The Pretlow records were reportedly in the home of Joseph Pretlow when it burned in 1841 so much of what we have is tradition.

Bishop Chesire of North Carolina indicates: The Pretlows came originally from Italy and were called "Prueli". One of the sons married a French girl against the family's wishes and as a result went to live in Normandy where he took the name of "Preleau" (meaning "near the water"). Edward Preleau or Predeleau (as some say the name was by that time) went from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror as his standard bearer. There the name was changed to Predlow and finally to Pretlow. In the seventeenth century, the Pretlows emigrated to America as tea merchants.

Judge Brode Winborne futher indicates there was no royal blood in the Pretlow family, that they were upper middle class. Strains of Scottish and Welsh were added while in England.

Miss Julia Pretlow (1824-1902) indicated that three Pretlow brothers sailed from Manchester, England, around 1630, landing first at Barbados and finally in Virginia. One brother was childless; the other two married and had children. Judge Winborne writes, "The old records of the family reveal that Thomas Pretlow and his wife, Rebecca, landed on Virginia soil from England about the year 1632." Thomas use the brick ballast from his ship to build the first brick house south of the James River.

Robert Everett Pretlow (1862-1929) who visited this home before it burned about 1880, pictured it as solidly built with the first story of brick and the second of hewn cypress. It was supposedly located in Isle of Wight County, or possibly Nansemond County, between St. Luke's Church and Chuckatuck.

Name variations: Pretlow, Pricklove, Pretloe, Prettow, Pritlove