The Prides, Lords, Puringtons and Houstons shared the Masted area on Highland Lake from the day the Puringtons arrived to join the Prides in the turning square.
The purchase could have been a means of bringing the Pride lands into the legal record between what appears to be close friends. The transaction needs close examination. The Royalist hatred of the Prides lasted centuries making "keeping ones head down" advisable til the passions of the revolution finally fully dissipated, and then... old habits die hard.
Joseph Pride lists Abigail Lord as a relative in the 1860 census ten years before the Purington Farm is purchased and there are other previously noticed early census links between the families now being researched. The Prides appear numerous times in every single census from 1790 to 1900 (see the links to Ancestry), its a little hard to figure out how those were missed by the Falmouth Hysterical Society since they are "so good at what they do".
Nine Prides were buried on Morrisons Hill (2 miles away) in the 1840s. By a wonderful quirk of fate the descendants names include Lord Pride's name (Thomas), the Executioner's name (Joseph) and the Executioner's wifes name (Jane). Additional early Pride burials exist in the Lowell Farm Road cemetary (Boat Launch) just one mile away.
Its kind of fun to see the Famouth Historical Society pull such an embarrasing classic "Willis" with such powerful refutation so easily at hand. seems to be a habit with them,... I liked the analysis of Mast Road putting it solidly in the steam age :) Try maybe 1650s, or even 1652 ! and they are so "good at what they do" yea right... smirk
Joseph, Thomas, Jane, Susan, Hannah, Susan, Adam, Benjamin, Lavina
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