George PROUSE (PROWSE) (1608 – 1684) was Alex’s 10th Great Grandfather, one of 2,048 in this generation of the Shaw line.
Immigrant Ancestory – Prowse – Coat of Arms
George Prowse was born after 1608 in Tiverton, Devonshire, England. His parents were George PROUSE and Thomazine GODDARD. George Prowse arrived in Jamestown on the ship Diana in about 1619. He married Alice KENN date and location unknown. George died afer 25 Sep 1684 in Kingston, Somerset, England.
Alice Kenn was born about 1612 in Hutton, Somersetshire, England. Her parents were Edmund KENN and Margaret STRODE. Alice died after 1642 in Somersetshire, England.
Children of George and Alice:
| Name | Born | Married | Departed | |
| 1. | George Prouse | ~1636 England |
Mary Wade | 17 Feb 1696 Talbot County, Maryland |
| 2. | Elizabeth Prouse | ~1638 England | ||
| 3. | Thomazine Prowse | ~1640 Tiverton, Devon, England |
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| 4. | Margaret Prouse | ~1642 Tiverton, Devon, England |
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| 5. | John PROWSE | 1643 in Exeter, Devon, England | Hannah BARNES 2 Oct 1665 in Salisbury, Essex, Mass. |
2 Sep 1706 in Amesbury, Essex, Mass. |
| 6. | Roger Prowse | ~1644 Tiverton, Devon, England |
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| 7. | Edmund Prowse | ~1646 Tiverton, Devon, England |
after 13 Feb 1697 [location unknown] | |
| 8. | Peter Prowse | ~1648 Tiverton, Devon, England |
George Prowse arrived in Jamestown on the ship Diana in about 1619. He may be the same George Prowse who married Alice Kenn/Kean. An Alice Kean was living at the same time in Jamestown. While there are records to indicate that the Alice Kean in Jamestown is the same person as the Alice Kenn who married George Prowse, we don’t have documentation about their marrage. He may have been the same George Prowse, living on Hogg Island in 1623.
The LDS records indicate that all of George and Alice Kenn Prowse’s children were born in England. Whether this is true or not I don’t know. All I know is what the LDS records indicate. If they are true, then George and Alice must have returned to England to raise their family. Son George, must have then come to the colonies in the early 1650s to be in St. Mary’s County and the above mentioned Will. There are other possibilities to explain the births in England andProwses in Maryland.
The Visitation of the County of Somerset in the Year 1623
By Sir Henry Saint-George, Sir Henry St. George, Samson Lennard, William Camden
Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary
By Martha W. McCartney
x
Children:
1. George Prouse
George Prowse/Prouse may be the George Prowse who was in St. Mary’s County, Maryland in the 1654 Will of Edward Cotten in which he receive a calf. In 1666 George Prowse was on a jury of inquest in a murder investigation when a bound servant was struck and killed by the person he was bound to.
George may have been the originator of the Maryland Prouse family. He and Mary had four children according to his Will. They were George, Elizabeth, Mary, and Phillip.
Mr. John Rawlings (DO) exhibited: Will of George Prowse (DO), constituting his widow Mary Prouse executrix, proved by 3 witnesses. Also bond of said Mary Prous administratrix of said George Prous. Securities: John Allford, Mathias Allford. Also inventory, by appraisers John Nicholls & John Wade. (John Wade is probably the son of Dr. John Wade and Ann his first wife. Page 195
Cotten, Edward, Newtowne, St. Mary’s Co 8th Apr., 1663 22nd Apr., 1663. To Mr. Mr. Starkey., Ignatius Warren, eld. son of John Warren, George Prouse, James Grinaway, Thomas Matthews, Jr., Darby Flanagan and John Wheatley’s eld. dau., personalty; also personalty to establish a school at Newtone at discrection of exs. To Barnaby Jackson, personalty provisionally. To John Warren, 450 Am of land at Newtone. Exs Thomas Matthews, Ralph Crouch. Test: John Pile, Walter Pakes.
Wills 1696–7 Volume 7 page 271
January 23d Anno: Dom: 1696–7
In The Name of God Amen.
I George Prouse doe here bequeath my Soule to Almighty God. And my boddy to be decently buried. Here now in perfect & Sound memory I doe order & give unto my Eldest Sone George Prouse 2 two thousand pounds of tobacco for Learning and to my youngest Sone Phillip 2 two more for Learning & two thousand for the girls that is one thousand pounds of Tobacco apiece towards learning, & I here make my wife whole Executor to see this ordered for the Chilldrens good to sell some of ye land for the Tobacco toward the Chilldrens learning & this is my last Will & Testament.
George Prouse Signed Sealed & delivered afore us John: Davies Mary Z Wade And on ye back of ye aforegoing Charles Mecarty Will was there Endorsed February 17th Anno: 1696–7
Then came the within named Jno. Davies, Mary Wade and Charles Mecarty & proved this last Will & Testament of George Prous decd, as witness my hand & Seal, John: Rawlings Dep. Commisary
References
Miner Descent 
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As you cite: Martha M. McCartney writes in Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary (p585) that “George Prowse (Prouse) came to Virginia on the Diana and on February 16, 1624, was living on Hog Island. By February 4, 1625, he had moved to Archer’s Hope and was living in a household headed by Joseph Johnson. On August 29, 1625, when Prowse testified before the General Court … identified [Thomas] Bransby as his master.”
McCartney writes (p436) that Alice Kean (Keen, Keene) was a servant on February 16, 1624, in the Jamestown home of John Hall and his wife. Alice joined the household of James Johnson I, who also lived on Jamestown Island. McCartney proffers that Alice may have been a relation to Lt. Richard Kean who died during the March 22, 1622, Indian attack on Martin’s Hundred.
It is a reasonable conclusion that George Prowse and Alice Kean met circa 1625 in the James Johnson household.
Additionally: A George Prowse and an Alice Kean are listed on the Feb 16 1623 inventory of survivors following the 1622 Jamestown massacre. George Prowse was at the Plantation near “James Cittie” and Alice Kean was “In James’ Island”.
I have been researching the Prowse/Prouse family for over 50 years and for most of those years I believed that George Prowse and Alice Kean of Jamestown were my many times great grandparents. Several years ago I began to have doubts.
The 1620 Visitation of Devon was given by George Prowse born circa 1550. In 1620 George listed three children: John, George and Elizabeth. Five other children with asterisks beside their names appear to have been added later. Since the first three children were listed in the 1620 Visitations the children must have been born prior to the census. This appears to contradict the statement that George & Alice met at Jamestown! I believe it is a coincidence of names since The Prowse children were baptized at St. John’s Church in Tiverton while the Jamestown George was at Jamestown. He is reputed to have been a young man or boy off the streets of London. From the Will of George Prowse dated Aug. 10, 1623 and proved Nov. 3, 1624, he made no mention of George being away in Virginia. He did leave several things to him. It didn’t sound like he was out of the country.
I believe we have to look elsewhere for the Jamestown George Prowse. I have found one likely candidate in the son of Richard Prowse and Elizabeth Chilcot of Tiverton. The had several children, one of them a George Prowse baptized at Tiverton June 13, 1604. Little is known about this George Prowse. One theory is that he died young. I suggest that he could be the George Prowse who went to Jamestown. Perhaps he ran away from home and his parents lost track of hime. He very likely could have been one of the 100 children taken off the streets as vagrants and sent to Jamestown in 1619 the same year that George Prowse arrived in Jamestown.
There is evidence that George was in Jamestown until about 1628 when his indenture would have ended. At some point, unknown to us, he returned to England. Possibly London. There is a Will dated about 1642.
It is possible that this George Prowse never married sincer no marriage has yet been discovered. On February 27, 1638 a John Prowse was baptized by his mother, Margaret or Margery. Usually only the father is listed. When only the mother is listed it is often a sign of an illegitimate birth. Giving the child the surname Prowse leads one to believe this was a bastard birth.
On August 3, 1642 a George Prowse was baptized in Tiverton Church. The father was listed as George Prowse. I suspect that George of Jamestown had a common-law marriage with Margery Tucker. About December 17, 1642, a George Prowse was buried. The Will was written in London where George was a Dyer. He appears to be relatively poor while his parents were well to do merchants of wool in Tiverton. In fact, Elizabeth Chilcot, George’s mother was the daughter of Eleanor Blundell, sister to Peter Blundell the richest man in Tiverton who left a sizable amount of his wealth to family and money to start the Blundell School in 1601 Tiverton.
My Prouse ancestor entered Maryland before 1653 when he appears in the Will of Edward Cotton in St. Mary’s Co, Maryland. Could this be the George Prowse baptized August 3, 1642 in Tiverton? We need more information about Edward Cotton who appears to be a Catholic. George may have been an orphan. Remember the George Prowse who died and was buried Dec. 17. 1642. If Jamestown George Prowse never married and was the father of George born in August 3, 1642 and also the father of John born in 1638, a new possibility arises. George would have been only 4 months old when his “father” died in 1642. He could have been brought to the Colonies by Catholic missionaries. The age of John Prowse born 1638 comes close to the birth date of John Prowse of Amesbury, Massachusetts. Two young men without a father’s guidance end up one way or another in the colonies.
I would like to correspond with anyone with an interest in the Prowse family. I am willing to share my research.