The Pratt Family

About the year 1300, the name Pratellis or Pratis, began to be written as "Pratt" and as such, appears many times in English history. Thomas and Simon Pratt, brothers, lived at Baldock, Hertfordshire, England. Thomas’ will mentions his wife, Joan, and five children, one of whom was Andrew. Andrew Pratt had a son named William.
WILLIAM PRATT, born in October, 1562, at Baldock, England. He served as Rector of the Parish of Stevenage in Hertfordshire. He married Elizabeth (surname unknown). He died in 1629. The following inscription appears on the north wall of the Church at Hertfordshire:
Here lies William Pratt, Bachelor of Sacred Theology and most illustrious rector of this church during thirty years. He had three sons, John, William, Jr., and Richard, and the same number of daughters, Sarah, Mary and Elizabeth. At length the course of his life being run, and his age becoming burdensome, he immi­grated to the celestial country in the year of salvation, 1629, aged 67.
WILLIAM PRATT, JR., accompanied by his brother, John, came to America with the Rev. Thomas Hooker, in 1632, settling at Cambridge, Mass., then known as Newton. In June, 1636, they left with Rev. Hooker and travelled through the wilderness, establishing Hartford, Conn. William Pratt, Jr., was a member of the company from Hartford that defeated the
Pequot Indians in 1637, annihilating their power as a tribe. He represented Saybrook in the General Assembly for twelve consecutive years. In his will, Attawanhood, third son of Uncas (Chief of the Mohegan Indians and friend of the English) recommended his children to the care of Robert Chapman, William Pratt, Jr., and Thomas Buckingham. In about 1640, William Jr., married Elizabeth Clark, daughter of John Clark, of Saybrook and Milford. William Jr., died in 1678. The exact date of his wife’s death is not known; but it occurred after 1661. Eight children were born of this marriage, the seventh of whom was Lydia Pratt.
LYDIA PRATT, born at Saybrook, January 1, 1659. On November 8, 1679, she married John Kirtland, son of Nathaniel Kirtland. Lydia and John lived at Saybrook. Their deaths occurred after 1704, but the exact dates are unknown.
The Pratt family thus merges with the Kirtland family.