Story
Mathew and Elizabeth Pratt started their adventure in the New World just three years after they were married, when they joined Lord Gorge's group and set sail from Plymouth. They were accompanied by her uncle, Edward Bate and his wife, Susanna.
In the summer or early autumn of 1623, one Captain Robert Gorges, representing his father, leading a company of about 120 persons, including several families and Mathew Pratt, arrived and decided to settle in practically the same location the Weston Company had occupied, and for the same purpose of establishing a trading post. They also hoped to found a propserous colony different from that at Plymouth.
The second company had a grant from the Council (British) of New England which allowed a coast line of ten miles, and extended thirty miles inland. Capt. Gorges held a commission as governor-general, and associated him with Rev. William Morrill and his assistant Rev. William Blaxton, both of the Church of England, Capt. Francis West, in the capacity of admiral, Christopher Levet, Esq. as a judicial officer, a council of which the Plymouth Governor was to be a member ex-officio, and such other officers as Robert chose to appoint from time to time.
What prompted 28 year old Mathew to join Lord Gorges Company and come to New England in 1623 is not clear. As it was just seventeen years before the Civil War, religion may have contributed to his decision. Being the youngest son with little chance of inheritance could have influenced him. Devon is the home of the seadogs like Drake and Hawkins with stories of the recent defeat of the Spanish Armada and the great promise that the new world held may have fired the imagination of adventuresome young lads like Mathew.
Law and order was fairly maintained, but the unwelcome attitude of the Plymouth people, due to Church of England control of the expedition, the hardships of pioneering life (especially during the winter), the uncertainty of sustaining friendly relations with the indians, and the prospect of a long and tedious struggle to attain the dazzling prosperity pictured by the promoters of the enterprise, were considerations sufficient to dull the ardor of the leader; so after a few months he decided that he did not care to remain longer, and with some of his company, including nearly all the officials, the gov-general of the day returned to England early in the spring of 1624.
Others went to Virginia and some joined the Plymouth Colony.
It is known that Phinehas was in Plymouth at this time, however, if he and Mathew ever met it is unknown.
Those who decided to remain, like the 29 year old Mathew, at Wessagusset immediately found themselves in a most serious emergency. They had little sympathy with the Pilgrims because of religious differences, and there were no other communities that attracted them favorably. They greatly preferred their present location and were confident of ultimate prosperity.
Therefore, there was but one course to pursue - they must organize to secure common interests and welfare. The only form of government with which they were well acquainted was that of a sovereign imposing his will upon a dependent and loyal people who had had no opportunity or preparation for political undertakings. A government in which they had no voice did not please them. They desired to exercise their own will and to govern themselves, even though under extraordinary conditions.
The exact date of relinquishment of the Gorges government is not given, but it is known to have occurred in the spring of 1624. That made it necessary to take speedy action for the protection and peace of the people of Wessagusset.
The first mention of Mathew Pratt is found in the records of "possessions" which dates about 1643. This was a list of land owners which had listed not only records of land ownership but a section in which old residents were listed. It is here that we find the reference to Macute Pratt as "an old resident". The names of Macute, Macuth, Macaeth, Micareth and Mathew have all been linked to the line that we are tracing.
(Pratt Genealogy 1889. pg 19)
Although records were not kept in detail in the early 1600's, we do find certain accounts worth mentioning:
1636 - At "A General Court holden at Boston the 7th day of 10th month, December, A.D. 1636," land was granted to Mathew as follows: "Twenty acres in the Mill field, twelve of them first given to Edward Bate, and eight acres to hemself, all of it bounded on the east with the land of John Gill, on the west with the land of Richard Waling, on the north with the Rocky Hill, on the south with the land of Richard Addames and Thomas Baly. Also eighteen acers of upland, first given to Edward Bennett, now in the possession of Mathew Pratt, bounded on the east with the Mill River, on the west with John Whitmarsh's lot, on the north with the Mill ground, on the south with the Pond."
1637 - Joseph Pratt, borne June 10, 1637, son of Mathew.
1648 - In February, 1648, he was a "townsman," (selectman).
1651 - Mathew Pratt was granted a lot on the east side of Fresh Pond, February 3, 1651.
1657 - "January 11, 1657 - At a meeting of the Townsmen it did appear that upon account that Mathew Pratt, and his son Thomas Pratt, had entered 22,000 of boards, the Father 15,000 and son 7000, due to the Towne, 1. 9s. 6d."
1658, 1660, 1663, etc. - Land is granted to Mathew Pratt.
1660 - In May of 1660, "The Towne is indebted to several persons for service in and upon account as follows: To Mathew Pratt for a Wolfe and Woodpecker, paid in boards, 1. s6. d8.
1662 - Joseph Pratt, the youngest son, lived with his father until his marriage, 1662.
1709 - "Mathew Pratt and son-in-law, William Chard."
INDIAN PROBLEMS
The Pratts had problems with the Indians almost from the start with Phinehas being pursued by Indians as he escaped to Plymouth from Wessagusset in 1622.
Certainly, the biggest impace on the Pratt family was King Philip's War, Metacomet of the Massasort Tribes, which was started by the execution of three Indians by the English for the murder of one Sausaman, an Indian Missionary who was friendly to the English. On June 24, 1675, the Indians made an attack upon Swansea in Plymouth Colony, killing a number of the inhabitants.
On the night of February 25, 1676, the Indians burned seven houses and barns in Weymouth. Two months later, on April 19th, Mathew's son, Sargt. Thomas Pratt was killed by Indians "as they lay skulking up and down the swamps and holes to assault any that occasionally looked ever so little into the woods." On April 20th, five houses in Hingham were burned.
The death of King Philip on August 12, 1676, practically ended the war so far as the Weymouth area was concerned, although the fighting continued elsewhere until the spring of 1678.
There is no doubt that Mathew's other sons served in this war, which was bloody and devasting in the extreme. The colony suffered more in proportion to their numbers and strength than in the Revolutionary struggle in 1776. Six hundred men fell in battle and three hundred perished. Six hundred buildings were burned. One man in eleven of the areas-bearing people were killed and one house in every eleven was burned.
Weymouth was attacked three times in fourteen months.
On December 4, 1676, the town's stock of guns and ammunition consisted of one hundred and twenty-eight flints, one hundred and forty-three pounds of powder, five hundred and eighty-four bullets and fourteen pounds of shot.
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/PRATT/2003-05/1053922802.