Thomas Prence
| Thomas Prence （or，Thomas Prince） | |
|---|---|
| 4th, 8th & 12th Governor of Plymouth Colony | |
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In office 1634–1635 |
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| Preceded by | Edward Winslow |
| Succeeded by | William Bradford |
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In office 1638–1639 |
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| Preceded by | William Bradford |
| Succeeded by | William Bradford |
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In office 1657–1673 |
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| Preceded by | William Bradford |
| Succeeded by | Josiah Winslow |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1600 Lechlade, Gloucestershire, England |
| Died | March 29, 1673 Plymouth, Plymouth Colony |
| Signature |  |
Thomas Prence (c. 1601 – March 29, 1673) was an English born colonist who arrived in 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.
Thomas Prence was probably born in the area of Lechlade, a town in the county of Gloucestershire, in about 1600 to Thomas Prince and Elizabeth Todlerby. The Prince family moved to the London parish of All Hallows Barking, near Tower Hill, where Thomas' father was a carriage maker." Prence's father, in his will of July 31, 1639, mentioned "my son Thomas Prence now remayninge in New England in parts beyond the seas", and bequeathed him a "seale Ringe of Gold", indicating the family may have been armigerous. Prence's ancestors spelled the family name "Prince", but, after his emigration, Thomas used the spelling of "Prence".
Prence lived in Ratcliff, at that time a hamlet in the parish of Stepney, which is where he was probably living when he decided to emigrate to the New World.
Thomas Prence came to Plymouth Colony on the ship Fortune in November 1621 as a single man. In the 1623 division of land, Thomas Prence is named as "holder of one akre of land".
The Plymouth Colony had been founded as a joint venture between Separatists religious separatists and a group of "Merchant Adventurers", who underwrote much of the cost of the colony's establishment in exchange for a share of its profit-making activities. By 1626, however, it was clear that the colony was unlikely to yield significant profits, and the Merchant Adventurers sought to divest themselves of their obligations. Prence was one of eight leaders of the colony (known collectively as the "Undertakers") who agreed to assume all of the colony's debts to the merchants, in exchange for which the other colonists granted them a monopoly on the local fur trade. In a 1633 tax assessment Prence's wealth was such that he was one of a few men required to pay more than £1.
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