Ancestors

Barnard Pratt

Barnard Pratt was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, on 21 October 1731. Lincoln's History of Hingham spells him Bernard. He was the eldest child of Phinehas Pratt, a housewright, and Sarah Lincoln, who had married at Hingham that July. His brothers and sisters born at Hingham were Jared, who died at three, Constantine, Rhoda, Sarah and a second Jared. Through his father he descended from Phineas Pratt, one of the men of Thomas Weston's colony of 1622. Through his mother he was a great-grandson of Samuel Lincoln, the Hingham weaver who was also the immigrant ancestor of President Abraham Lincoln.

In December 1739, when he was eight, the family left Hingham for Worcester. In May 1741 they moved again, to the settlement called Bedford, which soon became the town of Granville. His father served Granville as a selectman in ten of the years between 1754 and 1769 and was known in its records as Captain. A youngest brother, Phinehas, was born there in 1743. His sister Olive married John Tibbals in 1764.

Barnard married a woman named Mary. Her surname is not recorded. The Granville clerk entered their children to "Barnard and Mary" or "Barnad and Mary": Justen on 23 August 1754, Alderton on 16 September 1756, Elnathan on 20 September 1758, Siles on 19 October 1760, Aaron on 10 June 1765 and Mary on 30 June 1768. Siles died on 26 April 1764, at three. A son Barnard, born about 1774, is not in the Granville book.

His father made his will in May 1775. He left "to my Eldest & Beloved Son Barnard Pratt and his Heirs the fifty acres of Land in the Westerly part of the aforesd Granville which I hold by virtue of my first Deed from ... Samuel Kent late of Suffield". Barnard and his brother Gerad were made executors and shared the residue. His mother died in October 1777 of camp distemper, and his father in September 1779.

On 31 August 1780 "Barnard Pratt of Granville and Mercy Norton of Sandisfield" were married. His son Barnard was a boy of about six then, so this is probably the father marrying again. Sometime after it he was living at Sandisfield, the hill town just west of Granville. He was chosen a surveyor of highways there, and the county road bills charge his labour by the day.

He made his will on 24 October 1801. He left twenty dollars to his wife Mary, and money to his sons Justin, Allerton and Elnathan. To Aaron he left "all the notes and receipts that I hold against him", which cancelled whatever Aaron owed him. To his daughter he left "one square table one platter", and to his son Barnard, the sole executor, "all and singular my lands". He died at Sandisfield on 4 March 1807, at about seventy five. The will was proved in Berkshire County on 5 May 1807, and that March his sons Elnathan, Justin and Aaron had signed receipts for their legacies.

If Barnard Pratt is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Barnard Pratt (1731-1807)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/barnard-pratt-1731-1807-33ba22.