Michael's parents and his date of birth are unknown. It is surmised that he may have been the son of William Trease of North Petherwin whose will was proved in 1597 and the brother of Dorothy Trease who married Degory Doubt in North Petherwin late in 1611. If he was William's son, he would probably have been a minor when his father died and others, possibly relatives from either his mother's or father's side, would have looked after him, Dorothy, and Pattacott farm.

The first record we have that may relate to this Michael is in the North Petherwin Church accounts believed to be of 1612 (but this date is by no mean certain) when he, together with Degory Good, are recorded as having undertaken one day's work.

The next record we have of Michael is on the 11th July 1616 when he married Thamsine Netherton at Advent parish church (which stands in open countryside about 11 miles South West of Pattacott). The reason for the marriage being at Advent is so far unknown but Michael did have links with that area as, when he died, Tamsine inherited an eighth share of a tenement in Tramagenna, Camelford evidenced by a tenancy agreement with the Duchy of Cornwall. Tramagenna is only three quarters of a mile north west of Advent Church. The only other eighth share in the property was inherited by Diggory Seccombe when Walter Hele, alias Hey, died around 1638. Diggory wed Philippa Edward(s) in Camelford church in 1616, the year of Michael's marriage and he may have been of similar age. Possibly, following the early death of his father, Michael was looked after by a relative at Tramagenna and inherited his share of the property from them, but currently there is no evidence of this. Thamsine's parentage is not known for sure. A Netherton family are recorded as far back as 1524 in North Petherwin and a Thomas Netherton, possibly Thamsine's brother, got married there in 1611. Thamsine may be the daughter of Nicholas baptised in 1594 in Marhamchurch, about 6 miles away from North Petherwin.

Michael and Thamsin christen their oldest son Michael in North Petherwin in January 1619 and go on to have a large family. From then no further records of Michael nor his family have been found until 1641 when both Michael senior and Michael junior are recorded living at Pattacott, so the whereabouts of Michael's family during the period 1619 to 1641 are not known. It is possible that he lived elsewhere after he married and that may account for the failure to find the childrens' baptismal records at North Petherwin. Michael died a few years later in May 1645 during the Civil War and nine months before the Parliamentary Army entered Launceston. He may have been on active service during the war which started in August 1642.

Thamsin had not remarried by 1650 when her share of Tramagenna in Camelford is recorded but no records of her after that date have been found unless the 1655 marriage of Thamsine Trese to Clement Symons at Tintagel relates to her rather than her daughter.

Apart from their oldest son, the baptismal records of Michael and Thamsin's children have not been found but their names and relative ages can be determined from Michael's will in which he leaves bequests of £20 each to four daughters and £10 each to four sons. Few of them have left further traces in the area, and it is thought they went elsewhere to seek their living. Several possibilities have been found but definitive proof that they are sons of this Michael is lacking. All his daughters are named with the surname 'TREAS' in his will, thereby implying that, by May 1645, none had married : -

• Priscilla was the eldest daughter. She is called 'Silly' in the will but her formal name is likely to be 'Priscilla' or possibly 'Cecily'. Nothing more is known of her.
  
  
• Ann was the second eldest daughter. She is called 'Nanny' in the will and her formal name is almost certainly 'Ann'. So far the only possible reference to her in North Petherwin is the burial record of Ann Trease in December 1702. The year after this burial Michael Trease, thought to be her nephew, married Ruth Winter. It is surmised that Ann may have stayed at Pattacott initially to help her brother Michael and subsequently to help his son and that, after her death, he needed a wife to perform the household duties.
  
  
• Thamsin was the third eldest daughter, possibly born in the late 1620s. It is thought she is the Thamsin Trese who married Clemente Symons in Tintagel in 1655 although that marriage could also be a second marriage of her mother. Clement Symons is recorded at Advent in 1661 and 1664, living near to Oliver Gregory whose son may have married Thamsin's brother Michael's daughter Gertrude. Tamsen died at Advent in 1677. In the burial register she is described as "the wife of Clement" possibly to differentiate her from any other identically named person, such as a daughter. The description implies that her husband was then still alive. No baptisms of any children from their marriage have been found, probably because surviving Advent parish records (BTs) are not readily available until 1676, 21 years after their marriage. Cornwall Records office appear to have BTs covering Advent parish from 1608 to 1665 but no index to them has been found.
  
  
• Elizabeth was the youngest daughter. She is thought to be the Elizabeth Trees buried in North Petherwin in November 1659.
  
  
• Michael was the eldest son. He continued to run the farm at Pattacott with his wife Elizabeth and had two children. His wife Elizabeth died in 1670 and he himself died in 1680.
  
  
• Richard was the second eldest son. It is thought he went to Crediton, Devon with his younger brother Samuel, married Emblyn Wilkie and had at least two children but it is not known what then became of him.
  
  
• William was the third eldest son. Family researchers originally identified Michael's son as the William who married Alice Skelton at Tintagel in 1660 but recent research shows that this marriage is recorded in Landrake parish register, not Tintagel. The source of the Tintagel reference was Boyd's Marriage Index (BMI), which, like all such indexes, is known to contain errors, and being organised in alphabetical order by area rather than parish, is more prone to the parish being incorrectly copied than indexes organised in parish order.
  Landrake is on the south side of Cornwall near Plymouth and close to an area where many other families with Trease surname variations are recorded so the marriage is therefore less likely to refer to Michael's son. William and Alice were buried in Landrake in 1679 and 1683 respectively. No children from their marriage have been found, so Alice may have married late in life or have been a widow. So far the William of the Landrake marriage has not been positively identified. The following Alice Skelton may be related to the wife of the Landrake marriage, but there are many SKELTONS in that area :

  		1664	St Stephens by Saltash, Hearth Tax. Alice SKELTON. 2 ex

  Family researchers originally thought that the William Treise who died at Whitstone in in 1696 and had a house at Pattacott was the churchman and son of Leonard Treise but the more recently found 1686 burial of William Treise, "clerk of Bodmyn", at Lanivet undoubtedly refers to Leonard's son. The identity of William of Whitstone has yet to be resolved but the possibility has opened up that he could be Michael's son.

• Samuel was the youngest son. It is thought he went to Crediton, Devon with his brother Richard, married Rebecca Prise in 1654 and had children who settled in that area and that he himself may have died in 1690.