Daniel Pratt ca 1680 – 1739 and Martha (?Lazell) of Plymouth and Plympton, Mass.

I hope everyone affected by the blizzard hit is safe and sound. I miss my grandparents' ocean-front home where I spent so much of my life, but today I'm grateful to live inland.

Daniel Pratt is my seventh great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Davis’ side. Daniel was born about 1680 in Plymouth, Mass., one of the 11 children of Benajah and Persis (Dunham) Pratt. His birth year is based on his age at death.

Daniel is a little hard to figure out because he married three or four times so it complicates sorting out who mothered each child and there’s a lot of conflicting information in print and on-line.

Daniel married first Esther Wright on 23 January 1700/01 in Plymouth, the daughter of Adam Wright and Sarah (Soule). They had children Joshuan (who died as a young man) and Sarah, births recorded in Plympton. Esther died in October 1705. Adam Wright’s 9 April 1723 will mentions grandchidren Joshua Pratt and Sarah Pratt, children of his daughter Esther.

Daniel married second Mary Washburn on 1 October 1706 in Plymouth. Mary was the daughter of Phillip and Elizabeth (Irish) Washburn. They had children Benjamin and Esther whose births are recorded in Plympton. Mary died 12 January 1709/10.

Daniel married, third, around 1714 probably Martha (possibly Lazell) around 1714 (based on first child born 1715), likely in Plympton. If her maiden name is in fact Lazell, then she was born 23 February 1683/84 in Hingham, Mass., daughter of Joshua and Mary (maiden name unknown) Lazell. Martha married first Daniel’s brother Joseph.

Daniel and Martha had three children:

Samuel, born Plympton 26 November 1715, recorded as son of Daniel Prat and wife Martha.

Nathaniel, born 1716

Jabez, born 1717

I descend from Nathaniel who married Mary Cobb. I wrote about them here.

Congregational Church across the street from the Plympton Old Cemetery 

Martha Pratt died in Plympton on 2 April 1723, called Martha Prat, the wife of Daniel Prat in Plympton Vital Records.

Daniel married, fourth, in 1725, Annice/Annis Parker and had children James and Joshua. Annice died 21 February 1760 at Plympton, widow of Daniel, in her 77^th year.

Annice Parker Pratt's gravestone at Plympton

I’m not certain that Daniel married Martha Lazell. The Mayflower Families Francis Cooke book only gives him three wives, but the dates of the births of Samuel, Nathaniel and Jabez indicate he would have had a third wife between his marriages to Mary and Annice.

I haven’t found Daniel’s name in many records. Plymouth Court Records, General Sessions, March 1720, 21 and March 1727/8, Daniel Pratt is listed as serving on the grand jury.

Daniel Pratt died in Plympton on 7 May 1739 in Plympton in his 59^th year. He is buried at the Old Cemetery, also called Hillcrest Cemetery.

Daniel Pratt's gravestone in Plympton

In 2008 I visited the cemetery, which sadly has many stones in poor condition. Daniel’s stone is sinking into the ground, but the part of the stone still above ground is readable. His stone reads:

Here Lyes ye Body (it says "boy" but then the stone carver must have realized his mistake and added a "d" above the word) of Daniel Pratt

who Decd May .... (can't read the rest)

Entrance to Plympton's Old Cemetery

I found the date of death from an earlier inventory of the cemetery.

Daniel Pratt’s will was dated 30 March, 1739, and proved 18 May, 1739 [Plymouth Co. Prob. Rcds. 8:46]. He mentions wife Annis, sons Benjamin, Nathaniel, Jabez, James (Under age) and Joshua (under age), daughter "Easter the wife of John Howard" and "my Loveing Daughter Sarah ye wife of Joshua Donham" As the son Joshua Pratt was under age on 30 March 1739, he must have been born after 30 March 1718, therefore he could not have been Esther (Wright) Pratt's son Joshua, who was born in 1701, and was mentioned in Adam Wright's will dated 9 April 1723. Esther's son Joshua, therefore, died between 9 April 1723, and 24 November 1738, the date of the deed by Sarah3 Soule's heirs.

Sources Not Listed Above:

Jayne Pratt Lovelace, The Pratt Directory, Millennium Edition

Old Cemeteries of Southeastern MA by Charles M. Thatcher, published 1995 from inventory taken in late 1880s

George Ernest Bowman, Adam Wright’s Wives and Their Children, Mayflower Descendant, 1909