Malden, Massachusetts was first settled in 1640. It was incorporated as a town in 1649 and as a city in 1881. Prior to 1649, it was part of Charlestown called Mystic Side.
Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts was settled and incorporated in 1655
American colonists continued to use British monetary units, namely the pound, shilling and pence for which £1 (orli) equalled 20s and 1s equalled 12d. In 1792 the dollar was established as the basic unit of currency.
Elizabeth Fones (1610) was a Puritan woman in New England. She married her cousin, Henry Winthrop, son of John Winthrop. After he died, she married Robert Feake and lived in Watertown and Greenwich, Massachusetts. Robert apparently suffered from mental illness and abandoned his family. She then lived with William Hallett in Long Island.
In 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, the Protestant king and queen,William and Mary, took the English throne from Catholic King James II. The bloodless revolution profoundly impacted the American colonies.
Mary Davis Lewis Pratt was born on January 31, 1661/62 in Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Her parents were Samuel Davis and Mary Waters.
She married her first husband, Isaac Lewis of Boston on March 25, 1680. Isaac was born about 1657. His parents were John Lewis and Mary Browne.
Mary and Isaac's children included:
Mary Lewis Sargent (1680/81, married William Sargent), Isaac Lewis (1683),
Joseph Lewis (1685),
John Lewis (1687/88),
Elizabeth Lewis (1688/89) and
Abraham Lewis (1691).
Isaac Lewis died on April 6, 1691 when he was 34 years old in Malden, Massachusetts. He was buried at Bell Rock Cemetery there.
HERE LYES ye BODY
OF ISAAC—LEWIS
AGED—34—
YEARS
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE-APRIL-YE-6TH
1691
Mary married her second husband, Thomas Pratt, in 1691. Thomas was born in 1669 in Malden. His father was John Pratt, a mariner from Malden.
In 1695, Thomas purchased the Way-Ireland farm.
Mary and Thomas' children included:
Elizabeth Pratt Sargent Tufts George (1692/93, married Samuel Sargent in 1714, John Tufts in 1723, and Nicholas George in 1727),
Ann Pratt (1694), Sarah Pratt Blanchard (1697, married Joshua Blanchard), Captain Thomas Pratt (1699), and
Samuel Pratt (1703/04, married Rebecca Brooks).
Thomas contributed to building the meeting house in Malden in 1704. In 1709-10 he signed a protest against building one in Rumney Marsh.
First Church of Rumney Marsh
Thomas died in Chelsea on June 25, 1732. He is buried in Edgewood Cemetery in Malden.
When her husband died she had no property because married women could not own property. According to her husband’s will, Mary would leave the farm if she remarried and would receive an annuity of twelve pounds, but while she was a widow, the house and household items were hers. She also received
two cows,
two geese,
two turkeys,
six hens,
a pig
one hundred pounds of beef,
one hundred twenty pounds of pork,
ten bushels of Indian corn,
two bushels of rye,
two bushels of malt
six bushles of apples,
two barrels of cider,
firewood cut ready for burning .
She received an annuity of 10£ and was to be taken to meeting and home again as often as she desired.
Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts was settled and incorporated in 1655. During King Philip's War, indigenous warriors burned all but four of Groton's garrisons. Survivors fled, but returned two years later to rebuild the town. Groton was again threated during Queen Anne's War.
Cattle were vital to a household and an important legacy.
Unweaned cattle are calves.
Female cattle are heifers and cows (had a calf).
Male cattle are steers (castrated) and bulls.
Oxen are trained draft animals and are often castrated adult male cattle.
Old Style Calendar
Before 1752 the year began on Lady Day, March 25th,. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year. Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are used to indicate whether the year has been adjusted. Often both dates are used.
During the 17th and 18th centuries an adult unmarried woman was considered to have the legal status of feme sole, while a married woman had the status of feme covert. A feme sole could own property and sign contracts. A feme covert was not recognized as having legal rights and obligations distinct from those of her husband and could not own any property. When a woman became a widow she became a feme sole again.
ye is an archaic spelling of "the."
Women played an essential role in American society as mothers and homemakers.
The New England Meetinghouse was the only municipal building in a town. Both worship and civil meetings were held there. It was customary for men and women to sit separately and the town chose a committee once a year to assign seats according to what was paid, age, and dignity.
Indian Corn (or flint corn) is the type of maize that Native Americans taught colonists to cultivate. The kernels come in a range of colors and are less prone to spoiling.
Charlestown was first settled in 1628 and was the Massachusetts Bay Colony's initial seat of government. Charlestown became part of Boston in 1874.
from Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 3 by Henry Sweetser Burrage, Albert Roscoe Stubbs
Isaac [Lewis], son (probably the only one) of John and Mary (Browne) Lewis, was born at Malden, Massachusetts, about 1655. He married Mary Davis, and their children were:
Mary,
Isaac mentioned below.
Joseph,
John and
Abraham.
Isaac [Lewis] (2), eldest son of Isaac (1) and Mary (Davis) Lewis, was born about 1680, probably at Malden, Massachusetts. He lived at Rumney Marsh, now Chelsea. He married Hannah Hallett;
children: Isaac, John, Hannah. William, Abijah, . . .Mary, Nathan, of Boston, and Joseph. Nathan Lewis, who married Mary Newhall, was the grandfather of Alonzo Lewis, the historian of Lynn, Massachusetts.
Middlesex County, Massachusetts was created on May 10, 1643. The county originally included Charlestown, Cambridge, Watertown, Sudbury, Concord, Woburn, Medford, Wayland, and Reading.
from Lewisania
Isaac [Lewis] (12) m Mar. 25. 1680, Mary Davis, b Jany 31, 1662/3, dau. of Samuel and Mary ( Waters) Davis of Groton, Mass., Suffolk Probate rec. Apr. 10, 1691, speak of Thomas Pratt and Mary Pratt, late relict and widow of Isaac Lewis. In Wyman's Genealogies it is stated that he d Apr. 6, 1691, as appears on his grave stone in Belle Rock Cemetery at Malden.
HERE LYES ye BODY
OF ISAAC—LEWIS
AGED—34—
YEARS
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE-APRIL-YE-6TH
1691
In early New England towns policy was set by a board of 3 to 5 selectmen. They oversaw public responsibilities such as the policing, roads, and fences.
from Genealogical and Personal Memoirs, Volume 3 edited by William Richard Cutter
Lieutenant Thomas Pratt, son of John and Mary Pratt, was Thomas of Rumney Marsh, Chelsea, where he died June 25, 1732. It is probable that he attended church in Malden, for he contributed to the building of the meeting house there in 1704, and in 1709-10 signed a protest against building a house of worship in Rumney Marsh.
He married Widow Mary Lewis, and by her had five children, whose births recorded in Boston are as follows:
Elizabeth. January 24, 1692-93;
Ann, February 11. 1694-95;
Sarah, August 10, 1697;
Thomas. May 6, 1699;
Samuel, January 27, 1703-04.
(V) Ensign Thomas Pratt, son of Lieutenant Thomas and Mary (Lewis) Pratt, born May 6, 1699, died 1780, aged eighty-one years. He was one of the leading men of Chelsea, and with the exception of three years served as selectman from the incorporation of the town in 1739 until 1754 when he removed from the town; but in 1762 his name again appears as one of the selectmen of Chelsea. He represented the town in the general court from 1745 to 1748. four years, and again in 1766, 1771 and 1772; was chosen committeeman to the convention which met in Faneuil Hall, Boston. September 22. 1768: member of the committees to the general court 1768 and 1770 to ask relief from excessive taxation and in 1775 was a member of the committee of correspondence.
On April 27, 1721, Ensign Thomas Pratt married Mary Floyd, born Malden. March 25, 1699. died 1775. daughter of Daniel and Mary Floyd, of Malden. . .
Children of Ensign Thomas and Mary (Floyd) Pratt, born in Chelsea:
Thomas, March 9. 1722;
Daniel. February 17, 1724:
Benjamin. May 20. 1725:
John, March 26, 1726:
Edward, October 22. 1728:
Mary. March 30. 1736;
Joseph, August 26. 1738.
In 1721, Boston had a terrible smallpox epidemic. Citizens fled the city and spread the disease to the other colonies. Inoculation was introduced during this epidemic by Zabdiel Boylston and Cotton Mather.
