Prudence Heath 10th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Prudence was born in Ware, Hertfordshire, England and baptized there on November 6, 1597. Her parents were William and Agnes Cheney Heath. The town of Ware is 30 miles north of London, it’s as old as the Roman Empire from 55 B.C. The Heath family’s church was St Mary’s Parish, still there today.

In 1622 Prudence married Edward Morris, he was also from Ware. They were married in London, on Friday, October 25 at St Mary Mounthaw a parish church “in Old Fish Street Hill”. This church was destroyed in The Great Fire, started in a London bakery on September 2, 1666 and spread fast through the city. Mayor, Sir Thomas Bloodworth ignored the fire or didn’t realize the seriousness and by the time he acted it was a firestorm that lasted 5 days, destroyed one third of London and left 100,000 without homes. “The social and economic problems created by the disaster were overwhelming”. Even though the church burned, and was never rebuilt, a register record with Prudence and Edward’s marriage of 1622 survives.

Prudence and Edward had 4 children, all born in Ware, all left for America. Prudence and Edward both died in their 30s, Edward in 1631, Prudence in 1632. Around this time Prudence’s bothers William and Issac left for America and Prudence’s kids did too. Daughter Elizabeth migrated in 1635, she was 11 and was a servant to George Giddings. Son Isaac migrated the same year, he was with the Ruggles family and age 9. Youngest son Edward Morris (7th great grandpa of Elizabeth Speedy) stayed in Ware until 1651 then left for America to join his family there.

Sources

• England births and christenings 1538-1975 at FamilySearch.org
• England marriages 1538–1973 database at FamilySearch.org
• Great Fire of London 1666 at Wikipedia
• Church postcard via Genealogy in Hertfordshire
• Visscher panorama, snapshot