Thomas PRENCE

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 Patience BREWSTER on 05 Aug 1624 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. Patience (daughter of Elder William BREWSTER and Mary ?) was born before 1600 in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England; died on 12 Dec 1634 in Plymouth, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts; was buried in Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Patience arrived in the "Anne" about July 10, 1623 with Fear Brewster.