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Genealogy

The following correspondence, extracted from a letter from my brother, Orson Pratt, Sen., dated at Washington, D.C., March 10th, 1853, throws a clear light upon our ancestry, back as far as the earliest settlements of the Pilgrim Fathers in Saybrook and Hartford, Conn.

"My dear brother PARLEY-I embrace the present opportunity to write a few lines to you. * * *

"It affords me much joy to be able to inform you that I have obtained the names and some knowledge of our ancestors back for many generations.

"The genealogy runs thus: Our father, Jared Pratt, was the son of Obadiah, who was the son of Christopher, who was the son of William Pratt, who was the son of Joseph Pratt, who was the son of Lieutenant William and Elizabeth Pratt, who is supposed to have come with his brother, John Pratt, from Essex County, England, about the year 1633, who were found among the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut, in the year 1636. They are supposed to have accompanied the Rev. Thomas Hooker and his congregation, about one hundred in number, from Newtown, now called Cambridge, Massachusetts, through a dense wilderness, inhabited only by savages and wild beasts, and became the first founders of the colony at Hartford, Connecticut, in June, 1636, and thence to Saybrook about the year 1645.

"The way I came by this information is as follows: Seeing a short editorial in some of my exchange papers, that there was an attempt being made to search out the lineal descendants of Lieutenant Wm. Pratt, and that the Rev. Frederick W. Chapman, of South Glastenbury, Conn., was engaged in that work, I immediately addressed a letter to him, giving him the names of Jared, Obadiah and Christopher, and asking him for all the information he was in possession of in relation to our ancestors. He immediately sent me a letter and two printed circulars. The following is a copy of the letter:

SOUTH GLASTENBURY, March 5th, 1853.

"Dear Sir-I have just received your favor. It affords me pleasure to be able to show you the connecting links between your grandfather, Obadiah Pratt, and the first settler, William Pratt, who came with the company that located at Hartford, Conn. He received a portion of land in the first distribution in February, 1639. He married Elizabeth Clark, daughter of John Clark, of Milford, Connecticut, about the same time. He had eight children. Of these, two were born in Hartford. He removed to Saybrook in 1645. His third child, Joseph Pratt, born at Saybrook, August 1st, 1648.

SECOND GENERATION

Joseph Pratt, Married September, 1686.

Sarah Chapman,

Thirteen children-five by a former wife. William one of the children.

THIRD GENERATION

William Pratt, Married October 8, 1700
Hannah Hough,

Six children, viz:

Joseph born April 13, 1703
Ephraim born April 1, 1705
Margaret born April 1, 1708
Christopher born Nov. 4, 1712
Elizabeth born Jan. 20, 1717
Experience born Sept. 28, 1720