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COLONIAL TOMBSTONES HAVE THE BEST ART AND EPITHETS!
"First comer" Phineas Pratt died 346 years ago today, on April 19, 1680.
He is buried at Phipps Street Burying Ground.
Carved by the Stone Cutter of Boston
FUGIT HORA
HERE LYES Yᵉ BODY OF PHINEHAS
PRATT AGD. ABOUT 90 Y^RS DECD. APRIL
Ye^19 1680
& WAS ON OF Yᵉ FIRST ENGLISH
INHABITANTS OF Yᵉ MASSACHUSETS COLONY.
Phineas (aka Phinehas), a joiner from London, was one of the first English settlers in New England and enrolled among the "First Comers" of Plymouth Colony. Pratt arrived as part of the company of Thomas Weston on the 1622 voyage of the ship Sparrow and was among the founders of the Wessagusset (Weymouth) settlement, which failed in March 1623.
The Wessagusset colony was a troubled venture from the start—poorly provisioned, undisciplined, and increasingly at odds with the local Native population over stolen corn. By March 1623, famine had set in. Pratt later wrote of walking the plantation at night and finding men dead where they lay, having died of hunger. At the same time, word reached the settlement that surrounding groups were preparing for hostilities, and that Plymouth itself might also be in danger.
Someone had to get word to Plymouth. No one else was willing to go.
Pratt slipped out of the settlement alone, pretending to dig for ground nuts near a swamp before making his escape. He carried no weapon and had no compass, knowing that if he armed himself after days under watch, it would raise suspicion. He was already weak from lack of food.
He ran through the woods and snow for hours, then continued on foot as best he could. He later wrote of hearing wolves and fearing that his tracks would be followed. At one river, he was forced to cross despite the cold and depth, scrambling over rocks in the current. He avoided making fires when he could, fearing discovery, until exhaustion forced him at one point to shelter in a low place where he could conceal a small fire.
The journey took several days. At times he could go no farther and had to stop, then continue when he was able. He described himself as “faint for want of food” and moving forward with the understanding that if he failed, the rest of the plantation would likely perish.
Keeping the shoreline to guide him once he reached the coast, he finally made his way into the outskirts of Plymouth, where he encountered an Englishman who immediately understood why he had come.
He arrived with his warning as Myles Standish was already preparing to act—having separately received intelligence from Massasoit. The combined warnings led to the expedition that followed and the eventual abandonment of Wessagusset.
In 1623, when Plymouth still numbered only a few dozen dwellings, Pratt joined the colony and later married Mary Priest, daughter of Degory Priest, who had come on the Mayflower but died in the first winter before his family arrived.
In 1662, Pratt set down his account of Wessagusset as part of a petition to the General Court of Massachusetts for recognition as a “First Comer,” which he was granted.
In October 1668, around age 75 and in financial need, he petitioned again, describing himself as “the remainder of the forlorn hope” of the original company. The General Court did not respond. It was the town of Charlestown that ultimately supported him in his final years. His wife Mary, who outlived him, later received similar aid.
The man who made that winter journey to Plymouth died a ward of his town, not his government.
His will, dated January 8, 1677—the year after his son Samuel was killed in King Philip's War—shows him in old age, still providing carefully for his wife. “Crazye of body” in 17th-century usage meant physically infirm, not mentally unsound. He was about 84 when he wrote it.
✦ Will of Phineas Pratt, January 8, 1677. Source: Pilgrim Hall Museum.
I, Phinias Pratt of Charlstown in the Countie of Midellsex Joyner being very aged and Crazye of body yett in my pfect memory and understanding doe make This my last will and Teastamoen. Item I give unto my belovid wife Mary Pratt all my movabl goods and fortie Shillings a year to be payed oute of my land in Charlstowne and the use of the gardon for term of hir life: this fortie Shillings is to be payed by my sonn Joseph Pratt for and in consideration of the having of my land and my wif is to have a convenient room of my sonn Joseph with a chimny in it to hir content to lie in for term of hir life. Wthout molestation or trubl; but If my sonn Joseph doeth not perform this will that then my wif Mary Prat shall have the one half of the land to hir Dispossing for his vest comfort: it is to be understod that the one half wch the new hous standeth one is given to Joseph upon the condistion of providing of a convenient room for me and my wife for term of our lives and this other half for the paying of the fortie Shillings a year paying it quartterly that is to say ten shllig a quarter in mony and fier wood at mony price and If ther be any thing left at the death of my wife it shalbe equally devided a mung all my children. this eight of Jeneary 1677 Phinehas Pratt Sealed and deliverd in the presents of Use Walter alen, the marke of Rebeack Alen.
Sources:
Phineas Pratt on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Pratt
Beyond the Pilgrim's story: https://web.archive.org/web/20131101032212/http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/phineas_pratt.htm
Phineas Pratt's Narrative (Modernized Version): https://plymoutharch.tripod.com/thewessagussettplantation/id3.html
