent Spirits, and the Remedy for that Evil. A SER- 
 MON delivered at the Opening of the Presbytery of Long 
 Island at Aquebogue, Nov. 5, 1811. By Nathaniel S. 
 Prime. (Published by Request.) Brooklyn : Printed by 
 Alden Spooner. 1812. pp. 40. 
 
 An Address to the Cambridge Branch of the Moral So- 
 ciety of the County of Washington. Delivered Sept. 11, 
 1815. By Nathaniel S. Prime, Pastor of the Presbyterian 
 Church in Cambridge (N. Y.) . Albany : Printed by Church- 
 ill Abbey, No. 95 State Street, Five Doors east of the 
 Episcopal Church. 1815. pp. 24. 
 
 A Plan for the more Successful Management of Domes- 
 tic Missions, in a Letter to a Friend. By an Evangelist. 
 Albany : Printed by Henry C. Southwick, No. 94 State 
 Street. 1816. pp. 23. 
 
 Divine Truth the Established Means of Sanctification : 
 A Sermon, Delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Wash- 
 ington County Bible Society, N. Y., in South Granville, Jan. 
 29, 1817. By Nathaniel S. Prime, Pastor of the Presby- 
 terian Church in Cambridge, N. Y. Salem : Printed by 
 Dodd & Stevenson, at the Salem Bookstore. 1817. pp. 32. 
 
70 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 A Familiar Illustration of Christian Baptism, in 
 which the Subjects of that Ordinance and the Mode of 
 Administration are ascertained from the Word of God and 
 the History of the Church ; and defended from the Objec- 
 tions usually urged by the Opposers of Infant Baptism and 
 the Advocates of Immersion. In the Form of a Dialogue. 
 By Nathaniel S. Prime, Pastor of the Presbj-terian Church 
 in Cambridge, N. Y. Salem, N. Y. ; Printed by Dodd 
 & Stevenson. 1818. pp. 312. 
 
 Address to the Congregation at the Ordination of 
 Absalom Peters as Pastor of the Congregation Church at 
 Bennington, Vt., July 5th, 1820. 
 
 The Year of Jubilee, But not to Africans : A Dis- 
 course delivered July 4th, 1825, Being the Forty-ninth An- 
 niversary of American Independence. By Nathaniel S. 
 Prime, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Cam- 
 bridge, N.Y. Salem: Printed by Dodd & Stevenson. 
 1825. pp. 24. 
 
 Charge to Rev. Samuel Irenseus Prime. Delivered at 
 his Installation as Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church 
 of Matteawan, in the Town of Fishkill, Dutchess County, 
 N. Y., May 23, 1837. By Nathaniel S. Prime, Principal 
 of the Newburgh Female Seminary. Newburgh : Printed 
 by J. D. Spalding. 1837. pp. 22. 
 
 A History of Long Island, from its First Settlement 
 by Europeans, to the Y r ear 1845, with Special Reference to 
 its Ecclesiastical Concerns. In Two Parts. I. Its Physical 
 Features and Civil Affairs. II. Annals of the Several 
 Towns, relating chiefly to Ecclesiastical Matters. By Na- 
 thaniel S. Prime. New York : Robert Carter, 58 Canal 
 Street ; and Pittsburg, 56 Market Street. 1845. pp. 420. 
 
MRS. MARIA M. CUMINGS. 
 
 MAEIA MAEGAEETTA, eldest child of the Eev. 
 Nathaniel S. Prime, D.D., and Julia Ann Jer- 
 main, his wife, was born at Sag Harbor, Long Island, 
 Aug. 14, 1809. She early exhibited a decided taste for 
 the study of languages, especially for the Latin and 
 Greek ; and before she was fifteen had made written 
 translations of several of the ancient classic authors. 
 After enjoying the advantages of the female department 
 of the Washington Academy at Cambridge, she attended 
 the school of Miss Gilbert at Albany, and completed 
 her school education at the Troy Female Seminary 
 under Mrs. Emma Willard, the distinguished pioneer 
 in the higher education of women. This distinction has 
 been claimed for other American teachers ; but the in- 
 stitution which Mrs. Willard founded was by several 
 years the first to offer to young women a complete 
 education, and to fit them to become educators of their 
 own sex in all the departments of useful learning. As 
 the pioneer, and as an institution of a high order, it 
 merits this recognition. 
 
 Inspired by the enthusiasm of her eminent instruc- 
 tress, and by her own desire for usefulness, Miss Prime 
 devoted several years to the practical work of teaching 
 others. At the age of fifteen she became an assistant 
 
72 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 to her father in the Cambridge Academy, and had 
 under her immediate instruction advanced pupils, in- 
 cluding a number of young men who were largely 
 indebted to her for their preparation to enter college, 
 and who in subsequent professional life made special 
 acknowledgment of their obligations to her for laying 
 the foundations of their classical education. Mention 
 has been made in the preceding sketch of a club of 
 literary and professional gentlemen who met regularly 
 to revive their college and university studies, and 
 especially to read familiarly their favorite Latin and 
 Greek authors. Miss Prime's rare attainments in the 
 languages secured for her a unanimous election as a 
 member of this club, — a tribute which in no other 
 case was accorded to one of her sex. 
 
 In 1831, in connection with her father, she estab- 
 lished the Mount Pleasant Female Seminary at Sing 
 Sing, in which, and after its removal to Newburgh, 
 several hundred young ladies, from all parts of the 
 country, were under her immediate instruction and 
 training. 
 
 She was married, March 31, 1836, to Mr. A. P. 
 Cumings, one of the editors and proprietors of the 
 " New York Observer," who, after a life of great activity 
 in this and other fields of usefulness, especially in the 
 general work of Christian benevolence, died at Nice, 
 France, May 13, 1871. 
 
 Mrs. Cumings contributed occasionally to the col- 
 umns of the " New York Observer " and to other peri- 
 odicals, and by urgent request she prepared two 
 volumes for the press, — one the Memoirs of a mis- 
 sionary's daughter who had been providentially sent 
 
MRS. MARIA M. CUMINGS. 73 
 
 to her house to die ; the other, a Memorial of a very 
 dear friend. They were published anonymously. 
 
 The adopted child of A. P. Cumings and Maria M., 
 his wife, was Cornelia Josephine, who was married to 
 Mr. James L. Truslow. 
 
 PUBLICATIONS OF MRS. MARIA M. CUMINGS. 
 
 The Missionary's Daughter; or, Memoir of Lucy 
 Goodale Thurston, of the Sandwich Islands. " Why 
 "brought here to wither, but to fulfil some high behest 
 "of Heaven ?" New York : Dayton & Newman. 1842. 
 pp. 223. 
 
 Memorial op Mrs. Catharine Ann Jermain, who 
 died April 21, 1873, wife of James B. Jermain, of Al- 
 bany. Inscribed to her children and children's chil- 
 dren and family friends, at the request of her husband. 
 Munsell, Printer, Albany. 
 
ALANSON JERMAIN PRIME, M.D. 
 
 ALANSON JERMAIN, eldest son of the Eev. Na- 
 thaniel S. Prime, D.D., and Julia Ann Jermain, 
 his wife, was born at Smithtown, Long Island, March 12, 
 1811. He pursued his preparatory studies, under the 
 immediate instruction of his father, at Cambridge, N. Y. 
 In 1826 he entered the Sophomore class at Williams 
 College, under the presidency of the Eev. Edward 
 Dorr Griffin, D.D., and was graduated with honor in 
 the class of 1829. Having the medical profession in 
 view, he devoted special attention while in college to 
 chemistry and natural science generally. After his 
 graduation he continued his scientific studies at the 
 Troy Eensselaer Institute (now the Polytechnic), un- 
 der the instruction of Professor Eaton, then eminent 
 as a naturalist. He subsequently delivered courses of 
 public lectures, at Cambridge and other places, on his 
 favorite subjects of study. He studied medicine with 
 Dr. Matthew Stevenson, of Cambridge, and at Sing Sing 
 with Dr. Adrian K Hoffman, father of ex-Governor 
 John K. Hoffman. He attended the courses of medi- 
 cal lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons 
 in the city of New York. Soon after he received his 
 medical license, in 1832, the Asiatic cholera made its 
 
76 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 appearance in this country. The first death at Quebec 
 occurred on the 8th of June, 1832, and the first in the 
 city of New York on the 2 2d of the same month. 
 Spreading rapidly in all directions, but confined chiefly 
 to cities and places where large masses of people were 
 congregated, it broke out with great violence in the 
 State Prison at Sing Sing. Dr. Prime was immedi- 
 ately appointed a special physician for the prison ; and 
 although the disease was regarded, even by many of the 
 faculty, as highly contagious, he took up his residence 
 at once within the walls of the prison, where he re- 
 mained for several weeks, day and night, ready to attend 
 upon any one who might be attacked, and to minister 
 to those who were already suffering. Several hundred 
 cases occurred, many prisoners being seized in their 
 cells suddenly in the night. About one hundred of 
 the cases proved fatal, but no one suffered for want 
 of timely medical attendance. 
 
 A singular incident, worthy of special note, marked 
 the sudden disappearance of the disease from that lo- 
 cality. While it was still prevailing in the prison, a 
 violent thunderstorm broke over the place early one 
 evening, and continued during a great part of the night. 
 Prom that time not another new case of cholera oc- 
 curred within the prison walls, and it soon disappeared. 
 In other cases a similar result did not attend the same 
 electrical phenomena. 
 
 Another incident, of a personal nature, connected 
 with Dr. Prime's special service in this cholera hospital 
 may here be mentioned. He was summoned one day 
 to attend a prisoner, a young man, who had been 
 violently attacked with the disease. After he had 
 
ALANSON JERMAIN PRIME, M.D. 77 
 
 examined the case and had made prescription, the young 
 man called him by name, and added, " Doctor, you do 
 "not know me." Dr. Prime replied that he did not 
 recognize him; on which the young man said, "We 
 " were boys together at the Old White Meeting House 
 " where your father preached." He was proceeding to 
 relate the history of his life and of the way in which he 
 had been brought to the prison, and, as he now feared, to 
 the gate of death, when the Doctor stopped him in his 
 narrative, directing him to remain perfectly quiet, as 
 one of the necessary conditions of his recovery, and to 
 tell him the story when he had more strength. He re- 
 covered, and subsequently gave the Doctor a history of 
 his crime. He did not serve out the full term of his 
 sentence, but was pardoned on the ground of his good 
 conduct while in prison, and on the application of his 
 former employers, who took him back into their service. 
 
 After practising medicine a short time at Schenec- 
 tady, N.Y., Dr. Prime removed to Grand Haven, 
 Mich., to pursue his profession; but he was soon broken 
 down by continuous attacks of the fever of the new 
 country, and returned to the East. On recovering his 
 health he took charge, as Principal, of the Academy at 
 Newburgh, and subsequently resumed practice for a year 
 at Plattekill, Ulster County, N. Y. In 1848 he removed 
 to White Plains, N. Y., where he continued in the suc- 
 cessful practice of his profession until his death, which 
 occurred April 3, 1864. 
 
 He married, Sept. 1, 1836, Euth, youngest daughter 
 of Benjamin Higbie, of Troy, K Y. Their children were 
 Ralph Earl, Mary, Katharine, Margaretta, married to 
 Henry C. Bissell, and Alanson Jermain,— all now living. 
 
78 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 PUBLICATIONS OF ALANSON J. PRIME, M.D. 
 
 Dr. A. J. Prime commenced while very young, and 
 continued to the close, to use his pen both as a prose 
 writer and as a poet, contributing largely to the periodi- 
 cal Press. Among the papers which he furnished for 
 " Harper's Magazine " were, " Insects and Insect Life ; " 
 " Coincidences ; " " Mary Eankin : A Physician's Story ; " 
 " Why our Minister didn 't Marry ; " " Paul Allen's 
 Wife, and how He found Her; " " Fortune-Telling ; " " The 
 Sheriff's Wife." For the " Christian Parlor Magazine " 
 he furnished " Passages in the Life of a Physician ; " 
 " Our First-born ; " and for the " Columbian Magazine," 
 " Eunice Mars ton." 
 
 In 1845, in connection with Professor Emmons, his 
 former instructor at Williams College, and State Geolo- 
 gist of New York, he established a Scientific Magazine 
 of Agriculture, which was continued through two vol- 
 umes under the following title : — 
 
 American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and 
 Science. Edited by Dr. E. Emmons and Dr. A. J. Prime. 
 Albany : Van Benthuysen & Co. 1845. 
 
SAMUEL IEENjEUS PRIME, D.D. 
 
 SAMUEL IKEKiEUS, second son of Eev. Nathaniel 
 S. Prime, D.D., and Julia Ann Jermain, his wife, 
 was born at Ballston, K Y., Nov. 4, 1812. His early 
 education was conducted by his father at the Cambridge 
 Washington Academy. In October, 1826, with his 
 older brother, he entered the Sophomore class in Wil- 
 liams College, and was graduated in 1829, before he 
 had completed his seventeenth year, taking one of the 
 four honors of the class, — the Greek Oration. He spent 
 three years after his graduation in teaching at Cambridge 
 and Sing Sing, when he entered Princeton Theological 
 Seminary. Before completing his first year he had a 
 severe illness, by which he was brought to the borders 
 of the grave. His parents and other members of his 
 family were summoned to his bedside, not expecting 
 his recovery, nor was he able afterward to resume his 
 studies at Princeton. He was licensed to preach by 
 the Presbytery of Bedford in 1833, and the same year 
 took charge of the Academy at Weston, Conn. 
 
 On the 15th of October, 1833, he married Elizabeth 
 Thornton, daughter of the Hon. Edward Kemeys, of Sing 
 Sing. She died Aug. 9, 1834, a few days after giving birth 
 to a son, who was named Samuel Thornton Kemeys. 
 
80 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 In 1835 Mr. Prime accepted a call to the Presby- 
 terian Church of Ballston Spa, and in June of that year 
 was ordained and installed its first pastor. On the 17th 
 of August, 1835, he married Eloisa Lemet, daughter of 
 Mr. Moses Williams, of Ballston Spa. His pastorate at 
 this place gave great promise of usefulness ; but before 
 the completion of a year a serious bronchial ailment, 
 from which he never fully recovered, developed itself, 
 and he was compelled to resign his charge and resort 
 again to teaching. He became Principal of the Aca- 
 demy at Newburgh, N.Y., and after two years, being 
 in a measure relieved, he returned to the work of the 
 ministry. Accepting a call to the Presbyterian Church 
 at Matteawan, N. Y., he was installed May 23, 1837. 
 He often referred to his pastorate of three years at this 
 place as one of the happiest periods of his life. It was 
 marked by hard labor, but was attended with rich fruits. 
 In the spring of 1840 he was compelled by the state 
 of his health again to give up preaching, when he en- 
 tered upon the chief work of his life, accepting the edi- 
 torship of the " New York Observer." This he never 
 laid aside excepting during an interval of a year in 
 which he was one of the Secretaries of the American 
 Bible Society, and a few months in which he was con- 
 nected with the " Presbyterian." Never did any one 
 find employment for which he was more admirably 
 fitted, or in which he achieved greater success. He 
 wrote with as much ease as he talked, and with such 
 accuracy that his articles were sent to the printer with 
 little, often with no revision. The writer of these notes, 
 after intimate association with his brother in editorial 
 work between thirty and forty years, can truly say that 
 
SAMUEL IRENJEUS PRIME, D.D. 81 
 
 he never knew another who wrote with equal celerity, 
 precision, and force, and whom it apparently cost so 
 little effort. When he had performed a day's work in 
 the office or in his study, he was ready to take up some 
 service in behalf of one of the numerous benevolent en- 
 terprises of the day with which he was identified, or to 
 sit down again and write an article for some periodical, 
 or prepare a portion of a volume or a public address. It 
 was in this way, not as a task, but as the overflow of 
 an ever active and never weary mind that he was en- 
 abled, while discharging his regular editorial duties, to 
 prepare for the press more than forty volumes, besides 
 pamphlets, addresses, tracts, and scores of articles for 
 reviews and magazines. 
 
 In April, 1853, being broken down in health, he 
 sailed for Europe to spend a year in travel, should his 
 life and strength be spared so long. He was so feeble 
 when carried to the ship that he was laid almost help- 
 less upon the deck. He was revived by the air of the 
 sea, and on reaching the other shore was so much in- 
 vigorated that he entered at once upon an extensive 
 tour on the continent of Europe and in Palestine and 
 Egypt. He returned home at the end of a year with 
 restored health, having lost scarcely a day by illness. 
 He made a second visit to Europe in 1866-7, and a 
 third in 1876-7. In all his travels he contributed 
 weekly to the " Observer," under his familiar signature 
 of " Iren^eus," a series of letters which was never 
 intermitted until it was broken off by his death. 
 
 The degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Hamp- 
 den Sidney College. 
 
 Soon after entering upon his editorial work, Dr. 
 6 
 
82 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 Prime took up his residence for a few years in the city 
 of Newark, N. J., where he attended the Third Presby- 
 terian Church, then under the pastoral care of the Eev. 
 Dr. H. N. Brinsmade. He took the superintendence 
 of the Sunday-school, in which he did the work of 
 a pastor, and was also active in promoting the general 
 work of the church. He bore a prominent part in 
 establishing the Public Library of Newark, and was 
 engaged in other local and public enterprises. He was 
 a living as well as life-member and director of numer- 
 ous national, Christian, and philanthropic societies, and 
 found leisure to devote to them all. His time and en- 
 ergies were long and heartily given to the Evangelical 
 Alliance, on which for many years he expended with- 
 out compensation a vast amount of labor as one of its 
 corresponding-secretaries. He was the founder and 
 president of the New York Association for the Advance- 
 ment of Science and Art, of which (it is not too much 
 to say) he was the life and soul ; president and trustee 
 of Wells College ; a trustee of Williams College, etc. 
 
 During all the later years of his life Dr. Prime had 
 his residence in the city of New York. In the summer 
 of 1885 he left the city to fulfil an engagement to 
 preach in the Presbyterian Church at Ballston Spa on 
 the 7th of June, the fiftieth anniversary of his ordina- 
 tion in that church. 1 On the 1st of July he attended 
 the Commencement of Williams College, and went 
 
 1 A memorial-window representing the Resurrection of our Lord, 
 a copy of the design by Albert Diirer in his series known as "The 
 " Great Passion," has been placed by his widow in this church over 
 the pulpit. The text of the sermon preached on the occasion referred 
 to is added as a legend : " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall 
 "see God." 
 
SAMUEL IREN^EUS PRIME, D.D. 83 
 
 thence to Manchester, Vt., to make arrangements to 
 spend the month of August at that place with his 
 family, and to celebrate with them the fiftieth anni- 
 versary of his marriage. He was taken ill on the way, 
 and immediately on reaching Manchester summoned 
 a physician. He was soon after joined by his wife 
 and other members of the family. There was nothing 
 alarming in the attack, and for several days he con- 
 tinued to improve. 
 
 On Sunday morning, July 12, as his physician, Dr. 
 Hemenway, was leaving the room to attend public 
 worship, Dr. Prime asked him to wait a moment, and 
 attempted to utter a request; but his voice faltered, 
 and he said to his brother, William C. Prime, " Give 
 " me the pencil and paper." He then wrote the follow- 
 ing, which he desired the doctor to hand to the pastor 
 at the church : — 
 
 "To the Pastor: A stranger in town, being ill, 
 " desires the congregation to unite with him in thanks 
 "to God for his goodness in partially restoring him, 
 "and in praying for complete recovery." 
 
 And he added (for the pastor alone), " No name to 
 "be mentioned." 
 
 In the course of the day, at intervals, he engaged in 
 conversation with his wife and brother on various 
 topics of religious interest. In the afternoon he sat 
 up for some time, and at length, with a firm step, 
 walked to the bed, and lying down, closed his eyes and 
 apparently fell asleep. The doctor entered soon after, 
 and approaching the bedside, spoke to him, but received 
 no answer. He had been stricken with paralysis, and 
 never spoke again. 
 
84 THE PKIME FAMILY. 
 
 He lingered in this condition, suffering no pain and 
 giving no signs of consciousness, until Saturday, the 
 18th, when he passed away so quietly that it was im- 
 possible to tell at what moment his spirit took its 
 flight to join the company of the redeemed. 
 
 His funeral was attended, on the 22d, at the West 
 Presbyterian Church, New York city. Addresses were 
 made by his pastor, the Eev. Dr. John E. Paxton, and 
 the Eev. Dr. Thomas S. Hastings, and prayer was offered 
 by the Eev. Dr. William Ormiston. The burial was 
 at Woodlawn Cemetery. 
 
 So many of the friends and associates of Dr. Prime 
 were absent from the city and from the country at the 
 time of his death that the Evangelical Alliance, of 
 which he was a conspicuous member, resolved to hold 
 at a later day a public commemorative meeting. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the 5th of January following, by invita- 
 tion of the Alliance, a large assembly was gathered at 
 Association Hall. William E. Dodge, Esq., president 
 of the United States Alliance, presided, and opened the 
 exercises with an appropriate address. Prayer was 
 offered by the Eev. A. C. Wedekind, D.D., of the 
 Lutheran Church, and a paper which had been adopted 
 by the Council of the British Evangelical Alliance, 
 expressive of their sorrow on hearing of the decease of 
 Dr. Prime, was read by the Eev. Philip Schaff, D.D. 
 Eloquent and impressive addresses were then made by 
 the Eev. Drs. Eichard S. Storrs of the Congregational 
 Church, Edward Bright of the Baptist Church, and 
 James M. Buckley of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 His general character and manner of life are por- 
 trayed in a tribute to his memory by the Eev. Dr. 
 
SAMUEL IREN^US PRIME, D.D. 85 
 
 T. W. Chambers, of the Collegiate Eeformed Dutch 
 Church, published at the time of his death, from which 
 we make an extract : — 
 
 " He was a man of public spirit and a constant friend 
 " of the great religious and benevolent and educational 
 " institutions of the age. His zeal was bounded by no 
 " narrow or sectarian lines. Whether it were a Bible 
 " or a Tract Society, in the interest of Home Missions 
 " or of Foreign, for a college or a seminary, for the 
 " Evangelical Alliance or that of the Eeformed Churches, 
 " for the advancement of literature or of science or 
 " of art, he was ready to render such service as lay 
 " in his power. And his position often enabled him 
 " to give very efficient aid both by his voice and his 
 " pen. His spirit was truly catholic. Although warmly 
 "attached to the Evangelical system as held by the 
 " church in which he was reared and in whose com- 
 " munion his whole life was spent, he habitually cher- 
 ished a hearty sympathy with all sister churches. 
 " And this feeling grew with his advancing years. He 
 " preferred to see points of agreement rather than those 
 " of difference, and longed for the closer fellowship of 
 " all who { hold the Head.' Hence when the proposal 
 " was made to reunite the dissevered parts of the Pres- 
 " byterian Church North, he became at once a zealous 
 " and a judicious advocate of the reunion ; and when 
 " the project was consummated, no man rejoiced more 
 " heartily than he. So when fraternal relations with 
 " the Southern Church were restored, he was a member 
 " of the commission which met the Southern Assembly 
 " at Lexington, Ky. His address on that occasion is 
 " said by one who was present to have been of great 
 
86 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 " power through its tenderness. ' He spoke of the past, 
 " ' and conjured up its sacred memories so that old men 
 "'wept.'" 
 
 Of his social characteristics Dr. Chambers writes : 
 " Dr. Prime's intercourse with his ministerial brethren 
 " was always pleasant and helpful. It was a great grat- 
 " ification to him when, cut off from the possibility of 
 "having a pulpit of his own, he was able to render 
 " service on occasion to those who required aid in ful- 
 " filling their office. In advanced years the state of 
 " his health prevented this from being often done ; but 
 "it rarely hindered him from attending the weekly 
 " gatherings of a clerical association in this city, now 
 " more than half a century old. Here his presence was 
 " a conspicuous and most agreeable feature. He never 
 " seemed out of spirits. His good-humor was pervading 
 " and infectious. His recollections of men and things 
 "were so vivid and so ready, and his knowledge of 
 " affairs so complete and accurate, that no subject was 
 " ever started on which he could not throw some needed 
 "light. His wit coruscated, his playfulness was ex- 
 " uberant, yet never excessive. In the greatest mirth, 
 " or in reciting the most amusing incident, he never 
 " forgot the dignity of a Christian minister." 
 
 The children of the Eev. S. Irenseus Prime, D.D., 
 and Eloisa Lemet Williams, his wife, were Wendell, 
 Mary Elizabeth, married to the Eev. Charles A. Stod- 
 dard, D.D., Edward Irenseus, who died Oct. 29, 1849, 
 and Lily. 
 
SAMUEL IREN^EUS PRIME, D.D. 87 
 
 PUBLICATIONS OF REV. S. IREN^EUS PRIME, D.D. 
 
 To say that Dr. Prime was a voluminous writer, is 
 to give little idea of the number and variety of the 
 productions of his pen, or of their wide circulation. In 
 addition to his weekly writings in the " New York Ob- 
 server," continued for nearly half a century, and his 
 contributions to numerous other periodicals, he was 
 constantly called upon to prepare papers for religious, 
 benevolent, and literary societies and objects. Besides 
 volumes of sermons and other selections which he edited, 
 the following list is made up from original volumes 
 which were written chiefly in the midst of other arduous 
 labors. No attempt has been made to catalogue the 
 numerous articles which he prepared for magazines and 
 reviews. Several of his volumes were reprinted and 
 extensively circulated in foreign countries. After nearly 
 twenty thousand copies of one of his books on Prayer 
 had been published in this country, it was reprinted 
 in England, where one hundred thousand copies were 
 sold by a single publishing house. Two distinct trans- 
 lations of the same book were published in France ; 
 it was issued from the press in India in the Tamil 
 language, and in Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 Elizabeth Thornton : The Flower and Fruit of Early 
 Piety. New York : M. W. Dodd. 1840. pp. 208. 
 
 Records of a Village Pastor. Massachusetts Sab- 
 bath-School Society. 1843. pp. 228. 
 
 The Prodigal Reclaimed ; or, The Sinner's Ruin and 
 Recovery. Mass. S. S. Society. 1843. pp. 220. 
 
88 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 The Martyr Missionary of Erromanga ; or, The Life 
 of John Williams. Abridged. American Sunday-School 
 Union. 1844. pp. 270. 
 
 The Little Burnt Girl : A Memoir of Catharine Howell. 
 Am. S. S. Union. 1845. pp. 69. 
 
 George Somerville ; or, The Boy who would be a 
 Minister. Am. S. S. Union. 1846. pp. 88. 
 
 Guide to the Saviour. Am. S. S. Union. 1846. 
 pp. 96. (Republished by the London Religious Tract 
 Society.) 
 
 The Old White Meeting-House ; or, Reminiscences 
 of a Country Congregation. Robert Carter. 1846. pp. 
 240. 
 
 Life in New York. Robert Carter & Brothers. 1846. 
 pp. 240. 
 
 The Gospel among the Bechuanas and other Tribes 
 of Southern Africa. Am. S. S. Union. 1846. pp. 296. 
 
 The Nestorians of Persia ; with an Account of the 
 Massacres by the Koords. Am. S. S. Union. 1846. pp. 
 173. 
 
 The Highland Pastor : a Sequel to George Somerville. 
 pp. 197. Am. S. S. Union. 1847. pp. 197. 
 
 Henry Wood ; or, The First Step in the Downward 
 Road. Am. S. S. Union. 1848. pp. 144. 
 
 Bosses and Their Boys ; or, The Duties of Masters 
 and Apprentices. Am. S. S. Union. 1853. pp. 144. 
 
 Sabbath Songs : for the Use of Families and Sunday- 
 Schools. Leavitt & Allen. 1853. 
 
 Thoughts on the Death of Little Children ; with 
 an Appendix selected from Various Authors. Anson D. 
 F. Randolph. 1865. pp. 180. 
 
SAMUEL IRENJEUS PRIME, D.D. 89 
 
 Travels in Europe and the East. With engravings. 
 Two vols. 12mo, pp. 405, 444. Harper & Brothers. 1855. 
 
 Letters from Switzerland. Sheldon & Co. 1860. 
 pp. 264. 
 
 The Power of Prayer Illustrated in the Fulton-Street 
 Pra3"er Meetings and Elsewhere. Charles Scribner : New 
 York. 1858. The same, enlarged edition, Scribner, Arm- 
 strong & Co. 1873. pp. 418. The same, republished 
 in London ; in Paris, in French, 1859 ; in Cape of Good 
 Hope, in Dutch ; in East Indies, in Tamil. 
 
 The Bible in the Levant ; or, The Life and Letters 
 of the Rev. C. N. Righter, agent of the American Bible 
 Society in the Levant. New York : Sheldon & Co. 1859. 
 pp. 336. 
 
 Five Years of Prayer, with the Answers. Harper 
 & Brothers. 1864. pp. 395. 
 
 Fifteen Years of Prayer in the Fulton-Street Meet- 
 ing. Scribner, Armstrong & Co. 1872. pp. 345. 
 
 American Wit and Humor. Harper & Brothers. 1859. 
 pp. 206. 
 
 Anderson's Annals of the English Bible. Abridged 
 and continued. Robert Carter & Brothers. 1849. pp. 
 545. 
 
 Memoirs of Rev. Nicholas Murray, D.D. (Kirwan). 
 Harper & Brothers. 1862. pp. 438. 
 
 Memoirs of Mrs. Joanna Bethune. By her Son, Rev. 
 George W. Bethune, D.D. With an Appendix containing 
 Extracts from her Writings. Selected and edited by S. I. P. 
 Harper & Brothers. 1863. pp. 250. 
 
 Walking with God : The Life Hid with Christ. A. 
 D. F. Randolph & Co. 1872. Republished in London, 
 1872. 
 
90 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 The Alhambra and the Kremlin: The South and 
 the North of Europe contrasted. A. D. F. Randolph & 
 Co. 1873. pp. 482. 
 
 Under the Trees. Harper & Brothers. 1874. pp. 
 313. 
 
 Songs of the Soul Gathered out of Many Lands and 
 Ages. Robert Carter & Brothers. 1874. 4to. pp. 661. 
 
 History of the Sixth General Conference of the 
 Evangelical Alliance. Harper & Brothers. 1874. pp. 
 773. 
 
 Life of S. F. B. Morse, LL.D., Inventor of the Electric 
 Magnetic Recording Telegraph. D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. 
 pp. 776. 
 
 Iren^eus Letters : Originally published in the " New 
 York Observer." Published by the " New York Observer." 
 Series I., 1880 ; pp. 400. Series II., 1885, with a sketch 
 of the life of Rev. S. Irenaeus Prime, D.D., pp. 388. 
 
 Prayer and its Answer, Illustrated in the Twenty-five 
 Years of the Fulton-Street Prayer-Meeting. Charles Scrib- 
 ner's Sons. 1882. pp. 171. 
 
 Among his public addresses, which were separately 
 published, are, " Address at the Opening of the Newark 
 Library Building, Feb. 21, 1848;" " Presby-terianism in 
 the United States of America," read at the Presbyterian 
 General Council, Edinburgh, July, 1877; "The Church 
 of Rome," a speech in the Presbyterian General Assembly, 
 Saratoga, May 26, 1879 ; " Address on the Erection of 
 the Franklin Statue, Printing-House Square, New York, 
 Jan. 17, 1872 ; " " Address before the British Organization 
 of the Evangelical Alliance, Bath, England, October, 
 1866 ; " etc., etc. 
 
REV. EDWARD D. G. PRIME, D.D. 
 
 [This Sketch was prepared by William C. Prime, LL.D.] 
 
 EDWAED DOEE GEIFFIN, third son of the Eev. 
 Nathaniel S. Prime, D.D., and Julia Ann Jermain, 
 his wife, was born at Cambridge, N. Y., Nov. 2, 1814. In 
 common with his older brothers, he received his prepara- 
 tory education at the Washington Academy in his native 
 town, under the immediate instruction of his father. 
 He entered Union College during the presidency of the 
 Eev. Eliphalet Nott, D.D., who was then in his full 
 vigor and celebrity as an educator. He was graduated 
 in 1832, in his eighteenth year, taking one of the 
 honors of his class, — the Latin oration. The Asiatic 
 cholera making its appearance in this country in June 
 of that year, the College was almost entirely disbanded, 
 but the Commencement exercises were held in the midst 
 of the pestilence. 
 
 After his graduation he spent three years in teaching, 
 as an assistant to his father, in the Mount Pleasant 
 Academy. He commenced the study of medicine under 
 Dr. Adrian K. Hoffman, then surgeon of the State 
 Prison at Sing Sing; but in the autumn of 1835 he 
 decided to devote his life to the Christian ministry, and 
 entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton. After 
 
92 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 a three years' course at this institution he was gradu- 
 ated in the class of 1838, and was licensed to preach, 
 May 16th of that year, by the Presbytery of North 
 Eiver. In December he was called to become an 
 assistant to the Eev. Methuselah Baldwin, pastor of 
 the Presbyterian Church of Scotchtown, Orange County, 
 N. Y., and was ordained collegiate pastor June 12, 1839. 
 On the death of Mr. Baldwin, Feb. 27, 1847, he became 
 sole pastor. On the 26th of September, 1839, he mar- 
 ried Maria Darlington, daughter of John S. Wilson, of 
 Princeton, N. J. In the autumn of 1849, while he was 
 on his way to fulfil an appointment of Presbytery in 
 a distant church, he was attacked a second time with 
 hemorrhage of the lungs, but after a brief period of rest 
 he continued to discharge the duties of his pastorate. 
 In November, 1850, accompanied by his wife, he went 
 to New Orleans to spend the winter, for the benefit of 
 his health. On arriving there he accepted an invita- 
 tion to supply the pulpit of the Lafayette Square 
 Presbyterian Church for six months, during the ab- 
 sence of the pastor, the Eev. William A. Scott, D.D., 
 who was then travelling in Palestine and Egypt. The 
 following May he left New Orleans to attend the meet- 
 ing of the Presbyterian General Assembly at St. Louis 
 as a commissioner from the Presbytery of Hudson. 
 While he was on the Mississippi the cholera made its 
 appearance on the steamer, and several deaths occurred. 
 Mrs. Prime was suddenly attacked, and within twenty- 
 four hours from the appearance of the first symptoms 
 the disease had passed through all its stages. She died 
 on the steamer " Iowa," May 13, 1851. 
 
 The following winter Mr. Prime, still suffering from 
 
REV. EDWARD D. G. PRIME, D.D. 93 
 
 the effects of hemorrhage of the lungs, resigned his pas- 
 toral charge and went to Augusta, Ga. On returning to 
 the North in May, he took charge of the Presbyterian 
 Church in Eighty-sixth Street, New York, for a year. 
 In April, 1853, to enable his brother Irenseus to recruit 
 his health by foreign travel, he took his place as editor 
 of the " New York Observer," with which paper he had 
 corresponded for many years under the signature of 
 " Eusebius." After the return of his brother they were 
 associated in editorial labor until the death of Irenseus, 
 in 1885. He spent the winter of 1854-55, in Eome, 
 officiating as chaplain of the American Embassy, under 
 the appointment of the American and Foreign Chris- 
 tian Union. The following summer he travelled ex- 
 tensively in Europe, returning to New York in October, 
 and resuming his duties on the " Observer." 
 
 In 1857 he received the degree of D.D. from Jefferson 
 College, Pennsylvania. On the 14th of June, 1860, he 
 married Abbie Davis, daughter of the Eev. William 
 Goodell, D.D., of Constantinople. In 1869, being again 
 broken down in health, and under the necessity of seek- 
 ing complete relaxation from care and labor, he left 
 home with Mrs. Prime on a journey around the world. 
 Crossing the American continent by the Pacific Eailroad, 
 then just opened, he visited California, and on the 7th 
 of September sailed from San Francisco for Japan and 
 China. He spent the following winter in India, and in 
 1870 returned to New York by way of Egypt, Palestine, 
 and Europe, having made the circuit of the globe. One 
 special object that he had in view in selecting this 
 extended route of travel, was to study in person 
 the religious condition of those remote countries, and 
 
94 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 especially to note the progress of the work of Christian 
 missions in the East. While absent, he corresponded 
 regularly with the " New York Observer." On his 
 return he published a volume containing an account 
 of his travels and observations, which passed through 
 several editions. He also preached and lectured on 
 the missionary aspects of his journey in many of the 
 churches of New York, Philadelphia, and other cities, 
 presenting a hopeful view of the great work of Chris- 
 tianizing the nations. 
 
 In common with his editorial associates and others 
 connected with the " New York Observer," he narrowly 
 escaped death in the disastrous fire by which the " Ob- 
 server " building, with its contents, was destroyed, and 
 in which three of the compositors perished. Hearing 
 the alarm of fire, he sprang to the door of his room, on 
 the third story of the building, but turned back for an 
 instant to secure some valuable papers. The whole 
 interior was at once in flames ; and no other way being 
 open, he stepped out of the window, and walking along 
 the edges of the signs, reached a window in the adjoin- 
 ing building, and in this way made his escape. 
 
 On the death of his brother Irenseus, in 1885, he 
 became editor-in-chief of the " Observer," the duties of 
 which position he continued to perform until the fol- 
 lowing year, when, owing to repeated attacks of illness, 
 he was compelled to resign the responsibilities and 
 labors of the office. 
 
REV. EDWARD D. G. PRIME, D.D. 95 
 
 PUBLICATIONS OF REV. E. D. G. PRIME, D.D. 
 
 Besides contributing largely to several volumes which 
 were issued without his name, Dr. Prime published the 
 following : — 
 
 Around the World : Sketches of Travel Through 
 Many Lands and Over Many Seas. With numerous Il- 
 lustrations. Harper & Brothers. 1872. Crown 8vo. 
 pp. 455. 
 
 Forty Years in the Turkish Empire ; or, Memoirs op 
 Rev. William Goodell, D.D., Late Missionary of the 
 A. B. C. F. M. at Constantinople. Robert Carter & 
 Brothers. 1876. Crown 8vo. pp. 489. 
 
 (Calvinism and Missions) An Address before the Synod 
 of New York, Oct. 19, 1852. Foreign Missionary, 
 Januaiy, 1853. 
 
 Civil and Religious Liberty in Turkey. Presbyterian 
 Quarterly and Princeton Review, October, 1875. 
 
 Notes, Genealogical, Biographical, and Biblio- 
 graphical, of the Prime Family. 8vo. 1888. Printed 
 for Private Use. pp. 118. 
 
MRS. CORNELIA P. STEVENSON. 
 
 CORNELIA, second daughter of the Rev. Nathaniel 
 S. Prime, D.D., and Julia Ann Jermain, his wife, 
 was born at Cambridge, N.Y., Nov. 29, 1816. Edu- 
 cated under her father and her elder sister, she spent 
 several years in teaching, as an assistant in the institu- 
 tion of which they had charge, the Mount Pleasant 
 Eemale Seminary. On the 18th of May, 1841, she was 
 married to the Rev. Paul Eugene Stevenson, pastor of 
 the Presbyterian Church at Staunton, Va., and removed 
 immediately to that place. In 1844 her husband was 
 called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church 
 at Williamsburg, N. Y. (now the eastern division of 
 Brooklyn), where they remained until 1849. In that 
 year he accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church at 
 Wyoming, Pa., and at the same time took charge of the 
 Luzerne Presbyterian Institute. He was Principal suc- 
 cessively of classical schools in Bridgeton and Madison, 
 N. J. In 1866 Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson founded, in the 
 city of Paterson, N. J., the Passaic Falls Institute for 
 Young Ladies, in which he remained until his death, 
 which occurred March 17, 1870, after which Mrs. 
 Stevenson presided over the institution for several 
 years. 
 
 7 
 
98 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 Their children were Julia Johnson (died March 5, 
 1854), James Prime (died Nov. 21, 1860), Archibald 
 Alexander (died Feb. 10, 1870), Preston, Eugene, Mary 
 Margaretta, and Edward Irenseus. 
 
 Mrs. Stevenson has sustained the literary reputation 
 of the family by her contributions to the periodical 
 Press, among which was a series of articles published 
 in the " New York Observer," under the title of " The 
 Almond Tree ; or, Conversations on the Twelfth Chap- 
 ter of Ecclesiastes : 1874." 
 
GERRIT WENDELL PRIME. 
 
 GEEEIT WENDELL, fourth son of the Eev. Na- 
 thaniel S. Prime, D.D., and Julia Ann Jermain 
 his wife, was born at Cambridge, N. Y., July 13, 1819. 
 He received his early education at the same institutions 
 with his brothers, and entered the Sophomore class in 
 Union College in 1835. During his college course he 
 suffered much from ill health, but maintained a high 
 stand in his class. At the close of the winter session 
 in his Junior year he left college to spend the vacation 
 at home, taking the steamer at Albany for New York. 
 The river was just breaking up, and the boat becoming 
 imbedded in the ice, young Prime, together with several 
 of his college mates who were on board, with great ef- 
 fort and difficulty made his way to the shore on the 
 loose cakes of ice, and walked several miles to the city 
 of Hudson. On reaching the hotel he was at once pros- 
 trated with a fever which had begun to develop itself 
 before he left college. It soon assumed a typhoid form ; 
 and although attended by skilful physicians and having 
 the watchful care of his parents and other members of 
 his family, he sank under the disease, and died April 12, 
 1837, in his eighteenth year. He was a youth of pecu- 
 
100 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 liarly lovely disposition, of much literary promise, and 
 a sincere, humble Christian, whose great purpose, with 
 the Gospel ministry in view, was to prepare himself for 
 usefulness and to spend his life in the service of his 
 Divine Master. 
 
WILLIAM C. PRIME, LL.D. 
 
 WILLIAM COWPEK, youngest son of the Eev. 
 Nathaniel S. Prime, D.D., and Julia Ann Jer- 
 main, his wife, was born at Cambridge, N.Y., Oct. 31, 
 1825. He received his early education under the in- 
 struction of his father, and entered the Sophomore class 
 in the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1840. He 
 was graduated in 1843, and by appointment delivered a 
 poem at the Commencement. Upon leaving college he 
 began the study of law, and was admitted to the Bar of 
 the city of New York in 1846. He continued to prac- 
 tise in the city until the year 1861, when he became one 
 of the owners and managers of the " New York Jour- 
 nal of Commerce," in which he has continued until the 
 present time, having been editor-in-chief from 1861 to 
 1869. During the years 1855-56, he travelled in Eu- 
 rope and the East, spending most of the time in Egypt 
 and Palestine. Upon his return he published two vol- 
 umes, " Boat-Life in Egypt and Nubia," and " Tent-Life 
 in the Holy Land," which have had great popularity as 
 sketches of travel and observations on scenes and peo- 
 ples. His visit to those lands was repeated in the years 
 1869-70. In both journeys he was accompanied by 
 his wife, Mary Trumbull, daughter of the Hon. Gurdon 
 Trumbull, of Stonington, Conn., whom he married May 
 1, 1851. 
 
102 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 Early in his professional life Mr. Prime adopted the 
 opinion that every man should have some special occu- 
 pation, apart from his ordinary business in life, by 
 which he might at times completely divert his mind 
 from responsible and exacting labor. He commenced 
 when very young the collection of works of art in va- 
 rious departments, among which for a time he allowed 
 numismatics to occupy his attention. The die-cutter's 
 art led him to the study of engraving ; and while pur- 
 suing this subject as a historical study, he was directed 
 to a particular department, to which he has devoted 
 himself during the greater part of his life, — the his- 
 tory of the illustration of thought by pictures, as dis- 
 tinct from the history of engraving or of painting, in 
 being confined to the relations between written lan- 
 guage and picture-language. His library, in its accu- 
 mulations for many years, has been specially devoted 
 to this subject, and is rich in early illustrated books 
 and in collections of the woodcuts of artists, known 
 and unknown, of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 His publications on this subject have been only in 
 periodicals. 
 
 His wife, a lady of rare attainments in literature and 
 art, entered with enthusiasm into his favorite pursuits, 
 devoting herself more especially to the history of pottery 
 and porcelain. The result was the accumulation of the 
 most complete private collection, illustrating the history 
 of the art of pottery, hitherto made in America. This 
 collection will find a permanent place of usefulness in 
 the Art Department of the College of New Jersey at 
 Princeton, to which Mr. Prime has presented it as a 
 memorial of his wife, who died April 3, 1872. 
 
WILLIAM C. PRIME, LL.D. 103 
 
 The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in the 
 city of New York in 1870, during the absence of Mr. 
 Prime in Europe. Immediately upon his return he 
 took an active interest in the infant institution, the 
 history of which is the history of the devotion of a few 
 private citizens to the instruction and elevation of the 
 popular mind, by promoting an intelligent study of the 
 history of ancient and modern art in all departments, 
 and also by encouraging a successful practice of the 
 finer arts as a pursuit in life. For many years all the 
 responsible labor in the Metropolitan Museum was vol- 
 untarily performed by the trustees in person. Down 
 to the present time Mr. Prime has devoted a large part 
 of his time to the interests of this Museum ; and now, 
 in common with his co-trustees, has the satisfaction of 
 witnessing its present magnitude and usefulness, as well 
 as great popularity. He was elected first Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the Museum in 1874, and has been annually re- 
 elected down to the present time. Schools have been 
 established in connection with the Museum, in which 
 thorough instruction in the arts is given at a trifling 
 expense to the pupils. 
 
 Having devoted much time to the study of art his- 
 tory, Mr. Prime became impressed with the importance 
 of introducing in schools and colleges a systematic 
 course of instruction in this department of the history 
 of mankind in all countries and ages. In large meas- 
 ure through his exertions, the Trustees of the College 
 of New Jersey were induced to establish at Princeton 
 such a department, and Mr. Prime presented to the 
 College his extensive and costly ceramic collections, on 
 condition that a fire-proof building, for these and other 
 
104 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 art collections, should be erected, — a condition which 
 is about to be fulfilled. The venerable President, Dr. 
 McCosh, has taken a deep interest in the matter, and 
 through his laborious advocacy the means have been fur- 
 nished, and the building is now in process of erection. 
 
 In the mean time the department has been organized ; 
 and without consulting him, the Trustees of the College 
 in 1884 elected Mr. Prime to the Chair of Professor of 
 the History of Art. Without accepting any responsi- 
 bility as a member of the Faculty, he has for some 
 years delivered lectures from this Chair. 
 
 Princeton College conferred the degree of LL.D. on 
 Mr. Prime in 1875. It is worthy of note that his 
 graduation at this institution presented an instance, 
 then rare in this country, of a young man receiving his 
 degree of A.B. from the college at which his father and 
 grandfather had received it. Benjamin Y. Prime was 
 graduated in 1751, Nathaniel S. Prime in 1804, and 
 William C. Prime in 1843. Two great-great-grandsons 
 of the first (who was a graduate of Yale), both bearing 
 the family name, are now enrolled among the under- 
 graduates at Princeton. 
 
 PUBLICATIONS OF WILLIAM C. PRIME, LL.D. 
 
 Mr. Prime has been an extensive contributor to the 
 periodical literature of the country in magazines and 
 reviews. In 1846 he commenced a correspondence in 
 the " New York Journal of Commerce," using the signa- 
 ture WL, which became familiar to the readers of that 
 paper. This series has been continued for more than 
 
WILLIAM C. PRIME, LL.D. 105 
 
 forty years, and is doubtless without a parallel in this 
 respect in the daily Press. Nor is it probable that 
 there is any parallel in the weekly Press, excepting in 
 the celebrated letters of his brother Iken^eus in the 
 " New York Observer." 
 
 The Owl Creek Letters and Other Correspondence. 
 By (OT, Baker & Scribner. 1848. pp. 208. 
 
 The Old House by the River. Harper & Brothers. 
 1853. pp. 318. 
 
 Later Years. Harper & Brothers. 1854. pp. 353. 
 
 Boat Life in Egypt and Nubia. Harper & Brothers. 
 
 1857. pp. 498. 
 
 Tent Life in the Holy Land. Harper & Brothers. 
 1857. pp. 498. 
 
 Coins, Medals, and Seals, Ancient and Modern; 
 Illustrated and Described : With a Sketch of the History 
 of Coins and Coinage ; Instructions for Young Collectors ; 
 Tables of Comparative Rarity ; Price-List of English and 
 American Coins, Medals, and Tokens, etc. [Edited by 
 W. C. Prime.] Harper & Brothers. 1861. pp. 292. 
 4to. 
 
 Mother Dear, Jerusalem. The Old Hymn, its 
 Origin and Genealogy. Anson D. F. Randolph. 1865. 
 pp. 112. 12mo. 
 
 Same in 4to, illustrated. 
 
 Introduction to Gautier's Romance of the Mummy. 
 Bradburn. 1863. 
 
 1 go a Fishing : Harper & Brothers. 1873. pp. 365. 
 
 Holy Cross : A History of the Invention, Preservation, 
 and Disappearance of the Wood known as The True 
 Cross: Anson D. F. Randolph & Co. 1877. pp. 143. 
 
106 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 Pottery and Porcelain op all Times and Nation, • 
 with Tables of Factory and Artists' Marks : foi "he U e 
 of Collectors. Harper & Brothers. 1878. pp.531 
 
 '! J 88 6. " litenuy executor of General George B 
 McClellan, Dr. Prime edited "McClellan's 0wn SL " 
 and wrote for that volume a biographical sketch of ^ 
 distinguished soldier and statesman. 
 
JAMES B. AND JOHN P. JERMAIN. 
 
 THE family record of the Eev. Nathaniel S. Prime, 
 D.D., would not be complete without the names 
 of James Barclay and John Pierson, sons of Syl- 
 vanus P. Jermain, of Albany, eldest brother of Mrs. 
 Prime. Their mother having died in their early child- 
 hood, they were received into the family of Dr. Prime, 
 in which they were reared and educated. John P. 
 Jermain, the younger, was a warm-hearted, generous 
 youth, with a brilliant mind and high aspirations. He 
 early developed a taste for literary pursuits, and on 
 arriving at manhood established the " Albany Literary 
 Gazette," of which he was editor and manager. But 
 his career was short. He died at Albany, March 10, 
 1835, at the age of twenty-three. 
 
 James B. Jermain was graduated at Amherst College 
 in 1831. He studied law, and commenced practice at 
 Newburgh, K Y. Nov. 17, 1842, he married Catharine 
 Ann Bice, of Cambridge. After a few years he re- 
 moved to Albany to assist his father in the man- 
 agement of his large estate, which he inherited on the 
 death of his father in 1869. From that time he has 
 devoted his life, not to the accumulation of property, 
 but largely to the employment of his ample means in 
 
108 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 works of Christian benevolence. In the year 1873 he 
 erected at Watervliet, N. Y., near his country resi- 
 dence, entirely at his own charges, and at a cost of over 
 $120,000, a church edifice as a memorial of his father, 
 and of his own beloved wife who died April 21, 1873. 
 This church he presented to the Presbytery of Albany, 
 and at the same time guaranteed to that body a fund 
 of $50,000 to be invested for its maintenance. 
 
 Chiefly at his own expense, in 1877 he erected " The 
 Home for Aged Men " near the city of Albany. To 
 this institution, besides contributing largely to its cur- 
 rent expenses, he has devoted much personal care and 
 attention, seeking to have it made a real home to those 
 who, by reason of age and the loss of property and of 
 friends, have no other. 
 
 His only son, Barclay Jermain, a young man of great 
 promise, a graduate of Williams College and a member 
 of the Albany Bar, died July 7, 1882. The following 
 year Mr. Jermain, by the gift of $50,000, founded in 
 his memory the Barclay Jermain Professorship of 
 Moral Philosophy in Williams College, to be filled by 
 the President of the College. 
 
 During the past year Mr. Jermain has erected, upon 
 lots provided by the citizens of Albany, a building for 
 the Young Men's Christian Association of that city, 
 which is one of the most substantial and thoroughly 
 equipped buildings for Association work in this coun- 
 try. Seeking advice of those having experience in this 
 department of Christian labor, he has given his atten- 
 tion to the details of construction, and has spared no 
 expense in making it a model building for this purpose. 
 It was dedicated, with appropriate exercises, Sept. 22, 
 
JAMES B. AND JOHN P. JERMAIN. 109 
 
 1887, and presented to the Association free of debt. 
 The entire cost of construction, which was wholly 
 assumed by Mr. Jermain, amounted to more than 
 $80,000. 
 
 In adding this sketch to the records of the family of 
 Dr. Nathaniel S. Prime, it is proper to say that Mr. 
 Jermain was regarded and treated as a child in his 
 family, and that he has ever cherished toward his foster- 
 parents the veneration and affection of a son. He at- 
 tributes the formation of his character and his aims to 
 be useful in the world, and especially his efforts to be 
 found faithful as a Christian steward, to the principles 
 instilled into his mind under the parental care and 
 training of Dr. and Mrs. Prime. 
 
PRIME FAMILY LIBRARY. 
 
 ONE object which the writer of these Notes had in 
 view in preparing the volume was to set in order, 
 in a form for preservation, a complete bibliographical 
 record of the family to which it is devoted. The liter- 
 ary history of the American branch has been largely 
 given in the biographical sketches which precede this 
 chapter ; the putting together of their literary labors 
 has been done in another and a more tangible form. 
 
 Some years ago the Eev. Dr. S. Irenseus Prime, who 
 had contributed most voluminously to the catalogue of 
 their published works, conceived the idea of making up 
 a family library, to be composed exclusively of volumes 
 written by those bearing the name of Prime. He was 
 joined in the undertaking by his brothers, who furnished 
 not only their own works, but such other volumes appro- 
 priate to the collection as they had gathered from 
 various sources at home and abroad. It was their 
 purpose, if possible, to make the collection absolutely 
 complete, and to hand it down as an heirloom in the 
 family, to be enlarged by succeeding generations of 
 writers. 
 
 It might seem to many an easy task to gather to- 
 gether the publications of a single branch of a single 
 
112 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 family, even though extending through two centuries 
 and many generations. But any one who has noted 
 how soon a book may drop out of the current of human 
 thought, and how often, within a score of years or less, 
 one that has been widely read ceases to be treasured 
 and apparently passes out of existence, so that a single 
 copy cannot be found, will not regard the recovery from 
 oblivion of all the books and pamphlets that have been 
 named in these Notes a small undertaking. 
 
 As a single instance : in the catalogue of the pub- 
 lications of Benjamin Y. Prime, M.D., given in the 
 sketch of his life, mention is made of a Latin treatise 
 which he wrote while at the University of Leyden, and 
 which was the basis of the medical honors he received 
 at that university. The work was published at Leyden, 
 and he doubtless brought copies with him to this 
 country on his return in 1764. But when the collect- 
 ing of the volumes written by the family was under- 
 taken, not a single copy of this book was to be found. 
 It was supposed to have perished, with the main part 
 of Dr. Prime's medical library, in the Eevolutionary 
 War. The several family collections and family garrets 
 were searched in vain ; no such book was to be found. 
 At length a friend who was watching the market for 
 rare books, and who saw in a London catalogue one 
 having the name of " Benjaminus Young Prime, A.M., 
 " Nov.-Eboracensis Americanus " on the titlepage, 
 bought it and sent it to the family. It was the desired 
 volume, and a choice copy, in large quarto, expensively 
 bound in full calf. 
 
 One volume only was now wanting to make the 
 collection by American authors complete. It was one 
 
PRIME FAMILY LIBRARY. 113 
 
 of the earlier publications of the Eev. Ebenezer Prime, 
 printed about the middle of the last century. Its re- 
 covery, after so long a time had elapsed since it came 
 from the press, seemed almost hopeless, and was at length 
 abandoned. But Dr. S. I. Prime, hearing that a copy 
 was in the possession of a literary gentleman in New 
 England, himself an enthusiastic collector of old Ameri- 
 can books, wrote to him, offering in exchange other 
 books equally valuable, and even more so to a collector 
 who would not feel a special interest in its possession 
 on account of the family name. In pressing this plea 
 he stated that he had been unable to obtain the book 
 from any other source, and incautiously admitted that, 
 so far as he knew, there was not another copy in the 
 country, if there was one in existence, and that of 
 course it was essential to the completion of the Prime 
 collection. On this admission out spoke the spirit of 
 the genuine antiquarian. He replied that if this was 
 the only copy extant, neither love nor money would 
 tempt him to part with it. Not long after, an explora- 
 tion of the family archives revealed, in a mass of hidden 
 treasures of the same sort, a copy of the long-looked-for 
 volume, as good as new, though nearly a century and a 
 half old. 
 
 The library now contains a copy of every book and 
 important pamphlet known to have emanated from any 
 member of the family since the settlement of the coun- 
 try. Some of these were published anonymously, and 
 their authorship was never known to the public, though 
 the record of their origin had been preserved in family 
 manuscripts. 
 
 But this bibliographical record extends still farther 
 
 8 
 
114 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 into the past than is indicated by the previous Notes. 
 Among the volumes which compose the collection are 
 two that date back to the days of Queen Elizabeth. 
 They are in English, printed in black-letter, one of 
 them among the finest specimens of this early style 
 of printing the language that can be found at the 
 present day. It confirms the remark often made, that 
 there is no art in which so little improvement has 
 been made as in printing, either in the cutting of mov- 
 able type or in the press-work. It is an art that had 
 no infancy, no age of rudeness ; it seems to have been 
 born perfect. 
 
 The volumes referred to were written by the Eev. 
 John Prime, of Oxford University, a friend of Sir 
 Francis Walsingham the astute Foreign Secretary and 
 favorite ambassador of Queen Elizabeth. In the year 
 1586 the City Council of Oxford established a double 
 lectureship in connection with St. Martin's Church, 
 which was known as the Corporation Church. By an 
 order of the Council the Mayor and Corporation were 
 required, under pains and penalties, to assemble, on the 
 ringing of a bell at an appointed hour, and proceed in 
 a body to this church to attend upon this lecture every 
 Lord's Day morning. This lectureship, which has been 
 continued by municipal authority and patronage to the 
 present day, more than three hundred years, was es- 
 tablished by the Council "to further the spread of 
 " Protestant doctrine and to hinder Eomanism." Two 
 incumbents were appointed to preach on alternate 
 Sundays. One of the first appointed to the position 
 was the Eev. John Prime, who is spoken of as " a 
 " zealous Calvinist," and who retained the office for 
 
PRIME FAMILY LIBRARY. 115 
 
 many years. One volume in the collection of which 
 we are writing is : — 
 
 A fhort Treatise of the Sacraments generally, & in 
 fpeciall of Baptifme & of the Supper. Written by Iohn 
 Prime, fellowe of Newe Colledge in Oxforde. 1 Cor. 10. 15. 
 1 Jpeak as unto them which haue vnderjianding ; judge 
 ye what I fay. Imprinted at London by Chriftopher 
 Barker, Printer to the Qeenes moft Excellent Maiestie, 
 Anno Dom. 1582. 
 
 Another volume, published five years later, in black- 
 letter, but much inferior in typographical execution, is : 
 
 An Expofition & Observations Vpon Saint Pavl to the 
 Galatians debated & Motiues remoued, by Iohn Prime. 
 At Oxford, Printed by Joseph Barnes, & are to be fold 
 in Pavls Church-yard, at the fign of the Tygershead, 
 Anno 1587. 
 
 These volumes are strictly Evangelical in doctrine 
 and spirit, and are rich in Scriptural instruction. The 
 Commentary is worthy of republication at the present 
 time. Its antique quaintness of style gives a peculiar 
 charm to its spiritual teachings. We quote the open- 
 ing sentences of the Dedicatory Epistle of the Treatise 
 on the Sacraments, which is addressed to Sir Francis 
 Walsingham, as altogether appropriate to this chapter 
 of Bibliographical Notes. 
 
 " The Endeleffe making of Bookes was a vanitye in 
 " the days of Salomon, when printing was not. The 
 " end of all is the feare of God. Certainly men may 
 " not make it a light matter in confscience to trouble 
 " the worlde with vnprofitable writinges. Yet as in the 
 
116 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 " fhew-bread that was shewed to the people as a figure 
 " of Christ, the olde loaues hauing serued to their ufe 
 11 were remoued, & other fupplied in their roome, yet 
 "ftill breade in nature & twelve loaues in nomber; 
 " fo those writings that figure out Chrift & set foorth 
 " chrifstian duetye may be oftentimes treated of, & 
 " eftsoones repeated & added to other mens doinges 
 " notwithftanding no great variety in the matter or 
 " maner of handling," etc. 
 
 The Eev. John Prime was the author of three other 
 publications, the titles to which are given below. The 
 last was printed exactly three hundred years ago. 
 They are the only volumes or pamphlets known to 
 have been written by any one bearing the name of 
 Prime that are not found in this collection. 
 
 A Fruitfull Discourse, in 2 Books : the one of Nature, 
 the other of Grace. Lond. : Tho. Vautrollier. 1583. 
 12mo. 
 
 Sermon, Comparing King Solomon & Queen Elizabeth. 
 Oxford, 1585. 
 
 The Consolations of David briefly applied to Queen 
 Elizabeth. Oxford: Barnes. 1588. 12mo. 
 
 A volume of a later date, to be found in the collec- 
 tion, is an autobiography of George Pryme, Professor 
 of Political Economy in the University of Cambridge, 
 England, and Member of Parliament for the borough, 
 who was born in 1781. The family was Huguenot, 
 and the descendants cherished the memory and records 
 of their parentage with enthusiastic ardor. Professor 
 Pryme in his Pteminiscences mentions one of his ances- 
 
PRIME FAMILY LIBRARY. 117 
 
 tors, a clergyman who had the antiquarian spirit to an 
 intense degree. He wrote of himself: "My zeal for 
 " old MSS., antiquities, and monuments almost eats me 
 " up. I am at very great charges in carrying on my 
 "study, in employing persons at London, Oxford, etc." 
 
 One book alone remains to be mentioned, as having 
 a place in this family library not only because it is the 
 Book of books, but on account of its associations. It 
 is a copy of the New Testament in Greek, edited by 
 Professor John Leusden, and printed at Amsterdam in 
 1740. It was the handbook of the Be v. Ebenezer 
 Prime, the pastor at Huntington, Long Island, in the 
 middle of the last century ; it was in use after his death 
 by his son Benjamin Y. Prime, M.D., until his death in 
 1791 ; it was the text-book in college, and during his 
 long life and ministry, of his son, the Ptev. Nathaniel S. 
 Prime, D.D., and afterwards of his son, the Eev. S. Ire- 
 nseus Prime, D.D., from whom it descended to his son, 
 the Eev. Wendell Prime, D.D., who is now the possessor 
 of the library. It has thus been the manual, in the 
 study of the Word of God in the original Greek, of five 
 generations bearing the name. It has been three times 
 bound. 
 
 There is one feature of this library to which we refer 
 with peculiar satisfaction. Although it contains all 
 the permanent publications of the family, there is not 
 a single page in all the books which we would wish to 
 efface. We believe that every one has been written 
 with a sense of responsibility for the proper use of the 
 intellectual powers and acquisitions of the respective 
 authors, and with a conscientious desire to set forth the 
 glory of God and to promote the best interests of man- 
 
118 THE PRIME FAMILY. 
 
 kind. The library is handed down to the coming 
 generations of those who may bear the name, with the 
 injunction that they preserve this feature unmarred; 
 that the leaves of the books that shall in future years 
 be placed upon its shelves — like the leaves of the 
 Tree of Life in the Book of Eevelation — may be " for 
 " the healing of the nations." 
 
 University Press : John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 
 
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