[1] Prisk was also the publisher of the Grass Valley Union in Nevada County, California.
His parents were from Camborne, Cornwall, England, and they settled in Grass Valley where his father worked as a miner.
[3] Prisk began working in the newspaper business at age 12;[3] he graduated from Stanford University.
A portrait of Prisk by Stephen Seymour Thomas is part of the Pasadena Historical Society collection.
[4] His daughter, Neva Prisk Malaby, married the Olympian, Charles William Paddock who joined Prisk in the newspaper business,[5] Paddock eventually becoming vice president and general manager of the Pasadena Star-News, the Pasadena Post, and the Long Beach Press-Telegram.