Herbert Ashton Pratt and Ella Frances Edwards (son of 17, daughter of 18)

[Scott's father's paternal Grandparents]
[Gordon Pratt > Pratt > Pratt/Edwards]

Herbert Ashton Pratt
BIRTH: 28 Mar 1867, So. Ashburnham, Massachusetts
DEATH: 24 Jul 1956

Ella Frances Edwards
BIRTH: 12 Sep 1874, Foxboro, Massachusetts
DEATH: 25 May 1957


Herbert A Pratt
Herbert A Pratt was born in 1867 to John Madison Pratt (1828-1920) of Vermont and Sarah Flagg Ward (1831-1912) of Massachusetts.  He was raised alongside his brother Albert Pratt (1860-??).

The John M Pratt family lived in Ashburnham as of 1880.  John M (51) was head of the house, and Sarah F (47) was his wife.  Herbert A (13) was at school.  John was a basket manufacturer who had been born in Vermont.  The household at the time included John and Sarah's niece, Laura J McQuestion (14), and Sarah's father Silas Ward (1791-1881).  Sarah's mother Diadamia Mosman (1791-1879) had passed away the previous year, but it's possible that they were under their care well before that as well, since they were both around 90 at their time of death.

Ella Frances Edwards

Ella was the oldest of five children to Thomas J Edwards (1853-1919) and Margaret O'Brien (1854-1919).  Her father was a reed worker (weaving), born in England, and mother Margaret was from Plymouth, MA, of Irish parents.

Siblings of Ella Francis
1. Ella Frances (1874-1957) b. Foxborough, m. 1891 Herbert A Pratt (1867-1956)
2. Cecilia Rebecca (1875- bef. 1942) b. Ashburnham, m. 1893 to Charles E Baldwin (1865-1894), m. 1899 to Franklin C Royea (1879-??)
3. William Andrew (1878-Mar. 17, 1940)
4. May Edna (1886-??) b. Ashburnham
5. Ralph Leo (1895-1942)  b. Leominster

In 1880, the family lived in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
By 1900, the family had moved to Leominster (northwest quarter, 33 Richardson Street) in Worcester County, Massachusetts.  Ella is no longer listed in the same residence as her parents, as she married Herbert Ashton Pratt in 1892.

Life Together

Herbert Ashton Pratt, Ella Pratt Colby, Mary Stevens Pratt, Ella Frances Edwards, Kenneth Herbert Pratt, Harold Pratt, Gordon Pratt  (about 1940, probably taken by Lou)

Herbert and Ella married in 1892.  They had two boys.

1 Harold E (1895-1970) m. 1916 Mary Stevens (1897-1977)
2. Kenneth Herbert (1903-1997)  m. about 1925 Harriet L. H. Eldredge (1905-1997)

As of 1900, they had been married for eight years, and had their first son, Harold E (5).  Herbert (33) and Ella S (25) They lived on  School street in South Ashburnham.   Herbert was the foreman at a chair shop.

Old Postcard for Gardner, MA

In 1910, Herbert  (44) was a supervisor in a chair shop in Ashburnham as of 1910.  He and Ella (36) had been married for 18 years.  They lived on School street in South Ashburnham.

In 1920, the Pratts lived on 104 Peabody Street in Gardner, Massachusetts, the chair-making capital.  Herbert A was now a foreman at one of the chair factories in town.  The census taker accidentally recorded Harold as a grandson.

By 1930, Herbert (63) and Ella F (55) own their house, valued at $10,000 at 49 Temple Street, Gardner, Massachusetts.  Harold E Jr (11 year old grandson)  is living with them.  Herbert is still at work, listed as superintendent of the wood shop at the Chair Factory.

1940, still at Temple street and working at the Chair Factory as the superintendent.  Grandson Harold Jr is working as a chair inspector.

Historical Chair Companies in Gardner Massachusetts.

Ella died in 1957, and is buried at the "New Cemetery" in Ashburnham, along with Herbert A (d. 1956), and in the same plot as their son Harold C Pratt (d.1970) and his wife Mary A Stevens (d. 1977)