Zachariah Prince 1807-c.1893

Zachariah Prince was born on July 17, 1807. His parentage has not been established. His birth place was probably Rutherford Co., North Carolina. His name first appears in a public record in Anderson Co., Tennessee in 1830. After a brief stay in Indiana he moved to the Paint Rock Valley in Jackson Co., Alabama, about the year 1833. Traveling with him to Alabama was his older brother Jesse Prince, Sr. In 1852, Zachariah moved his family to Hot Spring Co., Arkansas. He settled in the Prairie Township, where he purchased 320 acres of government land in 1854. His family consisted of his wife Susannah and children William, Peter, Jacob, John, Joseph, Mary Ann, Eliza Jane and Henderson. During the Civil War four of Zachariah's sons served in the Confederate army. William, Peter and Jacob served in Co. I, Cocke's Regiment of Infantry. Joseph served in Co. C, 11th Arkansas Infantry. Zachariah continued to buy land in Hot Spring County. He owned land east, west and south of the community of Bismarck. He later deeded most of this land to his sons Jacob, Peter and John. In 1875, Zachariah and Susannah were divorced. Susannah died of typhoid fever in 1880 and is buried in the Old Bismarck Cemetery. In 1881, several children and grandchildren of Jesse Prince, Sr., moved to Hot Spring County. This was almost thirty years after Zachariah settled here. This new group of Prince's were led by Jesse D. Prince and his brother Nathan L. Prince. Also traveling with them were the children of Preshia Prince Ashley and Martha Prince Roberts. Both were daughters of Jesse Prince, Sr. After his divorce from Susannah, Zachariah married Mrs. Ellen O'Neal. This couple appears in the 1880 census of Hot Spring County, but no further record has been found of them after the year 1880. Some clues indicate Zachariah died about 1893. He is said to be buried at an unknown site a few miles west of Bismarck, Arkansas. Many descendants of Zachariah and Jesse Prince, Sr., reside today (2004) in Hot Spring County. Submitted by Ron Prince