9680 Individuals
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Prather - 6 Individuals Found

Photo	Name / Spouse	Father / Mother	Notes
	Jane Prather COLONIAL b.1662 d.1720	Father: Jonathan Prather I Mother: Jane Smith Mackall
	Jonathan I Prather COLONIAL b.1631 d.1680 Spouse: Mary Powell	Father: Thomas Prather Mother:
	Jonathon II Prather COLONIAL b.1666 SEP 12 d.1736 Spouse: Elizabeth Bigger	Father: Jonathan Prather I Mother: Mary Powell
	Rachel Prather b.1711 SEP 11 Spouse: Thomas Francis Dorsett	Father: Jonathon Prather II Mother: Elizabeth Bigger
	Thomas Prather GENTLEMAN b.1578 FEB 06 d.1628 Spouse: Margaret Quintyne	Father: Gentleman Anthony Thomas Prater Mother: Judith Ivye	About Gentleman Thomas Prater Thomas was a gentleman of the manor Eaton Water. He was raised at Eaton Water and Staton St. Bernard in Wiltshire. As an adult he lived at Eaton Water House, Eaton Water, on the Cricklade, Wiltshire, England. He must have gained his position by the grace of other family members and his wifes dowry. He was not a wealthy person but he owned his own land at Eaton Water. His business was the woolen trade, farming and ferrier. Eaton Water was located on the banks of the Thames River where he owned a ferry. Eaton Water was part of the old family estates that also consisted of Latton Manor and Inglesham Manor, all of which sat along the banks of of the Thames River at Northern Wiltshire on what is called the Cricklade. Stanton St. Bernard Manor is located in South Central Wiltshire about 50 miles south of Eaton Water Manor. Stanton St. Bernard Manor was owned by Thomass father, Anthony Prater. Anthony Prater was excommunicated, lost almost all of his property by the time of his death in the late 1500s. His son Thomas being the youngest son had little or no inheritance. Thomas mother died at his birth and little is known about his childhood. We do know that he was taken as a newborn to relatives in the families of North Wilshire Estates to be suckled and cared for.
	Thomas Prather COLONIAL b.1604 DEC 25 d.1666 Spouse:	Father: Gentleman Thomas Prather Mother: Margaret Quintyne	THOMAS PRATHER, was the first of this line in America, and was born in 1604 at Eton-Water (near Latton [halfway between Cirencester and Swindon]), the Prather manorial estate in Wiltshire, England. He arrived in Elizabeth City, Virginia, in 1622, aboard the "Marie Providence, Capt. Richard Shepard, Master. [Muster Rolls of Settlers in Virginia, from Manuscripts in the State Paper Department of Her Majesties Publick Record Office, London.] He married in Virginia, before 1630, Mary, also of English descent. For his passage money, Thomas Prather became indentured to John Powell. [Nugent, op. cit.] So said Mrs. Nancy Hacker, in her 1965 ms., The Ancestry of William Thomas Duckett of Lyon Co., Kansas." The late Mr. Ephraim Stout Lillard, of Washington, D.C., before his death, told us all of the above, plus he gave us the children of Thomas and Mary Prather, as, besides our Jonathan, William Prather, who was in Maryland in 1659. [Maryland Land Office, Liber K., f. 35.], and who was an Ensign in the Royal Navy; The name is correctly spelled Prather, but pronounced Prater." [1] Thomas Prater was born in Eaton Water, near Latton, Wiltshire, England. When he was a young man, England was expanding its control and development of the Colonies in America. The King of England knew he could not hold control of his distant domain without the allegiance of his subjects that went there. So keeping with the feudal system, he offered property to those "born of gentry" that would go there to claim it. By doing this he knew that the younger children born to those who held power and/or property by the grace of the King in England would go to the Colonies to claim land for themselves. The younger children of "the gentry" of England generally had very little inheritance, due to the practice of giving the bulk of a fathers property to the firstborn son in the family (along with any titles). Thus, the only way a younger son could gain title, position, or property was by marriage or by the grace of the King. This new offering of the King to give property to anyone born of gentry was well accepted by the young men of England who were looking to improve their chances for success and prosperity. Thomas Prater, being born of gentry, was also enticed to come to America. He had relatives who had already made the long trip to America. John Powell was such a person. The name Powell is a variation of the name Powelett (also spelled Paulet) which was an allied family of the Praters for several generations in England (Nunney Castle was purchased from the Paulets by the Praters in the late 1500s; Paulets were cousins of the Praters). Also, the Paulets were intermarried with the Kingstons, Carews, Delamare, and Courtney families who also had marriages with the Prathers. Thomas Prater, being under age, indentured himself to his cousin, John Powell, and gained passage to America where he worked with John Powell for five years before getting married to Mary (Powell or McKay?) at which time he received his property (Virginia). Thomas was the founder of more than 90% of the Prater / Prather family lines in America today. The other 10% were founded by other members of his family that came here at a later time; most other branches continued with the spelling Prater here in America, while the lines from Thomas have been found to use the spellings Prather / Prater / Prator / Praytor / Prayter / Prayther / Pratter / Prader / Preater / Praeter / Praetor. Most of these spelling variations occurred during the early establishment of and settlement of territories in Colonial times, or shortly after the Revolutionary War. The spelling variations came about mainly as a result of poor levels of education of clerks, census takers, and the public in general. Thomas Prater was only 18 years old when he came to the Colonies. It must have been a major adventure for such a young man born and raised on a manorial estate in Northern Wiltshire to board a ship to a new land. He must have experienced many hardships. It could be compared today with boarding a rocket ship to fly to a new settlement on the Moon. He came on board the ship Marie Providence which landed at Elizabeth Citties, Virginia (near what is now Newport News). His name is recorded in various spellings (Prater, Prether, Prator, Prather), but Prather is used more often in the Colonies, while Prater was used in England. He came to the Colonies in 1622 from the Latton / Eaton Water Estates, on the Cricklade, Wiltshire, England. Thomas was one of three brothers who came to the Colonies between 1620 and 1623. In January of 1624, a muster was held of all people "living or dead" in the Virginia colony. In "Lists of Emigrants to America 1600 - 1700" by Hotten, published 1974, page 246 under "Elizabeth Citties": John Powell his MUSTER: John Powell aged 29 in the Swallow 1609 Kathren Powell aged 22 in the Flyinge Hart 1622 John Powell borne in Virginia Servants: Thomas Prater, aged 20 in the Marie Providence, 1622 "The Prather Family," copied by Gertrude Cleghorn Josserand (Mrs. Guy D.). Original copy typed 1951. Kay Granger Dacys copy was typed (in 1969) from a copy owned by Guy Prather, brother to Henriella Prather Crossno. Information confirmed by Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry, Genealogist, 440 vine St., Chillicothe, Mo. "The Prather Family" was written from records of Ephraim Stout Lillard, historian of the Prather Family Association, 213 A. St., N.E. Capitol Hill, Washington 2, D.C. The following is from "The Prather Family". Thomas immigrated to the United States [sic] in 1622 in the ship" Marie Providence". He lived in Virginia, three of his sons went to Maryland. The Master of the ship was Capt. Richard Sheppard. Tradition handed down in the family is that Thomas Prather (b. 1604) Was a stowaway at less than 18 years of age, when he sailed away from England. The ship arrived at Elizabeth City (Now Newport News), in the colony of Virginia in 1622, and the Master of that ship made him sign up to work for John Powell long enough to pay his passage money. That he came from a well-to-do family is also proved by the fact that in a short time his descendant intermarried with the best families of Maryland, all owners of large Manors, and of splendid English families. He was a younger son of the Prather family of a memorial estate at Eton-Water in Wiltshire, England. The Coat of Arms for this family has been verified by Francis Culver, Registrar of the Maryland Historical Society, at Baltimore, Maryland. This is also given on page 821, "The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales," by Sir J. Bernard Burke, London, 1884 (Coat of Arms) Prater/Prather, Eton-Water, Wiltshire, England.

3 Prather Photos

Thomas Prather

Jonathan Prather

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