Macuth Pratt (abt. 1595 - 1672)

Born about 1595 in England

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Kingham) Pratt — married 9 Nov 1619 in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, England

Descendants

Died 29 Oct 1672 at about age 77 in Weymouth, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Kim Elder [send private message], Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message], and Allyn Pratt [send private message]

Matthew Pratt migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 271) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Macuth (Matthew) Pratt was born about 1595 in England, probably Buckinghamshire.

Macuth or Matthew

Matthew is called "Macuth" Pratt and his wife "Elizabeth "Kingham" in Dean Crawford Smith, The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton 1878-1908, Part I, (NEHGS, Boston, 1996), page 404. His origins, ancestry and use of names "Macuth" and "Matthew" are thoroughly discussed in the article by Frederick J. Nicholson, "The English Origin of Macuth (or Matthew) Pratt & Edward Bates of Weymouth, Massachusetts," TAG, Vol. 65, 1990, pages 33-43 and 89-86. Macuth's baptism is not recorded at Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire. But that his father was Thomas Pratt is supported by Macuth being named in Thomas' last Will.

According to Mary Ann Long Skinner in "The Given Name Macuth," TAG, Vol. 68, 1993, pages 31-32, A Saint Machute was listed in a 1611 edition of the King James Bible, with November 15 given as St. Machute's Day. This saint was born possibly in Wales in about the 6th or 7th centuries and was called the "Apostle of Brittany" for having established Christianity there. He was well-recognized in pre-Reformation England and his feast day widely celebrated. "Machute" is the same name as "Macuth," also spelled Maccuth, Macut, Macute and Machuth.

Macuth Pratt came to Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1637-1639 as one of the first settlers and he was a freeman 13 May 1640. His name is found on the list of land-owners in about 1643, the first recorded list in the town.

Marriage and Children

Maccuth Pratt married Elizabeth Kingham, b. abt, 1600, on 9 November 1619 in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, England.^[1][2]

All but Joseph baptized in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire.

1. Mary Pratt, baptized 22 October 1620^[1]
2. Thomas Pratt^[3][4]
3. William, baptized 16 November 1625^[1]
4. Matthew Pratt b. 1628 d. 1713 married Sarah Hunt^[3]
5. Elizabeth (Pratt) Chard d. February 26, 1726^[3]
6. John Pratt d. 1716^[3]
7. Samuel Pratt^[3]
8. Joseph Pratt I b. 10 June 1637 d, 24 December 1729^[3]
9. Mary (Pratt) White^[3] (Maybe)

Death and Probate

Macuth's last Will is on file in the Suffolk Co. Probate Office, dated 25 March 1672, probated 30 April 1673 and recorded 20 May 1673. His estate inventory indicates a date of death of 29, 8th month (October) 1672.

Mathew Pratt of Weymouth, being in health of body and having a competent use of his understanding and memory does make this to be his last Will and Testament as folloe & saith --

First, I doe and bequeath my Soul to God that gave it, & after my decease my body to be decently buried and all my Debts honestly paide, and then all my wordly goods I dispose of thus --

I doe give to my loving wife Elizabeth Pratt all my whole Estate reall and personall, which is hereafter exprest, that is for her natural life.

I doe give to my Son Thomas Pratt after my wives decease, these parcells of land as folloe, four acres of land that did belong to Shaw's house & my share of land that I bought of James Nash & that fifteen acres I bought of Deacon John Rogers & I doe give her that little Island in the fresh pond. I doe give him ten acres in the Cedar Swamp plaine which was a part of my great lott; Ad I doe give him my share in the two acres & half of Salt Marsh at Hollie, upon the condition hee shall pay to my Daughter Chard at my wives decease four pounds.

I doe give to my Son Matthew Pratt at my wives decease these parcells of house & land as follow my now dwelling house with all my houseing and all my Orchard & my land adjoining twenty acres bee it more or less. Ad I doe give him ten acres in the Cedar Swamp plaine which is also a part of my great lott provided hee pay to my Daughter Chard or her assignees three pounds at my wives decease.

I doe give to my Son John Pratt an ewe and lamb.

I doe give to my Son Samuel Pratt twelve acres of land neere his house. Four acres of it was William Brandems & eight acres of it was John Gurney's & when hee hath fenet it out as far as it is pasture hee shall have it and not before. & I doe give him one acre of Salt Marsh by John Pratt's house at my decease. And I doe give him that part of my common lott laide out to mee at Smell Brooke; Ad I doe give him my two acres of Swamp lot where it is in the woods. Ad hee shall have one Cow instead of that spot I thought hee should have in my Orchard.

I doe give to my Son Joseph Pratt that lott that was first Edward Bennetts at the pond twenty acres bee it more or less.

I doe give to my Daughter Chard seven pound sterling in good pay at my wives decease, which is to bee paide by Thomas Pratt & Matthew Pratt as above is expressed; Ad I doe give to her Daughter Johannah Chard my best bed & Coverlid at my wives decease.

I doe give to my Daughter White after my wives decease all that parcell of land that I have in land which is of Marsh & upland about three or four acres which is all except that which is above given to my Son Thomas Pratt &

I doe give her two Ewes at my decease --

I doe give to my Son Thomas Pratt's Daughter Sarah five pounds at my wives decease.

I doe give to Thomas Pratt's son William Pratt that halfe mare and her increase that is between Thomas Pratt & myself to be decided at my decease.

I doe appoint my loving wife to bee my Sole Executrix to fulfill all this my last will & to have full power improve my whole Estate for her life & at her decease to give what she leaves to my Children & their Children as she shall then please.

I doe desire the Reverend Pastor Mr. Samuell Torrey & my Kinsman Elder Edward Bate & my Son Thomas Pratt to bee the overSeers to see that this my will bee in all points fulfilled; I doe also comit full power into the hands of these OverSeers to sell or dispose of any thing that I have left to my wife; if she shall have need of it for her comfortable livelihood; but not otherwise to dispose of any land but as above expressed, and hereunto I have set my hand & Seal the twenty-fifth of March 1672.

Signed Sealed in the presence of us

Edward Bate

Thomas Dyer"

Research Notes

Problems with the Gorges Expedition Theory

A previous version of this profile included an unsourced claim that Macuth and his wife joined Lord Gorge's group in 1623, many years before they were otherwise known to be in New England.

It is highly improbable that Macuth Pratt was ever in America with Lord Gorges.

First, ALL of his children, except Joseph, are recorded in the Ashton Clinton birth records at the same time he and his wife were supposedly in America with Gorges.^[1]

Second, he did not apply to become a Freeman until 13 May 1640.^[5] This was normally done as soon as possible after arriving in the Colonies. Claiming that he came more than 15 years before doesn't fit with the traditions of that historical time period.

Third, the story seems to come from later generations, as many erroneous family histories do, without citing any sources or documents.

Indian Troubles

Certainly, the biggest impact on the Pratt family was King Philip's War, Metacomet of the Massasort Tribes, which was started by the execution of three Indians by the English for the murder of one Sausaman, an Indian Missionary who was friendly to the English. On June 24, 1675, the Indians made an attack upon Swansea in Plymouth Colony, killing a number of the inhabitants.

On the night of February 25, 1676, the Indians burned seven houses and barns in Weymouth. Two months later, on April 19th, Mathew's son, Sergt. Thomas Pratt was killed by Indians "as they lay skulking up and down the swamps and holes to assault any that occasionally looked ever so little into the woods." On April 20th, five houses in Hingham were burned.

The death of King Philip on August 12, 1676, practically ended the war so far as the Weymouth area was concerned, although the fighting continued elsewhere until the spring of 1678.

There is no doubt that Mathew's other sons served in this war, which was bloody and devastating in the extreme. The colony suffered more in proportion to their numbers and strength than in the Revolutionary struggle in 1776. Six hundred men fell in battle and three hundred perished. Six hundred buildings were burned. One man in eleven of the areas-bearing people were killed and one house in every eleven was burned. Weymouth was attacked three times in fourteen months.

On December 4, 1676, the town's stock of guns and ammunition consisted of one hundred and twenty-eight flints, one hundred and forty-three pounds of powder, five hundred and eighty-four bullets and fourteen pounds of shot.

Additional Resources To Review & Incorporate (or Discard)

From the PRATT-L Archives

From: "missgerry" Subject: Re: [PRATT] Macuth Pratt Date: Sun, 25 May 2003 21:20:36 -0700

I have the following publication: "The Pratt Family. A Genealogical Record of Mathew Pratt of Weymouth, Mass. and his American Descendants. 1623-1889.

" By Francis G. Pratt, Jr., Member of The New England Historic Genealogical Society. published Boston, Mass. 1890. I will quote parts of this relative to Mathew Pratt.

Introduction, page 8: "An attempt has been made in these pages to follow out with a good degree of accuracy the genealogy of the Pratt family, especially as connected with Mathew of Weymouth. He was probably related to Joshua Pratt, who settled at Plymouth in 1621, coming over in the second vessel, and to Phineas Pratt, who came over in 1622 and settled at Weymouth, but afterwards at Plymouth and Charlestown. These three, who were Pilgrims, are spoken of by the historians as probably brothers, though the relationship cannot be positively established. Besides these there was John of Dorchester, who came over later, but was contemporaneous with them."

Introduction, Page 8: "The sources of information from which the facts in this book have been derived are various, but they are such as cannot be questioned. Town and city registers, historical memorials, private family journals, handed down from generation to generation and religiously preserved, registers of probate in many cities and counties, early recorded wills, ancient church records, and monumental tablets in old burial places, have all contributed to the information contained in these pages. This large field of research has been patiently explored by Mr. Ernest B. Pratt, to whom much credit is due forhis long and enthusiastic effort."

Page 11: "The Pratts of Weymouth by Hon. Gilbert Nash, Historian of the Town of Weymouth.

The name of Pratt occurs upon the records of Weymouth more frequently than that of any other name, and the family has had from the early settlement a larger membership than any other family, and at the present day it counts its numbers among the largest.

The original planter Mathew, whose name is sometimes spelled upon the records Macute, Macuth, Micath, and Micareth, but evidently the same individual, was undoubtedly among the earliest settlers of the town, and came, possibly, or rather probably, with the Gorges Company, although there is no positive evidence of the fact. Yet the fact that his name appears upon no subsequent list, and he is found among the list of land-owners in about 1643, the first recorded list, and recognized as 'an old resident,' makes the probability almost a certainty.

He may have been a near relative of Phinehas Pratt, who was a member of the Weston Colony of 1622, yet the connection does not appear upon any record, nor is any connection traced between him and Aaron Pratt of Cohasset, except by marriage, or any of the many families of the name who were among the earliest settlers of New England. Like many another family of the old town of Weymouth, whose permanent settlement by the Gorgest Company dates about the beginning of August, 1623, next after Plymouth in the Massachusetts Bay territory, its origin is lost with the records of that Company."

Page 12: [continuation of above] "The records of the first three generations taken from the town and county books (there are no early church records to be found) are quite full and complete, more so than those of almost any other family in the town, the planter Mathew leaving a will now upon record. His eldest son, Sergeant Thomas, killed by the Indians April 10, 1676, has records in Suffolk Probate Court identifying his family. His second son Matthew also left a will which is recorded, naming his children, who, with his wife Sarah Hunt, were deaf and dumb, as noticed by Cotton Mather. The third son, John, a cooper, left no children, but is identified by his will. His fourth son, Samuel, a carpenter, married a daughter of John Rogers and had eight children, whose names are recorded in his will (names of the sons). The will of Joseph, the fifth son, names four sons and son-in-law, Aaron Pratt."

Page 18: "Genealogical Memoir of Matthew Pratt (Earliest Settler of the Name in Weymouth, Massachusetts), and his American Descendants. 1888.

Page 19: Mathew Pratt: Mathew was the ancestor of nearly all the Pratts of Weymouth, and many of the name in Bridgewater, Middleboro, Taunton, Mansfield, Stoughton, Norton, Easton, Abington, Braintree, Quincy, Randolph, Holbrook and adjacent towns. His descendants can be found in other localities in Massachusetts, and in almost every state of the United States. He is referred to by Cotton Mather in his 'Magnalia,' as a very religious man...The reference to the early education of his son, coupled with the fact that he married in Weymouth and had a son born before 1628, places him among the earliest settlers, probably with the Gorges Colony, as his land is located with the 'old residents.' In the first records of Weymouth he is frequently referred to as Macute Pratt and Mathew Pratt, the names being interchangeable in the same record; but his signature to the will is spelled Mathew.

Page 25: "Genealogy

1. MATHEW PRATT, b. ___; d. Aug. 29, 1672. (m. Elizabeth Bate?)

Children

2. Thomas, b. before 1628; d. April 19, 1676

2. Matthew, b. 1628; d. Jan. 12, 1713

2. John, b. ____; d. Oct. 3, 1716

2. Samuel, b. ____; d. _____, 1678.

2. Joseph, b. June 10, 1637; d. Dec. 24, 1720

2. Elizabeth, b. ___; d. Feb. 26, 1726

2. Mary, b. ___; d. ____"

___________________________________

http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/s/i/m/Karen-M-Simmons/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0321.html

The Ancestors of Helen Pegg Home Page:Information about Matthew (Macuth) Pratt

Matthew (Macuth) Pratt (son of Thomas Pratt) was born Abt. 1595 in Ashton Clinton, Buckinghamshire, England, and died October 29, 1672 in Weymouth, Ma..He married Elizabeth Kingham on November 09, 1619 in Ashton Clinton, Buckinghamshire, England, daughter of William Kingham and Catherine Bate(s).

Notes for Matthew (Macuth) Pratt: Macuth came to New England in 1638 not 1628 as Francis Pratt's 1889 Genealogy states. Their seventh child, Samuel, was baptized in Ashton Clinton on January 22, 1636/37 and their eighth child Joseph was born August 10, 1639 in Weymouth, MA. Macuth is referred to by Cotton Mather in his "Magnalia" as a very religious man.

[JMS- In this same story was the comment: "The inventory of Mathew Pratt who deceased Aug. 29, 1672, was taken 12 Dec. 1672. (Pratt Genealogy, 1989, pp. 19-21.)"] NOTE death date: 29 Aug 1672, not 29 Oct 1672.

__________________________

Lineal Ancestors of Captain James Cory and of his Descendants: Genealogical, Historical and Biographical Volume ! Part ! 1937

Page 40

"Estate of Matthew Pratt who deceased August 29, 1672, & (it was) appraised by us, who were called thereunto, (on) the 12th of the 10th month (December), 1672," &c., amounting in all to the grand total of 31:5s:0d.

Macuth was born about 1595. He passed away in 1672.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Nicholson, Frederick J. "The English Origin of Macuth¹ (or Matthew) Pratt and Edward Bates¹ of Weymouth, Mass." The American Genealogist. vol 65 (1990) Page 38 (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 -.)
2. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," database, FamilySearch [1] : 10 December 2014), Maccuth Pratt and Elizab. Kingham, 09 Nov 1619; citing Aston Clinton,Buckingham,England, reference ; FHL microfilm 496,686.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6} Pratt: page 25
4. ↑ Nash, Gilbert, 1825-1888, comp; Weymouth (Mass.) Historical sketch of the town of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1622-1884.A. Mudge & son, printers. Boston. 1885. pg 39
5. ↑ Savage, James, 1784-1873; Making of America Project; Farmer, John, 1789-1838; Dexter, O. P. (Orando Perry), 1854-1903. A genealogical dictionary of the first settlers of New England showing three generations of those who came before May, 1692, on the basis of Farmer's Register. Little, Brown and company. Boston. 1860-62. 474

• 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
• Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985) p. 599
• Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1862), [2] Judkin
• The American Genealogist, (The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .)), 65:89-90 https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/12960/89/0
• The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA) 148 vols., 1847-1994; 46:187
• Stearns, Ezra S. Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire (Lewis Publishing Company, 1908) Vol. 2, Page 602
• There are two sources; the first is, 'The Pratt Directory, 1999 revised edition', by Jane Pratt Lovelace, and second, 'The Pratt Family, A Genealogical Record of Mathew Pratt of Weymouth, Mass., and His American Descendants, 1623 to 1889', by Francis G. Pratt, Jr.