PRATT: Protecting Remembred Ancestry Through Testimony
PORT ROYAL- “What’s Your Name?” is such a simple yet complex question that identifies who you are outside of your immediate family. However, for African Americans, the leverage of the last name was a tool of control, change, and a revised identity. Last names or African Miercasn was a psychological and physical preparation of what was called “seasoning,” no longer known today as “whitewashing.”
Last names for African Americans weren’t a freedom or right, yet it was the psychological and physical preparation of what was called “Seasoning,” now known today as “white washing.”
The term “Seasoning" dates back to the 18th century, where slaves went through training of brutal psychological and physical abuse once they arrived in the United States. Training the slaves to the plantation system, including forced labor, division of families, and establishing first and last names given by the slave master.
However, a family within Baltimore, Maryland, took back the power of the last name “Pratt” through their discovery of the truth. Leading them back to the soil of their ancestors' plantation. Standing face to face with the descendant of a former slave master. But how did they get there?
How Did We Get Here?
173 years later, a curious thought became the blueprint for one family in Baltimore, Maryland. Anthone “AJ” Soraes believed it started by opening their mouth.
“ I ended up talking to my mother and grandmother, and I think that we were talking maybe in preparation for an upcoming family reunion,” said Soares.
“And then I posed the question, you know, ‘Who in our family actually does have the last name Pratt? Because we’ve been attending the Pratt Family reunions for so long, I was unfamiliar with anybody who actually had the last name Pratt,” Anthone said.
“Familiar with the Williams, familiar with the Sneads, etc. But nobody with the name Pratt," Anthone continued.
From that conversation, this re-lit the flame for his mother, Karen Soares, daughter of Mary Banks, diving deeper to what was once lost.
“ For me, it goes back to my mother; she was a part of the family reunion committee,” said Karen.
“And she was always the one getting up, sharing the story, the narrative of the Pratt family, and her stories came from her mother and relatives, and other relatives, ” Karen continued.
Storytelling was one of the forms of communication about history established by Eliza and James' eighth child, Bessie Pratt. She then later married John Sead and had a total of six children.
Out of the six children, Florence Snead continued this tradition with her husband George Williams and her 12 children: Louis, Marleen, Marylnn, Roseann, Joseph, Michale, Walter, Robert, George, Warren, Mary, and Bessie.
Mary Willaim Banks was one of seven committee members of the Pratt Family Reunion Committee and known as the “historian” of the family.
Unfortunately, Mary passed on December 4, 2023; however, she carried the origin of James and Eliza for decades, which led Karen and Anthone closer to the truth.
The first Pratt Family Reunion program provided a brief one-page biography of James and Eliza’s lives as former slaves.
“ I think it would be appropriate upon our first reunion,” wrote Mary Banks.
“To try to relate some of the James and Eliza Warren Pratt history, as told to me by my mother, Mrs. Florence Williams, and Aunt Mrs. Beatrice Wilson. My mother is one of the forty-two grandchildren of James and Eliza…”
As for Anthone and Karen, it raised a question about where the last name of “Blare” originated from.
“Blaire did not come into question until we saw the certificates for Emma and Pinky Pratt. I believe they were marriage certificates, and they had her listed, Eliza listed as Eliza Blare. And Blare on the certificate was spelled B-l-a-i-r. And when we do research today, we are seeing B-l-a-r-e,” Karen said.
The second paragraph shares the life of both James and Eliza’s connection to a familiar state and upbringing.
“ Jim Pratt ( as he was called ) and Eliza were both slaves in Essex County, Virginia. Eliza’s mother was a Cherokee Indian, and her father was the slave master, Mr. Hunter, who was a White man. Being of slave parents, both Jim Pratt and Eliza Warren were raised on Mr. Hunter’s plantation. Jim worked the cotton fields, and Eliza worked in the “Big House.”
From this information alone, alarms arose regarding the verbal stories describing the “Big House” and the people residing on that land.
“After going through some of these old family reunion pamphlets and stuff like that, I did see the name Hunter. So I did do my diligence as far as that goes, as well, I was able to locate a prominent figure in Virginia at that time named Robert M.T. Hunter,” Anthone said.
According to the Virginia Relics website, Robert Mercer Taliferro Hunter served as the Essex County Lawyer, Confederate Official and Senator, State Legislator, Senator of the State, U.S. Congressman, Treasurer of Virginia post-Civil War, and owner of the Fonthill Plantation located in Essex County, Virginia.
Hunter built the plantation for his wife, Mary Evelina Dandridge, and eight children. Out of the 100 slaves that were on the plantation, Eliza’s name wasn’t found in any documentation or recognition from Hunter’s descendants in Virginia.
“When they have the Census, they’ll list the head of the household, so let's say James Pratt, and then they will list other people in the household, so then you would start seeing the name of Eliza. Then you start to see the names of the children, Pinky, you know, and so forth. So that’s how I kind of tied the family together and where they were at that time,” Anthone said
According to the United States Federal Census of 1840, James and Eliza were listed under the last name “Pratt” as husband and wife, and their ten children: Annie, Maggie, James, Susie, George, Emma, William, Bessie, Pinky, and Rebecca. Two out of the ten passed away from infancy weeks apart.
“I was actually in Washington, D.C. for a meeting and decided to stop by Pratt Farm after speaking with AJ on my way back, and I saw the Pratt Cemetery. And so many names in the Pratt Cemetery were similar to the names in our family lineage. And when I went, I actually saw the two tombstones of the twin babies.”
As the story continued, there were two major clues that pointed back to the Pratt name just by age and occupation alone.
“ Jim Pratt at the age of 17 and Eliza, 16, were united in marriage by jumping over a broomstick. From this union came twelve (12) children: Annie, Maggie, James, Susie, George, Emma, William, Bessie, Eleanore, Pinky, Edmonia, and Rebecca. Being a strong, healthy, and cooperative worker, Jim Pratt eventually became a free slave and was given an anonymous amount of land in which he developed and sectioned off to raise animals as well as crop. He began to employ workers to help him cultivate his land. The ten (10) children who survived infancy eventually married and moved to Baltimore, Maryland.”
An author by the name of Beverley C. Pratt, who published a personal biography and geographic context called “ Places I Have Known Along The Rappahannock River” in 2005, referenced a story that sounds familiar of the near-death of Eliza Pratt.
“... When the Yankee gunboats came up the river last winter, one of her children was very ill. The Captain of the gunboat “Freeborn” came ashore and assured her that she was in no danger and seemed to sympathize with her about her dying child. Then he rowed back to his gunboat and instantly opened fire on the house. The first shell passed through the chamber in which her child was lying and very close to her as she leaned over the cradle.”
One of the notable stories that was passed down to both Karen and AJ was equivalent to the story referenced in the book, yet how the story ended differed.
“ The story goes that Eliza was holding child in hand and as she was getting ready to put the child into the bassinet, the cannonball went over her head, actually took off that top tower of the house,” Anthone said
Another coincidence that was referenced in the book was the “unidentified” death of two children of Eliza Turner Pratt. Yet within the Pratt family tree, this story was too close to home, yet unidentifiable.
“ William and Eliza had 6 children, including an infant son born July 26, 1861, who died August 9, 1861, and an infant daughter born November 25, 1862, who died December 6, 1862.”
For the last two pages of the story, there was an update of the plantation, family lineages, and the strength of Eliza. But the story of the “servants” was left to imagination.
“ Camden today, through extensive repairs and renovation in plumbing, electrical, heating systems and other innovations, has been restored to its former beauty by John and Anita Pratt, and today it stands as proud and beautiful as it was on the day it was built.”
To Karen, this was another key component of the family history, but to the person standing behind the door, it was a spiritual alignment to healing wounds we couldn’t see but feel.
“I remember at that time, you said that “Karen, I had a feeling when someone was coming. You said that feeling that someone was coming and he said, “I feel like that’s you.”
That someone was John Pratt, the Caucasian descendant and great-grandson of William Carter Pratt; Karen’s ancestors former slave master.
This intuition feeling manifested to Karen and John’s first conversation at the Camden Plantation in 2010. From that point forward, there as a greater appreciation to the name “Pratt.” “We were researching, you know, back and fourth, back and fourth, and my son. I was in D.C. at the Department of Energy for a meeting and then my son called me and said “hey, I found that there is a Pratt Farm!” Karen said.
“Since I was already here, I drove over and I met with, I don’t know if you were here the first time. And then the second time I came, I stopped at the house and I met with Cookie. And Cookie said “Well I call up there to see where John is, he right up at the house,” she continued.
As time continued, John and his family started to face major health complications, which made the strength of their conversation fade. However, with the help of one phone call, the door opened to possibility.
Four days later, the family arrived back to Camden, the home of which their ancestors once served in.
Home Again
Upon arrival, the silence and music of Mother Nature greeted Karen and her two family members, Pauraine and Lorraine Bassette, onto the plantation. Standing within the 1,383 acers of land.
Just a few feet away from Karen’s car stood John with a warm smile, eager to reach for a hug of reassurance and reunion. Just seconds later, John led the ladies to the front door in which their ancestors stood.
“ The way this house came to be, it was an old house here that John Pratt brought in the 1780’s and he and his wife lived here and his children were here and then his grandson had tore the old house down and built this house as a wedding present, that was William Pratt. Had built this house as a wedding present for Eliza Turner in 1856.”
According to the text of “Places I Have Known Along The Rappahannock River,” William commissioned notable Baltimore, Maryland, architect Norris G. Starkwether. Constructing the Italian Villa-style Home that is now listed under the National Historical Records in the United States.
Through the house, the majority of the home's fixtures, such as John’s grandfather’s bedroom, Dining Room, main living room, and reading nook, remain untouched; holding to pale pastel, wood, and neutral color fixtures. The kitchen entryway still has the footprints and grooves of the slaves and the Pratt family’s shoes over the years.
“Most of the time when property owners had these big fames, big properties, they left their properties to a child or a grandchild, or to whoever, usually the slaves went with the property,” John said.
“ I don’t have any records of anybody here at Camden ever buying slaves. I think that they were either had been with the family for generations or possibly were here when John Pratt had started buying properties,” he continued.
According to the Fredericksburg, Virginia website, the 184-mile river was one of the historical sites of notable settlements, such as the Civil War as a barrier between the North and South. About 10,000 African American slaves crossed the river to seek freedom from the Union in 1862.
“ The first John Pratt that came to America from England landed in Westmoreland County for a couple of generations, then King George County, then crossed over here. So the oldest Pratt ancestor that I have was buried in Westmoreland County,” John said.
“ They probably owned slaves, and that’s even a possible connection that could be something from Westmoreland or King George County,” he continued.
The reunion continued in the sunroom covered in white and ocean blue hues, complemented by the sunlight. A Cookbook from the Food Network, “Down Home with the Neelys,” held more than just Soul Food recipes for John.
The memory triggered a question that not only Karen wanted to know, but her ancestors were forced to understand when they touched American soil: How were the slaves treated?
To John’s knowledge from passed-down stories, there was no such thing as a “slave.”
“My family uses the term ‘slaves,’ but referring back to pre-Civil War, they were referred to as ‘servants,’ and not ‘slaves,” John said.
The response was received with silence and head nods between Karen and John. Respecting upbringing and knowledge that was shared, including the quality of living for the “servants.”
The type of slave that John referred to is defined by Cliveden as the “indentured Servitude.” A common form of bondage in Colonial America was where a person would agree to perform labor without pay and be held in bondage as a way to pay off the debt of immigration to America. Housed in better conditions, clothed in proper garments, and fed decent meals rather than on-field slaves.
Connecting back to the Pratt Family Reunion History of the life of Eliza and James. Yet the puzzle remains incomplete. How did Eliza and James adapt the last name from William Pratt if neither were blood related?
“ My generation started to inquire more about, you know, the story. Because it talked about Eliza and James and how they got married, she was young about 16 years or 17 years old and then they said that he was a year older, but when we look at records, he’s probably a few years older or more than Eliza,” Karen said
“And they jumped the broomstick and that was one of the reasons why we really like ‘wait a minute, that kind of sounds like roots.’ You know, trying to make sure that we have the right story, but it was a tradition for the Black Community,” she continued
The term “tradition,” was not a connection back to African American culture and Karen’s side of the family Yet, this was a sacred promise that John wanted to protect at all costs for the sake of the Pratt and other legacies that began on the plantation.
After the conversation, the ladies were invited to drive up to the preserved site for the bodies. When they arrived, the spirits welcomed the ladies and John with a heavy wind presence that wasn’t present near the home at first.
“Just before you came, we put the property on Conservation Usement of Historic Usement and Open Space Usement to protect it partially for tax reasons, trying to minimize state tax reasons, but to also to protect it from being developed as industrial or commercial, or gravel,” John said.
“I’ve always taken care of the slave cemetery. My dad used to have a wooden fence around it with Holly Trees just sort of grew up and marked the four corners. And so, I’ve always known where it was. The fence was never there in my lifetime and no one who was buried there since. But to me it was a sacred place,” he continued
Within 45 minutes alone, the name “Pratt,” felt more than just a name of bondage, but a confirmation of hope.
“When you showed up and wanted to know about the connection, I was like ‘I knew about all of these people that have been born and raised, lived here, left here, there’s so many stories that are not being told,” John said.
“To me, its special and it’s unique to go back for 250 years and my grandparents, great-grandparents walked this same area. Looked at the same things, talking about the weather changes the seasons and so many shared experiences. Sometimes I sit and look at the sunset and think, how many people before me and done the same thing?’ he continued.
Order The Steps for the Next Generation
Taking a look back from where the name “Pratt” originated to now having the physical right to sit within the same house as their ancestors worked is more than just a dream. It’s a call to action.
Reminding herself and Anthone that there is still work that needs to be done. However, in order to continue the legacy of the Pratt name, the next generation must make that first move.
“I believe that your generation, AJ’s generation, have to be intentional about this work, you know? Because we’ve lost so many family members just in the past year, two years,” Karen said.
Although the next generation is responsible for carrying the name and history of James and Eliza Pratt, there is a major significance to the platforms that each generation was given beyond the verbal and physical stories.
Emphasizing the issue of finding “space” to house not only the information, but two generations who never met face to face.
“ I feel like we’re living in a time where it’s challenging for everybody right now. Right now, everyone is getting pulled every which way,” Anthone said
“The gift is like you got electronics, technology, Zoom Calls, Facetime, all that which helps. But at the same time, as far as like, getting together and hanging out at somebody’s house or doing something like that, a lot of us are scattered,” he continued.
After COVID-19, another figure within the Pratt family, Rudolph “Rudy Johnson who made it his mission to establish the purpose of family reunion. But when Rudolph passed in (get date), his works were commemorated by many including Karen.
“We are lucky that Rudy after COVID was able to pick that up. And the way he did it, was amazing and that he just wanted everyone to enjoy. Not to have one excuse not to be there,” Karen said.
“We have to continue to honor that,” she continued.
In this honor to Rudolph’s contribution, the first step that each generation must take is to understand and represent the name “Pratt” proudly. Not with arrogance and pride, but with strength and dedication.
“We’ve been a great family a loving family, giving family, and I believe that we carry the Pratt name very well and hopefully we’ve done enough and prayed enough that our offspring does the exact same thing,” Karen said.
