John Prescott

  Noted events in his life were:

• Emigration: 1638, Barbados then in 1640, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. ^147,148

• Will. ²³²
John Prescott, founder of Lancaster, aged about seventy-seven years; noncupative will proved Dec 20, 1681

Weis gives the date of the will as 1672 and it was proved 4 Apr 1682, and that he died Dec 1681

• Grave Stone: John Prescott Desased. [The foot-stone broken.] This marks the grave of the Founder of Lancaster, Who died in 1681. ¹³¹²
In the Old Settlers Burying Gound at Lancaster stands a rough, handmade slage stone which reads "JOHN PRESCOTT DECASED," but directly behind it is a memorial stone elected by the town which reads:

• Occupation: Blacksmith. ¹⁴⁸

• Background Information. ⁶⁵⁴
In 1638, John Prescott left England to avoid religious persecution, and land in Barbadoes, where he became a landowner. In 1640, he moved to New England, and settled in Watertown, where he had large grants of land allotted to him.

John Prescott was baptized in 1604/05. He married 21 May 1629, Mary Platts of Wygan, Lancashire. John Prescott sold his lands in Shevington, and revoved to Yorkshire, residing for some time on Snoerby, in the parish of Halifax, where several of his children were born. three years after his arrival in new England he was associated with Thomas King and others in the purchase of a tract of land for a township which was to be ten miles in length and eight in breadth. An act of incorporation was petitioned for by the inhabitants, and a request made that the town might recive the name of Prescott. The General court objected, on the ground that it appeared too much like man-worship. The name Lancaster was finally given to the town in honor of Mr. Prescott, that being the name of his native country.

John Prescott was a leading spritit, and a prominent and influential man. He took the oath of fidelity in 1652, and was admitted a freeman in 1669. In Nov 1653, he received a grant of land of the inhabitants, on the condition that he would build a "corn-mill." He built the mill in season to commence grinding on the 23 May 1654. The stone used was brought from England.

The children of John and Mary Prescott were:
Mary, m. Thomas Sawyer of Lancaster
Martha, m. John Rugg
John, m. Sarah of Lancaster
Hannah, m. John Rugg
Lydia, m. Jonas Fairbanks of Lancaster
Jonathan
Joseph (?)
Jonas, m. Mary, daughter of John Loker and Mary Draper.

~Early New England People, pp. 133 - 135

• Background Information. ¹³¹²
John Prescott was a blacksmith, but he also built the first "Corne Mill" and saw mill in Lancaster. He first settled in Watertown, Massachusetts about 1640, but about 1643 he with four others, became interested in the purchase of what is no Lancaster from the Nashaway Indians. When the minister who had been appointed by the General Court refused to move to this frontier, the others gradually released their claims, being reluctant to start the venture without him. Not so with John Prescott. John was not a freemand, and therefore not afraid to move without the blessing of the church. Although he took the oath of fidelity in 1652, he never did become a freeman in the usual sense of the word. In 1669, the law was changed to give any man "owning an estate and known to be upright and honest" the right to vote.

John Prescott was truly the "Father of Lancaster." By 1653, there were enough families to request incorporation as a town, whch they naturally expected to call Prescott. The General Court reacted with shock, saying that "whereas it were unseemly that a blacksmith be honored ahead of his betters," the name was not permitted. The town chose the name Lancaster for the Engllsh home where John had been born.

When Lancaster was abandoned after the disastrous Indian attack 10 Feb 1675/6, John Prescott's name headed the list of families who petitioned for permission to rebuild the town. Before his death, he and his sons and sons-in-law had rebuilt the mills and even set up a new one. His will was dated 8 Oct 1673. and was proved 4 Apr 1682. He left an estate of twelve hundred acres, including three hundred acres in Washacum area and nearly all the lands upon which the town of Clinton is located. His children were:

Mary, bp. 2 Feb 1630 at Sowerby, Yorkshire Englan d; m. Thomas Sawyer
Martha, bp. 11 Mar 11632 in England
John, bp. 1 Apr 1635 in England
Sarah, bp. 1637 in England
Hannah, b. cir. 1639, perhaps at Barbadoes, West Indies
Lydia, b. 15 Aug 1641 at Watertown Massachusetts; m. Jonas Fairbanks
Jonathan
Joseph, b. cir. 1645
Jonas, b. June 1648, first white child born at Lancaster


~80 Iimmigrants : Our Merrill-Covell Pedigree, pp. 94-95

• Background Information. ¹³¹⁰
John Prescott, of Sowerby, married Mary, daughter of Abraham Platts alais Gawkroger, in 1629. John became principal promoter of Lancaster, Mass., which seems to be named in his honor. The town name would not necessarilly indicate that Prescott was a native of Lancashire, for Sowerby, his only English home, was a parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster.

~American Geneologist, Vol. 40, p. 28

John married Mary Gawkroger-Platts, daughter of Abraham Gawkroger and Martha Riley, on 11 Apr 1682 in Sowerby, Halifax, Yorkshire, England ¹⁰⁶.^,1311 (Mary Gawkroger-Platts was born 16ll in Sowerby, Halifax, Yorkshire, England ¹⁰⁶, baptized 15 Mar 16ll in Sowerby, Halifax, Yorkshire, England,¹⁰⁶ died on 20 Oct 1674 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts and was buried in Old Cemetery, Lancaster, Massachusetts.)