Calling England! Did Rev. Henry Lewis (1570-1593) exist?

Question

This man (and his wife/wives) show up in an 1897 unsourced genealogy that claims he was father of two PGM immigrants. Anderson doesn't recognize these origins and the PGM project has detached them as parents. We now wonder if the man existed at all. He also has an attached lineage for which there appears no proof. Would love the England project to take a look and see if we can put him in his appropriate place. Thanks!

Answer 1

A Henry Pratt of the parish of St Gregory and St Paul married a Mary Adams of the parish of St Clement East Cheap by licence 27 November 1600. Here is the Ancestry sharing image. No mention made of him being a priest. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/21694520?h=703eec

Comments

And this is 3 years after he is supposed to have died.

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Thanks, Jo. Well, at least we have a marriage for a couple with these names. Any possibility that there are baptisms at that same parish for children of this couple?

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They ae more likely to be in the parish of St Gregory and St Paul where he lived - wedding was usually at the bride's church. I haven't found the marriage allegation in Foster - should be on this page if it survived https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t3rv3t64r&view=1up&seq=574

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The Henry Pratt(e) who lived in St Gregory by St Paul had several children baptised at this church. The register survived the Great Fire of London 1666 and is digitised on Ancestry.

George bapt 16 June 1605

Elizabeth bapt 3 May 1607

Richard bapt 10 July 1608

William 1 Nov 1609

Abraham 21 July 1611

Dorothie 17 Oct 1613

Amie 28 Feb 1616

and a burial: Henry son of Henry 16 May 1608

There is possibly a second marriage to an Elizabeth Brier at St Mary at Hill on 30 March 1611. Or may be another Henry Pratt muddying the waters here!

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Jo, you are a godsend. Thank you.  I don't have access to Ancestry; can you please grab a citation for the list of children?

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Jilliane, I've inserted links for the children indexed.  And a few more as Jo suggested may exist.  Not one entry made any mention of Henry's occupation.  Did not see a death/ burial for Henry c 1616

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Thanks, Beryl! Lovin' the partnership happening here.  

The death date is an "after" date-- after the birth of last known child.

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Henry Pratt of London who married Mary Adams is listed in the Visitation of Berkshire, 1664-6, page 79: see here. He is described as "Sir Henry Pratt, sometime Sheriff and Alderman of London, Kt, and Bart., created 28 July 1640." He married "Mary, da. to Thomas Adams of Wisbitch, co. Cambr." His will was proved the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 16 April 1649: see here.

There is another WikiTree profile for him at Pratt-5927.

He wasn't a persecuted priest :-)

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Good catch Ian, and that fits with the son George born1605 who was the second baronet. There must have been another Henry Pratt at St Mary at Hill married in 1611 to Elizabeth Brier

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That sounds about right. The visitation and his will mention his children George, Elizabeth and Richard, which is consistent with him being the Henry Pratt of St Gregory by St Paul.

He was a freeman of the Merchant Taylors' Company of London, although he is said to be a younger son of the Pratt family of Ryston, Norfolk. His daughter married another Henry Pratt from Weldon, Northamptonshire, so he might have had connections to that family too.

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Nice find. So a merge then?

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I came across the Pratts of Weldon - they were the land agents of Sir Christopher Hatton and these were family of the priests who went to Cambridge University. Although they seemed to be comfortably in tune with the Church of England and not at all disident!

The other profile of Sir Henry Pratt is under Euroaristo at present. Although not really aristo.

Answer 2

It’s on Ancestry as a tree with no sources, but has him married to Hannah Walls and his last name as Paritt/Pratt.

Answer 3

There were clergymen named Henry Pratt living in England at this time—but I haven't found anything to suggest they were the same person as Pratt-60.

This is who I found:

1. Henry Pratt from Northamptonshire; educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; ordained as deacon and priest, 14 Jan 1594-5. See Alumni Cantabrigienses, early series, volume 3, page 391.

2. Henry Pratt of Northamptonshire; educated at the English College, Douai, in France; ordained as a Catholic priest on 18 Feb 1606. See The Douay College Diaries, page 345. It looks like he served in the underground Catholic mission in England—this was a dangerous period for Catholic missionaries in England. As a Catholic priest, he couldn't have married.

There was also a Henry Pratt educated at Trinity and Caius Colleges, Cambridge, but there is no record of him being ordained as a priest. He was born about 1570 and was the son of Henry Pratt, gentleman, of Weldon, Northamptonshire. He became a junior fellow of Caius College in 1592, was Greek lecturer in 1596 and in 1604 petitioned the King to be elected a senior fellow but was not elected. See Biographical history of Gonville and Caius college, page 131; Alumni Cantabrigienses, early series, volume 3, page 391.

Comments

There's no-one that fits the bill in the Clergy of the Church of England database either (although the CCED isn't complete for the early years of the Church of England). The only Henry Prat(t) named who would have been active around this time was a curate in the parish of Tipton in Staffordshire 1585. 

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Also, this Henry Pratt, the persecuted priest. If he was denied writing materials so he had to use his own blood to write to his family...what did he write on?

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I Speed and Jo, thank you both!