The Prosser Family
Allen Prosser, my third cousin once removed, has created a Prosser DNA Project at Family Tree DNA. Through his research, he has ascertained that our family name is derived from the name Rosser, of Welsh origin. Rosser is the Welsh form of the name Roger, a Germanic given name. A detailed explanation of the etymology of the Prosser surname is found HERE. Not all Prossers from Wales are related, as has been proven by Al’s DNA Project.
The following information has been taken from Al's work, with permission.
The oldest ancestor traced to date has been John Prosser, born about 1767. It has not yet been determined if John was born in Wales or Pennsylvania, but he was located in Warrensbush (Florida town) in Montgomery County, New York, when he married his first wife, Sarah Plato, in 1786. Sarah died sometime after giving birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1788. John then married his second wife, Anna Haines/Haynes, in 1791. He and Anna had eleven children together: George, Daniel, John (1796), Solomon, Catherine, Asa, Anthony, Isaac, Wayman, Lewis and an unnamed infant who died.
During the War of 1812, John Prosser Jr. (1796) served in Cleveland’s Regiment. He took the place of his elder brother, George, who was conscripted into the New York Militia from September 3 to November 16, 1814. John's occupations over the years were listed as: Farmer, Justice of the Peace, Minister and Elder of the Christian Church, Tax Assessor, Tax Collector, Town Commissioner and Reeve. He became known as Elder John Prosser.
Most likely in the spring of 1819, John moved from New York state to Upper Canada, along with his elder brothers Daniel and George and their wives, Marcia Haynes and Anna Hartin. John’s sister, Catherine, and her husband Joseph Hartin (brother to Anna) also emigrated with them. Daniel and his wife, Marcia, settled in the township of Ameliasburg (southwest of Napanee) while George and Anna, Catherine and Joseph settled near Centerville in the township of Camden East (northeast of Napanee). John found work on Josiah Willoughby's farm in Richmond Township, Lennox County (northwest of Napanee). It was on the Willoughby farm that John met and married his wife, Sarah Willoughby, daughter of Josiah Willoughby and Susannah Thompson.
By 1821, John and Sarah, who went by the name Sally, were located in North Gwillimbury Township in the Home District of Upper Canada as evidenced by the birth of son Peter on November 5, 1821, the eldest of their ten children: Peter, George, John, Louisa, Elijah, Solomon, Nelson, Robert, Lauretta and Daniel.
John died February 9, 1852 and was buried in the Mann Cemetery in Keswick. Sally married Frederick Armstrong, a farmer some 26 years younger than she, in 1855. A year after her death in 1889, Frederick married Emma Thompson. After Frederick died in November of 1893, Emma married John Wesley Prosser, the son of John and Sally’s eldest son, Peter. (It is at this point that I believe my family bramble bush begins. It brambles in many directions.)
Sadly, the Mann Cemetery is very overgrown and the headstones are difficult to find and read. I took these photos in 2009. Luckily, the stones had been transcribed many years ago and so we know what is said on them. The following is from the transcript of the Mann Cemetery compiled by the York Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, 1994 (permission received to reproduce here). Correct spacing and capitalization were provided by me using both visual inspection and photo taken March 2009.
SACRED
To the memory of
ELDER JOHN PROSSER
who departed this life
Feby. 9th 1852
in the 56th year of his age
Blessed are the poor in heart for they
shall see God. St. Matt. 3 Ch. 8v.
I have fought a good fight. I have
finished my course I have kept the
faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness which the Lord,
the righteous judge shall give me at
that day and not to me only but unto
all them also that love his appearing.
Timothy 2 Ch. 7, 8v
Beloved companion dry these tears
Those sighs and groans will not avail
I have fought the fight and now at rest
Freed from the pang of sorrow's wail
Farewell dear children all farewell
For you I've toiled & groaned and pray'd
My toils have ceased those groans
are stilled
O will my prayers be realized
That I may in that glorious morn
When from this moulding tomb I rise
Clothed in immortal youth and bloom
Meet all those loved ones in the skies
Farewell
In memory of
SARAH
beloved wife of
FREDERICK ARMSTRONG
and relict of the late
ELDER JOHN PROSSER
who died
JAN. 16, 1889
Aged 85 years, 5 mos.
7 days
Asleep in Jesus blessed sleep
From which none ever wake to weep
A calm and undisturbed repose
Unbroken by the last of foes