Joan

Family/Spouse: Thomas Pratt. Thomas was born in of Baldock, Hertfordshire, England; died after 5 Feb 1539. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mentioned in his father's will, which was made 5 Feb 1539, so he was clearly born before that date.

Several online sites give him a probate date of 28 Nov 1599, citing either familysearch.org or ancestry.com's database UK, Extracted Probate Records, 1269-1975, but we've been unable to find this in those or any other places.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

A graduate of Cambridge, he was rector of Stevenage from 1598 to his death.

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth. Elizabeth died after Nov 1629. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Emigrated 1633; first at Cambridge and then at Hartford in 1636. His name is on the Founders Monument in downtown Hartford. Deputy to the Connecticut general court in 1639, 1640, and 1641.

John married Elizabeth before 1633. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

His name is on the Founders Monument in downtown Hartford.

F. W. Chapman's The Pratt Family (1864) asserted that William and his older brother John Pratt were sons of the Rev. William Pratt of Stevenage, Hertfordshire. This conclusion was attacked in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register's review of Pratt's book the following year, which pointed out that the birthdates of the John and William known to have been the sons of the Rev. William Pratt would have made them far too young to have emigrated to New England and become prominent early citizens of Connecticut by 1636. This same criticism was repeated with great force by Donald Lines Jacobus in Hale, House and Related Families (1952; citation details below).

But in 1995 Matthew J. Grow published "A Belated Reply: The English Origins of John and William Pratt of Connecticut" (NEHGR; citation details below), in which he demonstrated that the original Stevenage parish record had been rebound with pages out of order, and that a careful study of the original artifact, plus examination of the bishop's transcript (to which the original 1857 Pratt researchers, Mormon missionaries Orson Pratt and Charles Penrose, would not have had access), yielded baptismal dates for John and William Pratt that are fully consistent with the other known events of their lives. This problem solved, the other evidence (wills, marriage records, known associations, on-the-record allusions by individuals to their kinship with other individuals) adds up to a satisfactorily strong case for John and William as sons of the Rev. William.

Further from Hale, House and Related Families (citation details below):

William Pratt was appointed Lieutenant of the Saybrook Train Band, Oct. 1661. He was Deputy for Saybrook to the Conn. General Court or Assembly, at the sesions of Oct. 1666, Oct. 1667, Oct. 1668, May and Oct. 1669, Oct. 1670, May and Oct. 1671, May 1672, May and Oct. 1673, May and Oct. 1674, May and Oct. 1675, May and Oct. 1676, May and Oct. 1677, and May 1678. He was Commissioner (justice) for Saybrook, 1666 to 1678 inclusive. In Oct. 1670 the General Assembly granted him 100 acres in recognition of his service in the Pequot War. The length of his Deputy service qualifies him as an ancestor for the Society of Colonial Dames of America, and the Pequot War service for the Society of Colonial Wars. William Pratt received a lot in Soldier's Field, Hartford, as one of the band that went from Hartford to fight the Pequots; he sold it in 1645 and removed to Saybrook, probably about that time. He married, by 1641, Elizabeth Clark, daughter of 'Elder' John Clark, who later was a Patentee of Connecticut Colony named in the Royal Charter of 1662. This is proved by John Clark's will. William became possessed of considerable land, more than 250 acres being found on record which were acquired by grant or purchase. He was also a legatee for a large tract of land in the will of the Indian Attawanhood who was known to the English as Joshua Uncas.

William married Elizabeth Clark before 1641 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut. Elizabeth (daughter of John Clark and Lydia Kellogg) was born about 1622; died before 2 Apr 1695. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]