Pratt, Albert

Albert Pratt (1830-1908)

Marlborough, NH; Troy, NH; Keene, NH; Westmoreland, NH

Written by Gail Golec, 2024

The history of Albert Pratt’s family in New Hampshire goes back to at least 1798, when Patty Banks (b. 1778 in Roxbury, NH) married Moses Pratt (b. 1765 in Massachusetts) in Packersfield/Nelson, NH. Patty and Moses had at least three children; Albert Pratt (b. 1797; d. September 10, 1818 in Roxbury, NH at 21 years old), Polly Pratt (b. November 27, 1800, in Packersfield, NH) and Martha Pratt (b. 1801, in Roxbury, NH). Their daughter Martha Pratt had two children, Ira A. Pratt (b. 1823 in NH) and Albert Pratt (July 20, 1830 in Marlborough, NH). No marriage records for Martha Pratt nor any official birth records for her two children have been found to date. Since she retained the surname “Pratt” for her entire life and lived with her parents until their deaths, it seems likely she never married.

US federal census records show that by 1840, Moses Pratt and his family were living in Troy, NH; this record also indicates their household included an unknown male child of color under 10 years old; this male child may have been either of Martha Pratt’s children, Ira A. Pratt or Albert Pratt. In 1850, the Pratts are still living in Troy, NH and the household then included: Moses, listed as 85 year old farmer who could not read or write; his wife Patty, listed as 72 years old; daughter, Martha Pratt, listed as 49 years old; as well as two of Martha’s adult children, Ira A. Pratt, listed as a 27 year old farmer with $600 in real estate and his wife, Lizzie A.Pratt, listed as 22 years old and born in VT; and Albert Pratt, listed as a 20 year old laborer. It should be noted that no race is listed for anyone in the Pratt household in 1850, though the 1840 census indicates that either Ira or Albert Pratt were a person of color. Albert Pratt may have remained in Troy, NH throughout the 1850s, with records from the town history referring to a man by that name (though may not be the same Albert Pratt spoken of here) living in town as late as 1859 as a farmer in the part of town that consisted of the District No. 5 school and was apparently well thought of in Troy. 

By 1860, Albert was 30 years old, single, had $40 in real estate, $350 in personal estate and was living in Keene, NH in the household of his brother, Ira B. Pratt. This household consisted of Ira, 37 years old, working as a founder with $500 personal estate; his wife, Lizzie A., listed as a 32 year old dressmaker; and their two children, Mary F. Pratt, 7 years old and Ira M. Pratt, 5 years old. All persons in the household were listed as white.  This same year, Albert and Ira’s mother, Martha Pratt, then 60 years old and listed as a pauper, were living in Marlborough, NH in the household of a farmer named Moses Putney. 

In 1861, Albert Pratt, then of Marlborough, NH, married Nancy W. Wheeler of Fitzwilliam, NH. Information provided in his marriage application lists Albert as 30 years old, mulatto and a farmer; Nancy was 23 years old, white and born to J.W. Wheeler; this was the first marriage for both. The couple was married in the Congregational Church in Marlborough, NH by Rev. Giles Lyman. On March 28, 1862, Albert and Ira’s mother, Martha Pratt died at the age of 61 years and 5 months in Marlborough, NH. 

In 1863, Albert, then 32 years old, was drafted into service for the Civil War; his draft registration paperwork state he lived in Troy, NH at that time and was married, a farmer and listed again as mulatto. Albert and Nancy had a daughter, Fannie Maybelle Pratt born September 2, 1865; on November 12, 1868, they had another daughter, unnamed in the record, born in Troy, NH who was listed as “Black”; another daughter, Edith Mariah Pratt, was born on November 29, 1869 in Troy, NH who was listed as ‘white’. Their son John Pratt was born sometime around 1865 but no official record for his birth has yet been found.

According to the 1870 census, Albert, then 40 years old, a farmer with $1000 in real estate, $600 in his personal estate and was still living in Troy, NH with his family: wife Nancy, 37 years old and keeping house; daughter, Fanny Pratt, 12 years old and in school and son John, 5 years old. All members of the Pratt family are listed as white. The 1870s saw a number of deaths in the Pratt household. On July 9, 1871, daughter Edith M. Pratt died in Troy, NH of a brain fever; she was listed as white and one year old. On December 18, 1873, Albert and Nancy had a son, who died the same day. And on May 13, 1875, Nancy Pratt (Albert’s wife) died.

By 1880, Albert, a 51 year old widower, was still living in Troy, NH, worked in a sawmill and was listed as mulatto, living with him was his daughter Fanny, then 14 years old and was keeping house; she was listed as mulatto, also. It is unclear where son John Pratt was in 1880. He would have been around 15 years old, so old enough to be working, however, he was not living in Albert’s household in Troy, NH and no record of his death has yet been found. Fanny Pratt married Willie A. Towne on January 23, 1889 in North Dana, MA, though both bride and groom were living in Troy, NH at the time. Willie Towne worked as a box maker and Fanny did housework. Willie was a widower and this was his second marriage and Fanny’s first. Both were listed as 23 years old and white. 

In 1897, Albert Pratt was 67 years old and reportedly living in North Dana, MA. However three years later in 1900, the federal census placed him back in Troy, NH, living as a boarder in the household of Ellen M. Parmender (a 55 year old white widow residing with her son, George). This record lists Albert as 64 year old black man, a laborer who was still widowed; he could read and write and that while he and his mother were born in NH, his father was from Alabama . Albert Pratt died on April 25, 1908 at 76 years old at the Cheshire County Almshouse in Westmoreland, NH. He had been there for 10 months, having moved from Troy, NH and suffering from bronchitis for a year. His death record listed him as white, a widower and a farmer. The record listed his parents as Martha Pratt and Moses Pratt (his maternal grandfather, who had adopted him). 

1908 Death Record of Albert Pratt, Westmoreland, NH

Fanny Maybelle (Pratt) Towne (daughter of Albert and Nancy (Wheeler) Pratt) died in Athol, MA on Oct. 19, 1944.  Her obituary indicated she had lived most of her life in North Dana, MA, until the Metropolitan Water Works took over her property and they moved to Athol, MA. She was a member of the Baptist Church and was survived by her husband William A. Towne, son Oscar A. Towne of Athol, MA, daughter Mrs. Stanley Stevens of Tully, MA and daughter Mrs. Lawrence Dyer of Athol. Three of Fanny’s grandsons were serving in WWII at the time of her death.

The various biographical records pertaining to Albert Pratt’s life describe his race as ‘white’ in some cases and ‘mulatto or black’ in others. While seemingly odd, this is not unique to Albert and is found to be the case for a number of people (including Albert’s own children) in Cheshire County, NH throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Someone’s race was often not self-reported and up to the interpretation of the person making the record, thus varying from record to record and across time. All that is known about Albert’s maternal line indicates they were all white and that it was his father, an unknown man, possibly from Alabama, who might have been a person of color. It is unclear if Martha Pratt, Albert’s mother, was married to Albert’s father or if both her sons (Ira and Albert) had the same father. The fact that Albert’s maternal grandfather, Moses Pratt, had adopted him at some point, lends credibility to the fact that Albert was born out of wedlock. Records do not indicate that Ira Pratt was ever identified as a person of color but as he also had the surname Pratt, it is likely Moses adopted him as well, to establish his legitimacy.

GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY

ALBERT PRATT was born July 20, 1830 in Marlborough, New Hampshire, to Martha Pratt (1801-1860) and an unknown father. He married NANCY WHEELER (d.1875) of Fitzwilliam in 1861. They had: Fanny Maybelle Pratt (1865), John Pratt (c.1865), daughter (1868-1868), Edith Mariah Pratt (1869-1871), and son (1873-1873). Albert Pratt died at the Cheshire County Almshouse in Westmoreland, NH, in 1908.

SOURCE MATERIALS

Athol Daily News, Oct 20, 1944, p.8

Caverly, M.D. (1859) An Historical Sketch of Troy, NH 1859; pp. 51, p.259

Civil War draft registration, NH

New Hampshire Vital Records, Deaths, Marlborough, 1801, 1862- Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Vital Records, Marriages, Marlborough, 1861- Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Vital Records, Deaths, Roxbury, 1818, 1862- Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Vital Records, Births, Troy, 1868, 1869- Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Vital Records, Deaths, Troy, 1871- Ancestry.com

New Hampshire VItal Records, Marriages, Troy, 1889- Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Vital Records, Deaths, Westmoreland, 1908- Ancestry.com. Also known as the “County Farm”. Prior to national social security system, every county in NH had a farm/almshouse that cared for residents who could not take care of themselves either due to poor health, age or poverty and had no one else to look after them.

Stone, MT (1897) Historical sketch of the town of Troy, New Hampshire and her inhabitants from the first settlement of the territory now within the limits of the town in 1764-1897. pp. 502-503; Albert Pratt’s death record also gives his birth date as July 5, 1831. It should be noted that there is a discrepancy in the reported age of Fanny Pratt among the various cited references. The Stone, MT (1897) Historical Sketch of the Town of Troy , NH, states that she was born in 1865, but just five years later in the 1870 federal census lists her age as “12 years old” and the 1880 federal census lists her age at “14 years old”. It is likely that Fanny Pratt’s age in the 1870 census was in error, as her marriage card (c. 1889) gives her birth date close to 1865. 

U.S. Federal Census Records, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900- Ancestry.com