Prince was born on July 3, 1840, in
Flushing, Queens, New York. His parents were horticulturist
William Robert Prince and his wife, Charlotte Goodwin (Collins) Prince. Young Prince started his career working in
nurseries run by his father and brother. The nurseries were sold at the end of the
Civil War, and he studied law at Columbia University, where he received an LL.B. in 1866. He was a delegate to Republican National Convention from New York in 1868. He was a member of the
New York State Assembly (Queens Co., 1st D.) in
1871,
1872,
1873,
1874 and
1875. He was a member of the
New York State Senate (1st D.) in
1876 and
1877. In the Republican National Convention of 1876, he was among those who supported
Rutherford B. Hayes over
Roscoe Conkling. That resulted him being given the opportunity to be governor of the
Territory of Idaho. Prince led the movement to create the
Spanish American Normal School and served as President of its governing board from 1909 to 1912. He was a member of
New Mexico Territorial Council in 1909 and a delegate to the New Mexico State Constitutional Convention of 1911. He was a member of the New Mexico Horticultural Society, the Society for the Preservation of Spanish Antiquities, the New Mexico Archaeological Society, ==Works==