Dade County History Book

JOHN H. PRINCE, JR. FAMILY

John H. and Ellander Prince moved from Union County S.C. to Warren County TN. before 1840 and were in Dade County by 1848. With them came their adult children and their families: Greenberry Prince and his wife Susannah Dykes; Seth Prince and his wife Nancy; Hulda Vickers and her husband Jonathan; Nancy Prince who later married Encoh Blakeley; Jane Prince who married Martin Rennow. After Jane’s death, Martin Rennow married her twin sister, Matilda. The youngest son, Jackson, married a woman named Emily. Later, in 1847, John’s second son, Sanford Prince, the Mexican War veteran, moved to Dade from McMinn County TN. with his wife, Joaner Thomas Prince. Sanford filed on the Southern Claims Commission in the 1870^’s and was one of four from Dade County which was approved by the Federal Government.

The first public record of John H. Prince, Jr. was the land transaction in 1850 when he bought 110 acres of Lot 41, Dist. 10 in Dade from his son, Greenberry, who had purchased the complete land lot from his brother-in-law, John Dykes of Grundy Co TN.

By 1860 John was 70 years old and blind. He, his wife, Ellander, and his two daughters, Nancy and Malinda, were living in the Salauda Farms area near his two sons, Greenberry and Sanford. There was a William Prince, about 10, living with John. It is my opinion that this William, who is buried at Sarah’s Chapel Cemetery, was the son of Seth Prince. Seth was on the 1850 census but was not in the 1860 census; however, he was on the muster rolls in 1861.

Ellander died between the time the 1860 and the 1870 censuses were taken. In 1870 John and his daughter, Matilda were living between the residences of his son-in-law and daughter, Martin and Jane Rennow, and his son and daughter-in-law, Jackson and Emily Prince. A few houses away was son Greenberry, in another his daughter, Nancy (Mrs. Enoch) Blakely and also nearby another daughter, Jane (Mrs. Martin) Rennow.

John had died by 1880. His daughters, Nancy Blakely and Malinda Rennow, were living in Cole City; as was his grandson, William. Sanford and his large family were in the Egypt district. Greenberry had moved to jackson County AL., near Cole City and was living near several Prince families that I have not been able to identify. There are many Princes in Georgia and Alabama that are descendants of this family. At this time I have not positively connected them to John’s family. These include the Green Prince that was the son of Ira Prince.

It is my opinion that John H. was the son of John Prince who was the eldest son of Daniel Prince of Union County S.C. John’s brother, Hosea Prince lived in Marshal County TN in 1850. His widow and children were Henry County TN in 1860. John H. and Hosea each named sons Sanford and Green. Since these are not particularly common names they may give researchers clues to the family. (Submitted by Paul R. L. Vance, Mesa, AZ 85206-2214.)