Thomas Prence (c. 1601 – March 29, 1673) was a New England colonist who arrived in the colony of Plymouth in November 1621 on the ship Fortune. In 1644 he moved to Eastham, which he helped found, returning later to Plymouth. For many years, he was prominent in Plymouth colony affairs and was colony governor for about twenty years, covering three terms.
In England Thomas Prence was probably born in the area of Lechlade, a town in Gloucestershire, in about 1600 to Thomas Prince and Elizabeth Tolderby.Robert Charles Anderson, "Pilgrim Village Families Sketch: Thomas Prence" , American Ancestors, (a collaboration between American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society). Retrieved March 26, 2013, The Prince family moved to the London parish of All Hallows Barking, near Tower Hill, where Thomas' father was a carriage maker.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 340http://www.plimoth.org/media/pdf/prence_thomas.pdf A genealogical profile of Thomas Prence], (pub. Plimoth Plantation and New England Historic Genealogical Society. Retrieved 2013-03-23 Prence's father, in his will of July 31, 1639, mentioned "my son Thomas Prence now remayninge in New England in parts beyond the seas", and bequeathed him a "seale Ringe of Gold", indicating the family may have been armigerous.Charles Edward Banks, The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers: who came to Plymouth on the "Mayflower" in 1620, the "Fortune" in 1621 and the "Anne" and "The Little James" in 1623, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing 1965), p. 125 Prence's ancestors spelled the family name "Prince", but, after his emigration, Thomas used the spelling of "Prence".
Prence lived in Ratcliff, at that time a hamlet in the parish of Stepney, which is where he was probably living when he decided to emigrate to the New World.
In New England Thomas Prence came to Plymouth Colony on the ship Fortune in November 1621 as a single man. In the 1623 division of land, Prence is named as "holder of one akre of land".Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), pp. 415, 416
The Plymouth Colony had been founded as a joint venture between separatists, religious separatists and a group of "merchant adventurers", who underwrote much of the cost of the colony's establishment in exchange for a share of its profit-making activities. By 1626, however, it was clear that the colony was unlikely to yield significant profits, and the merchant adventurers sought to divest themselves of their obligations.Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War, (New York:Viking Publishing, 2006), pp. 164–168 Prence was one of eight leaders of the colony (known collectively as the "Undertakers") who agreed to assume all of the colony's debts to the merchants, in exchange for which the other colonists granted them a monopoly on the local fur trade.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), pp. 27–28 In a 1633 tax assessment, Prence's wealth was such that he was one of a few men required to pay more than £1.George Willison, Saints and Strangers, (Reynal and Hitchcock 1945), p. 311
The Undertakers established several trading posts around New England, where they traded with the natives for furs, which were shipped to England to pay off their debts.Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War, (New York:Viking Publishing, 2006), p. 168 The business was risky for a variety of reasons: there was competition from Dutch and French traders (the latter seizing the Plymouth post at Pentagoet, present-day Castine, Maine), and their first shipment to England was taken by French privateers.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 55- Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War, (New York:Viking Publishing, 2006), p. 135 The group's agent, Isaac Allerton, also casually mixed personal business with the group's, apparently to his advantage.George Willison, Saints and Strangers, (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1945), pp. 286–293 As a result, debts to English merchants continued to mount until the late 1630s, when Allerton deserted them and the Undertakers sought to dissolve their agreement with the London merchants.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 46- George Willison, Saints and Strangers, (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1945), pp. 307–309 An agreement was reached in 1641 to pay the London merchants £1,200 over a several-year period, but one of the merchants refused the deal and insisted on being paid an additional £400. To rid themselves of the problem, the Undertakers in 1645 pledged some of their landholdings as security. A few years later, they were forced to sell some land to satisfy the pledge; Prence sold his house to pay his share.George Willison, Saints and Strangers, (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1945), p. 310
The economy of the colony changed after major migration to the new Massachusetts Bay Colony began in 1630. The Puritans arriving at Boston and other new communities to the north created a demand for Plymouth's agricultural output, which had until then been primarily used for local consumption. Because the land at Plymouth was not particularly good, its colonists began to disperse to other places where land was better. Prence was part of this migration, joining his father-in-law William Brewster in moving to nearby Duxbury in 1632.George Willison, Saints and Strangers, (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1945), pp. 312–314
In 1644, the Prence family was one of seven to found a new settlement at Eastham on Cape Cod. The area of the Outer Cape (roughly from Brewster to Provincetown) had been reserved to the Undertakers, and Prence became one of the largest landowners in the area. His holdings included land in what is now Brewster, Harwich, Wellfleet and all of Truro. The land there was fertile and the town prospered under his guidance.Shawnie M. Kelley, It Happened on Cape Cod (Guilford, CT: TwoDot, 2006), pp. 32–33 Prence lived there until 1663 when he moved back to Plymouth.
Colonial leadership Governors of Plymouth Colony Dates Governor 1620 John Carver 1621–1632William Bradford 1633 Edward Winslow 1634 Thomas Prence 1635 William Bradford 1636 Edward Winslow 1637 William Bradford 1638 Thomas Prence 1639–1643 William Bradford 1644 Edward Winslow 1645–1656 William Bradford 1657–1672 Thomas Prence 1673–1679 Josiah Winslow 1680–1692 Thomas Hinckley In 1634, Prence was elected governor, and for the rest of his life he played a role in the colony's governance, serving as either governor or on the council of assistants. He also served, at various times, as colonial treasurer, president of the Council of War, and in a variety of other positions. His first election came after the longtime former governor William Bradford refused to stand for the office, and the outgoing governor, Edward Winslow, was preparing to travel to England. Prence was re-elected in 1638 after Bradford again refused to run.John Abbott Goodwin, The Pilgrim Republic; An Historical Review of the Colony of New Plymouth, (Boston: Ticknor and Co., 1888), p. 455
Prence was involved in the colony's disputes over control of settlements on the Connecticut River. As part of the colony's fur trading operations, a trading post was established at Matianuck, now Windsor, Connecticut, in the early 1630s. This was done over objections by the Dutch of New Netherland, who had established their own trading post at present-day Hartford not long before.George Willison, Saints and Strangers, (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1945), pp. 296–297 Discontented colonists from the neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony settled in the same area 1634, seeking to escape what they perceived as the harsh rule of "King [John] Winthrop".George Willison, Saints and Strangers, (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1945), p. 303 Although Jonathan Brewster, head of the Matianuck post, gave some assistance to the needy Massachusetts colonists, the Plymouth government protested that the settlers were occupying land that they had rightly acquired from the local natives. The matter was also bound to a conflict between the two English provinces over the Maine fur trade and became further complicated by the outbreak of the Pequot War. Prence negotiated the agreement that in 1637 resolved the dispute: most of the land was purchased by the Massachusetts arrivals, and Plymouth retained the trading post and several smaller plots of land.George Willison, Saints and Strangers, (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1945), pp. 303–304Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 341 Prence was also involved in an unsuccessful attempt to gain Massachusetts assistance in the recovery of the Pentagoet trading post in Maine.George Willison, Saints and Strangers, (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1945), p. 302
Prence was elected governor for the second time in 1638. New England was then dealing with the aftereffects of the Antinomian Controversy, a religious dispute that resulted in the banishment of several people (notably Anne Hutchinson and John Wheelwright) from the neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony, and occasioned significant debate in Plymouth as well.Adelos Gorton, The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton (Philadelphia: George S. Ferguson, 1908), pp. 13–15 Prence's hardline Puritan views on the matter may have played a role in his election that year. Another persona non grata in Massachusetts was Samuel Gorton, who arrived in Boston, and not finding its religious practices to his liking, settled in Plymouth.Adelos Gorton, The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton, (Philadelphia: George S. Ferguson, 1908), pp. 15–16 Prence objected to Gorton's religious practices as well and saw to it that he was banished from Plymouth. The charges he used to achieve this stemmed from a violation by Gorton of law against harboring strangers without permission, which had until then been only weakly enforced. Prence's action was unpopular, but those protesting Gorton's conviction were themselves fined by the magistrates.Adelos Gorton, The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton, (Philadelphia: George S. Ferguson, 1908), pp. 16–18
During his 1638 term, Prence presided over a significant criminal case over the murder of a Native American man named Penowanyanquis. The matter involved all of the neighboring jurisdictions, because the Indian, a Nipmuc who was trading for the Narragansett, was attacked on the path between Plymouth and the tribal lands, and the perpetrators were captured by the Narragansett. Their leaders appealed for justice to Rhode Island leader Roger Williams, and the victim also survived long enough to make a statement to the Rhode Islanders. Massachusetts Bay authorities were also notified but recommended the case be sent to Plymouth since the attack took place on Plymouth territory. Four white men were involved in the attack, but one managed to escape before the trial and was never recaptured. The other three were tried, convicted, and hanged. Those Narragansetts who attended the trial were satisfied that justice was served.Nathaniel and Thomas Philbrick (eds), The Mayflower Companion, (New York: Penguin Books, 2007), pp. 89–90
On the 1643 Able to Bear Arms List, Mr. Thomas Prence is listed with those men of Plymouth.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), pp. 439, 440, 341