Stephen TRACY

Stephen married Deborah BINGHAM on 26 Jun 1707 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut. Deborah (daughter of Deacon Thomas BINGHAM and Mary RUDD) was born on 18 Dec 1683; died on 06 Dec 1735. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Prince TRACY was born between 27 Jan 1710 and 1711 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut.
2. Deborah TRACY was born on 08 Jan 1714 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut; died on 06 Sep 1777 in Clarendon, Vermont.
3. Lieut. Thomas TRACY was born on 19 Aug 1725 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut; died on 28 Jan 1821 in Hartford, Vermont.
4. John TRACY was born on 25 Apr 1718 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut; died on 11 Sep 1797 in Woodbury, Connecticut.
5. Mary TRACY was born on 26 Aug 1708 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut.
6. James TRACY was born on 15 Jan 1720 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut; died on 21 Sep 1756 in Fort Edward, New York.
7. Nathaniel TRACY was born on 21 Jun 1722 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut; died on 11 Oct 1750 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut.

John married Mary PRENCE. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 28 Dec 1596, Great Yarmouth, England

Notes:

Excerpt from "The Tracy Genealogy": Stephen Tracy,son of Sephen ad Agnes (Erdley) Tracy, was baptized at Great Yarmouth, England, on 28 December 1596. Some time in 1620 or perhaps even earlier, Stephen came to a decision and took a step which had a far-reaching effet on his own life and the lives of all his descendants. he decided to break all home ties and join the colony of Pilgrims at Leyden, Holland. It is possible that he was following the lady of his choice, for in Great Yarmouth there was then a Lee family and in a "Betrothal book" of the Leyden Archives is found the full record concerning the marriage of Stephen Tracy to Tryphose Lee. This includes the entry of their appearance before the officials on 18 December 1620, and publishing of the Banns on 19 and 24 December and on 1 January, and finally the marriage itself on 2 January 1620-1. This record calls Stephen a "say-worker, bachelor fromEngland" and adds that AAnthony Clements a friend came with him, while Tryphosa Lee is called "spinster, also from England" and an acquaintance Rose Jennings accompainied her.
The Pilgrim Community at Leyden numbered about three hundred members, most of whom migrated to America. Including friends who joined them at Plymouth, England, one hundred and two Pilgrims set out for the New World on the "Mayfloer" and arrived at the coast of what was afterwards known as Plymouth Colony 21 December 1620; thirty sailed on the "Fortune," arriving 9 November 1621; and sixty sailed on the "Ann" and "Little James" in 1623.
Stephen and Tryphosa lived at Leyden for a time and doubtless their daughter Sarah was born there, but evidently they were imbued with the same ideals as the Pilgrims for Stephen came to the New World among those on the "Ann" which sailed from England in the latter part of April 1623 and arrived at Plymouth late in July or early in August of that year........
In 1639 he was constable of Duxbury. He served as a grand juryman 1640-42, and was employed at surveying at various times. In 1643 and 1646 his name appeared on the list of freemen. He had an interest in the purchase of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, as shown in the account of the shareholders' meeting at Pymouth, 7 March 1652. Apparently his wife Tryphosa had died, and desiring to visit his hative land and relatives at Great Yarmouth he returnedc to England about 1653-4. He became ill there within a year and realizing that he would be unable to return to America he signed a power of attorney which was the equivalent of a will....

Stephen married Tryphosa LEE on 2 Jan 1620/21. Tryphosa died before 1653. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Treasurer of Plymouth Colony
• Fact: Served Plymouth Colony as Governors Assistant
• Fact: Elected as the 4th Governor of Plymouth Colony
• Fact: Served as Commissioner of the United Colonies
• Fact: Second term as governor of Plymouth Colony
• Fact: Elected Governor of the Jurisdiction of New Plym

Notes:

Thomas came in the "Fortune" that arrived at Cape Cod November 9, 1621.

Excerpt from "Dawes-Gates, Ancestral Lines":
His residence was first at Plymouth, but before the spring of 1632 he had followed his father-in-law, William Brewster, to Duxbury, where Patience Brewster, the wife of Thomas Prence, died in 1634 and where the residences of these two families continued until 1644, at which time the beloved Elder William died and Thomas Prence removed with his family to Nauset on the Cape. In this change he was accompanied by six other families, including those of John Doane, Josiah Cooke, and Edward Bangs, a total of forty-nine souls. there he was instrumental in forming the fourth church in the infant colony and in 1651 the settlement was renamed Eastham. While Thomas was still resident in Duxbury, and aged on about thirty-four, he was elected governor in 1634, serving then for the term of one year. In 1638 he was again the recipient of the same honor, but five years previously a law had been passed requiring the governor to reside in Plymouth, so he declined the office. On the insistence of the court he agreed to accept the position if the residence clause were waived. That request was granted, and he served during the year 1638. For more than forty years after 1632 he continuously served as an assistant or magistrate, except while holding the chief office of governor.
While resident in Eastham, and immediately following the death of Governor Bradford, Thomas Prence was unanimously chosen to succeed him, and thereafter for sixteen consecutive years, or until his own death in 1673, he held the office of governor. On his election in 1657 the court again granted him the special concession of waiver of residence, permitting him to continue to live at Eastham, where he had a farm of at least two hundred acres of the richest land in the vicinity.

Name:
Thomas Prence was the most distinguished of the settlers of Eastham, though not the best educated. At the time of his removal in 1645, he was holding the position of an assistant to Gov. Bradford, and had twice been chosen governor of the infant colony --first election in 1634, and second election in 1638. He was a native of Lechlade, a parish in Gloucestershire, England, it is understood, and born about the year 1600. He came to Plymouth in the ship Fortune, in November 1621. At the time of his removal he was residing in Duxbury. His farm at Eastham contained many acres, It was situated northwest of Town cove, in that part now included within the present town of Eastham.His house stood on the east side of the county road, near where Mr. E. Doane's house now stands. It is said his farm comprised the "richest land" in the place. the famous old pear tree planted by him while a resident, and which was blown down in 1849, stood but a few rods westward from the site of his house. He was a large landowner. He owned land in what became afterwards Harwich and Truro, besides tracts at Tonset and other localities in the Colony. He disposed of most of his landed estate before his death. His tracts at Sauquatucket, now Brewster, which came to him by grant, on the account of having been a "Purchaser or Old-Comer," he sold to his son-in-law, Major John Freeman, in 1672. His "half share" at Paumet, both "purchases and unpurchased," or Lovell's Creek," he sold to Mr. Thomas Paine in 1670......

Gov. Prence continued in the office of an assistant by successive elections till 1657, when he was unanimously elected to the office of governor, as successor to Gov. Bradford, who died that year. As the law required the governor to reside at the seat of government, a dispensation was obtained for him, and he was allowed to remain at Eastham, as he desired. Mrs. Bradford was engaged to entertain him and his assistants while at Court; an attendant was appointed to attend him in his journey to and from Plymouth, and occupied the place provided by the government at a place called Plain Dealing, which the late Judge John Davis, a native of Plymouth, says was "nearly two miles from the centre of the town on the road to Boston." The late William Russell in his Guide to Plymouth, says the place called Plain Dealing, "extended near "Mr. Hedges," and in the vicinity of "Starts Hill." At this place, while occupying the gubernatorial chair, he died March 29, 1673, in his 73d year. He was "honorably interred at Plymouth, April 8th." Judge Davis says" "the Plymouth church records, in expressing Mr. Prence's character and his amiable and pleasant conversation, depart from their usual course by an indication of his personal appearance, from which it ay be supposed that it was peculiarly dignified and striking. He was excellently qualified for the office of governor. He had a countenance full of majesty, and therein, as well as otherwise, was a terror to evil doers. Besides holding the office of governor, Mr. Prence was a great number of years an assistant of Gov. Bradford. He was one of the commissioners of the United Colonies many years; colonial treasurer and one of the council of war. He was one of those who stood bound to the adventures for the payment of the sum they demanded for their interest in the stock, trade, etc., of the colony, when the purchase was made in behalf of those who came in the three ships, viz; Mayflower, Fortune, and Ann.

Thomas married Mary COLLIER on 01 Apr 1635 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. Mary (daughter of William COLLIER and Jane YATES) was christened on 18 Feb 1611/2 in St. Olave's Parish, Southwark, Surrey; died before 08 Dec 1662 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]