Holbrook line: Quentin Pray 1595-1667 Immigrant

And we have a winner!  Quentin or Quintin Pray is pretty well documented because he got into so much minor trouble.  His court records are fascinating, and because of them, we know quite a bit about him, although of course there are questions.  It's kind of fun to find someone outside the normal "Puritan" culture, who left an interesting story to be told.  I should mention that this information comes from Michael S. Caldwell's tree on rootsweb, as well as additional information found on geni and on Find a Grave.  I have little personal research to add, but I'm glad to be able to write this story, anyway.

Quentin was born August 27,1595 in Chiddingstone, Kent, England.  His father was probably Robert Pray, although I have also seen a Richard Pray listed as his father, with no mention of his mother to be found other than possibly "Marion".  Wikipedia describes Chiddingstone as "a perfect example of a Tudor one street village".  Quentin would have grown up here, under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, in his early childhood. 

We don't know what trade he worked or how he met his wife, Joan Valliance, but they married June 17, 1621 in Mayfield, Sussex, England.  The two villages appear to be about 13 miles apart.   Several of their children were baptized in Frant, which ispartly in Knet and partly in Sussex County. 

Possibly for economic reasons, since we have no evidence of a Puritan leaning, or maybe because the couple was ready for an adventure, they came to America in 1643, on the ship "Ann Cleeve of London".  John Winthrop, Jr had gone to England and arranged for a group of workmen, servants, and materials to come of Massachusetts for the purpose of setting up an ironworks.  Presumably Quentin and family would then have been in debt to Winthrop for their passage, although it is possible that they came as indentured servants.  It would be interesting to find the early papers of the Iron Works Company, to see what any contracts might say. 

Quentin first went to Kittery, Maine, but was soon in Lynn, Massachusetts.  There are references to him as a "fineryman" but I'm unable to determine whether this was a general term for ironworker, or whether this was a specific job within the process. 

Starting in 1647, Quentin and sometimes his wife appeared before the quarterly court of Essex County several times on charges of swearing.  The usual fine was five shillings, and on December 12, 1648, the two were fined 50 shillings, for five oaths.  The reference doesn't say whether this took place during one marital discussion, or whether it was the result of some other dispute.

Quinton also was a witness when Nicholas Pynyon, who may have been a relative, was 'presented"  for killing five children, on the testimony of his (Nicholas's)  wife.  I haven't found the results of this yet, but Nicholas was in the court records later, or possibly it was a son or other family member.

Finally, Quinton on July 11, 1649 was charged with hitting Nicholas Penion with a staff that had a two feet piece of iron on the end of it, breaking Nicholas's head, and for striking Thomas Billington, and for swearing.  For all this, he was fined.  Ironworkers must have had privileges that somehow kept them from the gallows!  Quinton also may have been charged with striking Jno. Dimond, although the date for that isn't clear. 

Sometime in the 1650's, probably about 1651, the Prays moved to Braintree and there he lived out his life.  He was still working as an ironworker and possibly filed bankruptcy in 1653 (not sure whether this was a personal bankruptcy or the failure of the ironworks he was employed by).  In 1664, he sold all his personal property to pay off personal debts, so things had not gone well for Quentin.

He died June 17, 1667 in Braintree.  His wife Joan was given administration of the estate.  The estate was valued at 74 pounds, three shillings.  One interesting item in the inventory was three spinning wheels.  This shows that there were several people living in the home.  One record says that the youngest of possibly as many as 12 children was born at Braintree, which would have made Joan, if this was still the Joan he had married in 1621, a mother at a rather advanced age.  Quentin must have trusted her judgement, to make her the administrator when she still had children at home.

I found no mention of church involvement for Quentin, which may possibly be inferred by his court record  His inventory shows no books, although of course they may have been sold to settle that earlier debt.  There's much we don't know about Quentin, but we know he led a colorful life, he was a hard worker, and he probably provided at least enough, if not generously, for his family.  It will be fun to keep an eye out for more records as I study more in early Massachusetts history.

The line of descent is:

Quinton Pray-Joan Valliance
Richard Pray-Mary
John Pray-Sarah Brown
Mary Pray Richard Brown
Othniel Brown-Deborah Brown
Sarah Brown-Enos Eddy
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph Brown Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Lousi Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Yes, there are three separate Brown families in this line.  Two go back to Chad Brown and Elizabeth Sharparowe but the other line doesn't seem to, or at least the connection is far up the tree.