Born in Virginia in 1752, William Prince moved with his family to Spartanburg County, South Carolina, in 1768. During the Revolutionary War, he served as a captain in Colonel Benjamin Roebuck’s South Carolina Spartan regiment. After completing his military duty, he led a party of family and friends through Cumberland Gap, and in 1782 they settled on the Red River in Tennessee. In 1797, Prince explored an area in Kentucky called Eddy Grove, on Eddy Creek, where he found a large spring and fertile land. He moved his family to Kentucky the next year. Prince’s Town was established in 1805, and after his death, his widow gave 50 acres on which the first courthouse was built. The town later became known as Princeton.