Thomas Prence

American colonist and politician (1601–1673)

Thomas Prence (c. 1601 – March 29, 1673) was a New England colonist who arrived in the colony of Plymouth in November 1621 on the ship Fortune. In 1644 he moved to Eastham, which he helped found, returning later to Plymouth. For many years, he was prominent in Plymouth colony affairs and was colony governor for about twenty years, covering three terms.

After Governor Bradford died in 1657, Prence became the most important person in Plymouth, He held the post until his death in 1673. He was described as being fairly friendly in informal situations, but when he presided over the colonial court he was strict and authoritarian. He was described by a contemporary as the "Terrour to evill doers", and he was quick to consider his opposition in any matter as "evill".

In 1656, not long before Prence became governor, Quakers began to arrive in New England in substantial numbers. The conservative leaders of the Puritan colonies were alarmed by what they saw as their heretical religious views. Massachusetts issued a call to the United Colonies for concerted action against them, and would ultimately take the hardest line against them, hanging four of them for repeated violations of banishment. The matter of the Quakers came before Plymouth's general court shortly after Prence took office in 1657, and in June that year it passed a series of laws designed to punish or drive them out. Since they refused to swear oaths, one law called for a £5 fine or whipping for anyone refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the King. Ships bringing Quakers into the colony would be charged 20 shillings per day as long as the offensive individuals remained, and voting was restricted to exclude them. They were subject to banishment, and punishments for repeated violations of a ban were escalated. Individuals seen to be harboring them in their homes were also subject to fines and other penalties. Plymouth was neither the harshest of the Puritan colonies in its treatment of the Quakers nor was it the most lenient. Although Prence is often characterized as being less tolerant than Governor Bradford, Bradford never had to face a threat of the sort presented by the Quakers. Historian Eugene Aubrey Stratton believes Bradford might well have approved of the measures taken by Prence. The measures enacted in Plymouth were generally ineffective at keeping the Quakers out, and there was some backlash against the magistrates. Humphrey Norton, arrested for returning after banishment, took Prence to task during his trial, calling him "a malicious man" and saying, "Thou art like a scolding woman, and thy clamorous tongue I regard no more than the dust under my feet." James Cudworth, a Scituate resident and United Colonies commissioner, refused to sign a letter of protest addressed to Rhode Island (which tolerated the Quaker presence), and became an outspoken opponent of the harsh policies. He was eventually stripped of his offices and disenfranchised. The backlash against Prence's Quaker policy was quite widespread in some communities, notably in Barnstable and Duxbury. In some towns the problem was so extensive that the colony established a special constable to investigate conditions and make Quaker related arrests in resistant towns. About December 22, 1657, Mr. William Collier and Capt. Josiah Winslow sent a constable to a Quaker meeting at Arthur Howland's house in Marshfield to arrest the leader. But as Philips reported, he could not arrest Huchin as he was being hindered by Howland who protected the leader. His direct quote, according to author Eugene Stratton, was that "hee would rather have either a sword or gun in the belly of him." Ironically, despite Prence's dislike for the Quakers, within ten years, Arthur Howland married Thomas Prence's daughter Elizabeth. By 1660 the colony reached a sort of accommodation with the Quakers in its midst, and most punishments ceased by 1661. Their presence was tolerated as long as they did not disrupt religious services, and they were denied any possibility of voting or other participation in civic affairs. It also required all community members to pay taxes that supported the local (Puritan) church.

In 1661 Prence presided over the court during Plymouth's first witchcraft trial and it was reported that he handled the situation in a reasonable way. In 1665, in payment for having Governor Prence, in his official capacity, reside in Plymouth, the court ordered that he be paid £50 during his term as governor, with a house provided for him in Plymouth's Plain Dealing area. In 1668, at his request, the court sold that house to him for £150. Prence was fair and humane in his dealings with the Indians. Missionary Thomas Mayhew described him as "gentle and kind" with them and during his time as governor, Prence agreed to a seven year embargo on the sale of Indian land. That policy changed soon after his death in 1673. His successor, Josiah Winslow, a son of Pilgrim Edward Winslow and half brother of Mayflower passengers Resolved and Peregrine White, was no friend to the Indians and became the leader of those who instigated a policy of opportunism towards them. Within this policy, Winslow proved himself one of Plymouth Colony's most unethical and aggressive purchasers of Indian real estate, using legal manipulations to remove Indians from their lands as cheaply and effectively as could be accomplished. He is buried at Burial Hill, a historic cemetery in Plymouth, Massachusetts where many Pilgrims are buried.

Thomas Prence's descendants number in the thousands today. Some of his notable descendants include:
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819) an officer in the US Navy. He served in the War of 1812 against Britain and earned the title "Hero of Lake Erie"
Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794–1858) was the Commodore of the U. S. Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. Linus Carl Pauling (1901 1994) American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, educator and winner of two Nobel Prizes (Chemistry, Peace). Benjamin F. Tracy (1830 1915) Secretary of the Navy under President Harrison and lawyer who represented the preacher Henry Ward Beecher.