A Compilation of Family Stories
Acquired by the Descendants of Abraham Pratt
Acquired by the Descendants of Abraham Pratt
On August 13, 1827, Abraham and Elizabeth Fenton Pratt christened their infant son Abraham at St. Andrew’s Church in Kirby Malzeard, a small village near Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. According to the church’s documents, the senior Abraham Pratt was born at Rawdon, West Yorkshire and later became a road surveyor within the region and in the genealogical records his occupation is listed as a contractor in 1855. information is lacking regarding the senior Abraham Pratt and his wife. It is known that the younger Abraham Pratt had a half-brother, who was fourteen years younger, by the name of James F. Kirk, from South Cave, Yorkshire who later homesteaded in Nebraska and then moved to northwestern Kansas to establish bachelor homes west and later in Studley, Kansas.
Little information could be obtained regarding the younger Abraham Pratt’s earliest years, the one who immigrated to Kansas in 1878. in 1855, at the age of 28, he married Catherine Russell at St. Andrew’s Church and the certified copy of his marriage certificate lists his profession as “sailor”. As a sailor, prior to his marriage, he was a member of the unsuccessful search party sent to rescue men with the British exploring party of Sir John Franklin who were allegedly lost in the vast Arctic.
While the rescue party was en-route to the Bering Sea to implement one phase of the search the ship bearing Abraham Pratt docked in San Francisco, California for supplies. Coincidentally, gold had been discovered in California a short time earlier and the ship’s crew mutinied to seek their fortunes in the goldfields. Abraham Pratt may have been one of the ship’s officers and did not mutiny but he was stranded for at lest a year in America before he obtained passage to return to his homeland in England. Whether he remained a sailor after his marriage is questionable because by 1859, the birth entry certificate of one of his children, Abraham Pratt’s occupation is listed as “Commercial Traveler.”
According to the descendants of Abraham Pratt, sometime between 1856 and 1859, Abraham, his wife, and eldest son John Fenton (born June 15, 1856) moved from Kirby Malzeard to Ripon in north-central England. In Ripon the Pratts resided at 74 Borrage Lane along the banks of the River Skell. In Ripon three more children were born to complete the family; Jane (born in 1959), Tom (born August 26, 1861), and Sarah Ann (born 1864). Tragedy struck the family on October 14, 1866, when Catherine Pratt, at the age of 36, passed away. The funeral services were conducted at St. Andrew’s Church where she had been married. Speculation by family members is that Catherine Pratt was buried in the accompanying churchyard although weathered tombstones and records cannot verify her final resting place.
After Catherine Russell Pratt’s death her widower husband remained in Ripon but moved, with his four children, from Borrage Lane to 13 Westgate. This address was adjacent to at least one of his business establishments and women were hired to care for his children. Sometime after Catherine’s death Abraham’s second son Tom was sent to live with “Aunt Raw”. Whether this Aunt Raw was a biological relative or not is unknown because she is not listed in the genealogical information.
Abraham had a successful business or businesses in Ripon. He allegedly was a proprietor of a tavern and at various times his occupation was listed as a licensed victualler, a publican, or in a bottling works business. As late as the 19th century it was not uncommon for English pub owners to distill and brew the “spirits” they sold in their establishments. An 1878 directory contains a commercial business entry for Ripon which lists: “Pratt, Abraham. Spirit vaults, 7 Westgate”. As late as 1983, Richard Mermis, a great grandson of Abraham Pratt, visited 7 Westgate in Ripon; the proprietor of a shop at that location stated that in the past a pub called the “Slip-Inn” was located there. Whether that was the name Abraham Pratt had given his establishment is unknown.
Exactly why Abraham Pratt left successful business ventures in England in 1878, cannot be discerned. Why he came to the Great Plains is also an unanswered question, since he was a “city” man, ex-sailor, and relatively old for the 19th century, at the age of 51. in Ripon, Abraham had a business partner named James Taylor, who evidently was also a friend, and came to America with Pratt. The two men supposedly looked for a desirable homestead in Nebraska when they heard of the basically unsettled region of northwestern Kansas. Possibly the reason Pratt went to Nebraska was due to James Kirk, Abraham’s half-brother, who may have located there. Allegedly Pratt and Taylor may have spent a week, or a little more, in Nebraska before traveling to northwestern Kansas and specifically Sheridan County. For some reason Taylor only stayed a brief time there and moved to what is now Oklahoma.
Abraham Pratt applied for citizenship and filed on a homestead in eastern Sheridan County, Kansas on which later the unincorporated village of Skelton and/or Studley was later established. Pratt did not abandon his business experience while in his new location in Kansas, but became the first Justice of the Peace in Valley Township, the community’s first postmaster, the proprietor of a lumberyard, a grain merchant, a small role as a representative railroad land agent / townsite developer, and sold some insurance during the 1880s and 1890s. He also had interests in some farming and sheep husbandry.
According to family member, after leaving England in 1878, his eldest son, John Fenton Pratt, was responsible for dispersing or selling Abraham’s business interests in Ripon. Abraham returned to England in late 1879, and by March of 1880 arrived back at his Kansas homestead with J.F. or “Fent”. In 1880, Abraham and Fent began purchasing 160 acres of railroad land to adjoin Abraham’s homestead. Interestingly this initial purchase record also included Tom Pratt’s name on the land abstract.
Tom Pratt served a four-year apprenticeship plying his time on one or more sailing ships freighting merchandise from ports in England to India. In 1882, when the terms of the apprenticeship had expired, Tom joined his father and brother in Sheridan County to become land-locked on the High Plains.
Abraham’s eldest daughter, Jane, married William Thomas Wilson in 1891, but never came to America to visit her father and brothers. Abraham’s and Catherine’s youngest daughter, Sarah Ann, married a stonemason, Charles Lockwood, in England in 1888. In the early 1890s, the Lockwood’s came to Kansas and lived near Studley for an undetermined amount of time. The Sheridan County records indicate that Sarah Lockwood applied for American citizenship, suggesting the intention to stay, although there are no known records of Charles completing a citizenship application. While in Kansas Charles was employed by J.F. Pratt and probably helped construct he stone outbuildings on Cottonwood Ranch. After one, to as many as three, years later the Lockwood’s returned to England and remained there for the rest of their lives.
Fent Pratt was the first of the Pratts to marry in America. After moving from the dugout on his father’s homestead he began constructing a one-room stone house north of the South Solomon River in 1885. Either in 1885 or 1886, Fent returned to England to convince Jennie Elizabeth Place to marry him. He returned to Kansas but she did not make the journey with him. IN 1888, they did decide to marry so Fent sent her money for passage from England to New York and from there by rail to Lenora in Norton County, Kansas. Fent met Jennie on December 30, 1888, married her the next day, and brought her to Cottonwood Ranch January 1, 1889, where she allegedly broke into tears at the sighting of her new but relatively humble home.
The contrast of her English lifestyle to that of the High Plains, and her new husband, required a difficult period for adjustments. Jennie was born in Manchester, England to George and Mary Harrison Place on April 13, 1861. None of her living descendants or relatives knows if she had any siblings. It has been suggested that her background was upper-middle-class British and that there probably were servants in her parent’s household. The reaction of a city-raised, English lady after a long and possibly grueling trip to arrive in midwinter to the “primitive” bleakness of the High Plains can somewhat be imagined. During her husband’s absence, while he was tending sheep away from the ranch, she attempted to leave by walking the approximately 21 miles to Lenora to board a train and eventually return to England. British settlers to the northeast of her new home and living in Graham County apparently would stall Mrs. Pratt long enough for Fent to retrieve her and return her to Cottonwood Ranch.
One of the reasons why Jennie may not have been successful with her escape attempts was that she was pregnant within the first two months of her marriage. Hilda Pratt was born October 2, 1889. Getting way became more complicated. Almost five years later Jennie and Fent’s second and last child, Elsie, was born September 23, 1894.
Tom Pratt, and probably Abraham, had been living in the house with Fent at Cottonwood Ranch until near or possibly up to the time that Jennie arrived. Maybe before, or at least very near that time of Fent’s marriage, Abraham and Tom moved and established their own residences. Abraham constructed his house on his claim near his homestead dugout, and Tom moved to his new house one-half mile west of Fent’s. Tom’s home was dubbed “Bachelor’s Hall” until his marriage to Elizabeth Mosier in 1897. “Little Tom” and Elizabeth Pratt had eight children; Abram, John, Robert, Jesse, Sarah Catherine, Frank, James Fenton, and David, of which three were living in 1998.
Abraham, Fenton, and Tom Pratt were successful in their endeavors in establishing themselves in eastern Sheridan County, Kansas and the Studley vicinity as long as they lived in America. In partnership the three Pratts held 160 acres of mostly bottomland purchased from the railroad in 1880. Plus, the three each homesteaded 160 acres. Also, Tom and Fent each obtained patents on 160 acres by “timber claim” and Fent added 160 acres to his timber claim by a “pre-emption” purchase. The three eventually established their three homes within a one-half mile radius just west of Studley but their outlying lands were strategically located to range the sheep bands with adequate live water supplies.
Abraham Pratt died in 1901, leaving his land and lumberyard business to his children. Fent and Tom administered his estate and sent the proceeds to their sisters living in England. By 1904, Fent entered semi-retirement and had sold all but 80 acres of his holdings, which was his half of the land the three Pratts had began purchasing in 1880. Fent died in 1937, and Tom died in 1940. None of the original landholdings are currently owned by descendants of Abraham Pratt.
Tom’s wife, Elizabeth died in 1944, and Fent’s wife Jennie died in 1959. Fent’s daughter Hilda never married and lived at Cottonwood Ranch until 1978, and passed away in 1980. the other daughter, Elsie, married Clarence Johnson and moved to Manhattan, Kansas and raised a daughter and two sons, of which the daughter and one son were still living in 1998. Elsie died in 1975.
The descendants of Abraham Pratt currently are scattered throughout America with some remaining in Kansas. The only descendants of Abraham Pratt presently living in Sheridan County is his great-great-granddaughter and her four children.
While the rescue party was en-route to the Bering Sea to implement one phase of the search the ship bearing Abraham Pratt docked in San Francisco, California for supplies. Coincidentally, gold had been discovered in California a short time earlier and the ship’s crew mutinied to seek their fortunes in the goldfields. Abraham Pratt may have been one of the ship’s officers and did not mutiny but he was stranded for at lest a year in America before he obtained passage to return to his homeland in England. Whether he remained a sailor after his marriage is questionable because by 1859, the birth entry certificate of one of his children, Abraham Pratt’s occupation is listed as “Commercial Traveler.”
According to the descendants of Abraham Pratt, sometime between 1856 and 1859, Abraham, his wife, and eldest son John Fenton (born June 15, 1856) moved from Kirby Malzeard to Ripon in north-central England. In Ripon the Pratts resided at 74 Borrage Lane along the banks of the River Skell. In Ripon three more children were born to complete the family; Jane (born in 1959), Tom (born August 26, 1861), and Sarah Ann (born 1864). Tragedy struck the family on October 14, 1866, when Catherine Pratt, at the age of 36, passed away. The funeral services were conducted at St. Andrew’s Church where she had been married. Speculation by family members is that Catherine Pratt was buried in the accompanying churchyard although weathered tombstones and records cannot verify her final resting place.
After Catherine Russell Pratt’s death her widower husband remained in Ripon but moved, with his four children, from Borrage Lane to 13 Westgate. This address was adjacent to at least one of his business establishments and women were hired to care for his children. Sometime after Catherine’s death Abraham’s second son Tom was sent to live with “Aunt Raw”. Whether this Aunt Raw was a biological relative or not is unknown because she is not listed in the genealogical information.
Abraham had a successful business or businesses in Ripon. He allegedly was a proprietor of a tavern and at various times his occupation was listed as a licensed victualler, a publican, or in a bottling works business. As late as the 19th century it was not uncommon for English pub owners to distill and brew the “spirits” they sold in their establishments. An 1878 directory contains a commercial business entry for Ripon which lists: “Pratt, Abraham. Spirit vaults, 7 Westgate”. As late as 1983, Richard Mermis, a great grandson of Abraham Pratt, visited 7 Westgate in Ripon; the proprietor of a shop at that location stated that in the past a pub called the “Slip-Inn” was located there. Whether that was the name Abraham Pratt had given his establishment is unknown.
Exactly why Abraham Pratt left successful business ventures in England in 1878, cannot be discerned. Why he came to the Great Plains is also an unanswered question, since he was a “city” man, ex-sailor, and relatively old for the 19th century, at the age of 51. in Ripon, Abraham had a business partner named James Taylor, who evidently was also a friend, and came to America with Pratt. The two men supposedly looked for a desirable homestead in Nebraska when they heard of the basically unsettled region of northwestern Kansas. Possibly the reason Pratt went to Nebraska was due to James Kirk, Abraham’s half-brother, who may have located there. Allegedly Pratt and Taylor may have spent a week, or a little more, in Nebraska before traveling to northwestern Kansas and specifically Sheridan County. For some reason Taylor only stayed a brief time there and moved to what is now Oklahoma.
Abraham Pratt applied for citizenship and filed on a homestead in eastern Sheridan County, Kansas on which later the unincorporated village of Skelton and/or Studley was later established. Pratt did not abandon his business experience while in his new location in Kansas, but became the first Justice of the Peace in Valley Township, the community’s first postmaster, the proprietor of a lumberyard, a grain merchant, a small role as a representative railroad land agent / townsite developer, and sold some insurance during the 1880s and 1890s. He also had interests in some farming and sheep husbandry.
According to family member, after leaving England in 1878, his eldest son, John Fenton Pratt, was responsible for dispersing or selling Abraham’s business interests in Ripon. Abraham returned to England in late 1879, and by March of 1880 arrived back at his Kansas homestead with J.F. or “Fent”. In 1880, Abraham and Fent began purchasing 160 acres of railroad land to adjoin Abraham’s homestead. Interestingly this initial purchase record also included Tom Pratt’s name on the land abstract.
Tom Pratt served a four-year apprenticeship plying his time on one or more sailing ships freighting merchandise from ports in England to India. In 1882, when the terms of the apprenticeship had expired, Tom joined his father and brother in Sheridan County to become land-locked on the High Plains.
Abraham’s eldest daughter, Jane, married William Thomas Wilson in 1891, but never came to America to visit her father and brothers. Abraham’s and Catherine’s youngest daughter, Sarah Ann, married a stonemason, Charles Lockwood, in England in 1888. In the early 1890s, the Lockwood’s came to Kansas and lived near Studley for an undetermined amount of time. The Sheridan County records indicate that Sarah Lockwood applied for American citizenship, suggesting the intention to stay, although there are no known records of Charles completing a citizenship application. While in Kansas Charles was employed by J.F. Pratt and probably helped construct he stone outbuildings on Cottonwood Ranch. After one, to as many as three, years later the Lockwood’s returned to England and remained there for the rest of their lives.
Fent Pratt was the first of the Pratts to marry in America. After moving from the dugout on his father’s homestead he began constructing a one-room stone house north of the South Solomon River in 1885. Either in 1885 or 1886, Fent returned to England to convince Jennie Elizabeth Place to marry him. He returned to Kansas but she did not make the journey with him. IN 1888, they did decide to marry so Fent sent her money for passage from England to New York and from there by rail to Lenora in Norton County, Kansas. Fent met Jennie on December 30, 1888, married her the next day, and brought her to Cottonwood Ranch January 1, 1889, where she allegedly broke into tears at the sighting of her new but relatively humble home.
The contrast of her English lifestyle to that of the High Plains, and her new husband, required a difficult period for adjustments. Jennie was born in Manchester, England to George and Mary Harrison Place on April 13, 1861. None of her living descendants or relatives knows if she had any siblings. It has been suggested that her background was upper-middle-class British and that there probably were servants in her parent’s household. The reaction of a city-raised, English lady after a long and possibly grueling trip to arrive in midwinter to the “primitive” bleakness of the High Plains can somewhat be imagined. During her husband’s absence, while he was tending sheep away from the ranch, she attempted to leave by walking the approximately 21 miles to Lenora to board a train and eventually return to England. British settlers to the northeast of her new home and living in Graham County apparently would stall Mrs. Pratt long enough for Fent to retrieve her and return her to Cottonwood Ranch.
One of the reasons why Jennie may not have been successful with her escape attempts was that she was pregnant within the first two months of her marriage. Hilda Pratt was born October 2, 1889. Getting way became more complicated. Almost five years later Jennie and Fent’s second and last child, Elsie, was born September 23, 1894.
Tom Pratt, and probably Abraham, had been living in the house with Fent at Cottonwood Ranch until near or possibly up to the time that Jennie arrived. Maybe before, or at least very near that time of Fent’s marriage, Abraham and Tom moved and established their own residences. Abraham constructed his house on his claim near his homestead dugout, and Tom moved to his new house one-half mile west of Fent’s. Tom’s home was dubbed “Bachelor’s Hall” until his marriage to Elizabeth Mosier in 1897. “Little Tom” and Elizabeth Pratt had eight children; Abram, John, Robert, Jesse, Sarah Catherine, Frank, James Fenton, and David, of which three were living in 1998.
Abraham, Fenton, and Tom Pratt were successful in their endeavors in establishing themselves in eastern Sheridan County, Kansas and the Studley vicinity as long as they lived in America. In partnership the three Pratts held 160 acres of mostly bottomland purchased from the railroad in 1880. Plus, the three each homesteaded 160 acres. Also, Tom and Fent each obtained patents on 160 acres by “timber claim” and Fent added 160 acres to his timber claim by a “pre-emption” purchase. The three eventually established their three homes within a one-half mile radius just west of Studley but their outlying lands were strategically located to range the sheep bands with adequate live water supplies.
Abraham Pratt died in 1901, leaving his land and lumberyard business to his children. Fent and Tom administered his estate and sent the proceeds to their sisters living in England. By 1904, Fent entered semi-retirement and had sold all but 80 acres of his holdings, which was his half of the land the three Pratts had began purchasing in 1880. Fent died in 1937, and Tom died in 1940. None of the original landholdings are currently owned by descendants of Abraham Pratt.
Tom’s wife, Elizabeth died in 1944, and Fent’s wife Jennie died in 1959. Fent’s daughter Hilda never married and lived at Cottonwood Ranch until 1978, and passed away in 1980. the other daughter, Elsie, married Clarence Johnson and moved to Manhattan, Kansas and raised a daughter and two sons, of which the daughter and one son were still living in 1998. Elsie died in 1975.
The descendants of Abraham Pratt currently are scattered throughout America with some remaining in Kansas. The only descendants of Abraham Pratt presently living in Sheridan County is his great-great-granddaughter and her four children.
References for the information regarding the Pratt Family is compilation of oral history, notes,
manuscripts, obituaries, and copies of genealogical records acquired from the
descendants of Abraham Pratt stored and on file at Cottonwood Ranch.
manuscripts, obituaries, and copies of genealogical records acquired from the
descendants of Abraham Pratt stored and on file at Cottonwood Ranch.