JOHNSON and SCHAUFELBERGER GENEALOGY
PRATT, P. Narrative
PHINEAS PRATT
Phineas Pratt was a joiner who sailed with 6 or 7 others (including his brother, Joshua Pratt) on the Sparrow - captained by Mr. Rodgers and outfitted by Thomas Weston - from England with the intention of founding a new plantation. The company arrived at "Smithe's llands", proceeded to Cape Ann and thence to Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth where they arrived at the end of May 1622. They chose the location of Wessagusset and were joined by 60 more of Weston's company in July of 1622. In the 1623 Division of Land, Phineas and Joshua Pratt received two acres.
They were poorly provisioned and frequently attacked by Indians. By the winter, their numbers were reduced and they sent to Plymouth for assistance. Aware of a planned attack on Plymouth and Wessagussett, Phineas Pratt set out on foot to warn the colonists at Plymouth and arrived there in March 1623. His own account of the journey describes the conditions.
In 1627, Phineas Pratt was listed as among the "Companie" of Francis Cooke and and he and Joshua Pratt shared the first lot in the 1627 Division of Cattle. Phineas remained at Plymouth until 1648 (having sold his house and land in Plymouth to John Cooke, Jr. on August 26, 1646) when he removed with his wife and children to Charlestown, buying a house and garden on May 20,1648. He remained at Charlestown until his death in 1680. In 1662, Phineas petitioned the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. See his petition A Decliration of the Afaires of the English people [that first] inhabited New England at 1662 Petition. On June 1, 1665, he was granted 300 acres "in the wilderness" east of the Merrimack River at the upper end of Nacooke Brook. He again petitioned the Court in 1668 for further support but was denied; the town of Charlestown came to his aid, however.
Phineas Pratt's will bequeaths his land in Charlestown to his son, Joseph, and his movable goods to his wife who is also to receive 40 shillings a year from Joseph and a "a conuenient room...with a chimny in it". Should anything remain at the death of his wife, it is to be equally divided among his children.
HENRY PRATT
Henry Pratt's estate was administered by his son Oliver and was divided October 2, 1752: one-third to his widow Hannah, two-thirds to his sons Oliver Pratt of Newton, refiner and Lemuel Pratt of Needham, blacksmith. Hannah Pratt's will was proved October 12, 1767.
OLIVER PRATT
On June 20, 1763, Sarah (Willard) Pratt, widow, posted bond as administratrix of her husband's estate. On September 26, 1763, Thomas Greenwood posted bond as guardian for the three older boys: Jeremiah (age 19), Henry (age 18) and Noah (age 16). On the same date, Sarah Pratt posted bond as guardian for the two younger children under age 14, Nathan and Mercy.
FOOTNOTES
PRIMARY SOURCES
Pratt (redaction of Phineas Pratt's petition)
merchant_adventurers.html (transcription of Phineas Pratt's petition)
Phineas Pratt for transcriptions from a number of Court and town records
ORIGINAL SOURCES referenced by the above:
Pratt Genealogy, 1989 pps. 19-21
Phineas Pratt (Massachusetts Historical Society Collections (Fourth Series, IV)
Winslow's "Good Newes from New England" (London, 1624)
Bradford's History (London, 1896)
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