Individual Details
Jacob Prouty
(14 Mar 1715 - 24 Nov 1789)
Jacob went with his brothers to the town of Leicester, in the portion which was afterward set off to form the town of Spencer. In 1740 he purchased lot 23 in the north-east part and built a house. His house was about a half mile east from where the house of Eli Prouty stood in 1908, but at that time only the cellar hole was discernable (Cutter 1790). To this house the following year he brought his bride, Anna Capen, and raised a large family. His children and those of his brothers became well known in Spencer. A Jacob and John Prouty are among the landowners in Spencer that are listed in 1771 as being a land-owner with rights to buying a pew at the congregational meeting house. These pews were appraised and sold to land-owners in order of their wealth. First rights of choosing a pew went to the person with the highest valued real estate, and so on.
Jacob lived a long life, dying November 24, 1789. In his will dated April 19, 1781, he made mention of five sons and five daughters all but one of whom outlived him. A monument has been erected to his memory in the cemetery at Spencer by a descendant, Harvey Prouty.
Events
Families
Spouse | Anna Capen (1724 - 1781) |
Child | Deborah Prouty (1742 - 1795) |
Child | Phebe Prouty (1744 - ) |
Child | Lydia Prouty (1747 - 1781) |
Child | Anna Prouty (1748 - 1825) |
Child | Deacon Samuel Prouty (1750 - 1819) |
Child | Jacob Prouty Jr. (1752 - 1831) |
Child | Hannah Prouty (1754 - 1838) |
Child | Caleb Prouty (1756 - ) |
Child | Lucy Prouty (1756 - ) |
Child | Joshua Prouty (1759 - 1838) |
Child | Nathan Prouty (1761 - 1844) |
Child | Mercy Prouty (1763 - ) |
Father | Isaac Prouty (1689 - 1754) |
Mother | Elizabeth Merritt (1691 - 1754) |
Sibling | Isaac Prouty (1712 - 1723) |
Sibling | Elizabeth Prouty (1713 - ) |
Sibling | David Prouty (1716 - 1767) |
Sibling | John Prouty (1718 - 1792) |
Sibling | Caleb Prouty (1720 - 1754) |
Sibling | Adam Prouty (1721 - 1793) |
Sibling | Job Prouty (1723 - ) |
Sibling | Elizabeth Prouty (1724 - 1762) |
Sibling | Ruth Prouty (1728 - ) |
Sibling | James Prouty (1730 - 1813) |
Sibling | Isaac Prouty Jr. (1732 - 1805) |
Notes
Baptism
Adult Elizabeth Prouty Wife of Isaac Prouty was baptized April 7th 1723.Isaac Prouty, Jacob Prouty, David Prouty, John Prouty, Caleb Prouty, Adam Prouty & John Prouty Children of Isaac and Elizabeth were baptized April 21st 1723.
Marriage
also listed at Leicester,Worcester,MassachusettsWill
Probate Index of Worcester Co., MA1790 PROUTY Jacob Spencer more Will 48140
Jacob Prouty Will
In the name of God Amen the 19 day of April in the year of
our Lord 1781 I Jacob Prouty of Spencer in the County of Worcester
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay in New England yeoman being im
pared and weak in body but of perfect mind and memory thanks be given
to God. Therefor, Calling to mind the mortality of my body well knowing it is
appointed for all men Once to die do make and ordain this my last will &
Testament that is to say principally and first of all I give and recommend
my soul into the Lamb of Almighty God who gave it hoping through the
[ ] Death and [ ] of my Savior Jesus Christ to have Just [ ]
and forgiveness of all my sins and to inherit unlasting life - and my
Body I commit to the Earth to be Decently buried at the Discretion of my
Executors hereafter named, nothing doubting but that at the general [reason]
I shall [serve] the [fame] again by the mighty power of God. and as touching
such ......
First my will is that all my just debts funeral charges and expenses be duly paid
by my Executors. I give to my three oldest sons, viz, Samuel, Jacob, & Caleb. Sixty
Spanish milled Dollars each or the value thereof -- Also I give to my three
oldest Daughters, viz, Deborah Brisco, Phebe Heywood and Anna Munroe,
Thirty Spanish Milled Dollars each or the value thereof, also I give to the heirs
of my Daughter Lydia Stevens late of Ware in the County of Hampshire [dead]
five shillings [ ] money each in like money as aforesaid (excepting to
Pamela Stevens to her I give thirty Spanish Milled Dollars -- Also I give to my
two youngest Daughters, viz, Hannah & [Mercy] 40 Dollars in Silver each or the
value thereof likewise the one half of my household furniture to be equally divided
between them and likewise it is my will that the said Hannah & Mercy have
the privilege of living in my house so long as the remain unmarried
And also I give to my two youngest sons, viz, Joshua & Nathan the residue
of my estate both real and personal to be divided between them equally, also it is my
will that my Executors have a term of five years after my decease to pay out
the Legacy, My will is that an equal part of said Legacies be paid in each of said
five years, Furthermore, I do hereby constitute and -- appoint my two
sons, viz, Joshua & Nathan my sole executors of this my last will and testament
utterly. Disallowing, revoking and -- all and every other former
will of wills by me heretofore made, ratifying and confirming this and no other
to by my last will and Testament, in Witness whereof I have hereto set my
hand and seal the day & year above written. Signed, sealed, published, pronomred
declared by the said Jacob Prouty at his last Will and Testament in the presence of us
the subscribers who signed as witnesses in presence of the testor -
John Prouty
Levina Hunt Jacob Prouty (Seal)
Aaron Hunt
Burial
Spencer Old Burying ground, Spencer, Mass., behind Congregational ChurchDate Photo Taken: Aug. 2000, Owner: Louise Prouty
tombstone reads -
JACOB PROUTY
Born in Scituate. Mass.
March 14, 1714:
Moved to Spencer 1740;
Died Nov. 24, 1789,
aged 74 years.
Erected by Harvey Prouty, Grandson
Endnotes
1. Pope, Charles Henry, 1841-1918., Prouty (Proute) genealogy. (Boston, Mass.; C.H. Pope, 1910.), p 20.
2. Draper, James., History of Spencer, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to the year 1860 : including a brief sketch of Leicester, to the year 1753. (Worcester: Printed by H.J. Howland, 1860?, 279 pgs.), p. 237.
3. Pope, Charles Henry, 1841-1918., Prouty (Proute) genealogy. (Boston, Mass.; C.H. Pope, 1910.), p 20.
4. Anonymous, Western Massachusetts : a history : 1636-1925 (New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 1926, 2345 pgs.), p 46.
5. Wilford Jacob Litchfield, "Records of Second Church of Scituate, now the first Unitarian Church of Norwell, Mass.," The New England historical and genealogical register, Volume 58 (1904) (http://books.google.com/books : accessed 27 October 2009), 266.
6. Draper, James., History of Spencer, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to the year 1860 : including a brief sketch of Leicester, to the year 1753. (Worcester: Printed by H.J. Howland, 1860?, 279 pgs.), p. 186.
7. Draper, James., History of Spencer, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to the year 1860 : including a brief sketch of Leicester, to the year 1753. (Worcester: Printed by H.J. Howland, 1860?, 279 pgs.), p 119.
8. "Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991," database, Ancestry.com, (: accessed 28 March 2020), Jacob Prouty.
9. Prouty, Louise., Emails on Prouty genealogy, re desendants of James Prouty. (
10. , "Old Spencer Cemetery," database, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 12 November 2011), .