Prince Family Genealogy

Prince

   The Prince surname is English and French: nickname from Middle English, Old French prince (Latin princeps), presumably denoting someone who behaved in a regal manner or who had won the title in some contest of skill.
   The family Coat of Arms is red with a gold saltire cross, on which there is an ermine cross. The Crest is an arm holding three pineapples (pinecones in heraldry) emerging from a crown. The family was first found in Yorkshire, where they were seated from early times. Their first records appeared on the early census rolls taken by the early Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects. Some of the first American settlers of this name were: Edward Prince, who settled in Virginia in 1635, James in 1638; Thomas in 1639; Edmund in 1643; and Edward in 1646.
   A possibility as our ancestor could be Thomas Prince, who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621 -- a year after the "Mayflower." But our first proven link to this family lived in Salem, Massachusetts, about sixty years later. It comes in a will:
   According to "The Gedney Family of Salem Massachusetts 1637-1697," by Richard Horton Gedney, Jr.: "On August 5, 1688 John Gedney passed away at the age of eighty-five, in his will, proved at Salem December 12, 1688, he makes bequests to his remaining children and grandchildren in various forms. Of interest is a bequest to his "daughter-in-law Rebecca Putnam", and to "Bethia Hutchinson," who in John's words "now liveth with me." These two women are not previously mentioned in the records as members of the Gedney family. There is evidence to believe, however, that John married not twice, but three times; the first wife in England being Sarah, the mother of Lydis, Hannah, and John, then secondly in America, Mary Prince, widow of James Prince, who by her was born the remainder of his children, and then finally Vatherine Clarke. This would explain perhaps the seeming discrepancy between the Custom house records naming Sarah as his wife and the First Church of Salem records naming Mary as such.
   Records from John's parish in Norfolk, St. Peter Permontergate, shows one "poor" widow Prince and children in the Rate Books of Easter 1634. It is believed that Mary Prince had three children by her first marriage, namely Robert, Bethia, and our ancestor, REBECCA.
   Rebecca was born about 1630. Robert and Bethia were accounted in John Gedney's household in 1651. Bethia later married Joseph Hutchinson, and Rebecca married JOHN PUTNAM, JR. The Bethia mentioned in the will refers to the daughter of Bethia and Joseph Hutchinson, and when she died in 1690, she mentions her grandfather "Gidney." In addition, a list, made in 1638 to regulate the distribution of marsh and meadow land according to the number of persons in a family, showed John Gedney's family amounting to seven, evidencing numerous additions since the previous year when he arrived in Salem." Robert Prince appears as a servant with Bethia and Lydia, probably his sisters in the tavern of John Gedney in 1651. They were there in 1654—Rebecca Prince married John Putnam and settled in Salem Villiage in 1652. She was called "step daughter" by John Gedney.
   JOHN PUTNAM Younger was christened on the 27th of May, 1627, in Aston Abbotts, Bucks, England. John married Rebecca on September 3, 1652, in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. John died on the 7th of April, 1710, in Salem—not a moment too soon for a lot of people.
   John was not a nice guy. He and his brother Thomas orchestrated a lot of the arrests during the Salem witch trials, using them to get rid of (ie: execute) a lot of their business rivals, or people they just didn't like, including rival farmers, their former minister, and even the BASSETTS and PROCTORS, who were also our ancestors. Whether they did this because they were ruthless enough to use a volatile situation to kill off anyone they didn't like, or because John was just backing up his brother in defense of his child, or because their Puritan instincts deluded them into thinking anyone who disagreed with them was aligned with the devil, we may never know. But the facts are that the Putnams were instrumental in the deaths of a lot of innocent people.
   Of course, it doesn't mean that his children were evil. After all, we're related to one of them:

CHILDREN OF JOHN PUTNAM II AND REBECCA PRINCE

REBECCA PUTNAM was born on 28 May 1653 and died on 26 Jun 1672.

SARAH PUTNAM was born on 4 Sep 1654.

PRISCILLA PUTNAM was born on 4 Mar 1657 and died on 16 Nov 1704. Family listed below.

JONATHAN PUTNAM was born on 17 Mar 1659 and died on 2 Mar 1739.

JAMES PUTNAM was born on 4 Sep 1661 and died on 7 Apr 1727.

HANNAH PUTNAM was born on 2 Feb 1663 and died before 9 May 1730.

ELEAZOR PUTNAM was born in 1665 and died on 25 Jan 1732.

JOHN PUTNAM III was born on 14 Jul 1667.

SUSANNA PUTNAM was born on 4 Sep 1670.

RUTH PUTNAM was born in Aug 1673 in , Salem, Essex, Massachusetts.

GENEALOGY

JAMES PRINCE married MARY PRINCE and begat...

REBECCA PRINCE (b. 1630), who married JOHN PUTNAM II and begat...

PRISCILLA PUTNAM (b.1657), who married JOSEPH BAILEY and begat...

SARAH BAILEY, who married ISRAEL JOSLIN (1693 - 1761) and begat...

SARAH JOSLIN (b. 1722), who married JOSEPH MUNYAN (1712 - 1797) and begat...

JOSEPH MUNYAN (d. 1831), who married MARY MARSH (1750 - 1820) and begat...

AMASA MUNYAN (b. 1800), who married SUSANNA HENNING (1802 - 1821) and begat...

MARY ANN MUNYON (1823 - 1899) married WILLIAM POTTER (1819 - 1894) and begat...

LOUISA EDITH POTTER (1856 - 1891) who married ABRAHAM CANE WINTERS (1829 - 1893) and begat...

NELLE WINTERS (1885 - 1974) who married WILLIAM PRITCHARD (1880 - 1958) and begat...

DOROTHY PRITCHARD (b. 1918) who married ERWIN WENK (1910 - 1982) and begat...

MARTHA WENK (b. 1940) who married CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE, JR. (b. 1939) and begat...

JEFF (who married LORI ANN DOTSON), KATHY (who married HAL LARSEN), ERIC (who married MARY MOONSAMMY), and MICHELE HAUSE (who married JOHN SCOTT HOUSTON).

SOURCES