History Spotlight
Randal Pratt, Quaker Farmer
Written by Doug Humes
A
few years ago, I was given an old book on Quaker history. Inside was the signature of the book’s owner, Randal Pratt. I immediately thought “Who was Randal Pratt?” Today, with a laptop and the internet, the answer is usually literally close at hand. So off I went, in search of Randal Pratt. He was born in 1801 on his family’s farm, the 10th of 11 children of David Pratt and Lydia Hoopes, near Goshen Friends Meeting, still standing by the intersection of Rte 352 and Paoli Pike. He no doubt visited his grandfather Pratt’s farm, which is still welcoming visitors today, at the Colonial Plantation at Ridley Creek State Park. The Pratts moved to Newtown, where Randal’s mother died in 1836. That event cast a pall over Randal’s marriage to Mary G. Lewis of Newtown in 1837, at the Quaker Meeting House. Randal brought his bride back to a 750-acre farm along Crum Creek, in the northwest corner of Marple Township, where they raised eight children. Randal was industrious: In addition to operating the farm and an adjacent mill, and reading Quaker history (over 900 pages!), he came up with an improvement to a horse rake and patented it in 1856.
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Pratt family on porch at farm Photo courtesy of Marple Historical Society 1848 map showing Pratt farm Photo courtesy of Marple Historical Society
Pratt signature from book Photo courtesy of Doug Humes
Randal died in 1866, at age 64. He is buried near his parents at Newtown Square Friends Meeting. His farmhouse, described in 1920 as “one of Delaware County’s historic homes,” was knocked down in 1931 when a dam was erected on Crum Creek, flooding the entire Pratt farm, to create Springton Reservoir. Randal, a man of learning, would probably be delighted to know that every time the local residents turn their faucets on, out comes pure fresh water from the reservoir named after his family’s old property, “Springton Farm.” For more on the history of Marple, visit the Marple Historical Society website and Facebook page, and join the Society to keep up to date on coming events: www.MarpleHistoricalSociety.org M
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January 2020
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