History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

1686

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

wife were most devout adherents, their marriage having been solemnized,
in Kent county, in September, I863. When the dark cloud of civil
war cast its gruesome pall over the national horizon Mr. Prescott tendered his services in defense of the Union. He enlisted in a Michigan
volunteer regiment but after one year of service he was compelled to
retire from the ranks, his honorable discharge having been accorded
on account of his physical disability. His parents, Price H. and Rebecca
(Thomas) Prescott, likewise were natives of the state of New York,
and they were representatives of sterling pioneer families of that commonwealth. They passed the closing years of their lives in Michigan,
to which state they came when welli advanced in years. Rev. Ephraim
and Phoebe (LaClair) Van Norman, the maternal grandparents of
Judge Prescott, immigrated to America from France and they first settied iii Canada, whence they came to Michigan in the pioneer epoch of
the history of this state. Mr. Van Norman was a clergyman of the
Methodist Episcopal church, was a man of strong individuality, much
intellectual power and utmost devotion in the work of the ministry. He
was a circuit-rider, or itinerant minister, of the Methodist church in
the early days of Michigan history and continued his consecrated and
zealous labors for many years, besides which he long had charge of a
church of this denomination in the vicinity of Grand Rapids. He finally
removed to Kansas, where he measureably repeated his pioneer experiences and where both he and his wife maintained their home until their
death. The parents of Judge Prescott continued residents of Kent
county until the close of their lives, the father having passed away in
1869 and the mother having been summoned to. eternal rest in I878.
Judge Prescott was about five years of age at the time of his father's
death and his devoted mother passed to the "land of the leal" when he
was fourteen years old. Under these conditions he early became largely
dependent upon his own resources and had no meager fellowship with
adversity. He attended the public school as opportunity presented, but
his broader scholastic discipline was acquired through self-application
and his advancement indicated his alert mentality, his integrity of purpose and his definite ambition. He proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors and for twelve years was a successful and popular teacher
in the public schools of his native state. Thereafter he devoted four
years to the newspaper business, as editor and publisher of a weekly
paper at Ravenna, Muskegon county, and through this journalistic experience he definitely broadened his mental ken and acquired facility
in the directing of public sentiment and action, his paper having been
influential in the community in which it was published. Judge Prescott
came to Muskegon county as a boy, shortly after the death of his loved
mother, and here he has maintained his home for virtually forty years,
within which he has achieved much and accounted well for himself and
to the world. No citizen of the county can claim more secure vantageground in popular confidence and esteem, and for many years he has been
influential in connection with public affairs.
From the time of attaining to his legal majority Judge Prescott has
been found aligned as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican
party and he has been an effective exponent of its principles and policies.
The initial service rendered by him in public office was his administration in the position of township clerk of Laketon township, Muskegon
county, and later he served seven years in the office of justice of the
peace in Ravenna township. In the meanwhile he devoted close attention to the study of law and acquired excellent knowledge of the science
of jurisprudence, though he has never applied for admission to the bar.
In 1902 he was elected to the responsible office of judge of the probate