My Genealogy Hound

ABRAHAM C. PRINCE is President and General Manager of the Prince Manufacturing Company, and is a successful business man well informed on general subjects, and an ardent Republican in politics. He was born and reared in Brooklyn, N. Y., and on the paternal side is of English descent. Three brothers of the name of Prince came from England in an early day, one settling in Maine, another in New York, and the third in Long Island, and the subject of this narrative is a descendant of the New York branch. His grandfather, Samuel, served in the Revolutionary War, and afterwards became a merchant in New York City. In that metropolis the thoroughfare known as Prince Street was named or him, and his home was formerly at the corner of Prince and Broadway Streets, where his death occurred.

Robert Prince, the father of Abraham, was born in Washington County, N. Y., and was reared in New York City. He became a merchant there, running a large business on Broadway, and dealing in carpets and upholstery. Later he removed his business to Atlantic Street in Brooklyn, but in 1857 he became interested in Pennsylvania, and located in Bethlehem, near Weissport, Carbon County, his first intention being to open a slate quarry. He had patented a flat slate roof, and being a chemist, while near Weissport he invited the people to bring him samples of ore for analysis, and in that way discovered the particular mineral now used in the manufacture of the Prince Metallic Paints. On experimenting and finding its value in the business, he bought a large tract of land, and secured a manufactory by buying up the Laury Forge, on Big Creek, which he changed and improved, erecting kilns and furnaces. The business continued at that place until after his death, when our subject and his brother built the works at Bowman, where they had better facilities. Robert Prince, who was of the Moravian faith, departed this life in 1872, at the age of seventy-one years.

The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Antoinette Cargill, and her birth occurred in New York City. Her father, Abraham Cargill, was also a native of the Empire State, to which his parents removed from Scotland. He engaged in running a hardware and stove store on Water Street, and was very wealthy when he retired. Mrs. Prince, who was reared in the Moravian faith, died in Brooklyn when her son, our subject, was a lad of twelve years, and of her seven children only four survive.

The birth of Abraham C. Prince occurred in 1844, and he was mainly reared and educated in Brooklyn. When still quite young he was appointed City Weighmaster in Brooklyn, and in September, 1861, he volunteered in defense of the Union, becoming a member of the First New York Mounted Rifles, which were equipped by Col. Charles E. Dodge. Going to the front he took part in the Virginia campaign, the raids around Richmond, and fought with Sheridan, his regiment acting all through the war as an independent regiment. At the close they were with Sheridan when he entered Richmond. Mr. Prince was a Sergeant, and though he had many narrow escapes, having had bullets shot through his clothes and horses killed under him, he escaped uninjured. At Fredericksburg he was detailed to serve in the Commissary Department, where he remained until mustered out and honorably discharged in July, 1865.

Returning to Brooklyn, Mr. Prince engaged in the coal business for two years, and in 1867 removed to Pennsylvania, engaging in the manufacture of concrete building block and hydraulic cement. They erected a mill at Millport and manufactured cement at Lehigh Gap, on the site of the old Lehigh Valley Coal and Navigation Company’s lands. Afterwards he, in company with his father, proceeded to manufacture paints, and after the latter’s death, in company with his brother David, he built the works at Bowman, which have since been much enlarged. There are now three mills, each with a capacity per month of two or three hundred tons of metallic paints. The company owns and controls about one thousand acres of this mineral land, which contains the only ore of the kind in the United States. When first mined it is a dark blue color, but after being calcined and oxidized turns to a reddish brown, and remains so when manufactured into paint. The plant has fine water-power from the canal, and in calcining wood is used to enhance the purity. The products of the company are sent to all points of the United States, also to Europe, South America and other foreign places. Employment is given to from seventy-five to eighty men. In 1878 the firm was incorporated as the Prince Manufacturing Company, with a paid-up capital of $60,000, A. C. Prince being President and General Manager, and David Prince being Secretary and Treasurer. They have a branch store in Maiden Lane, New York City, and have representatives and agencies in most of the important cities of the country. In connection with their mills they have three cooper shops, where all their packages are made.

Since September, 1886, A. C. Prince has made his home in Bethlehem. He was married in 1867, in Brooklyn, to Miss Lizzie F., daughter of Henry Lovejoy, both of whom were born in New Hampshire. Mr. Lovejoy was engaged in the electro-typing business in Boston, and was the first to introduce the same in New York City, where he succeeded in building up a large business, being in his later years a member of the extensive firm of H. Lovejoy, Son & Co., of No. 117 Vandevanter Street. His death occurred in New York City at the age of eighty-two years and six months. His wife, a native of Maine, was formerly Melinda Wheeler, and her death occurred when in her sixty-second year. Mrs. Prince was reared to womanhood in Brooklyn, and has four living children: Alice, Antoinette, Melinda and Florence.

A member of the Grand Array of the Republic, our subject is identified with J. K. Taylor Post of this city. As a member of the Moravian Church, he is one of the Advisory Financial Board of Presiding Elders of the Conference and is Trustee of the theological seminary and college. Always interested in educational affairs, he is on the Board of Directors of the Moravian Parochial School. The Republican party represents his ideas on the subject of protection and general questions, and to it he gives his support. Mr. Prince was for many years a Director of the Second National Bank of Mauch Chunk, Pa., and filled that position until quite recently.