Elizabeth Prentiss was born in Portland, Maine, in 1818, the daughter of a well-known revival preacher, Dr. Edward Payson.
As a young girl, she was present in services where there was a powerful awareness of the holiness of God; she witnessed scenes of corporate conviction of sin and, as a youngster, she was committed to praying for the conversion of her friends. Although her father died just before her tenth birthday, his abiding legacy to Elizabeth was two-fold: a passion for holiness, and a conviction that surrender to the sovereign will of God is the way to real peace.
Ministry to the bereaved
Elizabeth spent several years teaching before her marriage to George Prentiss, a Congregational minister. She served alongside George, first in New Bedford (1845-1850) and then in New York (1851-1873). When George became a professor at Union Theological Seminary in 1873, Elizabeth missed the pastoral work that had been part of their lives: she had found her niche in visitation of the sick and bereaved, and in ministry among women.
