The Prather family has been in the USA since 1620. Originally, we washed on shore with the name "Prater." Its unclear how the 'H' got in our name. Maybe there was once a breathy Prater who could not read or write, and someone mistakenly believed his name had an H in there. Or maybe he was a big proponet of the letter H, and since the letter H saw a large decline in popularity following the beginning of the Baroque period, he might have been trying to challenge that fact.

Anyway, here's a website with more information on the Prather lineage.
click here