Saturday, February 25, 2012

Surname Saturday - LNU (Rhode Island)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.  I am now up to number 367, who is Rachel LNU (????- before 1755), one of my 6th-great-grandparents. [Note: The 6th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts] 

My ancestral line back to Rachel LNU ancestors is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)

4. Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942)
5. Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)

10. Thomas Richmond (1848-1917)
11. Julia White (1848-1913)

22. Henry Arnold White ((1824-1885)
23. Amy Frances Oatley (1826-before 1870)

44. Jonathan White (1806-1850)
45. Miranda Wade (1806-1850)


90.  Simon Wade (1767-1857)

91.  Phebe Horton (1772-????)

182.  Nathaniel Horton (1730-1819)
183.  Sarah Pray (1734-????)




366.  Richard Pray, born about 1683 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States; died 10 July 1755 in Scituate, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.  He was the son of 732. John Pray and 733. Sarah Brown.  He married before 1725 in probably Rhode Island, United States.
367.  Rachel, died before 1755 in Scituate, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
Children of Richard Pray and Rachel are:  Rachel Pray(1725-????); Mary Pray (1728-????); Sarah Pray (1734-1819).

As you can see, I do not know Rachel's maiden surname.  She was probably born in or near Providence, Rhode Island, and probably married Richard Pray before 1725, when their first daughter was born.  

Richard and Rachel (????) Pray had only three daughters, so there are only a few clues to a family name.  Rachel's mother's name may be Rachel or Mary or Sarah;  Richard's mother's name was Sarah.  The three daughters married - Rachel to a Hinds, Mary to Ezekiel Hopkins, and Sarah to Nathaniel Horton. 

The only record that I've found so far concerning Rachel (????) Pray is:


Rachel Pray and her children were admitted to the town of Scituate, Rhode Island on 18 April 1741.  The town council record (transcribed from Scituate (RI) Probate Court, Probate and and Council Records Volumes 1-3 (1731-1799), Volume 1, Page 71, on FHL Microfilm 0,941,155) reads:


"Att a Town Council held in Scituate in the County of Providence holden the 18th day of April Anno Domi 1741 Present
Jedidiah Harris / Samuel Cooper
Jeremiah Angell / Henry Whitmore
Thomas Realph / Benjamin Comeau (?)


"Where as Rachel Pray and her Children are Lately Removed unto this Town and have procured a Certificate from the Town Council of Smithfield from whence they Removed in the following words ---


"Att a Town Council held in in Smithfield September the 19th 1740 - Where as Rachel Pray, the wife of Richard Pray of Smithfield, Informed the Council that She hath a mind to Remove her Self and Children into the town of Situate Wherefore it is voted by this Present Council that if the sd Rachel Pray Should Remove her self and Children into the Town of Situate and Should become Chargable to sd Town of Situate: that this Town will Receive them again as Inhabitants of this town again.


"A true Copy as appears of    ]               Daniel Jenckes Council clerk
Record Examined ................. ]


"Whereupon it is Voted that the sd Rachel Pray and her Children be admited to dwell in this Town untill further orders from this Council."


I wonder why she wanted to leave Smithfield and go to Scituate without her husband in 1741 (Richard Pray died in Scituate in 1755)?  Perhaps she had family there.  


The probate records of Richard Pray were transcribed in 

Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records of Richard Pray (1683-1755) of Scituate RI.


Rachel LNU is one of many of my "loose women" for whom I do not know the parents.  


How will I (or others) be able to solve a research problem like this?  I think it is only by finding a reference  in a land, probate or town record that refers to Rachel Pray, or her children, in a way that implies a relationship to the subject of the record.   My hope is that land, probate and town records on microfilm are digitized and then indexed by FamilySearch in such a way that these records become more available and easier to search.  


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/surname-saturday-lnu-rhode-island.html


Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

1 comment:

Sébastien Comeau said...

Hello Randy,

I read your post and saw that from your document there is a Benjamin Comeau? listed. Do you have a scan of that document?