Ancestor Report
Ancestor Report
Fifth Generation
Patrick O’Hara is said to have lived in a town next to Mohill, Co. Leitrim, Ireland, where he was a schoolmaster. Patrick died in Ireland in the famine, and his wife Mary Gallagher emigrated to America with her brother and his wife (John and Katherine Gallagher), and her own children.
He married Mary GALLAGHER1, GG Grandmother.
20. John NUGENT1, GG Grandfather, son of 40. Dennis NUGENT & 41. Mary FLYNN. Born abt 1805 in Ireland. Died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 20 Oct 1893.4 Buried in Arlington, Massachusetts.
21. Catherine WALSH (LYONS?)1, GG Grandmother. Born in 1815 in Ireland. Died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 8 Oct 1892. Buried in Arlington, Massachusetts. Occupation: Housewife.
There is a Catherine Lyons in FamilySearch who married John Nugent and died 8 Oct 1892 in Cambridge (buried in Arlington); she was born about 1815 in Ireland.; Parent John Lyons and Mary Smith.
22. Thomas THOMSON1, GG Grandfather. Born in 1810 in Ireland. Died in 1901. Immigrated in 1840 Ireland to Nova Scotia.
Thomas and Nancy (Thomson) Thomson emigrated from Ireland to Nova Scotia in 1840.
Birth and death dates from photo of gravestone.
23. Nancy (Ann/Mary) THOMSON1, GG Grandmother, daughter of 46. Alexander THOMSON & 47. Margaret WALSH. Born in 1817 in Ireland. Died in 1900. Immigrated in 1840 Ireland to Nova Scotia.
Birth and death dates from photo of gravestone.
24. John FITCH12, GG Grandfather, son of 48. Capt. Zachariah FITCH & 49. Sibyl LAKIN. Born on 20 Sep 1777. Died on 7 Jul 1854.
John and Hannah (Davis-White-Shattuck) Fitch lived on the soapstone quarry farm north of Hollis Station (“the Gould place,” now on Longley Road).5 The quarry was opened about 1825.12
25. Hannah DAVIS13, GG Grandmother, daughter of 50. Josiah DAVIS & 51. Sarah SAWTELL. Born on 23 Apr 1789 in Townsend, Massachusetts. Died on 6 Apr 1856.
26. James Ozro PRATT14,15, GG Grandfather, son of 52. Samuel PRATT & 53. Mary HENRY. Born on 26 Feb 1812 in Sterling, Massachusetts.14 Died on 23 Aug 1841. Buried in Chester, Vermont (Brookside Cemetery). Of Antrim, New Hampshire.16 Occupation: Schoolmaster.
James Ozro Pratt’s entry in the 1998 Pratt Directory17 (with square brackets in the original) reads as follows: “JAMES OZRO, 26 Feb 1812, prob. Barnard, Vt., s/o Samuel b. 1772 and Mary (Henry). M. 1837 Almira SLEEPER b. 8 Mar 1813, d/o John and Lydia (DODGE) of Francestown, NH. He d. 23 Aug 1841, age 29; on the same stone w/mother [‘M. H. P.’] at Brookside Cem’y, Chester, Vt. Wife poss. d. bef. 1850 also or her name omitted in fol’g note: ‘In 1850 Francestown (Hillsboro), NH, John and Lydia SLEEPER, both 60, b. NH. Res. w/them was Ellen PRATT, 12, b. NH, prob. d/o James O. and Almira.’”
Rupp’s chapter in the Henry Genealogy clearly reports that James and all his siblings were born in Sterling, not in Barnard, Vt. (as above). I find no entry for James O. Pratt in the published vital records of Sterling, but his siblings Mary Foster Pratt and Samuel Henry Pratt are both listed.18
In 1837 he was an assistant teacher at Hopkins Academy, Hadley, Massachusetts (History of the Hopkins Fund, Grammar School and Academy, in Hadley, p. 143), and may have also taught briefly at the New-Boston Public School in New Hampshire (New Hampshire Annual Register, 1837).. At the time of his early death, in 1841, he was principal of Chester Academy in Vermont (1814-1876) (Aldrich & Holmes, History of Windsor County, Vermont, pp. 681-682). Zadock Thompson's History of Vermont (Gazetteer section, Chester entry, p. 54): "An academy was incorporated, and a building 50 by 40 feet, three stories high, erected in 1814, in the south village. The school is now in a flourishing condition, under the instruction of James O. Pratt."
A testimonial letter under his name was printed in William Balch’s “A Grammar of the English Language (1841), declaring the value of that book in the program of Chester Academy. He is described there as “James O. Pratt, A.M., Principal of Chester (Vt.) Academy.”
He married Almira SLEEPER19, GG Grandmother pub. 23 Feb 1837.16
27. Almira SLEEPER19, GG Grandmother, daughter of 54. John SLEEPER & 55. Lydia DODGE. Born on 8 Mar 1813 in Francestown, New Hampshire.16 Of Bennington, New Hampshire.
According to the Dodge Genealogy,21 Almira Sleeper “m. _____ Pratt; he d., leaving 3 children; she m. (2), _____ Favor, who d. April, 1879. She lived in Bennington, N. H., in 1880.”
“Almira, (b. Mch. 8, 1813, m. 1st, James O. Pratt of Antrim, (pub. Feb. 23, 1837,) 2nd, Emerson Favor of Bennington, June 13, 1844, res. in Bennington.)22
28. Sumner WOODS23, GG Grandfather, son of 56. Isaac WOODS & 57. Eliza SHATTUCK. Born on 7 Oct 1831 in Dunstable, Massachusetts. Died on 4 Jan 1918.
Sumner Woods’ name appears in a list of heads of families “then living west of Salmon Brook, in Dunstable,” according to “the map of Middlesex County, published this year [1856] by Henry F. Walling.” 24 His name also appears on the Dunstable voting list prepared 20 February 1873.24
He married Augusta Frances TERRELL23, GG Grandmother on 21 Feb 1855.25
They had the following children:
14i.
George Henry, G Grandfather (1855-1940)
ii.
Lizzie Frances, GG Aunt (1857-1902)
iii.
Nellie Augusta (Twin), GG Aunt (1861-1949)
iv.
Edie A. (Twin), GG Aunt (1861-1861)
v.
Ida M., GG Aunt (1865-1868)
29. Augusta Frances TERRELL23, GG Grandmother, daughter of 58. Charles TURRELL/TERRILL & 59. Ruth SEARLES. Born on 1 May 1835 in Nashua, New Hampshire. Died on 20 May 1919.
Virginia (Woods) May26 spells Augusta Frances’ family name Terrell, but Skeate27 (who identifies her parents as Charles and Ruth Terrill) spells it Terrill.
30. Sylvester Addison PARKHURST28,29, GG Grandfather, son of 60. Sylvester P. W. PARKHURST & 61. Harriett Newel BURGESS. Born on 17 Dec 1837 in Brookline, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire. Died in Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 Mar 1909.
Sylvester Addison Parkhurst was a farmer of Groton and Westford, Massachusetts.
He married Sarah Melissa CUMMINGS28, GG Grandmother on 4 Jul 1861.
They had the following children:
i.
Charles I. G., GG Uncle (ca1862->1880)
15ii.
Addie May, G Grandmother (1865-1940)
iii.
Georgia, GG Aunt (ca1867->1880)
iv.
Allan G., GG Uncle (ca1869->1880)
v.
Emma P., GG Aunt (ca1871->1880)
vi.
Fred W., GG Uncle (ca1876->1880)
31. Sarah Melissa CUMMINGS28, GG Grandmother, daughter of 62. Thomas CUMMINGS & 63. Lucinda WRIGHT. Born on 21 May 1837.
