Philander Prescott, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Philander Prescott

American frontiersman

Date of Birth: 17-Sep-1801

Place of Birth: Phelps, New York, New York, United States

Date of Death: 10-Aug-1862

Profession: translator, interpreter

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Philander Prescott (September 17, 1801 – August 10, 1862) was the son of Dr.
Joel Prescott and Phildelia Reed.
He was a native of Phelps, Ontario County, New York.
He headed west in the spring of 1819, stopping a few months in Detroit, Michigan, before continuing west to Fort Snelling. In 1823, he married Na-he-no-Wenah (Spirit of the Moon), also known as Mary Ke E Hi, daughter of Man-Who-Flies, a Dakota subchief who lived near Lake Calhoun.
She was born around 1804–1806 and died on March 29, 1867, at Shakopee, Minnesota.
They had sons, William Prescott; Hiram Prescott (born December 21, 1831 or 1832); and Lorenzo Taliferro Prescott (c.
1839 – January 2, 1869); as well as a daughter, Lucy Prescott Pettijohn; and two more children.During his life on the frontier, he served as a government interpreter of the Dakota language (including for the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux).
He worked as a miner, a trapper, and on a steamboat on the Mississippi River.
He also ran trading posts, in several locations, and farmed. From 1839 to 1862, he operated a trading post along the St.
Croix River - its location became the town of Prescott, Wisconsin, named for him.He was killed at the Lower Sioux (or Redwood) Agency during the Dakota War of 1862; he was buried in the Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery, as were his wife and son. His papers are in the Minnesota Historical Society library.