Family: Joshua Pratt / Bathsheba Fay (F5260021523)  ^[1] 

• Father | Male Joshua Pratt

  
  

  Born	1593	England, United Kingdom
  Died	29 Aug 1656	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
  Buried
  Married	1630  [2]
  Father	Reverend Henry Pratt | F5260023204 Group Sheet
  Mother

  
  

  Mother | Female Bathsheba Fay

  
  

  Born	1 Jan 1593	Marlbord, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom
  Died	1673	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
  Buried
  Other Spouse	John Dogget | F8026656428
  Married
  Father	William Kingham | F16053348016 Group Sheet
  Mother	Catherine Bates | F16053348016 Group Sheet

  
  

  Child 1 | Male + Benajah Pratt

  
  

  Born	1630	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
  Died	17 Mar 1682	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
  Buried
  Spouse	Persis Dunham | F5260021378
  Married	29 Nov 1655

  
  

  Child 2 | Female + Hannah Pratt

  
  

  Born	1630	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
  Died	1684	Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States
  Buried
  Spouse	William Spooner | F8026656674
  Married	18 Mar 1652	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States

  
  

  Child 3 | Male Thomas Pratt

  
  

  Born	1632	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
  Died
  Buried

  
  

  Child 4 | Female + Mary Pratt

  
  

  Born	1633	Massachusetts, United States
  Died	26 Feb 1726	Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States
  Buried
  Spouse	John Swain | F8026656704
  Married	1 Mar 1656	Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

  
  

  Child 5 | Female Bethsheba Pratt

  
  

  Born	1639	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
  Died
  Buried

  
  

  Child 6 | Male + Jonathan Pratt

  
  

  Born	Abt. 1632	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
  Died	1729
  Buried
  Spouse	Abigail Wood | F8026656427
  Married	02 Nov 1664	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States

  
  

• Notes

  Shortly after the FORTUNE arrived at Plymouth in 1621, a shallop from the ship SPARROW, which Had arrive in Damaris Cove. In this little vessel were ten men, who came to select a site for another plantation; Phineas Pratt was one of them, Joshua Pratt, probably the brother of Phineas, and like him, unmarried, arrived at Plymouth in the ANNE in the summer of 1623. Most of those who came in thes ship and in the LITTLE JAMES were friends and relatives of the Plymouth settlers. During the year 1623 there was a division of the land at Plymouth, under three groups: those who came in the MAY FLOWER, those who came in the FORTUNE, and those who came in the ANNE. As part of the last group, Phineas and Joshua received two acres. Since Phineas did not come by any of those vessels, the probability is that he was the brother of Joshua and put with that group to make the division complete. In 1624 the settlers of Plymouth were divided into twelve companies of thirteen persons each. Joshua and Phineas were assigned to Francis Cooke. He was appointed a surveyor on January 3, 1627, along with William Bradford, Edward Winslow, John Howland, Francis Cooke and Edward Bangs. He was mentioned in the cattle division of June 1, 1627, when he was a member of Francis Cooke's company which received "the least of the four black heifers came in the JACOB." He was a freeman at the time of the incorporation of Plymouth in 1633, and in April of that year he was foreman of the jury, as well as Constable in 1633, 1636, 1637. On December 4, 1638 he was again sworn in as Constable and the Court gave him the duties of measuring lands and the sealing of weights and measures. *Reference: Clemens, 176; NEHGR 9:314; Plymouith Colony Records, 1:3, 12, 105; Pratt, Simon Newcomb, "Founders of Early American Families", pamphlet, 1917, reprint 1938; MD 14:113, 18:56; Peirce's Colonial Lists; Goodwin, John, "The Pilgrim Republic",292-3; Rev. Sherwood Anderson Davis, "Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth", 209; Plymouth Colony Records, 8:17, "Ancestors and Descendants of Minnie Hale Gorton" by Carolyn C. Volpe, p. 108-110.

  
  

• Sources

  [S8072387437] The Pratt Directory, Lovelace, Jayne Pratt, [email protected]. JOSHUA c.1600, prob. b/o Phineas c.1592 and alleg. s/o Henry of England. [Stated in sev'l pub's, one copying from ano with no actual source cited in any. He is also erron'y called s/o Thomas of Watertown in one gen.; however, that was strictly spec. on the part of that author and has no basis in fact.] He prob. was b/o Phineas who arrived in Plymouth a year earlier, evid'y traveled New Eng., and did not acquire land until Joshua's arrival on the Anne, 10 July 1623. They were granted two acres jointly at that time on the North side of the town. Tog'r they sold prop'y w/John SHAW to Edward DOTEY in 1637. B#11 mentions a Joshua PRATT who was in Medfield in 1649. B#64 names w. Bathsheba FAY of Marlboro with no evidence cited. B#748 states wife Bathsheba arrived after 22 May 1627 and was listed as "Joshua Pratt's wife." The births of Joshua and Bathsheba's chn were not recorded in Plym.; perh. b. Eng. bef. 1627. Dtr Hannah is id'd in a deed w/ husb. William SPOONER acc'g to B#859. B#158 and other ref's have variously attrib. to Joshua the chn of his son Benajah, as well as unrelated PRATTs in far removed areas of Mass. Bay Colony with no evidence offered (as there could be none) or rationale exercised. By scrutinizing Shurtleff's Plymouth Colony Records JPL has determined that Joshua and Bathsheba had at least one son, Benajah: On 2 Nov 1640 "these several persons are granted meddowing in the South Meddows toward Aggawam, Colebrook Meddowes: ... to Josuah [sic] PRATT, five acres." No deed of sale or gift from Joshua PRATT re this parcel is recorded. When Benajah (below) died in 1682, an inv'y of his estate incl. "five acres of meddow att the South Meddows" [Plym. Prob. Vol. IV(2) p.12]. When Benajah's lands were div'd in June that yr, his eldest son Joshua rec'd as part of his share "one acre of meddow att the South Meddow" and the two youngest sons rec'd tog'r "four acres of meddow at the South Meddowes" as part of their share. [Vol IV(2) p.14] This definitive description and precise division of a parcel of land owned by Joshua PRATT proves irrefutably that he was the fa of Benajah below. [Note: In Feb 1996 the NSDFPA accepted JPL's membership application based upon this evidence.] By process of elimination, Joshua was very prob. fa of Jonathan also. The only other PRATT of Joshua's generation in the area was Phineas whose chn are all documented in various est. records. Jonathan rem. to Bristol Co. where a search of deeds might produce proof of his relationship to Joshua; but Shurtleff lists no early deeds for him in Plym. Co. Widow Bathsheba was granted admin. of Joshua's est., 6 Oct 1656. She m. 29 Aug 1667, Plymouth, John DOGGETT/ DAGGETT of Martha's Vineyard. Note: JPL has not seen any proof of her maiden name and would be interested if such exists. An article in B#1247 implies that she may have been related to John DUNHAM who named a son Benajah and whose dtr Persis 15 yrs later mar. Joshua PRATT's son Benajah below. It is prob. that Hannah below was a dtr. Heirs of her husb., William SPOONER, “were recog. under the will of their fa as owners of Joshua PRATT’s share in ‘The Purchase’ at Dartmouth,” etc. [B#146] prob. Hannah c.1625? Benajah c.1630/earlier prob. Jonathan c.1632/earlier [S5352827412] U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900.