Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Pratt/Woodruff History-King Philip's War II

I have been able to identify eight ancestors who participated in King Philip's War:
 
 Pratt ancestors were Lt. Col John Talcott, Surgeon William Ward, Lt. William Bond and Samuel Smedley who was killed in an ambush.
 
Woodruff ancestors were Maj. Robert Treat, Capt.Samuel Newton, Joseph Platt and Joshua Carter who was killed in September of 1675.
 
I am sure given the total involvement of the colonies in this war there must have been others.
 
A reminder: By Pratts I mean all us us who are descended from Wilmer and Nellie or Abigail. By Woodruffs I mean those of us who in addition are descended from Allen and Genevieve. We would probably find more veterans of the colonial Indian wars or the Revolution if someone would dig into the Kelly, Curtis, Shane, Whidby or Thayer families.
 
Today I am going to tell you about Robert Treat because he was the most prominent and I know the most about him. Much of this is adapted from Wikipedia:
 
Robert Treat (1622-1710) was an American colonial leader and long time Governor of Connecticut.
 
He was born in Somerset, England and brought to Massachussets as a child. His family were early settlers at Wethersfield, Connecticut. In 1639 he removed to Milford, Connecticut, and became one of the leaders of the New Haven Colony, serving in the General Court.
 
When the Connecticut Charter forced the New Haven Colony to merge with Connecticut he led a group of dissidents to New Jersey where they founded Newark. In 1662 he returned to Connecticut and remained for the rest of his life.
 
Treat headed the Connecticut militia for several years and was Commander-in-Chief of all Connecticut forces during King Philip's War.
 
He seved as Governor from 1683-1687 and 1689-1698. He was involved in the famous Charter Oak incident. (Google it if you don't remember from grade school history).
 
NEXT: Lt. Col John Talcott, "The Indian Fighter"

Emailed Dec. 2

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