The Delaware Breakwater in modern times from Cape Henlopen.

From the collection of Millman E. Prettyman

"Records in England present the facts that the Pratyman family had its origins in Suffolk County, England and was well established in that area by 1361.

By 1500, three branches of the Pretymans (note spelling) had developed in Suffolk County. The Thorndon Family by 1615 headed by Sir John Pretyman; Driffield family headed by William Pretyman; and the Bacton Family headed by Thomas Pretyman.

From one of these three branches of the family, and most likely from the Thorndon branch, a John Prettyman (note spelling) migrated to America and by 1638 was listed as a plantation owner in St. Georges Hundred in the Lord Baltimore County of Maryland.

Court records reflect the activities of John Prettyman in the St. Mary's area until May 14, 1643. At this point, the Maryland record ends.

However, the Virginia Archives state that on July 4, 1643, John Prettyman was living in Northhampton County on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

This could be the same John Prettyman and his sons John, Jr., and William.

In 1697 John Prettyman, Jr., moved north to Delaware by boat with his family -- Thomas, William, Robert, John and Mary -- stopped briefly at Fenwick Island, then continued on to the area that is now Lewes, Delaware where the family more or less established itself permanently. Tower Hill, John, Jr.s' first Delaware home, remained in the family for more than 250 years."