Sgt. Thomas Pratt

Biography

Thomas Pratt probably was born at the end of February 1622 because he was baptized 2 Mar 1622 in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, England. He was the son of Macuth Pratt and Elizabeth Kingham.[1]. On 19 Apr 1676, Sgt. Thomas PRATT of the Weymouth Militia was killed by a band of Indians near Weymouth.[4] His eldest son, William, wrote in his Diary "My father was slaine by the Indians the 19th day of April, in the year 1676". His will was probated 27 Jul 1676 in Suffolk County Court, his brother John being the executor and appointed guardian until his sons, William and Thomas come of age.[5]

On 26 May 1647 he was made a Freeman.[2] In 1663 he is show as owning 21 acres in Weymouth.[3]

From History of Weymouth, Massachusetts: Published by the Weymouth Historical Society, Howard H. Joy, President. Under Direction of the Town, Volume 4. Weymouth Historical Society (Weymouth, Mass.) Page 501. GoogleBooks

2. SERGT. THOMAS” PRATT (Matthew') was born before 1628; slain by the Indians between Sudbury and Marlborough, 19 Apr. 1676. On 19 Apr 1676, Sgt. Thomas PRATT of the Weymouth Militia was killed by a band of Indians near Weymouth.[4] His eldest son, William, wrote in his Diary "My father was slaine by the Indians the 19th day of April, in the year 1676".

He married

• (1) Mary , the mother of his children.
• (2) Lydia —, who survived him and married at Braintree 26 Sept. 1676, Josiah Chapin of Braintree.

“Inventory of the estate of Sergt. Thomas Pratt of Weymouth who was slain by the Indians, the 19th day of April, 1676” was valued at £278 11s 1d, and Lydia Pratt appeared in Probate Court, 27 July, 1676, and agreed to accept ;', so the estate she brought with her. (Suffolk Probate, 12: 49, 50.

“Petition of William Pratt and of John Pratt as guardians to Thomas Pratt, of Thomas White, as guardian to Abigail Pratt, and Ephraim Frost, husband to Hephzibah, daughter to Thomas Pratt, deceased, children of Tho: Pratt, late.of Weymouth, set forth that Thomas Pratt (dying by the late warr) left five children, – two sons and three daughters; that the eldest, then about 23 years, a daughter, from infancy was impotent both of body and mind, and John Pratt, administrator of his brother's estate, hath obtained power to leave the estate undivided until William, the eldest son, attains 21 years, for the maintenance of their helpless sister Sarah, and the administrator hath paid Lydia, relict of Tho: Pratt, deceased £30 in full, and her present husband Josiah Chapin, and hath paid Hephzibah, the second daughter of Thomas Pratt, deceased, upon her marriage with Ephraim Frost £30, and William the eldest son will be of full age 6 Mar. next (1679–80), made an agreement that William, the eldest son, should have the house, barn, orchard and lands and to pay his sister Abigail £18; that Thomas, second son, is to receive land neere to Hingham brooke; that Sarah, the impotant daughter, shall have £80; and William and Thomas are to provide for their poore sister,” 30 Jan. 1679–80. (Suffolk Probate, 6: 321.)

Children, born at Weymouth:

1. Sarah,” b. near 1653; “an impotent helpless child,” alive 30 Jan. 1679–80.
2. Hephzibah, b. near 1655; m. before 30 Jan. 1679–80, Ephraim Frost of Cambridge; d. 23 Sept. 1719, ae. 64 yrs.
3. William, b. 6 Mar. 1658–59. Husband of Elizabeth Baker.
4. Abigail, b. 15 May, 1662; m. William Tirrell of Weymouth.
5. Thomas, b. near 1665. Married 1) Deborah Lovell 2) Desire Billington.

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Notes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_Fight

The Sudbury Fight (April 21, 1676) was a battle of King Philip's War, fought in what is today Sudbury and Wayland, Massachusetts, when approximately five hundred Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and Narragansett Native Americans raided the frontier settlement of Sudbury in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Disparate companies of English militiamen from nearby settlements marched to the town's defense, two of which were drawn into Native ambushes and suffered heavy losses. The battle was the last major Native American victory in King Philip's War before their final defeat in southern New England in August 1676.

References

1. "King Philip's War and The "Sudbury Fight""/ By the Sudbury Senior Center. < link >
2. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Thomas_Pratt_%2835%29
3. Nicholson, Frederick J. "The English Origin of Macuth1 (or Matthew) Pratt and Edward Bates1 of Weymouth, Mass." The American Genealogist. vol 65 (1990) (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 -.) < AmericanAncestors >; (document attached).
4. Pratt, Francis G. The Pratt family a genealogical record of Mathew Pratt, of Weymouth, Mass., and his American descendants, 1623-1889 Boston. 1890. An Open Library Book: FG Pratt The Pratt Family. Page 25 < Archive.Org >
5. Chamberlain, George Walter. History of Weymouth, Massachusetts. (Weymouth, Massachusetts: Weymouth Historical Society, under direction of the town, 1923) 4:500. < GoogleBooks >. Will of "Mathew Pratt of Weymouth" dated 25 Mar 1672, proved 30 Apr 1673, mentions wife Elizabeth, son Thomas, son Matthew, son John, son Samuel, son Joseph, "my Daughter Chard" and her daughter [his granddaughter] Johannah Chard, "daughter White", son Thomas' daughter Sarah and son Thomas' son William. Wife to be executrix. "An Inventory of the Estate of Mathew Pratt who deceased August 29, 1672, ..." dated 12 Dec 1672. [Note: full will printed in Source:Pratt, Francis Greenleaf. Pratt Family, p. 19.]
6. Janet Ireland Delorey and Dean Crawford Smith, "Mary2 (Pratt) White of Weymouth, Massachusetts," in The American Genealogist (TAG). (Donald Lines Jacobus, et.al.) 68:29-32, 1993.
7. Smith, Dean Crawford, and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton 1878-1908. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996-2008) 1:499+. "The Macute (not Matthew) Pratt who died in Weymouth in 1672 was NOT the son of Phineas Pratt (one of the alternatives in Ancestral File HB4X-NW). They were contemporaries (both born approx. 1590-1600). Macute was from Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, and was unlikely to have been baptized in Kent as indicated in the Andestral File record."
8. He had a child baptized in England in 1636/37 and one born in New England in 1639.
9. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pratt-1018
10. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Macute_Pratt_%281%29
11. "Births in the town of Weymouth from 1633 to 1639." < link > "Joseph, son of Matthew Pratt, 6-10-1639."