The PRENCE Family of Plymouth and Eastham

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GOV. THOMAS PRENCE (abt 1601 - 1673) of Plymouth and Eastham
m (1) Patience Brewster
|
m (2) Mary Collier
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SARAH PRENCE (c. 1646 - 1704 or 1706) m. Jeremiah Howes
MERCY PRENCE (c. 1630 - 1711) m. John Freeman
HANNAH PRENCE m. Jonathan Sparrow


First Generation

GOV. THOMAS PRENCE (abt 1601 - 1673) of Plymouth and Eastham

Parents: Unknown

Thomas Prence was born about 1601 in England. He died on 29 Mar 1673 in Plymouth. [Ref says at age 73][Ref][Ref says 28 Mar] He was buried there on 8 Apr 1673. [Ref] He married first Patience Brewster in Aug 1624 in Plymouth. [Ref] She died in 1634 and he married second Mary, the daughter of William Collier, [Ref] on 1 Apr 1635 [Ref]. [Ref] She died between 1658 and 1663. [Ref] He married third Mrs. Apphia Freeman before 8 Dec 1662. [Ref] He married fourth Mrs Mary Howes, the widow of Thomas Howes of Yarmouth, about 1667 or 1668. [Ref]

Thomas was the son of a Gloucestershire carriage maker who arrived in New England in Nov 1921 on the Fortune. [Ref] He received a lot of land beyond the fort to the wood to the west in the 1623 Plymouth land division. [Ref] Thomas, his wife Patience and his daughter Rebecca were in lot five of the 22 May 1627 Plymouth cattle division; his son Thomas is in lot ten. [Ref]

The relations between the Plymouth colonists and the Adventurers became fraught as the colonists indebtedness to the Adventurers grew. In 1627 eight leading men of Plymouth joined four Adventurers in London in undertaking responsibility for the repayment of the entire debt in return for certain monopolies granted to them by other colonists. These eight men, who along with the four Adventurers called Undertakers, included William Brewster, Edward Winslow, Miles Standish, William Bradford, John Howland, John Alden, Isaac Allerton and Thomas Prence. [Ref]

Thomas lived in Plymouth in his house on High Street, near Spring Lane. [Ref]

On 2 Jan 1633/4 the General Court appointed Gov. Thomas Prence to a committee to assess taxes on the colonists, payable in grain or the equivalent. [Ref] He was again on the committee to set rates on 2 Jan 1633/4. Both that year and the previous year he was assessed relatively high taxes. [Ref]

He was chosen Governor of Plymouth Colony in 1635, while living in Duxbury. [Ref]

He volunteered to serve in the 1637 Pequot War under Lieut. William Holmes. [Ref]

On 3 Oct 1639 Mr Thomas Prence and Capt. Standish were sent by the Court to determine the 'differences and controversies' in Sandwich. [Ref] On 16 Apr 1640 Mr Prence and the townsman of Sandwich agreed on a committee for allocating meadow there. [Ref]

He is in the Plymouth section of the 1643 list of those between 16 and 60 able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony; one of only four referred to as "Mr." [Ref]

He moved to Eastham in 1644. [Ref]

He was an original inhabitant of Eastham on 22 May 1655. [Ref]

He was chosen Governor in 1658. [Ref]

After his second wife's death he moved from Eastham back to Plymouth, where he lived at Plain Dealings. In 1664, land was laid out near Namasket (Middleborough) for Mr. Thomas Prence. [Ref]

"THOMAS PRENCE Esquire Govr. of the Jurisdiction of New Plymouth died the 29th of March 1673 and was interred the 8th of April following'' after he had served God in the office of Governor sixteen years or near [thereunto] he finished his course in the 73 years of his life; he was a worthy gentleman'' very pious and very able for his office and faithful in the discharge [thereof]'' studious of peace'' a wellwiller to all that feared God'' and a terror to the wicked; his death was much lamented'' and his body honorably buried at Plymouth the day and year abovementioned." [Ref]

Children of Thomas Prence and Patience Brewster:

  1. Thomas Prence married Susannah Unknown. [Ref] He went to England and died young. [Ref] He is in lot ten of the 22 May 1627 Plymouth cattle division. [Ref]
  2. Mercy Prence [Ref] was born about 1630 in Plymouth. She died on 28 Sep 1711 in Eastham. She married John Freeman.
  3. Rebecca Prence married Edmund Freeman, Jr., the brother of her sister Mercy's husband John Freeman on 22 Apr 1646 in Sandwich. [Ref gives the year][Ref][Ref does not give the location] In his will, dated 30 Jul 1633, Samuel Fuller the Elder left Rebecca Prence 2 sh. 6d. 'to buy her a paire of gloves'. [Ref]
  4. Hannah Prence married first Nathaniel Mayo. Hannah married second Jonathan Sparrow.

Children of Thomas Prence and Mary Collier:

  1. Jane Prence was born on 1 Nov 1637. [Ref] She married as his second wife Mark Snow, on 9 Jan 1660/1 in Eastham. [Ref][Ref says 9 Jan 1660][Ref, 7;14 says 9 Jan 1660]
  2. Mary Prence
  3. Sarah Prence was born about 1643 - 1646. She died on 3 Mar 1704 or 1706. She married Jeremiah Howes of Yarmouth in 1650. [Ref,errata 7;348]
  4. Elizabeth Prence married Arthur Howland, Jr. in Marshfield. [Ref][Ref, p. 310]
  5. Judith Prence married Isaac Barker of Duxbury on 28 Dec 1665 in Eastham. [Ref][Ref] [Ref]

Second Generation

MERCY PRENCE (c. 1630 - 1711)

Parents: Gov. Thomas Prence and Patience Brewster

Mercy Prence was born about 1630 in Plymouth. She died on 28 Sep 1711 in Eastham, MA, age 81. [Ref] She married John Freeman on 14 Feb 1649/50 in Eastham, MA. [Ref][Ref says 13 Feb 1649] [Ref says 13 Feb 1649 (O.S.)]

HANNAH PRENCE

Parents: Gov. Thomas Prence and Patience Brewster

Hannah Prence married first Nathaniel Mayo on 13 Feb 1649/50 in Eastham. [Ref][Ref says 13 Feb 1649] Nathaniel was the son of John Mayo of Eastham. [Ref, pp. 517-8] Nathaniel died between 19 (10) 1661, when he signed his will and 4 Mar 1661 [that is, 1662], when the inventory of his estate was exhibited at Court. He appointed his father-in-law Thomas Prence and his brother-in-law John Freeman as overseers. [Ref] Nathaniel was the son of Rev. John Mayo. [Ref] Nathaniel and Hannah had eight children. [Ref] Hannah married second Jonathan Sparrow. [Ref]

Children of Hannah Prence and Nathaniel Mayo:

  1. Thomas Mayo was born in 1652. [Ref, p. 14] He married Barbara Knowles. [Ref, p. 14]
    some descendants of Thomas Mayo
  2. Bathsheba Mayo died on 9 Jan 1706 in Eastham. [Ref, 4;33] She married Thomas Freeman on 22 Aug 1706 in Eastham. [Ref, 7;12]

SARAH PRENCE (c. 1646 - 1704 or 1706)

Parents: Thomas Prence and Mary Collier

Sarah Prence was born about 1643 - 1646. She died on 3 Mar 1703/4 (according to the town records) or 3 Mar 1706 (according to her gravestone). She married Jeremiah Howes of Yarmouth in 1650. [Ref,errata 7;348][Ref]

Sarah is buried in the Howes family burial ground in North Dennis (formerly Yarmouth). Her gravestone says: "Sarah Hows Wife / Departed this life / March ye 3d 1706 / in ye 60th Year of Her age". [Ref]

References

Paine, Josiah, "Early Settlers of Eastham," in Leonard H. Smith, Jr., Cape Cod Library of Local History and Genealogy, V. 1, reprinted, Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004, pp. 490 - 521.