Aaron Prather (1710 - 1777)

Born 10 Oct 1710 in Prince George's County, Province of Maryland

Ancestors

Son of Thomas Prather Sr and Martha (Sprigg) Yoakley

Husband of Jane Prather — married 10 Oct 1738 in Anne Arundel Co MD

Descendants

Died 14 Feb 1777 at age 66 in Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Chet Snow [send private message], Patricia Dillon [send private message], and H Martin Prather [send private message]

Biography

Aaron Prather (aka Prater, Prator) was born in 1710 at the "Orphans' Gift" plantation in Prince George's County, in the English province (colony) of Maryland. He was the youngest child of Col. Thomas Prather^[1] and his wife Martha (Sprigg) Prather. The family were gentry-level landowners and social leaders in colonial Maryland. Unfortunately, Aaron's father passed away when he was under 2 years old and his mother remarried shortly thereafter. Thus he was brought up by relatives.

On October 10, 1738, on his 28th birthday, Aaron Prather married his first-cousin, Jane Prather, b: 1710 in Calvert Co., Maryland. She was the daughter of Jonathan Prather and his wife Elizabeth (Bigger) Prather of Anne Arundel County. The two were married in All Hallows Parish (Anglican), Anne Arundel Co., MD; the Rev. William Brogden performed the Ceremony. Maryland's royal Governor, Samuel Ogle, had issued the marriage license (a special dispensation was necessary for this marriage of first cousins); this demonstrates the family's social standing at the time. In the marriage document, Aaron Prather is called "Allen Prather," an apparent clerk's error.^[2]

Aaron and Jane (Prather) Prather had 12 children:^[3]

1. Aaron PRATHER II, b: 1739 in Prince George's Co., MD
2. Samuel PRATHER b: ca. 1740 in Prince George's Co., MD
3. Baruch PRATHER b: 20 OCT 1742 in Prince George's, MD
4. Basil PRATHER b: 20 OCT 1742 in Prince Georges, MD (Twins)
5. Barbara PRATHER b: 1744 in Maryland
6. Ruth PRATHER b: 1747 in Maryland
7. Mary PRATHER b: 1749 in Maryland
8. Walter PRATHER b: ca. 1751 in Lower Frederick, Maryland
9. Elisha PRATHER b: ca. 1754 in Maryland
10. Zachariah PRATHER b: 25 AUG 1756 in Rockville, Montgomery, Maryland
11. Verlinda (Linny) PRATHER b: ca. 1758 in Maryland
12. Elizabeth PRATHER b: ca. 1760 in Frederick Co., MD

Originally settled on a tobacco plantation in Prince George's county, in around 1742 Aaron and Jane Prather moved some 50 miles north-west to a frontier area that in 1748 was separated from Prince George's County and named Frederick County, Maryland. His land was near the present-day town of Rockville, Maryland. That area is now in Montgomery County, Maryland (founded 1776).

Aaron Prather died on 14 February 1777, on his plantation, near today's Rockville, Montgomery Co. (as of 1776), Maryland. His estate was inventoried in Montgomery County on 7 March 1777. ^{[4] [5]}

His wife, Jane (Prater) Prather, also passed away on their Montgomery County, property. A RootsWeb biography says she died in 1779. However, as she is never mentioned in Aaron Prather's 1777 estate papers (which include a listing of his children & mention of "Orphan's Court" as his 2 youngest daughters were not 21 years old when he died, it can be assumed that she pre-deceased her husband. This is what the Prather Genealogy web site states ("Jane Prather died: pre-1777"). No Find A Grave memorial has been found for her. ^{[3] [2]}

Genealogical Notes

Aaron was a minor in a 1725 court record, Liber L, p 562.

Married, Anne Arundel Co., Maryland, 130, 131, 206, 10 Oct 1738. See Image # 1 for copy of Marriage License, from MD Archives.

They moved about 1740 to northern Prince George's Co., MD, which later (1748) became part of Frederick Co., MD. His inventory in 1777 was in Montgomery Co., which had been formed from Frederick County in 1776. Their plantation was near Rockville, Maryland.

"The last time I visited my brother-in-law near Gaithersburg in Montgomery Co., MD, I spotted a street sign "Pratherstown," and found only a nearly abandoned dead end. Is this where Aaron and Jane lived?" [- K Patterson]

File File: Media Format: jpg. Aaron Prather.

Sources

1. ↑ Paternal relationship is confirmed by a 35 out of 37 Y-DNA marker match between this Family Tree DNA yDNA test for Jerry Prater and this Family Tree DNA yDNA test of his (8th cousin once removed) paternal line cousin H Martin Prather Jr.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Aaron Prather on Prathergenealogy.com Copy of Marriage License from MD Archives is Image #1. Copy made in 1903. Added by Martin Prather 2015.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Hammers, Clements Genealogy - Aaron Prather
4. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169143771/aaron-allen-prather : accessed 30 March 2022), memorial page for Aaron Allen Prather (10 Oct 1710–14 Feb 1777), Find A Grave: Memorial #169143771, ; Maintained by Marty Prather (contributor 48364451) Burial Details Unknown.
5. ↑ "Inventory of Goods and Chattles Rights and Credits of Aaron Prather, Sen": 7 Mar 1777; Accounts Inventories, Wills, 1777-1780, Montgomery County, MD. Vol A, p 68-69. "Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TBG-ZGG?cc=1803986&wc=SNYH-82W%3A146535001%2C146535002 : 20 May 2014), Montgomery > Accounts, inventories, wills 1777-1780 vol A > image 59 of 202; Hall of Records, Annapolis. See also image 74, same book.

• Anna M. Cartlidge, Marriage Records of People Named Prather, Prater, Prator, Praytor, 1976.

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Prather-68 was created through the import of Shortened files.ged on 30 December 2010.

• Prather profiles merged and a biographical sketch written with sources added by Chet Snow on April 14-15, 2016.