Philip Prather Sr.
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Philomen Gittings Prather Sr. (1707 - 1767)

Philomen Gittings (Philip) Prather Sr. aka Prater
Born in Prince Georges County, Province of Marylandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Son of and
Brother of , , , , , and
Husband of — married 17 Feb 1724 (to 1736) in Prince George, Marylandmap
Husband of — married 3 Dec 1737 in Calvert County, Maryland,map
Husband of — married 1758 (to 1767) in Orange, North Carolinamap
Descendants descendants
Father of , , , , , and
Died at about age 60 in Enoree, Laurens, South Carolinamap
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Profile last modified | Created 30 Dec 2010
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Biography

Philomen Gittens “Phillip” Prather I was the son of Thomas Prather and Martha Sprigg. He was born about 1707/08 n Prince George's, Maryland and died 23 Sep 1767 in Laurens Co., South Carolina. Burial Details are unknown. [1] Philip married three times:

Marriage #1
17 FEB 1725 in Prince George's County, Maryland
to: Catherine Hunt, b: 1710 in Maryland [2]
Children:
  1. Catherine Prater b: 20 SEP 1729 in Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's Co., Maryland
  2. Margaret Prather b: 14 SEP 1730 in Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's Co., Maryland; d: before 1733
  3. Philomen (Phillip) G. Prather II, b: 1731
  4. Martha Jenny Prather b: 17 JAN 1733 in Queen Anne's Parish, Maryland
  5. John Hunt Prather b: ca. 1735 at Sprigg's Request plantation, Prince George's, Maryland.

Marriage #2

3 DEC 1737 in Calvert County, Maryland
to: Margery Hunt, sister or cousin of his first wife Catherine Hunt. Margery was born about 1716 in Prince George's Co., Maryland.
Children
  1. William Prather b: ca. 1739 in Frederick, Maryland
  2. Frederick N. Prather b: ca. 1738
  3. Elizabeth Prather b: 23 SEP 1740 in Prince George's Co., Maryland
  4. Phillip John PRATER b: ca. 1750 in Concoheague Manor, MD
  5. Isaac Prather b: ca. 1752
  6. Thomas Prather b: 26 MAR 1756 in Prince George's Co., Maryland
Marriage #3
1758 in Orange (Guilford) Co., North Carolina
to: Henrietta (Brashear), widow Mayfield. She was born about 1736 in Maryland.
No known children

Philomen 'Phillip' Gittings Prater (Prather) died shortly before September 23, 1767 in what is now Laurens County, South Carolina [plantation near the Enoree River, SC]. His s third wife, Henrietta (Brashear / Mayfield) Prather, administered his Will at Enoree River, South Carolina.

Phillip lived on his plantation in Canton County [sic = Prince George's County; Canton is a town, not a county], Maryland, for many years before he sold it and moved to Virginia, Florida [sic=he moved to Orange Co., North Carolina], finally settling in the Upper Enoree River, Laurens County, South Carolina, where he died in 1767. His plantation in Maryland was part of "Sprigg's Request Plantation" [in Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George's County]. [NOTE by Chet Snow : The Enoree River is in Laurens Co., South Carolina, not North Carolina].

His estate was administered as follows:

"Citation granted to Henerete Prather and Middleton Brashear to administer the estate and effects of Phillip Prather, late of Enoree, Planter., deceased, his widow and brother-in-law to be read in said parish church and returned certified September 23, 1767."[3] Note that Middleton Brashear, Henrietta's brother, is called Phillip Prather's brother-in-law, confirming her last name was originally Brashear.
An inventory of Phillip's estate was made. It was appraised by Charles D. Bradford and William Barry on December 14, 1767. [4]

Note: Probate records for “philomen gittings” Phillip Prater, in Charleston. because there were no courts in backcountry until 1768 at the earliest. Note: possession of two people, a young man and girl Charleston > Probate Court, Estate inventories > 1765-1769 > No File Description Available > image 143 of 547; county courthouses, South Carolina, and South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia.f

Research Notes

The following was researched and written by Prather family genealogist, Gary Benton Prather (entered 08/03/95): [5]

Philomen Prather's father gave him 166 acres of land, being part of a tract called 'Sprigg's Request' in his Will, which was written December 13, 1711. [6]
Martha [Sprigg] Prather, on April 29, 1719, conveyed to her son Phillip, when he was 18 years old, ten pounds sterling money.[7]
In a letter, to Honorable Alexander Contee Hanson, Esq., Chancellor of Maryland, Philomen reviews the many legal transfers of a tract of land, being part of his Lordships Mannor of Concoheague in Prince George County, Maryland:[8]
"Van Swearingen of Prince George's Co., Maryland, leased October 9, 1737, of Benjamin Tasker a tract of land, being part of his Lordships Manor of Concoheague, 999 acres, for his life and the lives of his wife Elizabeth and his daughter Priscilla. This land remained in the possession of Van Swearingen until December 8, 1739 when he assigned his rights to Phillip (Philomen) Prather, who, wishing to change to lease to obtain one for the land for his life and the lives of his wife and one of his children. Phillip made application to Benjamin Tasker, who granted a new lease which included the names of Phillip Prather, Margery Prather (his wife) and Elizabeth Prather (his daughter). Phillip retained possession until September 1756 when he assigned his rights to Joseph Bench and with his family moved to North Carolina" [he moved first to North Carolina, then to the Enoree River area in South Carolina].[9]
"Martha [Sprigg] Prather (later Mrs. Yoakley) gave Phillip Prather all that part of a tract of land called "Sprigg's Request" and in my Lord's Manor upon Collington, belonging to me, which is now in his possession by a division made between him and his brothers (Thomas and John) by virtue of their father's Will and in order to prevent my son Thomas from claiming the same of disturbing either of them in their peaceable possession of their parts; in her Will written June 19, 1742."[10]
Phillip Prather sold to Richard Duckett part of a tract of land in Prince George's County, Maryland called "Sprigg's Request" on March 25, 1740. Upon completion of sale, Phillip Prather moved to Concoheague Manor, Frederick County, Maryland. [11]
Phillip Prather moved to North Carolina after September 2, 1756 and the first record for him there was in the oldest court records of Orange County, North Carolina in 1761. He remained in Orange County, NC as late as 1765, when he served on a jury with Jesse Brashear.[12]
Jesse Brashear, b: 1734 in Prince George's Co., Maryland, married Phillip Prather's daughter, Elizabeth, in 1756 in Orange (later=Guilford) Co., North Carolina. Jesse's sister, Henrietta Brashear, b: ca. 1736 in Maryland, became Phillip Prather's 3rd wife in 1758; they married in Orange (Guilford) Co., North Carolina, then moved to the Upper Enoree River, South Carolina, in 1765. Henrietta, often called "Henrietta Mayfield," may have been a widow (1st husband named Mayfield) when she married Philomen "Phillip" Prather, himself 2 times a widower.[13] Clearly these two Maryland families (Prather & Brashear) knew each other and they possibly moved together south to North Carolina.


Sources

  1. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/155571085/philomen-gittens-prather
  2. ↑ https://search.ancestry.com/collections/7836/records/976334
  3. ↑ Journal of the Ordinary, 1764-1771, back of page 58, Dist. 96, S.C. Archives, Volume #3.
  4. ↑ Charleston Inventories, Box X, pp. 259-260, District 96, S.C. Archives.
  5. ↑ Permission to copy this material was generously given by GBP to his cousin Chet Snow in 2014. It is also cited on the RootsWeb family tree, referenced in Note #1.
  6. ↑ Liber 13, pp. 379-381, Prerogative Court (Wills), Thomas Prather, of Prince George County, Maryland. Will proved March 15, 1711 (sic), Maryland State Archives, Hall of Records, Annapolis, Maryland.
  7. ↑ Liber E, p. 791, Land Office Records, Maryland State Archives, Hall of Records, Annapolis, Maryland.
  8. ↑ See next Note.
  9. ↑ Folder 2617, Chancery Court Record, Maryland State Archives.
  10. ↑ Liber 22, pp. 524-526, Prerogative Court (Wills), Maryland State Archives. Cited in reference on Note 1.
  11. ↑ Liber Y, pp. 141-142, Maryland Land Office Records, Maryland State Archives.
  12. ↑ Cited on reference in Note 1.
  13. ↑ See Land/Delany Families on RootsWeb - Elizabeth Prather and Land/Delany Families on RootsWeb - Henrietta Brashear.
  • Ancestry.com U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Yates Publishing. Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll? Philomen Gitting Prather and Margery Hunt, 1737. (Original data: This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived from an array of materials including pedigree charts, family history articles, querie.)

  • "South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964," images, FamilySearch Web Page (Link to the Record)

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939L-J6QD-9N





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Images: 1
Maryland and Virginia Colonials: Genealogies of Some Colonial Families. Volume Two. Philip Prather Page 691 (digital page 43)
Maryland and Virginia Colonials: Genealogies of Some Colonial Families. Volume Two. Philip Prather Page 691 (digital page 43)


Comments: 1

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Christian Butler
Has anyone seen a source for the name "Philomen" for this individual? All of the actual records for him that I've seen (his father's will, his mother's will, various deeds, his 1767 probate record) refer to him as Phillip, so I'm curious as to how "Philomen" came to be regarded as his primary name.

Note that his father's will was witnessed by Phillip Gittings, who was married to Anne Sprigg sister of Martha Sprigg, so Phillip Gittings may have been this individual's namesake which could explain where the attributed middle name of Gittings comes from, but that just makes it more confusing that he would be listed here as Philomen Gittings Prather rather than Phillip Gittings Prather (or simply Phillip Prather).

posted by Christian Butler

Philip is 14 degrees from Maria Mitchell, 23 degrees from Carl Sagan, 19 degrees from Tycho Brahe, 22 degrees from Nicholaus Copernicus, 22 degrees from Eise Eisinga, 18 degrees from Caroline Lucretia Herschel, 21 degrees from Thomas Maclear, 13 degrees from Simon Newcomb, 16 degrees from Isaac Newton, 23 degrees from Pierre Henri Puiseux, 21 degrees from Beatrice Tinsley and 13 degrees from Edith Woodward on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.

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Categories: Laurens County, South Carolina, Slave Owners