It’s been 4 years since the last posting on this thread but I am new to the Pretty line. Just last month, via DNA, I determined that my husband’s great grandfather John Pratt (1818-1904) was actually born John Pretty. He was baptized 13 Sep 1818 in Westleton. His parents were James Pretty/Elizabeth Algar who md there 14 Jul 1818. (I have not seen the original registrations – took info off transcriptions on Ancestry.com.) The family had 6 more children all baptized in Westleton: James 1821, Emily 1823, William 1825, Harriet 1828, Susan 1831 and Henry 1832.
In 1836 the family was transported under the Suffolk Poor Law Union in 1836 to Canada.
https://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/canada/PLU-Emigrants1836.shtmlThe eldest son (my husband’s great-grandfather) was married as John Pratt and retained and passed down the name Pratt. The second son went by James Pratty and later settled in Michigan. The sons William and Henry continued using the surname Pretty. One stayed in Ontario and the other moved to Texas. The daughters all married. All the siblings have descendants who match my husband’s DNA. One daughter named her son Elgar (not Algar). The name Algar was aka Augar.
Given that James Pretty/Elizabeth Algar named their eldest son John, and using the information I’ve gleaned from the prior posting, it would appear that James Pretty b about 1785 was the son of John Pretty b abt 1754 who married Elizabeth Bunn in 1777.
I’ve also been able link my husband’s DNA to descendants of a Jemima Pretty b1795 Westleton who md James Watling in 1814 Westleton. I suspect Jemima to be daughter of John Pretty/Elizabeth Bunn. That family remained in Suffolk.
I also suspect that Hailstone Pretty b 1799 Westleton who md Phoebe Lenney in Westhall in 1822 and then married Charlotte Gooch about 1850 may also be son of John Pretty/Elizabeth Bunn.
Since James Pretty b 1785 disappears from Suffolk in 1836, there would be no descendants in UK searching for him. But it might help others to know that the family emigrated and that two sons revised the spelling of their name to Pratt and Pratty respectively.
Diane Wilson Pratt
Petaluma, CA