Pratt, Peter (Attorney), - 1730
Peter Pratt (c. 1680-November 22, 1730) was the only son of Peter Pratt, Sr., and Elizabeth Griswold of Lyme, Connecticut. While a young man, Pratt studied law in New London, where, for a brief time, he became a follower of the Rogerene leader, John Rogers -- his mother’s former husband. After recanting what was considered heresy, Pratt wrote an account of his lapse of judgment called “The prey taken away from the Strong, or an Historical Account of the Recovery of one from the dangerous errors of Quakerism”.
After finishing his legal studies, Pratt removed to Hartford to open a law practice. He was appointed King’s Attorney in 1719. In 1722, he wrote a memorandum to Connecticut’s Legislature asking whether descendants of Indian slaves, taken captive during King Philip’s War should still be subject to servitude.
Sometime prior to 1723, Pratt served as clerk of a military unit, and “through the fatigues of war,” fell ill for five years. He was fined in 1723 for not appearing for militia training but appealed the fines, indicating that he was a king’s attorney. In his petition he successfully argued that he would not dispute the Court’s wisdom “if they shall judge it Compatible with his office to Lugg about the Street on his Left Shoulder a musquet of 6 or 7 foot barrel four of five Dayes a year and that he Deserves no distinction, save what he might acquire by carrying a Knapsack of law books therewith under his Contrary arm.”
Pratt served as one of the Colony’s attorneys until 1727. He died three years later.
Mrs. Charles Delmar Townsend et al., Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Vol. 8, Family of Degory Priest (General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975) 29. S. F. Hall Coe, Memoranda Relating to the Ancestry and Family of Sophia Fidelia Hall (Meriden, CT: Curtiss Way Co., 1902), 145-147. J. Hammond Trumbull, Memorial History of Hartford
Born:
c. 1680Died:
November 22, 1730Children
Ethnicity