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Thomas Prentice (c. 1629–c. 1729)

Rebecca Jackson (bp. 1638), daughter of Edward Jackson and Frances Unknown

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Thomas Prentice, probably a migrant, was born perhaps about 1629 and he lived to be nearly 100. It is learned from Edward Jackson’s will that Thomas married Edward’s daughter Rebecca, by his first wife. [1]

Rebecca Jackson was baptized on 10 October 1638 in Whitechapel, London. [1]

Thomas and James Prentice, supposed brothers, bought 400 acres of land in Cambridge jointly on 1 March 1650. [1] They bought 100 acres in Cambridge Village in 1657. [1]

Thomas was a selectman in Newton in 1686, 1690, 1699 and 1700. [1]

In 1688 Thomas Prentice, son-in-law of Edward Jackson, consented to Jonathan Jackson of Boston selling his father's land. [1]

In 1694 Thomas Prentice, Sr. and Rebecca, his wife, conveyed land to Reverend N. Hobart. [1]

In 1713 he referred to land that he had owned about 60 years ago.

In 1714 Thomas conveyed by a deed of gift his homestead at Burnt Hill in Newton to his son Thomas, Jr., except what he had given to his son-in-law John Hyde, and reserving two-thirds his cedar swamp for his sons John and Edward. [1] He conveyed land to his son John, a cordwainer, in 1714. [1]

Thomas's heirs sold his house and farm in June 1728, after his decease. [1] Thomas lived to a great age, but the date of his death is not known. [1]

Thomas is not to be confused with Captain Thomas Prentice who lived in Newton at the same time. They both had sons named Thomas.

Jackson said that Edward "had a horror of records; no where does hi name appear except where he could not help it." 1]

Children of Thomas Prentice and Rebecca Jackson, births recorded in Newton: [2]

i. Ebenezer Prentice was a constable in Newton in 1687. [1]

ii. Edward Prentice died on 16 September 1724 in Newton. [2] He married Sarah Osland. [1]

Edward was a constable in Newton at the time of his death. [1]

iii. Enos Prentice married Lydia Unknown. [1]

iv. Frances Prentice was born about 1667 in Newton. She died after 13 June 1710. She married Joseph Palmer.

v. James Prentice died on 7 March 1710, age 81 (grave), in Newton. [2] He married Elizabeth Bartlett of Marlboro, on 8 March 170[torn] or (duplicate) 9 December 1710 in Marlborough. [2] She died in 1724. [1]

vi. John Prentice died on 4 January 1721 in Newton. [2] He married first Hannah Osland on 21 May 1696 in Newton. [2] Hannah was the sister of his brother Edward’s wife. She died on 2 May 1704 in Newton. [2] He married second Bethiah Unknown. [1]

John was referred to as a cordwainer and as a physician. [1]

vii. Rebecca Prentice

viii. Sarah Prentice married John Hyde. John, the son of John and Elizabeth (Fuller) Hyde was born on 1:12:1681 in Newton. [1]

ix. Thomas Prentice died on 11 December 1724. He married Elizabeth Unknown. [1]

Endnotes

1. Francis Jackson, History of the Early Settlement of Newton (Boston, Stacy and Richardson, 1854), 390–5, 313, 393–4.

2. Vital Records of Newton, Massachusetts, To the Year 1850 (Boston: New England History Genealogical Society, 1905), 157–9 (births), the names of the children of Thomas and Rebecca — Ebenezer, Enos, Edward, Francis (recorded as a son!), James, John, Rebecca, Sarah and Thomas — are given, but not the dates of their births. Marriages, 360; deaths, 491–22

Revised July 4, 2023

© 2019 A. Buiter