John Pratt, III

THIS PROFILE HAS BECOME A MESS. MY ANCESTOR, JOHN PRATT WAS NOT AMERICAN AND DID NOT MARRY MEHITABEL. HE WAS BORN, MARRIED DIED AND WAS BURIED IN CALVERLEY YORKSHIRE. HE MARRIED SARAH SNOWDEN IN CALVERLEY.
LATER GENERATIONS MAY WELL HAVE MIGRATED TO US BUT NOT THIS ONE.
AT LEAST ONE CAME LATER TO VICTORIA AUSTRALIA TO FOUND THE FAMILY HERE. MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER IS A DIRECT DESCENDANT.

BIRTH & BAPTISM
First name(s) John
Last name Pratt
Birth year -
Record type Bishop's transcripts
Baptism year 1743
Baptism date 10 Jul 1743
Register year range 1632-1836
Father's first name(s) Samuel (Samuel Pratt residence Rawden)
Mother's first name(s) -
Baptism place Guiseley
County Yorkshire (West Riding)
[The parish register for Calverley shows that John Pratt of Guiseley married Sarah Snowden of Calverley at Calverley in 1770 which confirms this baptism]

MARRIAGE
Name John Pratt
Gender Male
Marriage Date 8 Aug 1753
Marriage Place Calverley,York,England
Spouse
Sarah Snowden
FHL Film Number 990547
[The FHL have a mistaken transcript. The ones below reflect the parish register with the banns read 3 times in December and the marriage in January]

Name John Pratt
Event Type Banns (Bann)
Marriage Banns Date 3 Dec 1769
Marriage Banns Place Calverley, St Wilfrid, Yorkshire, England
Parish as it Appears Calverley, St Wilfrid
Spouse
Sarah Snowden

Name John Pratt wool-comber of Guiseley Yorks
Event Type Banns (Bann)
Marriage Date 11 Jan 1770
Marriage Banns Place Calverley, St Wilfrid, Yorkshire, England
Parish as it Appears Calverley, St Wilfrid
Spouse Sarah Snowden
[This is the only one that accords with the church register so something went wrong with the transcript for 1753]

The marriage is secure in1770 Calverley, and John Pratt died at Calverley in 1798, 1799, 1803, 1808, and 1811. Any one of them could be our John, and death certificates might help identify the right one, if they exist, which I doubt. Burials are available for all these, at St Wilfred's Calverley.

John was likely a few years younger than his wife, and she might have had property from her family since there is a request for her debtors and creditors to contact her executors at her death.

FAMILY NAME Last name: Pratt Recorded in various spelling forms including Pratt, Prate, Prett, and Pritt, this interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origins. It is derived from a pre 7th century word "praett" meaning a trick; and as such was probably a nickname for a magician or conjuror. It is an example of that sizeable group of early European surnames that were gradually created from either an occupation, or from a variety of characteristics, such as physical attributes or peculiarities, mental and moral characteristics, and to habits of dress. The surname is first recorded in the 12th century making it one of the earliest on record anywhere in the world. Examples of these early recordings include: Aedmund Pret of Berkshire in the Pipe Rolls of that county in 1192, and Dereman le Prat of Kent in 1198. Later examples from surviving registers include the christening Abell Pratt, the son of Arthur Pratt, on December 15th 1567, at the church of St. Bartholomew Exchange, in the city of London, whilst Thomas Pratt, aged 17 years was an early settler in the New World Colonies. He left England on the ship "America", bound for the colony of Virginia, in June 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Wilfric Prat. This was dated 1179, in the "Seals Register" of the county of Suffolk, during the reign of King Henry 11 of England, 1154 -1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Pratt: Name Meaning English: nickname for a clever trickster, from Old English prætt ‘trick’, ‘tricky’, ‘cunning’ (which is found in use as a byname in the 11th century). This surname is quite common in southeastern Ireland. Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press