Thomas Prence was probably born in the area of Lechlade, a town in Gloucestershire, in about 1600 to Thomas Prince and Elizabeth Tolderby.
31 Facts About Thomas Prence
1.
2.
Prence's ancestors spelled the family name "Prince", but, after his emigration, Thomas used the spelling of "Prence".
3.
Thomas 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.
4.
Thomas Prence was one of eight leaders of the colony 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.
5.
Thomas Prence was part of this migration, joining his father-in-law William Brewster in moving to nearby Duxbury in 1632.
6.
In 1644, the Thomas Prence family was one of seven to found a new settlement at Eastham on Cape Cod.
7.
The area of the Outer Cape had been reserved to the Undertakers, and Thomas Prence became one of the largest landowners in the area.
8.
Thomas Prence's holdings included land in what is Brewster, Harwich, Wellfleet and all of Truro.
9.
Thomas Prence lived there until 1663 when he moved back to Plymouth.
10.
In 1634, Thomas 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.
11.
Thomas Prence served, at various times, as colonial treasurer, president of the Council of War, and in a variety of other positions.
12.
Thomas Prence was re-elected in 1638 after Bradford again refused to run.
13.
Thomas Prence was involved in the colony's disputes over control of settlements on the Connecticut River.
14.
Thomas 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.
15.
Thomas Prence was involved in an unsuccessful attempt to gain Massachusetts assistance in the recovery of the Pentagoet trading post in Maine.
16.
Thomas Prence was elected governor for the second time in 1638.
17.
Thomas Prence objected to Gorton's religious practices as well and saw to it that he was banished from Plymouth.
18.
Thomas Prence's action was unpopular, but those protesting Gorton's conviction were themselves fined by the magistrates.
19.
Thomas Prence was sometimes one of the commissioners who represented Plymouth in the organization's meetings.
20.
In 1658, Thomas Prence was appointed to a special commission to mediate a border dispute between Massachusetts and Connecticut.
21.
Thomas Prence held the post until his death in 1673.
22.
Thomas Prence was described as being fairly friendly in informal situations, but when he presided over the colonial court he was strict and authoritarian.
23.
Thomas Prence was described by a contemporary as the "Terrour to evill doers", and he was quick to consider his opposition in any matter as "evill".
24.
In 1656, not long before Thomas Prence became governor, Quakers began to arrive in New England in substantial numbers.
25.
Thomas Prence was eventually stripped of his offices and disenfranchised.
26.
In 1661 Thomas Prence presided over the court during Plymouth's first witchcraft trial and it was reported that he handled the situation in a reasonable way.
27.
Thomas Prence was fair and humane in his dealings with the Indians.
28.
Sometime in the 1660s, Thomas Prence married for the fourth and final time.
29.
Thomas Prence had three more children, Judith, Elizabeth and Sarah, but it is not certain which wife was the mother.
30.
The mention in his will of his deceased son Thomas's daughter Susanna Prence indicates that he died without a surviving male heir in the Prence line.
31.
Thomas Prence is buried at Burial Hill, a historic cemetery in Plymouth, Massachusetts where many Pilgrims are buried.