Pratt Stories-The Bartram Family XV

After Henry Bartram's death in the bridge building accident, his widow Freelove McIntyre and his children and her child and their daughters emigrated to Berrien County's Hagar Township in the year 1867. You will remember from The Bartram Family IV (Oct 6) that she was accompanied by Henry's Flora Adell and Isaac Bartram, her Mary Davis, and our ancestors Nellie and Abigail Bartram. They lived on a country road outside of the village of East Aurora, New York, about 25 miles from Buffalo..

 

They could have gone via the Erie Canal to Buffalo and then by ship on Lake Erie to Detroit like the Woodruff families did thirty years earlier, but there had been a lot of railroad development since that time..The system that became the New York Central Railroad had lines going to  Michigan both via Canada and via New York, Pennslvania and Ohio. I did some Googling to try and guess what railroad route they would have taken.

 

By the process of elimination I have concluded they would have taken the Michigan Central Railroad. For example; the Michigan Southern extended west from Buffalo along the south shore of Lake Erie and required no water crossings, but despite its name, it had no stations in Michigan. The Canada Southern's route across Ontario was rhe most direct but it wasn't finished until a year after the Bartrams migrated. The Grand Trunk Western had a good, straight route from the Niagara River to the St, Clair River and through Michigan on its way to Chicago, but the nearest station to Hagar Township was at Cassopolis. The Buffalo and Philidelphia, which would have been a good way to get to Buffalo from East Aurora, was not finished until four years after they left. The railroad bridge across the Niagara River at Buffalo had not yet been built. The Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad which went through New Buffalo, wasn't finished as far as St. Joseph until 1871 and didn't reach Riverside until later.

 

The Michigan Central Railroad which I am now convnced the Bartrams took in 1867 started in Ontario across the Niagara River from Buffalo and extended to the Detroit River. I don't know whether they would have boarded their train car on the American side or the Canadian side of the Niagara River. The Detroit River was crossed by disassembling the train and rolling the cars onto boats called car-floats. I don't know how many cars these floats could take at a time. Then the train was reassembled on the Michigan side and off across the state it goes to New Buffalo. The orignal terminus was supposed to be St. Joseph but they got ambitious and decided to extend it all the way to Chicago.

 

The Michigan Central had a sation at Niles so the Bartrams could have de-trained there and taken a steamboat down the St. Joseph River. They would have landed at Benton Harbor where they would have been met by Joseph and Hannah Dickinson with buggies and farm wagons and transported with their possessions the last few miles to the Dickinson's Maple Lane home. Remember that Freelove and her brood would be living in a small house on Maple Lane at the corner of the Dickinsons' property. I don't know whether or not it was built before they arrived. I 'm guessing that it was in existence and that it had been a tennant house.

 

That trip down the river seems to me an easier and more logical way to get to Hagar than by land from either Niles or New Buffalo.

 

NEXT: Now that I got everyone to Hagar it's up to them to do their romancing and to be fruitful and multiply. I want to go back to East Aurora to investigate that bridge-building accident.

Emailed Nov. 6

Political Trivia and Memories Errata

Oops! As pointed out by my sharp eyed son, it was DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN not DEWEY BEATS TRUMAN in 1948. Emailed Nov. 5

Election Day 2008 - Political Trivia and Memories

For your election day entertainment:

 

1854: The Republican Party is formed "Under the Oaks" in nearby Jackson, Mich.

 

1859: William Bond Pratt and son Wilmer M. Pratt emigrate to Michigan. Both of their biographies subsequently indicate that they were staunch Republicans but did not choose to run for office.

 

1860 & 1864: Adult Woodruffs and Pratts vote for Abraham Lincoln.

 

1875: My great-grandfather Newton R. Woodruff is elected to the Michigan House of Representatives.

 

1884: My grandfather A.N.Woodruff is elected to the House of Representatives.

 

1912: The Woodruff family abandons the Republican Party to support and vote for Teddy Roosevelt of the Bull Moose Party. He splits the normally Republican vote with William Howard Taft resulting in Woodrow Wilson becoming President. Third party candidates caused Bill Clinton to become President in 1992 and George W. Bush to become President in 2000. Is there a lesson there?

 

1916: Woodrow Wilson wins reelection with slogan "He kept us out of war".

 

1917: We get into war.

 

1921: Allen knocks up Genevieve and I am on my way!

 

1926:: Calvin Coolidge sworn in as President on Harding's death. Happens right up the hollow from the Asa Pratt homestead at Plymouth, Vermont.

 

1928: First memory: Sitting with Grandma Woodruff next to a table with a radio on it straining to hear the election returns as Herbert Hoover defeats Al Smith. We were next door to their house on Sutherland Avenue at the Emersons. The announcer was reading off a teletype like they used to do for out-of-town baseball games.

 

1932: The first time I realized that there were any real, live Democrats in Watervliet. The Roosevelt victory resulted in Phil Cutler, who had the farm across the street on Paw Paw Avenue, becoming a Deputy Sheriff because his brother got elected Sheriff. Doric Hawks, the father of my playmate down the street, Ed Hawks, got a job with the Highway Dept.

 

1936: Genevieve Woodruff and Aunt Margaret Cannon are walking in Greenfield Village. Down the street comes a Model T Ford driven by Henry Ford himself. His passenger is Governor Alfred F. Landon of Kansas, Republican nominee for President. Mr. Ford and Candidate Alf nod and smile at ladies who are suitably awe-struck. Alf got buried in the Roosevelt landslide. Karen has Landon Sunflower campaign buttons used that year.

 

1936: Leon Case, publisher and editor of the Watervliet Record who bought the paper in the 1890's from Grandpa A.N.Woodruff, elected Michigan Secretary of State..

 

1930's and 40's: Golden age of Chicago Tribune political cartoons. Mostly anti-FDR. I spent a lot of time doodling in imitation that should have been spent paying attention to the teachers.

 

1940: Wendell Wilkie, who is the Republican Candidate for President running against FDR (for a third term), is a member of Beta Theta Pi. As a pledge of Beta at the Colorado School of Mines I am requred to answer the telephone with "Beta House, at the foot of the Rockies, vote for Wilkie". I was not yet old enough to vote.

 

1944: My first vote wasted on Tom Dewey running against FDR's fourth term mostly because he was from Owosso, Michigan and we had never had anyone from Michigan elected President.(Still haven't, Jerry Ford was not elected).

 

1945: I am on Okinawa 12 days after the invasion when word of FDR's death (on April 12, my birthday) reaches us.

 

1948: Famous Chicago Tribune premature headline "DEWEY BEATS TRUMAN"

 

1952: The whole country says:"I LIKE IKE". Karen born.

 

1956: Two-time loser Adlai Stevenson says "It hurts too much to laugh but I'm too old to cry". Jim born.

 

1960-1963: JFK

 

1964: Barry Goldwater buried by the most effective TV ad ever (only shown once). The little girl picking daisey petals followed by the mushroom cloud.

 

This is far enough. You are all mostly old enough to have your own memories. Why don't you share them?

 

1998: One more thing. I still have a copy of the Starr Report if you want to read the details about what Monica Lewinski and Bill Clinton did to and for each other.

Emailed Nov. 4, 2008

The Pratt Migration-Travel and Transport V

Young William Bond Pratt arrived in Philadelphia from Vermont in 1843. By 1850 he had found, wooed and wed Elizabeth King. Warren was born in 1851, Horace in 1853, then they lost a girl at 8 months in 1856. Our ancestor Wilmer was born in 1858.

 

To all appearances, according to his biographies, he was a successful contractor, builder and businessman, but he suffered some kind of health problems that caused his doctors to warn him that it would be fatal for him to remain in the Philadelphia climate. It was therefore decided that the Pratts would leave Philadelphia and Elizabeth's family behind and go to California and join his brother Ithemar.

 

The decision was made to emigrate during 1859. That meant that beyond Omaha travel would have to be by wagon train. It would be 10 years before the transcontinental railroad would be finished. Communication would be by U.S.Mail carried in stage coaches. The Pony Express did not start until 1860, and the cross-continent telegraph not until 1861. Thus the conditions of their travel in 1859 would be about the same as in 1849 when the Gold Rush to California started. I assume brother Ithemar was a "Forty-niner".

 

Note to the Woodruffs: My great grandfather Newton R. Woodruff and his brothers left their women and children on the farm in Berrien County and spent three years in California during the Gold Rush.

 

I am sure that the first leg of the Pratts' journey would have been by railroad. I have pulled off the Internet an 1857 map of the Pennsylvania Railroad showing their system which then went as far west as Omaha. I am trying to picture in my mind's eye this prosperous, well dressed couple with three little kids saying a tearful goodbye to her folks and boarding a train in Philadelphia, bound for the end of the line in far off Nebraska. There they presumably would convert themselves into a pioneer family ready to join a wagon train to cross the plains, deserts and mountains to California. The pre-Civil War era passenger cars were no air conditioned Pullmans, but they were a lot more luxurious than the covered wagons they would be traveling cross-country in.

 

No doubt they had studied diligently the manuals then available instructing about such things as packing for a 110 day trip, wagon train cookery, how to deal with the Mormons etc. Fortunately for us, when they got to Omaha they learned that Ithemar had died (there must have been a letter waiting) thus the whole expedition was aborted and they took a train back east and somehow ended up in Niles, Michigan.

 

Folks, that was another close one. If Ithemar hadn't croaked and if they hadn't got the word before they headed out across the plains, Wilmer would have been in California when the Bartram girls showed up in Hagar Township.  

 

In Niles they had the twins Orson and Oscar. Finally in 1864 they had Adelbert, after which the family settled in Hagar Township and there Wilmer and his brothers grew up.

 

 I think the move would have been by boat down the St. Joseph River and up the Paw Paw River to Riverside. The alternative would have been a shuttle by land in horse-drawn wagons or ox carts over the miserable township roads that existed at that time.

 

 The vessels would probably have been a flat boat pulled by a small river steamer. If the Paw Paw was not navigable due to sand bars or floodwood, they could have unloaded on the Benton Harbor side of the St. Joseph and hauled to Hagar from there.

 

The Pratts must have used oxen in Berrien County for there were still two or three ox yokes in existence when Vince sold the old family place this year.

 

When Elizabeth went back to Philadelphia in 1876 to visit her family and the Centennial Exposition she of course traveled by train. Perhaps she rode in a Pullman since those luxuious sleeping cars were in use by then.

 

Next: How the Bartram sisters got from New York to Michigan.

Emailed Nov. 2

The Pratt Migration-Travel and Transport IV

William Bond Pratt said he was born in the Green Mountains of Vermont at Rutland in 1824. At age 19 he removed to New York and then Philadelphia. His father died in 1839 and the 1850 Census showed his mother as a resident of the Vermont Asylum at Brattleboro where she died many years later.

 

He must have found himself for practical purposes to be an orphan, with his father gone and his mother incompetent, when he emigrated from Vermont in 1843. When he left he had a 17 year old younger brother Ithamar, who emigrated to California; and two younger sisters, Mary Ann 14 and Alpha E. 11. I imagine Alpha's family must have taken them in. Alpha's home was in Norwich, about 35 miles to the east of Bridgewater.

 

Now I want to figure out how William Bond got from Rutland to Philadelphia via New York:

 

There are two ways to get to New York from Rutland. One way would be to go back east to the Connecticut River and go down that river to Long Island Sound and west to Manhattan via the East River. The better way, and I think the way William Bond took, would be to go southwest by land about 50 miles to the Hudson River where it changes from an easterly flow to flowing south. Then take a boat on the Hudson all the way to Manhattan.

 

To follow his path from Rutland to the Hudson on today's roads take US 4 west and south through Fair Haven and Hudson Falls to Fort Edward. Fort Edward is on the south end of "The Great Carry", the 11 mile portage between the Hudson and Lake Champlaign. He could have done this on horseback since horses were no longer scarce by then, but what would he do with the horse when he boarded a boat? I'll bet he hiked it. It would have taken two or three days on foot.

 

If he could not find a boat to take him on board at Fort Edward he would have to walk downstream until he encountered one. We know from the account of the 1818 Bartram migration by water from Fairfield, Connecticut, to Oriskany, New York, that the Husdon River sloops went upstream at least as far as the mouth of the Mohawk River. Whenever he subsequently passed the mouth of the Mohawk by boat he was crossing the path of the Bartram migration. The two paths ended together when the Bartram sisters arrived in Hagar Township.

 

It probably would not have mattered what kind of craft William Bond boarded for going down the Hudson. He didn't have a family or household goods or tools like the Bartrams so he didn't need to be on one of the large Hudson River sloops. Besides, they charged $2 per person. A shallop or a bateaux or canoe would have been fine, I beleive. Even going down on a log raft ala Huckleberry Finn would have worked for a single teenager.

                                                                                                                                   Getting from Manhattan to Philadelphia would have been no strain, given that he was travelling between the country's two biggest cities. I imagine it would have been a ferry ride from Manhattan to Jersey City and hitch-hiking on wagons with friendly teamsters through New Brunswick, Princeton and Trenton to the Deleware River and then by toll bridge across the river and on to Philadelphia. I'll bet he was staring around taking it all in like ths country bumpkin he was. Old US 1 is probably the best route to use to follow his trail today.

 

I wish I knew how he got to Germantown and how he met and courted Elizabeth King. He learned the carpenter trade in Philadelphia, became a successful contractor and builder of many houses in Germantown and became a part owner of a lumber mill in South Carolina before his health problems led him to migrate again, only this time with family..

 

NEXT: The Pratts head west.

Emailed Oct. 31

The Pratt Migration-Travel and Transport III

After his discharge at West Point in October of 1780 Asa Pratt (Sr) returned to his parents' home in Dublin, New Hampshire. Two years later he was in what is now Plymouth, Vermont, married to Betty Stanford, the first of his three wives. Plymouth was known as Saltash when he arrived. It was about ten years later that the name Plymouth was adopted.

 

Plymouth is about 70 miles northwest of Dublin, less than a two hour drive today. When Asa made the trip, probably in 1781, he was traveling without the burden of a family. I am guessing he probably walked carrying only a pack, but a heavy one.. Certainly he was used to it, given all the walking and marching he had done during the war. He probably could have walked it in two days, but I'll give him three. His trail was hilly, the scenery all new, and he didn't have a seargent yelling at him. Perhaps he was leading a pack-bearing ox. If so, he would have had to stick with the pace of the ox and give it time to forage. It could have taken longer if he was delayed in getting across the Connecticut River. He would have had to find a ferry, a ford, or build a raft. I am sure that in addition to his musket, his kit contained a reliable axe.

 

To follow his route on today's roads go west out of Dublin on Route 101 to the vicinity of Keene, then follow Route 12 into the Connecticut River valley. Follow the river north to Walpole and take the bridge across to US 5. Follow US 5 along the west bank of the river to Vermont Route 103 (Rockingham Road), then go northwest on 103 to Vermont Route 100, follow 100 north to Plymouth Union. There Route 100A forks to the northeast. Shortly you will arrive at Plymouth Notch and the Coolidge Homestead. Continuing down hill you are in Pinney Hollow. The Pratt homstead was somewhere in this valley.

 

In 1787 Betty died, leaving Asa with three children, the youngest but 6 months old. Two years later he went back to Dublin, married our ancestor Sarah Bond and brought her back to Plymouth. Whether he had help with those kids and who took care of them while he went back to New Hampshire to marry Sarah I of course can't know, but I speculate that a relative named Timothy had moved to Plymouth and perhaps married and settled in the same Pinney Hollow neighborhood. My only basis for this is that there is a Timothy Pratt and his wife Judith, a generation younger, buried in the same Five Corners Cemetery as Betty, Asa and Sarah.

 

 I speculate that he walked back to Dublin but that he would have had to provide his new bride with a means to ride back to Plymouth.

 

Our ancestor Asa Jr was born about 1798 in Plymouth but he didn't travel far. He died at age 41 just a few miles down the valley in Bridgewater. He and his wife Alpha Bartlett must have moved to Rutland, Vermont, at some time since William Bond Pratt claimed that town as his birth place. Or maybe Alpha went to Rutland to have the baby? Rutland is about 27 miles west of Bridgewater.

 

NEXT: William Bond Pratt leaves New England.

Emailed Oct. 30

The Pratt Migration-Travel and Transport II

Moses Pratt moved his family from Nantick, Massachusetts to Dublin, New Hampshire about 1771 or before. I don't really know why. It couldn't have been for the fertile soil. Remember the quote from Dublin's Home Page ?  "One can barely imagine the hardships undergone by the early settlers in wresting a livelyhood from the thin, rock-strewn soil..." The early migrations of younger sons in Massachusetts and Connecticut tended to be northward rather than westward.

 

Here are some extracts from "The Yankee Pioneers-A Saga of Courage" by Samuel B. Pettingill (1971):

 

"Why did the tide of migration push to the north? It could not have been from population pressure...Some people think the settlers were fools to go to hilly, rock-stewn country rather than to the '...rich, flat and rock-free meadow lands...' west of the Alleghenies. These critics do not know the economics of transportation. The narrow wagon trails westward were almost impossible in winter and spring mud. And even in dry weather, transportation costs by ox-team were prohibitive. While this explains the logic of northward migration in the late 1700's...it does not tell why the settlers moved at all. Although there was plenty of land left in lower New Englad, nevertheless as it became more settled it began to have greater money value. Hence it was logical for the younger generation to think of the practically free land in northern New England." Then the author talks about lumbering, the potash trade and fur trapping still being available in northen New England. Continuing: "...The laws of inheritance probably influenced some of the migration to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The old English system of primogeniture and entail of land to the oldest son never got firmly rooted in New England, nevertheless, the laws of Massachusetts and Connecticut provided that when a man died intestate, the oldest son inherited a double portion of the land...this meant that the oldest son got twice as much land, in value, as each of his younger brothers...Daughters inherited no land if there were sons. These laws of inheritance did not promote brotherly love. They were bound to make the younger sons and daughters, and the wives of the younger sons, unhappy with their lot."

 

Another advantage of northen New England was the availability of water transportation. The Connecticut River, which forms much of the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, flows south to Long Island Sound. Lake Champlaign; on the border between Vermont and New York, provides outlets both north and south after portages, the Hudson River south to the Atlantic; and the Richelieu River north to the St. Lawrence. Maine has several rivers that flow easterly to the Atlantic.

 

Dublin is about 80 miles northwest of Nantick.The migrant family would have included Moses, his wife Jemima and probably seven children including our ancestor Asa, then about 13 or 14. The youngest would have been 1 or 2. Such a family for such a distance would have required wheeled transportation. I am guessing at least two ox-drawn carts with the father and older boys walking. Their biggest problem? Probably finding forage along the way for their oxen.

 

To follow their route on today's roads find Massachusetts Route 119 northwest of Boston and go northwest to the New Hampshire state line, then continue northwest on New Hampshire Route 119 to US 202, then north to Route 101, then west to Dublin. Their first leg would have been from Nantick to Boston, then the center of Colonial roads.

 

NEXT: Off to Vermont.

Emailed Oct. 29

The Pratt Migration-Travel & Transport

When the Pratts' American migration began in 1622, the only motive forces available were wind, current, and animal or human power or combinations thereof. It would be 200 years before the steam engine would even be invented and when electricity and the internal combustion engine became available, Wilmer Pratt was already making barrels in Riverside.

 

Phineas Pratt arrived on this continent at Wessagausett (now Weymouth, Massachusetts) thanks to wind, on the sailing ship "Sparrow". The first leg (no pun intended) of the Pratt migration was on foot, his 20 mile wintertime run through the snow to Plymouth to warn the Pilgrims of an Indian plot to attack that struggling colony.

 

 When he and his family removed from Plymouth on Cape Cod Bay to Charlestown (now part of Boston) in 1648 they would have traveled by water. Charlestown is located where the Charles River and the Mystic River flow into Boston's Inner Harbor. They probably arrived there on a "shallop", which is a relatively small open boat fitted with oars and sails primarily intended for use in shallow waters. 

 

In 1683 our ancestors Aaron Pratt and Sarah Pratt Pratt left their parents in Charlestown and settled in Hingham ( the part that is now Cohasset, Massachusetts) they probably also traveled by water in one or more shallops, Hingham Bay being more or less a southeastern extension of Boston Harbor.. Aaron prospered in Hingham and fathered eleven children, the oldest being our ancestor Henry.

 

I think you would enjoy following the Pratts on their journeys on maps. I usually use Google Map but it has failed me lately so I have swiched to MapQuest. Try keying in "Weymouth MA"  then scroll a little south so that Plymouth shows up. There is Phineas' route. Then look at the route by water to Boston from Plymouth. To see which part of Boston is Charlestown you have to zoom in quite a bit. Then look a the water route back south to Hingham Bay and the land route to Cohasset that Aaron took. You can also use paper maps.

 

 Henry, a blacksmith by trade, next shows up in Newton where he married Hannah Learned in 1709 but starting in 1711 they had their thirteen children in nearby Needham. Both towns are in the Charles River valley west of Boston so it is possible that they could have migrated from Hingham by water via Boston Harbor and the Charles. However, since the Charles was early on being developed for hydropower by many dams and mills, it may not have been navigable at that time. Therefore I am going to assume that the Henry Pratts migrated from Hingham to Needham by land. It was about a 30 mile trip.

 

One might expect that their  move would have been accomplished by oxen-drawn carts and/or horse-drawn wagons with men and boys walking or on horseback.That would probably not been the case this early as horses were rare in nothern New England until after 1800. Even oxen were not plentiful and it was quite common for pioneers to carry large loads on their own backs for long distances and make multiple trips. Because of the limited capacity of the Dutch and English ships crossing the Atlantic and the heavy demand for other types of cargos, livestock was seldom carried in those early days. One would think that Henry, being a blacksmith with heavy tools and forges etc,. would have to have used ox carts.

 

Our ancestor Moses Pratt, the 12th of the 13 children Henry fathered in Needham, married Jemima Alden there and had four children by her before moving to nearby Natick, another Charles River valley settlemnt about six miles away. These two places are close enough together that the move could have been made by shuttling. Sometime before 1771 Moses and Jemima pulled up stakes and moved out of Massachusetts.

 

NEXT: Off to New Hampshire.

Emailed Oct. 28

Pratt Stories-The Bartram Family XII (Addendum)

In a response to my Bartram Family XII message of Sunday October 5 my daughter Karen sounded slightly disappointed that I did not speculate as to the watercraft on which the Bartrams would have traveled during their 1818 trek from Connecticut to Oneida County, New York. Can't have that, so here goes:

 

I believe the family would have boarded three different craft, one to sail from Black Rock Harbor through Long Island Sound to the east River and down the East River to the Hudson River. The East River is a navigable tidal channel between the Sound and New York Bay. (Grandson Adam Tury lived in an apartment on an island in the East River one summer a couple of years ago). There would have been another craft for going up the Hudson to the mouth of the Mohawk and a third for going upstream on the Mohawk. Because there would be no 19th Century equivalent of Sears, Roebuck or Home Depot or Tractor Supply waiting for them in central New York the vessels would have to be large enough to accommodate their household goods and tools etc. Since the only watercraft that could make it up those final two creeks would be canoes we can assume off-loading at Utica.

 

As a sea captain himself, Ebenezer would be very well informed about ships on Long Island Sound. Maybe he had the new skipper of his ship Anne take him and his family and stuff as far as the Hudson.

 

The trip up the Hudson would have been by a craft known as the Hudson River Sloop. The sloop is of Dutch origin. In its simplest form it was a vessel of one mast, carrying a mainsail, jib, and generally a topsail. The following is from "Sloops of the Hudson" by Verplanck and Collyer (1908): 

 

"The Dutch settlers of New Netherland, as well as the English and French who soon merged with them, saw the advantages of the sloop rig for commerce on the river and the Sound. At first she was fitted with "lee boards" after  the fashion of Holland...But the advantage of the center board, or shifting keel, for shoal water and sailing to windward was soon introduced, perhaps from England, where the device is known as the "drop keel". The sloops of the Hudson were about of the same size, say one hundred tons' capacity and about 65 to 75 feet in length. They were full forward, like other Dutch vessels, and had a high quarter-deck, which is a survival of the poop-decks of the medieval vessels. The mast was placed well forward thus giving the boat a large mainsail, and small jib. A topsail was generally carried...The quarterdeck afforded space for cabin accommodations for the passengers...so altogether the packet sloop was far from being an uncomfortable means of conveyance."

 

These sloops were also used on Long Island Sound, so maybe an influential ex-captain like Ebenezer could have arranged for a ride all the way from Black Rock Harbor to the Mohawk on a single sloop.

 

On the Mohawk they would have boarded a so-called Schenectady Boat or Durham Boat. These were double-ended, open-hold boats with partial decks fore and aft. They had cleated "walking boards" along each side for use by polemen and were fitted with a long sweep for steering. They had a hinged mast that could be raised to hold a sail if the wind was favorable. These boats were poled upstream with 18 foot iron-pointed poles (or downstream with long oars). They were flat-bottomed with no keels.

 

Such boats were used on the Mohawk from about 1790 until the Erie Canal opened in 1825 and were the first kind of boats used on that canal. It was a heavy duty river transport vessel, patterned after the Deleware River ore boats used by George Washington in 1776 to cross the Deleware to attack the Hessians in Trenton.

 

When the Bartrams sailed up the Hudson past Catskill, New York, they crossed the path that the Woodruff family used to migrate from Litchfield, Connecticut to the hamlet of Triangle in Broome County, New York. In 1813 my great-great-grandfather Levi Woodruff  crossed the Huson at this point and took the so-called Catskill Turnpike to their new homestead. In 1822 my great-great-great grandfather Philosebius Woodruff, the Revolutionary War veteran, followed..

 

By the way, don't you know that 7 year old Henry had the time of his young life on that trip?

Emailed Oct. 6

The Pratt Migration-VIII-Wilmer

My only memory of my grandfather Pratt was being escorted by my mother into a bedroom with an old man with a mustache lying in what I later learned was his deathbed. It was 1926, I was four years old, he was 68.

 

Wilmer Marshall Pratt was born in Philadelphia on May 29, 1858. He was married twice, first to Nellie Mynett Bartram, born April 10, 1858, died January 21, 1898; second to her sister Abigail Jennings Bartram, born December 8, 1861, died May 1942. I have covered their family in detail in my series "Pratt Stories-The Bartram Family".

 

Here is a story about my grandfather Pratt written and published in a Berrien County history in 1906:

 

"Wilmer M. Pratt was a young lad at the time of the removal of his family to the west and he remained under the parental roof until 22 years of age. His education was aquired in the public schools and by watching and assisting his father he gained a practical knowledge of the carpenter's trade. When 22 years of age he began to manufacture apple barrels, learning coopering of his brother (Horace) who had previously manufactured suet barrels. They were partners in this enterprise for 10 years and supplied all the barrels in Hagar Township, making 12,000 barrels in a single year. This proved a profitable business and with the capital thereby aquired Mr. Pratt made his first purchase of land, becoming the owner of 20 acres near Riverside. It was new land covered with timber. He built threreon and in eight years placed the tract under cultivation and improved it with good buildings.

 

 He then sold and bought his present farm, which is the old homestead of Joseph Dickerson (Dickinson). He has made excellent improvements here and has 80 acres a half mile from Lake Michigan, lying to the north and west in Hagar Township. He has continued to clear the land until it is now all under cultivation and he has here a valuable fruit farm of over 70 acres already set to fruit. He has planted peach orchards to the extent of 30 acres, while 8 acres are devoted to the raising of grapes, 12 acres to pears, 3 acres to cherries and the remainder to apples. He has planted all but 10 acres of the farm and is still setting out new trees. In one year he sold 4,000 bushels of peaches and his sales amount to about $5,000 annually. He employs four men to aid him in the care of his orchard and his crops and he has one of the best fruit farms in the state.

 

He keeps in touch with the State Agricultural College as to what is done in the line of horticultural development. He is also one of the officers of the State Horticultral Society and is active in all that works for the advancement and improvement in fruit culture. His results have far exceed his expectations and he is regarded as one of the most prominent fruit growers in Berrien County and has a firm faith in the future of this district as a fruit producing center. He realizes that the work is becoming more and more a profession, while study and investigation have aquainted its farmers with the great scientific principals which underlie the work, while broad experiment and labor are adding more and more largely to the practical knowledge.

 

He makes it his plan to to sell everything he produces under his own name. He harvests his own crop, the packing being done under his personal supervision and direction and his fruit arrives upon the city markets in excellent condition and finds a ready sale, for it is produced from excellent varieties of nursery stock.

 

Mr. Pratt was married on his present farm in the house which he now occupies, in 1881, to Miss Nellie Bartram, who was a sister of Mr. Dickinson, who formerly owned the farm.(This should be a half-sister of MRS. Dinkinson,  Hannah Davis, daughter of Freelove Mcintyre and Perry Davis)  She died in1894 leaving five children: Charles A., who is a graduate of the State Agricultural College and is now associated with his father in business; Burr B., a student in the State Agricultural College; Joseph M.,who is a student in Professor Egecomb's College; Helen C. and Genevieve, who are with their father. In 1900 Mr. Pratt again married, his second union being with Miss Abbie Bartram, the younger sister of his first wife and they have two children, Henry B. and Isadora.

 

Mr. Pratt is an active working Republican but does not aspire to public office. He regards it a duty as well as a privelege, however, to exercise his right of franchise in support of the men and measures in which he believes and he cooperates in many progressive movements that have resulted in benefit to the country. Otherwise his undivided attention is given to his business affairs which are bringing him success and which have already gained for him a prominent name in horticultural circles".

 

The last leg of the Pratt Migration was the move from Hagar Township  to the newly purchased farm and home in Watervliet Township. Charlie took over the Hagar operation and the Maple Lane house, Burr went to California, I think Joe had gone off on his own, and Helen was in college so I believe only Genevieve, Henry and Isadora were at home full time.

 

After Charlie and Burr died in the 1918 influenza epidemic everything started to go down hill for the Pratts. That sad story has been covered at length in the Henry Pratt's Memories series.

 

Wilmer died on January 11, 1926.

 

Here is an extract from a pencil draft of a letter I found in the Bartram Family Bible. I have always assumed it was written by Abigail:

 

"My Dear Cousin

        While I received your letter some time ago I was unable to answer it at that time  it was not so long after Mr. Pratt's death  but that I just could not write not so much the care of him as I had a nurse but the anxziety and the Dr. assured me he would recover until two months before he went. When able to write I had misplaced your letter and have only recently found it."

 

The Pratt migration in America which started with Phineas in Wessagausett in 1622 ended with the move of Wilmer and family to Watervliet Township in 1912, but Pratts continued to occupy the old family home until 2008 when Vincent, the last of the family to live there, happily sold it.

 

The 20th Century saw the start of a sort of Pratt diaspora leaving the descendents of Wilmer spread from Michigan to Ohio and Pennsylvania and New York and North Carolina and Tennessee and Georgia and Florida and Indiana and Illinois and Minnesota and California and Washington and Alaska and Afganistan and to where else I don't know.

Emailed Oct. 25

The Pratt Migration-VII-William Bond

Here is the story of my great-grandfather William Bond Pratt: I never heard or read of him except as Wiiliam Bond or W.B., never just William or Will, certainly not Bill.

 

Genealogical facts: William Bond Pratt, born 7 May 1824 in Rutland, Vermont. Died 26 Jan 1904 in Hagar Township, Berrien County, Michigan. Oldest child of Asa Pratt Jr and Alpha Bartlett. Married to Elizabeth King, daughter of John King and______Morris (born 21 March 1830) in Philadelphia 1 Oct 1850. They had seven children. Four were born in Philadelphia; Warren (1851), Horace (1853), Laura (1856) and Wilmer (1858). Three more were born in Niles; Oscar and Orson (1860), and Adelbert (1864). Elizabeth died in Hagar Township 28 Jan 1899. Both are buried in Hagar's Lakeshore Cemetery.

 

This account is from "Glimpses of the Past", a 1992 publication of the North Berrien Historical Society ."William Bond Pratt was born among the Green Mountains in the state of Vermont. He had removed to New York, then Philadelphia when nineteen years of age and there he learned the carpenter's trade which he followed for a time, eventually becoming a contractor. He built many houses in Germantown and had an interest in a lumber mill in South Carolina. Failing health, however caused him to seek a change and in 1860 went to Omaha but moved again to Michigan in order to have the benefit of the bracing climate occasioned by the proximity of Lake Michigan."

 

Pearl Pratt, daughter of Oscar Pratt and grand-daughter of William Bond wrote me a letter in 1963. Here are some of my notes from her version of the migration to Michigan: Left Philadelphia during a depression to join a brother in California (Ithamer Pratt). Learned he had died when they were in Kansas. They returned to Chicago and then to Niles where Oscar and  Orson and Adelbert were born. Moved to Riverside about 1866.

 

Pearl said Elizabeth King spent her early life in Lancaster, Penslyvania. Pearl always  took it for granted that she was born there. She wasn't. Elizabeth was born in Germantown, a part of Philadelphia. Her father, John King, was born in Germany. He is our only progenitor of German extraction so far as I know. Her mother, whose first name I have yet to discover, was born in Wales.

 

Back to "Glimpses": "Making his way to Benton Township, he purchased 120 acres of land but in order to be still closer to the lake he purchased 20 acres on the bluff and his summers were mostly spent on the lakeshore.  He continued to engage in building and contracting for some time, meeting with an accident which pevented him from engaging in building.  He however, devloped a farm of 80 acres and made a first class home, where he lived until his death, which occured on the 21st of January, 1904, when he was eighty-two years of age. The doctors of Philadelphia said he could not live if he remained in that city and he came to the middle west and was greatly benefited by the change of climate  and lived to a ripe and useful old age. He was active in public affairs and the cause of education found in him a warm friend, who did effective service for the general public as a school official. He served as a member of the school board for his district for forty years,* or until about eighty years of age. During the last five years of his life he was totaly blind."

 

* His two daughters-in-law, Nellie and Abigail Bartram, were both teachers in that  district.

 

I have told you the story in "Privy Trivia" about how he navigated to the outhouse out back and the mailbox out front by hooking his cane over a wire.

 

Continuing from "Glimpses: " He survived his wife by only three years, her death occuring when she was about seventy-four years of age. They had traveled life's jouney together as man and wife for a half century..."  Despite out-living two of their children that's certainly a happier life story than his parents' with Asa dying at 41 and Alpha dying in an asylum. The children who pre-deceased them were Warren, who drowned in the Paw Paw River on the 4th of July 1869 at age 17, and Laura who died at eight months..

 

Here is Elizabeth's obituary in "The Dailey Palladium" 30 jan 1899:

 

                                   Death of Mrs. Pratt

 

Mrs. W.B.Pratt, of Riverside, died at her home Saturday night at 9:30 o'clock after a long illness of diabetes. Mrs. Pratt was well known and she leaves a husband, who is blind, also five sons. Deceased was seventy years old.  The funeral was held from the house this afternoon, Rev. Mr. Woods officiating.

 

 Notice that they didn't mention her first name. I find that to be usual in old documents.

 

Here is a letter Elizabeth wrote to her son Wilmer on May 23, 1876:

 

My Dear son how much I would like to see you, we are having a pleasant time the weather is very hot, we had a pleasant journey Arrived in Philadelphia safelly friday afternoon  we went to church yesterday thare was a good meney knew me  took tea at Uncle Alberts  had fresh strawberreys fresh tomatoes  there is watermelons in Market did you go home Sunday how does the boys get a long  I hope you are allwell I must close tea is ready, well we have had our Supper and a thunder Shower it is 7 O clock we intend to go out this evening if it stops raining. in time delie (?) think he would not like to live here he says their is so much stile, we have not bin to the exposition yet  we will goe in a few days

if you want me to enjoy myself you must answer this right away  direct to 59 hains St 22 ward Philadelphia Pa

I pray God to protect you from all dangers seen and unseen did you go to meetings last Sunday  Aunt Anie sends her love to you

                 my love to all my boys

                          Your Mother

for my boys sake I will be glad when the time comes to come home

delie (?) say till Will not to get married until he comes home

 

She was visiting the King family during the Centennial Exposition.

Horace died just five years after his father. I never knew Oscar (d ?) or Orson who died in 1928 but I knew "Uncle Del" quite well. He and "Aunt Anna" lived on a little place north of Watervliet near the Bowe Farm Orchard. They had a daughter Rachel who married into the Feather family of the Hinchman area in Berrien County. Bob Feather, one of her sons, was one of my high school teachers. One of my indelible childhood memories involved Uncle Del, or I should say Uncle Del's body. I was 11 when he died. Uncle Del was laid out in the parlor of their house. For some reason that I still do not understand, I was assigned the  the duty of staying with Uncle Del while all the family went to a church service (like he's going to get up and leave or something?). Anyway, I was one spooked kid by the time  they returned, but I never admitted it to anyone.

Emailed Oct. 23

The Pratt Migration VI-Asa (Jr)

As you have seen from the last few messages, I know a great deal about Asa
Pratt Sr.  In contrast, I know very little about my great-great grandfather
Asa Pratt Jr.

He was born about 1798 to Asa Sr and his second wife Sarah Bond in Plymouth,
Vermont, right down the road from the Coolidge homestead. He grew up in Pinney
Hollow with three half siblings, children of his father's first wife, and a
brother and sister of his own.

He was married to Alpha Bartlett. She was born in 1800 in Norwich,
Vermont, the daughter of Ithemar Bartlett Jr. Asa and Alpha had four children
of whom our ancestor William Bond was the eldest. They must have lived
in Rutland, Vermont, since William was born there, but Asa died in Bridgewater,
Vermont. Bridgewater is a few miles nothwest of Plymouth in the Ottauquechee
River valley. He and Alpha are buried there in the South Road Cemetery. I
couldn't find it on the topographic map.

His estate was apparently probated in Woodstock, Vermont (Probate Vol. 13, p.
347): "Joseph Eaton of Bridgewater appointed adm. of est. for Asa Pratt
Jr., late of Bridgewater, dec'd, Apr 1839. Widow declined said trust.
Est. insolvent. Creditors incl. Timothy Pratt (his half-brother) $1.65. Widow
Alpha Pratt; minor heirs William B., three minors under 14." He was only
41.

William would have been nearly 15, his brother Ithamer 13, his sister Mary Ann
10, and his sister Alpha E. 7. Life must have been difficult for Alpha. Her
husband died broke, she had four kids to raise and her brother-in-law was owed
$1.65. William's Uncle Moses Pratt and cousin Celesta lived in Plymouth
also. Maybe there was some family support. Certainly Uncle Timothy wouldn't
have been any help wanting his $1.65. Our ancestor William Bond Pratt left home
four years later when he was ninteen.

The 1850 Census showed that the widow Alpha Pratt, 48, was a resident of  the
Vermont Asylum at Brattleboro. She died at the asylum in November of 1870 at age
71. I think that is really sad; my great-great grandmother and ancestor to all
of us dying in an asylum.

NEXT: William Bond Pratt

Emailed Oct. 21

The Pratt Migration V-Asa in the War VIII

September 21, 1780 at West Point at night: Maybe Asa was on guard duty? Major Andre came ashore from the British sloop "Vulture" which had sneaked up the Hudson and  anchored just south of the fort. He met with the traitor Arnold (I don't know just how or where) who gave him documents including fortification plans.

 

During the night the Vulture was discovered and bombarded by American artillery so it withdrew down the river stranding Andre behind the American lines in his British uniform with the papers Arnold had given him. He took refuge in the house of one Joshua Smith, a Loyalist collaborator he had known in New York. When they discovered that the Vulture was gone they realized they would have to try to escape overland. Andre decided to don an American uniform for the trip. Bad mistake. If he had kept on his British uniform he would have been treated as a prisoner-of-war, but out of uniform he was treated as a spy when he was caught.

 

The next day when they thought they were safe in British territory Smith went home and Andre continued by himself, but he was stopped by a trio of American freelancers who searched him and found Arnold's papers. They promptly arrested him. Unaware of Arnold's involvement, a message was sent to him at West Point telling him what happened. He promptly took off and escaped downriver to the Vulture. On this same day George Washington unexpectedly arrived at West Point (Asa must have seen him and maybe saluted him?). There Washington learned of the arrest of the spy. When he was shown the confiscated papers he recognized Arnold's handwriting and realized he had been betrayed by his own General.

 

Andre was imprisoned at Tappan, New York, and on September 29 was tried by a panel of American Generals, found guilty of espionage, and sentenced to death. He asked to be executed by a firing squad like a soldier but at noon of October 2 he was hanged as a spy.

 

On October 21, 1780, Private Asa Pratt is dicharged and heads back to New Hampshire. One year later the Battle of Yorktown brings the Revolutionary War to an end.

Emailed Oct. 20

The Pratt Migration V-Asa in the War VII

Two entries in the "State Papers of New Hampshire" give us our lead as to Asa's next enlistment:

 

"Pay roll for Capt Benjamin Spaulding's Company of Col Moses Nichol's Regiment raised by the State of New Hampshire & Joined the Continental Army at West Point  1780."

 

"Asa Pratt, private, time of engagement July 6, 1780---time of discharge Oct 21, 1780"

 

Then there are some interesting details about his pay and travel:" 3.16 months in service--rate per month f134--amount of wages f473.9-- No. of miles to Spring field 93--no. of miles home 236--travel at 12 s/mile out & 6 s/mile home f126.12--detained rations f10.12--whole amount f610.13"  The symbol looks like an "f" with an "o" at the bottom. Googling "Colonial Currency" shows that New Hampshire money in 1777 was in pounds but in 1780 it was in dollars.

 

These entries in the New Hampshire State Papers establish without  question that between July 6 and October 21 of 1780 our ancestor Private Asa Pratt was on active duty with the New Hampshire Militia and that his regiment was part of the garrison at West Point with the Continental Army. This means that he was present at the place and time of two momentous events in American history, the treason of Benedict Arnold and the capture and execution of the British spy Major Andre.

 

Benedict Arnold was an American hero---right up until his betrayal of the Continnetal Army. He had fought bravely and against hard odds in the first yars of the war.(Remember he was at the Battle of Ridgefield when Col. Abaraham Gould was killed). He risked his life and lost a leg leading the invasion of Canada but he was criticized and felt humiliated by Congress for finding him guilty of some misconduct during that operation. He was merely reprimanded by George Washington, who still needed him. He was married a Loyalist wife and felt that he had never been properly appreciated for his fighting record and had been passed over for promotion. He never forgave Congress. In this mood Arnold asked Washington for the commnand at West Point.

 

West Point in New York was a fortified site on the right bank of the Hudson River at an abnormal S-curve. It's fortifications were was designed by one of the best military engineers of the time, Polish General Thaddeus Kosciusko. It was manned by a small garrison of Continental soldiers throughout the war (plus Asa and his regiment during the fall of 1780). West Point and Constitution Island across the river were critically located and when fortified with artillery and a huge chain strung across the river would defeat any attempt by the British to send warships up the Hudson to isolate New England.

 

Washington agreed with Arnold's request and placed him in command of West Point. Arnold immediately set about weakening the fort by sending out detachments of soldiers on wild-goose-chase missions (Asa among them?).

 

Major John Andre was the chief intelligence officer for British commander General Sir Henry Clinton at New York. In May of 1779 Andre received an extraordinary offer from Arnold to surrender  the fort for a fee. Negotiations continued for months. Arnold wanted 10,000 pounds, success or failure. Clinton said no deal unless successful. The negotiations broke down. In May of 1780 Arnold contacted Andre again warning him of a pending French assault on Rhode Island which enabled Clinton to prepare for the French.

 

 On July 15  Arnold, now being in command at West Point, contacted Andre again asking for 20,000 pounds for successfully delivering West Point. Arrangements were made for Andre to come and meet secretly with Arnold to make the necessary plans.

 

NEXT: The plot fails and Andre pays the ultimate price.

Emailed Oct. 19

The Pratt Migration V-Asa in the War VI

Before we deal with Asa's next enlistment I want to share an account of how the New Hampshire Militia dressed and what they carried at the Battle of Bennington. This is from an 1852 book "History of New Ipswich" by Kidder and Gould:

 

"An aged veteran of the battle describes his fellow militiamen: To a man they all wore small-clothes, coming down and fastening just below the knees, and long stockings with cowhide shoes, ornamented by large buckles, while not a pair of boots graced the company. The coats and waistcoats were loose and of huge dimensions, with colors as various as the barks of oak, sumach and other trees of our hills and swamps could make them and their shirts were all made of flax and, like every other part of the dress, were homespun. On their heads was worn a large round-top and broad-brimmed hat."

 

"Their arms were as various as their costume. Here an old soldier carried a heavy Queen's Arm, with which he had done service at the conquest of Canada twenty years previous, while by his side walked a stripling boy with a Spanish fusee not half its weight or calibre, which his grandfather may have taken at the Havanna, while not a few old French pieces that dated back to the reduction of Louisburg. Instead of a cartridge box, a large powder horn was slung under the arm, and occasionally a bayonet might be seen bristling in the ranks. Some of the swords of the officers had been made by our Province blacksmiths, perhaps from some farming utinsel; they looked serviceable but heavy and uncouth."

 

For contrast, here is a look at their German foes at Bennington: 

 

By 1777 the British government realized that even though it had a well-trained, professional army, its numbers were too small to crush the rebellion. It therefore resorted to the time-honored and typically European expedient of hiring foreign auxiliaries. These were different from mercenaries in that they were not hired as individuals but were hired in organized units from the government of a willing state. At this time Germany consisted of more than 300 states and principalities, each with its own dynasty and army. It was sort of a Rent-a-Regiment business. In the case we are interested in the British rented a Regiment of Brunswick Dragoons commanded by Colonel Frederich Baum. Dragoons are equally adept at fighting on foot or in the saddle. These Brunswickers wore light blue jackets, tan leather pants, thigh length boots and bicorn hats. They were armed with both muskets and swords and everything matched. At Bennington they had no horses.

 

Brunswick was a small, but ancient Duchy in north central Germany in the Harz Moutains. Its ruler at the time had run up some big debts which he was trying to pay off by hiring out his military, mostly to the British.

 

NEXT: Asa at West Point.

Emailed Oct. 18

The Pratt Migration V-Asa in the War V

Going through about 13 pages of my library research notes I find certain inconsistencies or conflicts in the various accounts of the military manuevering and fighting during the summer and fall of 1777. There are a couple of notes that indicate Asa was or might have been involved in the Battle of Stillwater, sometimes called Second Saratoga. I don't think he was. It took place on October 17. I think he was on his way back home by then.

 

 General Stark occupied Fort Edward at the south end of "The Great Carry", which is the ancient 11 mile portage between the Hudson River and Lake Champlaign, effectively bottling up Burgoyne so that he could neither retreat back north nor obtain provisions or reinforcemnts from that direction. I don't know what troops Stark used for that operation. Asa could have been there.

 

Here is the situation on September 18, 1777: General Burgoyne's forces are trapped. The climactic Saratoga battles are about to begin. Just over a month before the New Hampshire Militia had crushed the Germans and English at the Battle of Bennington. General Clinton of the Continental Army wanted their help, but their three months enlistment expired that day. What would the militiamen do? Here is the account of one who was there:

 

"The army was animated by the arrival of a band of citizen soldiers who had conquered the Germans and killed their commander near Bennington; but the term of service for which these men were engaged expired with the day, and every exertion was made to enduce them to wait the event of an action, which was daily expected; but to the exhortations of the comander-in-chief (Clinton) and the persuasions of many other officers, no decisive reply could be obtained.

 

General Stark and his subordinates '...thought it proper and necessary that they should adhere to the service...'  But I observed that they employed no influence to promote that end, which was, in effect to discourage it.

 

The men communicated with each other in whispers and a buzzing was heard around their campfires; for they had neither unpacked the baggage which they carried on their backs, nor laid down to repose. I left this band of hardy freemen about 11 o'clock, determined to watch the result and about 5 minutes after 12, I discovered them in motion, the aid-de-camp of the General called for the parole, to pass the guards of the camp, and I verily believe neither officer nor private was left behind; nor could they have been beyond the sound of action when it began, yet not a man returned.

 

This punctuality of the father, the husband and the son, who till their own ground and enjoy the sweets of domenstic life, is not reprehensible, since it is enjoined  by an irresistible impulse of nature. These citizens had fought once, and having served the term of their engagement, were desirous to tell of '...feats performed...', and look into their private affairs, after which they were ready again to take up arms."

 

As we shall see, Asa did take up arms again.

Emailed Oct. 17

The Pratt Migration V-Asa in the War IV

How did General Stark's plan of attack work at the so-called Battle of Bennington??

 

The plan worked out better than could have been expected. Colonel Baum was operating

at a tremendous disadvantage. He had been informed that the natives in the area were Tories. When the flanking columns in the guise of small groups of farmers (including Asa) appeared about three o'clock in the afternoon he assumed they were coming to help him, until they opened fire at close range.* Thereupon Colonels Hobart and Stickney advanced. The Canadians and Indians fled; the Tories ran after one volley, leaving Colonel Baum and the main position on the high ground northeast of the river with only his German and British troops and a few other brave souls.

 

* The New Hampshire militiamen had neither uniforms nor bayonets, thus they did not appear military..

 

Stark gave the order to attack, shouting, "There they are! We'll beat them before night, or Molly Stark will be a widow." The river was easily fordable and presented no obstacle, but the German dragoons on the hill resisted stoutly for two hours until their ammunition ran low and Colonel Baum fell mortally wounded. The first phase of the battle was over; the militia, disorganized by their victory, were scattered everywhere throughout the captured enemy camp. Then Colonel Breymann appeared on the scene leading the German reinforcements sent by General Burgoyne.

 

Now it was General Stark's turn to worry. He hastily gathered a few men together and attempted to make a stand across the main road to the southwest but was soon forced backward. Here he was fortunately joined by Colonel Warner's regiment which had finally arrived from Manchester. As other men appeared from the scene of the first battlefield (including Asa?) Stark and Warner gathered enough strength to repulse the German attacks, then assaulted the enemy on both flanks. About sunset Colonel Breymann, wounded, his coat shot full of holes, and with his mens' ammunition almost gone, ordered a retreat. The Americans undertook an immediate pursuit and pressed vigorously forward, and the retreat became a rout. The German drums beat the signal for a surrender conference but this noise meant nothing to the Americans who kept on firing until darkness put an end to the fighting. The Ammericans lost about 30 killed and 40 wounded, while the German-British casualties were over 900 men killed, wounded or captured.

 

Afterward General Stark paid tribute to his troops: "Too much honor cannot be given to the brave officers and soldiers for gallant behavior. They fought through the midst of fire and smoke, mounted two breastworks that was well fortified and supported by cannon..."

 

The significance of the Battle of Bennington: After Bennington General Burgoyne was no longer able to live off the land and had to supply his army from far-away Canada. This situation soon led to the halting of his invasion.

 

"As a final note to the significance of the Battle of Bennington, it may be observed that on October 17 Major General Burgoyne at Saratoga, New York, surrendered his entire army to the Americans. It was the greatest victory of the Revolutionary War to date. Stark's achievement at Bennington had led directly to the collapse of Burgoyne's 1777 campaign".

 

The British historian Trevelyn has recently written: "Bennington proved to be the turning point of the Saratoga campaign which was the turning point of the War." Makes you proud to be a Pratt, doesn't it?

 

NEXT: The New Hampshire Militia goes home.

Emailed Oct. 16

The Pratt Migration-V-Asa in the War III

The first thing you should know about the Battle of Bennington is that it didn't take place at Bennington in Vermont but rather it was fought near Walloomsac, New York, about 10 miles northwest of Bennington.

 

In mid-August 1777, after the fall of Ticonderoga, General Burgoyne planned a raid on the  American stores at Bennington. His purpose was four-fold: to encourage the Loyalists, frighten New England, replenish his stock of provisions and to obtain horses to mount a regiment of heavily equipped German dragoons.* Accordingly, these dragoons, lumbering along on foot in their enormous jackboots and stiff leather breeches, were made the nucleus of a raiding force of about 800 Tories, Canadians, Indians, and English under the command of German Colonel Frederich Baum. Nearing Bennington, Baum learned that the American General John Stark had assembled about 1,500 troops at Bennington to oppose him, and he sent to Burgoyne for reinforcements. Colonel Heinrich von Breyman, with about 500 men, was sent to his aid.

 

In the meantime, Stark, hearing of Baum's advance, marched to meet him. His attack on the afternoon of August 16 exposed severe weakness in the English lines: Baum's command was too widely dispersed; his auxiliaries were scattered; and his regulars, hastily entrenched on a hill overlooking the Walloomsac River, were surrounded and most of them captured. Meanwhile, Breyman, ignorant of the battle, approached. Stark, now reinforced by Colonel Seth Warner with 350 men, re-formed and attacked. The Germans retreated and were pursued until dark. The Americans took about 700 prisoners. The victory did much to improve the morale of the American forces. (From US History Encyclopedia).

 

* Dragoons are soldiers intended primarily to fight on foot but trained also in horseback riding and cavalry combat.

 

The question is: How and where was Private Asa Pratt involved in all of this? The first task is to figure out what outfit Asa was serving with. I find in my genealogical notes from library research back in the 80's that Asa Pratt, private, was listed on the payroll of Captain Salmon Stone's Company in Colonel Nichol's Regiment of General Stark's Brigade "...raised out of the of the 15th Regiment of New Hmpshire Militia...which Company marched in July 1777 and joined the Northern Continental Army at Bennington and Stillwater." So thanks to a lot of hours digging through the sometimes dusty stacks of  the Library of Michigan I know with whom Asa fought when he first was involved in actual combat.

 

About the General and the Brigade: "John Stark was one of those wild, untamed creatures like Ethan Allen (of Green Mountain Boys fame). Like a great many other outlaws in spirit, he had an intense passion for his native soil. New Hampshire was his domain. He was the uncrowned King of New Hampshire. He never actually joined the patriot army and refused to admit Congress had any jurisdiction over him. His troops were never part of the Continental Army but were an independent division of the New Hampshire Militia, who insisted that they were merely cooperating with he forces under Washington and were their own bosses." (from "Revolution 1776" by John Hyde Preston-1933)

 

Now that we know that Asa was with Colonel Nichols let's follow him into battle. Colonel Baum's troops are entrenched on a hill overlooking the Walloomsac River to the east. 

 

"On August 16, the sun came out, the clouds broke away, and both sides prepared for battle...General Stark had pepared a rather complicated plan. A column of 200 men under Colonel Nichols (including Asa) was to make a long, flanking movement around to the north while another 300 men commanded by Colonel Herrick made a similar march around to the south. An additional 300 men led by Colonels Hobart and Stickney were to attack the nearest positions east of the river. When the flanking columns began their attack General Stark was to launch the main assault with 1,200 men directly across the river toward the center of the enemy's position".

 

NEXT: How General Stark's plan worked.

Emailed Oct. 15

The Pratt Migration-V-Asa in the War-II

Next about Asa's Revolutionary War service from the Jayne Pratt Lovelace book: "Volunteered again April/May 1777; disch. at Mt. Independence near Ticonderoga". 

 

Mount Independence was the site of Fort Independence, a fort built in 1775 next to Lake Champlain on the Vermont shore directly across from Fort Ticonderoga, on the   New York shore. Fort Ticonderoga had fallen into American hands at thr beginning of the War for Independence and was regarded as an unassailable guardian of the Rebel's northern frontier. The British had tried an invasion from Canada in 1776, but had been thwarted on Lake Champlaign by the herioc efforts of Benedict Arnold * and his men.

 

The Americans blithely allowed Ticonderoga to become vulnerable by letting its manpower and store of arms and supplies get low. Major General Arthur St.Clair had replaced General Horatio Gates at the fort in June of 1777. His ability to gather intelligence on British General Burgoyne's movements was restrcted by Indian and Loyalist American scouts. Actually, a massive Britsh invasion from the north was underway with British Regulars, German Mercenaries, Canadians, Indians and Loyalists (also called Tories).  Burgoyne's intent was to capture Albany, and with General Howe coming up the Hudson River from the south, to cut the rebelious Colonies in two.

 

When word did reach Ticonderoga that the British were approaching, General St.Clair believed that a show of force was likley but no real attempt would be made to take the fort. Burgoyne's forces arrived in the waters near Ticonderoga at the end of June and began preparations for a siege. In a decisive stroke, the British dragged cannon to the top of Mt. Defience, a high hill south of the fort that the Ameicans had neither fortified nor defended. From that position the British easily dominated both Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Independence across the lake. Thus during the night of July 5, both American forts were abandonded without a shot being fired. A few  troops were left behind with instructions to put up a brief show of force and then join their comrades in retreat. Those troops were found drunk and asleep the next morning when the British moved in. Not exactly the Americans' finest hour.

 

In view of what actually happened at Mount Independence, I wonder what Author Lovelace meant by Asa's "discharge"? He had re-enlisted about three months before, presumably at Dublin, and took part in the retreat from Fort Independence on July 5, but as we shall see later, participated in the Battle of Bennington on August 16. My guess is that his unit, being part of the New Hampshire Militia, joined up with other New Hampshire Militia on their way to Bennington after bugging out from Fort Independence.

 

There is some indication in the literature that the New Hampshire volunteers wanted to go home after the abandonment of Fort Independence. Maybe that explains "Drafted July 1777 for 3 mos", the next entry in Author Lovelace's account

 

* There is Benedict Arnold again. The last time we encountered him was when he took command at the Battle of Ridgefield where Col. Abraham Gould was killed.

 

NEXT: The Battle of Bennington.

Emailed Oct. 14

The Pratt Migration V-Asa in the War

The following is extracted from Jayne Pratt Lovelace's 1980 book, "The Pratt Directory" page 55:: 

 

(Asa) Resided at Dublin, NH and enlisted 7 Dec 1776 at Springfield, Ma. Discharged 23 Mar 1777. Returned to Dublin. Volunteered again Apr/May 1777. Discharged at Mount Independence near Ticonderoga. Drafted July 1777 for three months. In Battle of Bennington. Present at West Point when Major Andre was executed.

 

Starting here I am going to indulge myself in a long-winded analysis of the above brief summary to flesh out the story of our ancestor's service in the Revolutionary War as best I can. Follow along or ignore it as you wish.

 

First inquiry: How would he have gotten to Springfield, Massachusetts from Dublin to volunteer? The answer to me is obvious being somwhat familiar with New England geography. He would have gone west to the Connecticut River and then south by boat to Springfield. I used Google Map driving directions to learn that Brattlesboro, Vermont, on the river, is about 30 miles west of Dublin via Route 101 and Route 9. Today's New England roads mostly follow the routes of Colonial roads (that often followed Indian trails that in turn may have followed ancient game trails).

 

The driving distance from Brattlesboro to Springfield is about 60 miles. Of course it was a far longer distance for him going downstream by boat on the meanders of the river. He probably would have been on a boat like  those the Bartrams rode on when going up the Mohawk River; long, open, double-ended craft with an auxiliary sail which were rowed downstream and poled upstream.

 

Picture if you can; our ancestor Asa, 19 years old and without doubt leaving home for the first time, dressed in what they wore for winter in those times, on horeseback or in a horse-drawn wagon, carrying a musket and maybe a big knife, with some kind of pack or duffle and some food prepared by his mother for the start of the trip, heading west for the river, eager but probably a little scared.

 

The nexr inquiry: Why did Asa go to Spingfield and enlist in Decmber of 1776 only to return to New Hampshire in March of 1777? What I know about this period and place is that General Washington had designated Springfield as the National Armory and that in the fall of 1776 the Americans were taking a beating in what is now new York City. Washington had to abandon Manhattan Island and retreat across the Hudson. Perhaps that precipitated a call for troops to come and defend the site of the National Armory. But in December the tide turned after Washington crossed the Deleware and defeated the Hessions at Trenton, New Jersey, and in January 1777 defeated the British at Princeton. These twin victories may have been perceived to lessen the threat to Springfield so the New Hampshire boys could be allowed to go home. If you have another theory I would like to hear it.

 

NEXT: The New Hampshire militia gets to fight.

Emailed October 13