Pratt
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Pratt Genealogy
The Old English praett, meaning trick or cunning, became a nickname for someone who was cunning or played tricks. The earliest citing of this name was Lefwinus Prat around 1080. Pratts Bottom is a village in the London borough of Bromley, on the border with Kent. Often the butt of jokes, the village was named after the family of Stephen Prat who lived in the valley in the 14th century.
Some Pratts do not like this derivation and prefer its origin from the latin pratum, meaning a clearing or meadow.
England. The Pratt name in early times was mainly to be found in and around East Anglia. Wilfric Prat was documented in the Seals of Suffolk in 1179. Walter Pratt of Baldock in Hertfordshire was born in Mildenhall, Suffolk in 1390. Pratt families were local gentry in Norfolk, at Hockwold from the time of Henry VIII and also at Downham. Sir Roger Pratt of the latter family, who became a leading architect in Restoration England, built Ryston Hall for his own account in 1672, a manor which has stayed with the family to the present day. Sir Roger also built Coleshill House in Berkshire, the property of Pratts who had become wealthy cloth merchants in London.
The Pratt name was and is to be found in the west country, in Devon. One early sighting was in Kentisbeare. Another Pratt family from this area made it in the legal profession in London, rising to be Earl Camden in the 18th century.
Pratts appeared in sizeable numbers in Staffordshire and Yorkshire. Thomas Pratt, who died in 1739, started a long line of Pratt potters at Fenton near Stoke. The Pratt name also cropped up in Swaledale in Yorkshire, beginning with Thomas Pratt in 1630. However, Pratts left this area in the 1840's when the local lead mines closed down. The Pratts who emigrated to Newfoundland produced the poet, E.J. Pratt. His heritage was traced by his daughter Claire in her 1971 book, The Silent Ancestors: the Forebearers of E.J. Pratt.
Ireland. A Pratt family had arrived in Ireland from Leicestershire in 1641 and acquired land in Meath and later in Cavan. They held onto Cabra castle in county Cavan until 1964. Another Pratt family settled in Youghal, county Cork, also in the 1640's.
Scotland. The Pratt name appeared at Nairn in the Scottish Highlands during the 13th century. They became a sub-sept of the Grant clan. They showed up in numbers first in Fife and later in Aberdeen.
America. Phineas Pratt was probably the first Pratt arrival in America, coming to Massachusetts Bay with Thomas Weston in 1622 and helping to establish the Wessagusett plantation. Forty years later as an old man, he wrote an account to the court of Massachusetts of the colonists' early struggles. He lived onto the ripe old age of ninety.
John and William Pratt from Baldock in Hertfordshire were Puritans who settled in Hartford, Connecticut in 1636. From this lineage came Jared and the Mormon Pratts. There are, because of multiple wives, a staggering 30,000 descendants of the 18th century Jared Pratt.
There is a tradition that a son of Charles Pratt, Earl Camden, had difficulties at Oxford University and decided to emigrate to America rather than embarass his father. He and his brother John settled in Virginia in the 1790's, acquiring estates in Caroline County. Martha Pratt returned from Virginia to England with her husband in the early 1800's. But she left a painting of herself at the Shirley plantation manor.
Daniel Pratt made his mark in the South in the years prior to the Civil War. He had moved to Alabama from New Hampshire in the 1830's and was really the South's first industrialist in what was then mainly an agricultural economy.
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Charles Pratt, who became the 1st Earl Camden, was Lord Chancellor under Pitt and a proponent of civil liberties.
Rev. Josiah Pratt was the first secretary and part-founder of the Church Missionary Society in the early 1800's.
Francis Pratt founded with Amos Whitney in 1860 the company Pratt & Whitney to manufacture machine tools and precision instruments (and later jet engines).
Charles Pratt was one of the pioneers of the US petroleum industry. His Brooklyn oil refinery later became part of Rockefeller's Standard Oil empire.
William Pratt from London changed his name to Boris Karloff on emigration to Canada. He became well-known for his acting in horror films, in particular in Frankenstein.
Select Pratts Today
Select Index of Names
The Origin/Spread of Surnames
The Old English praett, meaning trick or cunning, became a nickname for someone who was cunning or played tricks. The earliest citing of this name was Lefwinus Prat around 1080. Pratts Bottom is a village in the London borough of Bromley, on the border with Kent. Often the butt of jokes, the village was named after the family of Stephen Prat who lived in the valley in the 14th century.
Some Pratts do not like this derivation and prefer its origin from the latin pratum, meaning a clearing or meadow.
Select
Pratt Resources on
The
Internet
- Pratts Bottom. The Pratts Bottom website.
- Jared Pratt Family Association. The ancestry of the Mormon Pratt family.
- Manlove Pratt and Descendants. Pratts in Virginia.
- Daniel Pratt - Southern Industrialist. Daniel Pratt (1799-1873).
England. The Pratt name in early times was mainly to be found in and around East Anglia. Wilfric Prat was documented in the Seals of Suffolk in 1179. Walter Pratt of Baldock in Hertfordshire was born in Mildenhall, Suffolk in 1390. Pratt families were local gentry in Norfolk, at Hockwold from the time of Henry VIII and also at Downham. Sir Roger Pratt of the latter family, who became a leading architect in Restoration England, built Ryston Hall for his own account in 1672, a manor which has stayed with the family to the present day. Sir Roger also built Coleshill House in Berkshire, the property of Pratts who had become wealthy cloth merchants in London.
The Pratt name was and is to be found in the west country, in Devon. One early sighting was in Kentisbeare. Another Pratt family from this area made it in the legal profession in London, rising to be Earl Camden in the 18th century.
Pratts appeared in sizeable numbers in Staffordshire and Yorkshire. Thomas Pratt, who died in 1739, started a long line of Pratt potters at Fenton near Stoke. The Pratt name also cropped up in Swaledale in Yorkshire, beginning with Thomas Pratt in 1630. However, Pratts left this area in the 1840's when the local lead mines closed down. The Pratts who emigrated to Newfoundland produced the poet, E.J. Pratt. His heritage was traced by his daughter Claire in her 1971 book, The Silent Ancestors: the Forebearers of E.J. Pratt.
Ireland. A Pratt family had arrived in Ireland from Leicestershire in 1641 and acquired land in Meath and later in Cavan. They held onto Cabra castle in county Cavan until 1964. Another Pratt family settled in Youghal, county Cork, also in the 1640's.
Scotland. The Pratt name appeared at Nairn in the Scottish Highlands during the 13th century. They became a sub-sept of the Grant clan. They showed up in numbers first in Fife and later in Aberdeen.
America. Phineas Pratt was probably the first Pratt arrival in America, coming to Massachusetts Bay with Thomas Weston in 1622 and helping to establish the Wessagusett plantation. Forty years later as an old man, he wrote an account to the court of Massachusetts of the colonists' early struggles. He lived onto the ripe old age of ninety.
John and William Pratt from Baldock in Hertfordshire were Puritans who settled in Hartford, Connecticut in 1636. From this lineage came Jared and the Mormon Pratts. There are, because of multiple wives, a staggering 30,000 descendants of the 18th century Jared Pratt.
There is a tradition that a son of Charles Pratt, Earl Camden, had difficulties at Oxford University and decided to emigrate to America rather than embarass his father. He and his brother John settled in Virginia in the 1790's, acquiring estates in Caroline County. Martha Pratt returned from Virginia to England with her husband in the early 1800's. But she left a painting of herself at the Shirley plantation manor.
"Family descendants noticed an unusual
property of the painting. Whenever Aunt Pratt's painting was
removed from its spot on the second floor, the frame would start
shaking violently. In 1974 the Virginia Tourist office put the
painting on display in Rockefeller Center. It caused a sensation
with its constant vibrations."
Daniel Pratt made his mark in the South in the years prior to the Civil War. He had moved to Alabama from New Hampshire in the 1830's and was really the South's first industrialist in what was then mainly an agricultural economy.
Select Pratt Miscellany
If you would like to read more, click on the miscellany page for
further stories and accounts:
Select Pratt Names
Charles Pratt, who became the 1st Earl Camden, was Lord Chancellor under Pitt and a proponent of civil liberties.
Rev. Josiah Pratt was the first secretary and part-founder of the Church Missionary Society in the early 1800's.
Francis Pratt founded with Amos Whitney in 1860 the company Pratt & Whitney to manufacture machine tools and precision instruments (and later jet engines).
Charles Pratt was one of the pioneers of the US petroleum industry. His Brooklyn oil refinery later became part of Rockefeller's Standard Oil empire.
William Pratt from London changed his name to Boris Karloff on emigration to Canada. He became well-known for his acting in horror films, in particular in Frankenstein.
Select Pratts Today
- 14,000 in the UK (most numerous in West Midlands)
- 19,000 in America (most numerous in New York)
- 17,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Canada)
Select Index of Names
The Origin/Spread of Surnames