Joseph Prescott

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 9N17-84
• Fact 3: ., Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts
• Fact 2: Dec 1732; Mass.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 1605, Standish, Lancashire, England
• Arrival: 1637, , , Massachusetts, USA

Notes:

John Prescott

Ref Genes of Abraham Parker: "After his marriage, he sold his lands in Shevington, moving to Sowerby, Halifax Parish, West Riding, Yorkshire, England. A blacksmith, he left England to avoid persecution for his religious convictions, going first to Barbados, owned lands there in 1638 when he was included in a list of 758 settlers. Several of his children were probably born there. He came about 1640 with four children and his wife to Massachusetts, settling first in Charlestown and Watertown, then removing in 1645 or 1646 to the foundation of the new settlement of Lancaster, of which he is one of the original settlers and called, in Lancaster records, its founder. In 1654 he built a corn mill and soon after a saw mill. He took the oath of allegiance in Middlesex county in 1652, was admitted a freeman in 1669. Shortly after the Indian massacre of February 10, 1675/76 which took more than thirty lives, Lancaster was totally abandoned for several years with no whites living between the towns on the Connecticut river and those of Concord. He moved his family to Charlestown (some also moving temporarily to the Concord area) and later in 1676 served with the militia in King Philip's war. He returned to Lancaster, which is said to have been named in his honor after his English birthplace, Lancashire (at the first request for the new township, the name Prescott was sought, but the General court objected on the ground that it appeared too much like man-worship). The noncupative will of John Prescott was proved in Lancaster December 20, 1681 with his age given as "about 77".

It has been stated that John had served under Cromwell. He brought with him from England a coat of mail, armor and complete habiliments which he donned whenever he had difficulties with the Indians, who supposed him to be a "supernatural being."

Fact 8: Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New-England by John Farmer 1969

Re: John Prescott: "He was born in 1604, in the hamlet of Shevington, in the parish of Standish, Lancashire, England. He married Mary Platts, at Wigan in 1629. Prescott was a soldier under Oliver Cromwell and was a Roundhead (a member of the Puritan party in England during the civil war). To avoid persecution both Cromwell and Prescott planned to escape from England. Cromwell changed his mind in the harbor and became the hero of England. However, Prescott escaped and went as far as Barbados, an island in the West Indies. This was because Archbishop Loud, Prime Minister of the King, did not allow anyone to leave England for the United States at that time. However, after two years in Barbados, Prescott was permitted to come to the United States."

To reach the settlement one had to cross the Sudbury River. Prescott sold his estate in Watertown, packed his household goods on horses, and set out with his family on horseback through the woods by way of the long Indian trail to establish his new home in the Nashaway Plantation. Following Mr. Prescott was his wife with an infant in her arms, and on other horses were four girls aged six, eight, thirteen, fifteen, and a boy of ten." So, depending on the year that Mary Prescott joined John at the settlement in Lancaster would identify which of the above children were born in Massachusetts, in Barbados, in Holland or in England. (I am not sure whether they arrived in Lancaster in the years of 1643 to 1647; somewhere in there.)

The Prescott Memorial states that John was in Barbados from 1638 to 1640 when he came to Massachusetts

Lancaster, in common with other frontier towns, suffered greatly by Indian depredations whenever there was a war between the mother country and France. On the 22d of Aug., 1675, eight persons were killed at Lancaster. On the 10th of Feb., old style, 1676, early in the morning, a body of fifteen hundred Indians attacked the town in five distinct squadrons, completely investing it. There were at that time more than fifty families in town. Of this little band, fifty persons, if not more, were either killed or taken prisoners. One half at least were killed, and among them Richard Wheeler and Jonas Fairbanks, sons-in-law of Mr. Prescott, and Joshua Fairbanks and Ephrim Sawyer, his grand sons. The three former were killed at Wheeler's garrison, and the latter at Prescott's, which stood about thirty rods southeast of Messrs. Poignard and Plant's factory. The inhabitants, after destroying all the houses but two, left the place under the protection of Capt. Wadworth's company of soldiers. The alarm of the people was so great that the return of peace on the death of the Indian, King Philip, in August, 1676, did not restore their courage and confidence. For more than three years, Lancaster remained uninhabited. In 1679 some of the h'rst planters (among whom were the Prescott*, Houghtons, Sawyers, and Wilder*) returned, and the Carters came in soon after. Mr. Prescott lived to see the town rebuilt and in a fair way to a prosperous condition. He died in 1683. But subsequently to this the town suffered severely at sundry times from the incursion of hostile Indians.


p 38 from William Prescott's Prescott families in America 1870

from William Prescott's Genealogical Memoir of the Prescott Families in America. 1870


Mr. P. sold his lands in Shevington, parish of Standish, in Lancashire, to Richard Prescott of Wigan, and removed into Yorkshire, residing for some time in Sowerby, in the parish of Halifax, where several of his children were born. From conscientious motives, and to avoid per secution, he left his native land, his cherished home in Yorkshire, to seek an asylum in the wilderness of America. He first landed at Barbadoes in 1638, where he became an owner of lands. In 1640 he came to New England, landed at Boston, and immediately settled in Watertown, where he had large grants of lands allotted him. But in 1 643 he associated himself with Thomas King and others, for the purpose of purchasing of Sholan, the Indian Sachem of the Nashaway tribe of Indians, a tract of land for a township, which tract was to be ten miles in length and eight in breadth.


p. 35


A Brief History of the Negotiation and Purchase from Sholan, Chief of the Nashaway tribe of Indians, of the territory of which the town of Lancaster, Mass.. was afterward composed; together with its subsequent settlement, and ite suffering and final destruction by fire by the Indians. " Early in the seventeenth century, some eight years before the set tlement of Plymouth, many of the tribes of Massachusetts Indians had been swept over by a dreadful pestilence, reducing their numbers from many thousands to a few hundreds. In this severe affliction the Nashaway tribe suffered, though not equally with the others. The Nasbaways had also been greatly reduced by the wars and incursions of the Maquas or Mohawks, a powerful and warlike tribe on the Mohawk River, N. Y. This tribe had become the scourge and terror of all the New England Indians. These circumstances induced the peaceful Sholan, the Sachem of the Nasbaways, to seek the friendship and protection of the English. Sholan occasionally visited Watertown for the purpose of trading with Mr. Thomas King, who resided there. He recommended Nashawogg as a place well suited for a plantation. ' He told King of the choice intervales, the woods and waters abounding in supplies, — that the Great Spirit had been very bountiful to the place, and that his people would rejoice in the presence of that great people who had come from a distant world.1 "* Finally King decides to visit the place, perilous though the undertak ing might seem. He accordingly takes the journey through the wilderness, and becomes enamoured with the place and returns to Watertown. He makes such favorable report of the adaptation of the territory to agricultural and mechanical purposes, &c., that in 1643 he enters into an association and agreement with John Prescott of Watertown, Harmon Garrett of Charlestown, Thomas Skidmore of Cambridge, Stephen Day of Cambridge (the earliest printer in any of the colonies), a Mr. Simonds, and sundry others whose names have not been transmitted, for the pur pose of purchasing the tract (ten miles by eight, as above stated). According to Mr. Willard, in his elaborate address at the two-hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Lancaster, the above purchase was made, and the territory of Nashaway first " opened upon the view of the white man while the good Sholan or Shaumaun exercised a peaceful rule in this, his little empire, over the tribe of the Nashaways. His principal place of residence was on a gentle eminence, between the two lakes of the Washacum in Chocksett (a corruption or contraction of Woonksechaucksett or Woonksechatixett), now Sterling." The purchasers entered into an agreement to appear and begin the plantation at a specified time. The deed of Sholan was sanctioned by the General Court, but there were many circumstances which combined to retard the growth of the plantation, all the associates except Mr. Prescott refusing or neglecting to fulfill their contracts, though choosing to retain their interest in the property purchased. It is stated by Sir. Willard that "one only of the associates, John Prescott the stalwart blacksmith, was ' faithful among the faithless.' He turned not back, but vigorously pursued the interests of the plantation till his exertions were crowned with success." Mr. Prescott having chosen this for his future home, he with others petitioned for a bridge over Sudbury River. But the subject being delayed by the General Court, Mr. Prescott, nothing daunted, attempts the perilous adventure of swimming his horse across Sudbury River in the autumn of 1646, but unfortunately he lost his horse and lading in the river, escaping with his own life only. About one week later, his wife and children being upon another horse, attempted to pass the river and came near being drowned. Upon this narrow escape Mr. Willard utters the following significant reflection : " One plunge more by that last horse, or a little deeper water, and American literature would not now be graced by the brilliant classic history of Ferdinand and Isabella, of the Conquest of Mexico, and the Conquest of Peru." To which may since be added, The Life of Charles the Fifth. The settlement at Nashaway was treated by the General Court with indifference and culpable neglect. They had repeatedly been denied those little helps and aids which are so essential to all new settlements. The inhabitants petitioned for an act of incorporation, and asked that it be known by the name of Prescott. The General Court objects, quibbles about a name, pretending that " it smacked too much of man- worship or man-service." The question was finally settled by a compromise, and it was on the 18th day of May, old style (28th of May, new style), 1653, incorporated into a township by the name of Lancaster. This was in honor of Mr. Prescott, it being the name of his native county in England. Mr. Prescott has the reputation of being the first settler in Nashaway, now Lancaster, although Mr. Willard remarks that Richard Linton, Lawrence Waters, his son-in-law, and John Ball, were the first inhabitants, and that they had tilled the soil and were ready to receive Mr. Prescott on his arrival. I do not see this stated by any other writer, and if correct they might be hired and sent there by Mr. Pres cott and others to prepare for their own accommodation when they should remove there. The phrase that " they had tilled the soil and were ready to receive Mr. Prescott on his arrival " is significant of this fact. At the time of the incorporation there were but nine families in the town. In one year, that is, by the spring of 1654, there were twenty families there. In answer to a petition of the inhabitants of the plantation, John Prescott, Thomas Sawyer (who married Mary, the eldest daughter of Mr. Prescott), Edward Breck, Nathaniel Hadlock, William Kerley and Ralph Houghton were appointed prudential managers of the town by the General Court. Mr. Prescott was a genuine and influential member of the original Puritan stock of New England. Like most of the early emigrants to New England, he left his native home to escape the relentless persecutions with which the Puritans and non-conformists were harassed. Like many of his contemporaries, he was a man of marked character, devoting his time to mechanical and agricultural pursuits, which were well calculated to fit and prepare him for the trials and hardships incident to, and inseparable from, the early settlers joined pioneers of the wilderness of America. He soon became distinguished among his compeers, and had not long to wait for an opportunity to develop his genius and bravery. At a very early day he became a leading spirit, and a prominent and influential man, as very many of his descendants have been in each and every subsequent generation, and to him more than to any other is to be attributed the successful issue of that laborious and hazardous enterprise of settling on the " Nashaway " and of subduing the wilderness and converting the soil into fruitful fields and productive meadows. Mr. Prescott was a man of strict integrity and of great energy and perseverance. Having also a commanding influence, he took an active part in all measures calculated to improve and enhance the interest and prosperity of the town. He took the oath of fidelity in 1652, and was admitted a freeman in 1669. By occupation, he was not only an agriculturist, but both a blacksmith and millwright. In Nov., 1658, he received a grant of land of the inhabitants, on condition that he would build a "corn mill". He built the mill in season to commence grinding '. on the 23d of the next May 1654. The erection of a saw mill soon followed. " The town voted that if he would erect one he should have the grant of certain privileges and a large tract of land lying near his mill, for him and his posterity forever, and to be more exactly record-d when exactly known. In consideration of these provisions ' Goodman Prescott,' forthwith erected his mill. Its location was on the spot where the Lancaster Manufacturing Company have extensive works. The people from all the neighboring towns came to Prescott's grist mill. The stone of this mill was brought from England, and now lies in fragments in the vicinity of the factory."

from William Prescott's Prescott Families in America1870


P 39 Mr. Prescott had in his possession, and which he brought with him from England, a coat of mail, armor and habiliments complete, such as were worn by warriors of that and preceding ages ; hence it is inferred that some of his ancestors had been warriors, and probably had received the order of knighthood. It has been stated and believed that John had himself served under Cromwell. Of this armor and its owner the following anecdotes are related: " Mr. Prescott, being a strong athletic man and of a stern counte nance, whenever he had any difficulty with the Indians, would clothe himself with his coat of mail, helmet, cuirass and gorget, which gave him a fierce and frightful appearance. The Indians at one time having stolen from him a horse, he put on his armor and pursued them, and in a short time overtook them. They were surprised that he should venture to pursue them alone, and a chief approached him with uplifted tomahawk. Mr. Prescott told him to strike, which he did, and finding the blow made no impression on his cap, was greatly astonished, and asked Mr. P. to let him put on, and then strike it while on his head, as he had done when on Mr. Prescott's head. The helmet being too small for the head of the chief, the stroke settled the helmet down to his ears, scraping off the skin on both sides of his head. They then gave him up his horse, supposing him to be something more than human." " At another time the Indians set fire to his barn. Old John put on his armor, rushed out, drove them off and let out his cattle and horses from the burning stable." " Again the Indians set fire to his saw mill. The old hero, armed cap-a-pie, as before, drove them off and extinguished the fire. At another time they attacked his house. He had several muskets but no one in the house, save his wife, to assist him. She loaded the guns and he discharged them with fatal effect. The contest continued for nearly half an hour, Mr. Prescott all the while giving orders as if to soldiers, so loud that the Indians could hear him, to load their muskets, though he had no soldiers but his wife. At length they withdrew carrying off several of their dead or wounded."* On another occasion, as is related of him, sundry Indians made their appearance at his old mill, and hoisted the water gate, when he, Pres cott, took his favorite gunfi which he brought with him from England,


P 40 heavily loaded, and started toward the mill, when the Indians retired to the hills near by. Having shut down the gate and fixed the mill, Mr. Prescott concluded it prudent to retire to his house or garrison, but did so backward, with his eye upon the foe until he reached his home, when the Indians gave a whoop, such as none but Indians can give ; when Mr. Prescott concluded to give them a specimen of his sharp- shooting, upon which (to use a new coined term) they skedadled. Upon afterward visiting the place, blood was plainly seen upon the ground.

John married Mary Gawkroger on 11 Apr 1629 in Halifax, St John the Baptist, Yorkshire, England. Mary (daughter of James Gawkroger and Martha Ainsworth) was born on 15 Mar 1607 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England; died on 20 Oct 1688 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Mary Gawkroger Platts

Ralph married Ellen in 1582 in Shevington, Lancashire, England. Ellen was born in 1570 in Shevington, Lancashire, England; died on 18 Nov 1643 in Shevington, Lancashire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Ellen Or Helen Mrs PRESCOTT

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: James Gawkroger Platts

James married Martha Ainsworth on 5 Sep 1601 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. Martha was born about 1580 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England; died on 10 Dec 1632 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 9CLM-J9
• Fact 3: 14 Sep 1566; Shevington, Standish, Lancashire, England
• Fact 2: 4 Oct 1594; Church, Standish, Lancashire, Eng

Roger married Ellen Shaw on 23 Aug 1568 in Standish, Lancashire, England. Ellen (daughter of Robert Shaw and Margaret) was born in 1549 in Standish, Lancashire, England; died in Standish, Lancashire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 9CLM-P5
• Fact 3: , Eng
• Name: Ellen (Helen Or Gellen) Shaw
• Name: Gellen Shaw
• Name: Helen Shaw
• Fact 2: 9 Apr 1567; Standish Parish, Lancaster, , Eng

James married Genet Fairbanks on 28 Dec 1571 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. Genet (daughter of George Fairbank and Sibyl Wade) was born on 26 Apr 1552 in Platts, Sowerby, York, England; died in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 8LFL-J3
• Fact 2: , Eng
• Name: Genet (Janet) Fairbanks
• Name: Janet Fairbanks
• Fact 3: 28 Jul 1556; Halifax, Yorkshire, England, Great Britain

James married Elizabeth Standish in 1528 in Standish, Lancashire, England. Elizabeth (daughter of Roger Standish and Mrs-roger Standish) was born in 1510 in , Standish, Lancashire, England; died on 10 Mar 1564 in Shevington, Lancashire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: HM4N-VG

Robert married Margaret. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: NF59-Q4

Richard married Isabella in 1532 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. Isabella was born in 1512 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England; died on 12 Feb 1560 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 92DJ-HG
• Name: George Fairbanks
• Fact 2: 29 Mar 1610; Sowerby, Yorkshire, England, Great Britain

George married Sibyl Wade on 10 May 1551 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. Sibyl was born in 1532 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England; died on 21 May 1573 in , Halifax, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 92DJ-JM
• Name: Cibella Wade
• Name: Sibyl (Cibella) (Sibyl) Wade
• Fact 2: 21 May 1573; Sowerby, Halifax, York, England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 9N3P-G9

William married Alice. Alice was born about 1486 in Coppull, Standish, Lancashire, England; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 9N3P-HG

Roger married Mrs-roger Standish. Mrs-roger was born in 1503 in , Standish, Lancashire, England; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: 9N26-98

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: SWG8-FG

Gilbert married Janet in 1529 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. Janet was born in 1522 in , Halifax, Yorkshire, England; died on 13 Jan 1579 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England; was buried on 16 Jan 1579 in , Halifax, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Janet GENET
• Name: Mrs Janet Genet FAIRBANKE