The Pruiett Family
Part 1
Introduction - How Our Surname Evolved Over Time
In the narrative that follows, the various spellings of Pruiett reflect differences in the source documents. The family name was spelled "Pruitt" by four generations, from the first Samuel Pruitt around 1700 to Asa Prewitt/Pruitt in the early 1800s. During the 1800s, very few in the family could read or write. This explains the many different spellings of the name during this period including Prewitt, Prewett, Pruit, Pruitt, Pruet and Pruett. Family members signed many of their documents by making an X. Beginning around 1870, the family was spelling the name "Pruett" on a fairly consistent basis as demonstrated on the marriage license of Asa W. Pruett and Alice Climer dated Dec. 31, 1891. After moving to Cincinnati, Ohio in the late 1890s, however, the family, for the most part, made the decision to change the spelling to its current form. Isaac Pruiett's death record in February 1899 is the first document we've found that reflects the spelling as Pruiett. In addition, this document narrows the time frame for the Pruiett move from Virginia to Ohio since it indicates that Isaac died in Cincinnati on Feb. 20, 1899 and was born in Virginia 1 year, 7 months and 17 days before his death. Charles Pruiett's 1905 report card also shows the spelling as Pruiett, as does William E. Pruiett's 1915 Indiana marriage license. Although the 1900 and 1910 census records use other spellings, that could be due to miscommunication with the enumerators. Both Asa's and William's 1920 census records have the current spelling. Also, William Ellis Pruiett's 1917 World War I draft registration card shows the current spelling.
In 1924 William Ellis Pruiett received a letter from W. M. Tredway, a Chatham, Va. attorney, in which he discussed the various spellings of the family name. In his letter to the attorney, William Pruiett had spelled his name "Pruiett" and the attorney responded that he could not find that spelling in any of the family records he found. Despite this, William Ellis Pruiett decided the family would continue to use the name Pruiett. William's father, Acy Pruiett, died in 1924. On his death certificate the name was spelled Pruiett, although in a couple of places the "i" was inserted as a correction.
Samuel Pruitt - Our Earliest Confirmed Pruitt Patrilineal Ancestor
Until a few years ago, our earliest confirmed Pruitt ancestor was Samuel Pruitt who was believed to have been born around 1700. Some sources have given Samuel's birth year as 1684 (perhaps an extrapolation of his birth year based on the false belief, propagated in a DAR application, that his first son, Samuel, Jr., was born in 1705). Other sources have indicated that he was born on April 4, 1700 in Prince George's Co., Md. We have not seen a primary record that confirms that date or place of birth for Samuel Pruitt. Identifying the parents of Samuel Pruitt has also been difficult. Some sources indicate his father was John Pruitt who was born in England in 1658 and his mother was Sarah Lessene who was born in England in 1662. Other sources indicate that John Pruitt and Sarah Lessene were born in Virginia, even that John Pruitt was born on Tangier Island. The Tangier Island connection is highly problematic since the first confirmed settlement of Tangier Island was by Joseph Crockett and his family in 1778 and the first Pruitt to inhabit Tangier Island arrived in the late 1700s. However, we have no historical evidence that John Pruitt and Sarah Lessene were Samuel Pruitt's parents, let alone that Thomas Prewitt (The Immigrant) who is frequently named as the father of John Pruitt, was his grandfather. For a more thorough discussion of Thomas Prewitt, see The Mythology of Thomas Prewitt (The Immigrant).
There were several Pruitt families in Virginia in the late 1600s. Before Y-DNA testing became widespread in the early 2000s, it was not clear how to sort out the various relationships of these Pruitts. We now know that Samuel Pruitt's line was just one of at least six different lines that are not related within the last 4,000 years. To add another wrinkle to this analysis, when some Pruitt males who knew they were descended from Samuel Pruitt began taking Y-DNA tests, they soon learned they were almost as closely related to a group of Sweeneys/Swinneys as they were to each other. The Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) Big Y test has shown that these Pruitts and Sweeneys/Swinneys share a common ancestor who was born in the mid-1600s. This means that the father or grandfather of Samuel Pruitt was likely a Sweeney, Swinney or a related surname. For a more thorough analysis of the Y-DNA evidence and the probable connection of our Pruiett line to the Tidewater Swenys and, by extension, the Northumberland Swanies, see Sweny, Part 1.
Rosamond Prewtt - Our Earliest Pruitt Ancestor
There is a birth record in St. Stephen's Parish, Northumberland Co., Va. that fits nicely into the scenario that Samuel was not the son of a male Pruitt. The record indicates that Samuell Prewtt was born to Rosamond on Feb. 1, 1700. Many of the records from this parish listed a father and no mother (i.e., the patriarchy ruled). When only a mother was listed, it could be assumed that the father was unknown. In fact, in later years the parish was not shy about calling the child a "bastard" when no father was shown. We know that a man named Edmund Sweny, Sr., his wife and three children immigrated to the Tidewater area of Virginia around 1655 based on a patent filed by Thomas Purifoy. At this time, we assume, but have not definitively proven, that the Sweeneys who are related to the descendants of Samuel Pruitt are descended from Edmund Sweny, Sr. While it's possible that Edmund Sweny's son or grandson was the father of Samuel Pruitt, the Y-DNA evidence (based on the sequence of SNPs - see Sweny, Part 1) suggests it's more likely that the progenitor of the Pruitt line was a brother or cousin of Edmund Sweny, Sr. At this point, it became apparent that there was a need to search through Northumberland County records for variations of the Sweeney surname and any possible connections to Rosamond Prewtt. In that search, we found some Swainies who lived there in the 1600s and early 1700s (more about them below). It would be difficult, however, to make a connection without further evidence, so that led us back to Prince George's County for more research.
In early 2025, while examining Prince George's County land records in the Maryland State Archives, we came across a 1717 indenture in which a Rosamond Fitzgerald agreed to lease 150 acres of land from John Bradford for a term of 21 years at a cost of 500 pounds of tobacco for each year, with the first three years excepted. The land she leased was owned by the same man who, in 1714, had leased land to James Hook who was married to Margaret Hocker, the aunt of Samuel Pruitt's future wife, Elizabeth Hawker. The land was also located near property that was leased by John Madin [Maddin], Elizabeth (Wright) Hawkes/Hocker (the grandmother of Elizabeth Hawker) and Margaret (Hocker) Hooke. For more on this 1718 lease agreement, see Hawker, Part 1. It has also been determined that a Morris Fitzgerald leased property from John Bradford sometime before 1722 and possibly before Rosamond's lease date of 1717. In an indenture recorded on August 28, 1722, John Bradford indicated the property he was selling to William Deveron had been leased previously by Morris Fitzgerald. We do not know the relationship of Morris Fitzgerald to Rosamond, but records discussed below from Northumberland Co., Va. and Charles Co., Md. suggest a few possibilities.
Returning to Virginia, on October 5, 1653, a Thomas Swaine and his wife appeared as headrights on Martin Coale's patent for 400 acres in Northumberland Co., Va. This was around the same time that Edmund Sweny immigrated to the Tidewater area of Virginia. Was Thomas Swaine the brother or cousin of Edmund Sweny? Had they departed from England or Ireland around the same time? Was Thomas Swaine or, more likely, one of his sons, the father of Samuel Prewtt? In further examining records in Northumberland County, we not only found evidence that Swainies continued to live there well into the 1700s, but we also found that a Charles Swanie had filed court cases against Morris Fitzgerald in 1707. It's possible that the Morris Fitzgerald in Northumberland Co., Va. was the same person as the one who appeared later in Prince George's Co., Md. It's also possible that Charles Swanie, or one of his Swaine/Swanie relatives, was the father of Samuel Prewtt. Unfortunately, we are not aware of any descendants of the Northumberland Swanies who have taken a Y-DNA test. If they closely matched the Samuel Pruitt line, that might be definitive proof of a relationship between these families.
So, what's the bottom line based on this research? We believe Rosamond Prewtt had a relationship with one of the Northumberland Swanies (who were likely related to the Tidewater Swenys) which led to the birth of her son Samuel on February 1, 1700. The Northern Neck region of Virginia, which includes Northumberland County, was a huge tobacco growing area. The ports could be the first stops for ships coming from England and the last stops for their return voyages to England. The predominant business of plantation owners and lessees around the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River was the production of tobacco. The Potomac River was a highway to and from the tobacco plantations in Virginia and Maryland. Just up the Potomac River from Northumberland Co., Va. was Charles Co., Md. where an extended family of Fitzgeralds were producing tobacco. This may explain why Morris Fitzgerald was in Northumberland County in the early 1700s. A Morris Fitzgerald died in Charles County around 1711. We believe this may have been the father or a cousin of the Morris Fitzgerald who appeared in both Northumberland County and later in Prince George's County. We believe Morris or one of his relatives married Rosamond and that they traveled upriver to Prince George's County in search of land where they could grow and sell their own tobacco. This migration brought Samuel Pruitt to the area where the Hocker/Hawker family lived and where he met and married Elizabeth Hawker around 1720.
After Rosamond Fitzgerald leased her land in 1717, she or Morris Fitzgerald appeared on the 1719 List of Taxables for Rock Creek Hundred, Prince George's County, along with John Bradford, Nicholas Hocker and James Hook. The name appearing just under John Bradford was Mrs Phesgarall [Fitzgerald]. We can't be sure if Mrs was an abbreviation for Morris or Mistress. However, Rosamond Fitzgarril appeared on a 1719 list of residents who contributed to building a new chapel in Rock Creek. Other names on that list included John Bradford, Nicholas Hocker and James Hook, but not Morris Fitzgerald. We suspect that Morris may have died or moved on before Rosamond leased her land in 1717. The 1719 List of Taxables indicated there were four taxables in the Fitzgerald household. That makes sense since she had to produce a lot of tobacco each year to pay for the lease and other expenses. We suspect one of those taxables was her son Samuel Pruitt, but we do not know who the others were. Perhaps they were other sons of Rosamond and/or Morris Fitzgerald. We have not found Rosamond Fitzgerald in any records after 1719, but we are confident that her son Samuel married Elizabeth Hawker around 1720. We believe that Elizabeth (Wright) Hocker died around 1720, so Elizabeth Hawker may have moved into the Fitzgerald household out of necessity. The only land transaction we've found for Samuel Pruitt was a lease of 100 acres from Nathaniel Beall recorded on November 22, 1737 (discussed in more detail later). Like most leases at this time in Maryland, payment was to be made with the tobacco produced on the land. That meant the first growing season would be 1738 which was exactly 21 years after the March 1717 lease by Rosamond Fitzgerald. This may be evidence that Samuel Pruitt and his family lived on the land that Rosamond leased for a 21 year term in 1717. When that lease was about to end, Samuel chose, or was forced, to look for new land on which to grow tobacco.
The Pruitts of Maryland
Prince George's Co., Md., which was created in 1696, encompassed an area that included the present day counties of Montgomery, Frederick and Prince George's and the District of Columbia. In 1748 Frederick County split off from Prince George's County and encompassed all of western Maryland including present day Montgomery County and the northwestern part of the District of Columbia. In 1776 Montgomery County was carved out of the southeastern portion of Frederick County. While the narrative that follows describes events that occurred in both Prince George's County and Frederick County, the actual location of these events was in present day Montgomery County and the northwestern part of the District of Columbia.
It is commonly believed that Samuel Pruitt and Elizabeth Hawker were married in 1720 in Prince George's Co., Md.; however, there is no known historical record to confirm the date. Elizabeth Hawker was born on Dec. 14, 1701 in Prince George's Co., Md. She was the daughter of Robert Hocker and Amy Selby. For more on the Hocker/Hawker lineage, see Hawker. There are several variations of the names of the children born to Samuel and Elizabeth Pruitt. This area needs more investigation, but here is a list that makes the most sense based on historical records:
- Priscilla Pruitt, b. 1721 in Prince George's Co., Md., m. William Duvall of Duvall Forrest, Md. on Oct. 20, 1745 in Prince George's Co., Md., d. ~1798.
- Margaret Pruitt, b. 1724 in Prince George's Co., Md., m. Philip Hawker in 1744 in Prince George's Co., Md., d. 1791 in Montgomery Co., Md.
- Sarah Pruitt, b. 1726 in Prince George's Co., Md., m. James Boydston in 1752 in Frederick Co., Md.
- Samuel Pruitt, b. 1730 in Prince George's Co., Md., m. Lucy Owen in 1754 in Frederick Co., Md., d. 1801 in Pittsylvania Co., Va.
- Zachariah Pruitt, b. 1734 in Prince George's Co., Md., resided in Halifax/Pittsylvania Co., Va.
- John Pruitt, b. 1736 in Prince George's Co., Md., resided in Halifax/Pittsylvania Co., Va., d. after 1800.
The Pruitts did not leave much of a footprint in Maryland records in the early to mid-1700s. Only one Pruitt marriage record has been found so far, Priscilla Pruitt's marriage to William Duvall (see this 1940 transcription of the Rock Creek parish church record). Some lists of children for Samuel and Elizabeth Pruitt include Patience and Mary. We do not include them here because we are confident they were born to other Pruitts in Maryland. The only other records uncovered so far are the 1733 List of Taxables in which, among others, Samuel Pruitt, Nicholas Hawker and Philip Hawker appear. Other records are Samuel Pruitt's 1737 lease agreement, his 1760 last will and inventory documents which appear on Pruiett, Part 2. With this in mind, there is a question that's been raised by some researchers as to whether Margaret Pruitt existed and whether she or a Margaret Snowden married Philip Hocker. Since no marriage record has been found, we have to rely on Philip Hocker's last will, a deed recorded in Frederick Co., Md. and Richard Snowden's last will to make a subjective determination. The primary (and perhaps only) argument in favor of Philip Hocker marrying a Margaret Snowden is the fact that he left his son, Nicholas Hocker/Hawker, more than one hundred acres of a tract of land called Snowden's Manner [Manor] Enlarged. We believe researchers originally deduced that his wife must have been a Snowden for him to possess this tract. Now we know that he purchased the land, "part of a tract of land called Snowdens manor Enlarged," from Thomas, Samuel and John Snowden in 1769. From Richard Snowden's 1763 last will, we know that his three sons, Thomas, Samuel and John, inherited Snowden's Manor Enlarged, along with many other properties, from their father and chose to sell a part of that property to Phillip Hocker who also had bought another parcel from Richard Snowden earlier. From that will, we also learn that Richard Snowden's daughter Margaret had married a John Contee (see Page 3 of last will) around 1744, the same timeframe in which a Margaret had married Phillip Hocker. While this removes the principle argument in favor of Phillip Hocker marrying a Snowden, it does not prove that Margaret Pruitt was his wife. Some researchers have indicated that Philip Hocker's son, Samuel, was named Samuel Pruitt Hocker, but we have not seen a record that substantiates this claim. At this time, we believe the weight of evidence points away from Philip Hocker marrying a Margaret Snowden, and we have tentatively determined that the evidence points towards Margaret Pruitt. As always, this kind of determination is subject to change as more evidence comes to light. Certainly, the geographic proximity of the two families, as the 1733 List of Taxables suggests, makes a Hocker-Pruitt union a plausible presumption, even though Philip would have been her first cousin, once removed. It's of interest to note also that even though Margaret (Pruitt) Hocker was not mentioned in her father's last will (only three of the six children were mentioned), his 1765 estate inventory listed Philip Hawker under "nearest akin" (related by blood).
