Brink-Day-Johnston-Fletcher

Mother-Bio*

Birth*

1861

Death*

1864

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

Mary Elizabeth Simmons¹ (F)
b. 1866
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

11 Jun 1821

Mother-Bio*

Birth*

1866

WI¹

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

John Bell Simmons¹ (M)
b. 1851
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

11 Jun 1821

Mother-Bio*

Birth*

1851

Illinois¹

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

James Simmons¹ (M)
b. 11 Jun 1821, d. Oct 1899
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

16 Sep 1775

Mother-Bio*

26 Sep 1787

Name-Var

James Simmons²

Birth*

11 Jun 1821

Middlebury, VT¹

Marriage*

12 Nov 1848

Katherine McCotter; Hudson/Lyons, WI¹

Death*

Oct 1899

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

CoParent

Son-Bio*

1849

Charles Samuel Simmons

Son-Bio*

1851

John Bell Simmons

Son-Bio*

1853

Edgar Franklin Simmons

Dau-Bio*

1856

Kate Eliza Simmons

Son-Bio*

1858

James Simmons+

Dau-Bio*

1861

Caroline Bell Simmons

Dau-Bio*

1866

Mary Elizabeth Simmons

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.
[S188] Knick.ged at Rootsweb, online http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=sacklunch&id=I5713.

John Simmons¹ (M)
b. 16 Sep 1775, d. 09 Jun 1829
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

1752

Abel Simmons

Mother-Bio*

Hannah Holmes

Birth*

16 Sep 1775

Ashford, Connecticut

Marriage*

07 Mar 1807

Laura Bell; Middlebury, VT²

Death*

09 Jun 1829

Middlebury, VT

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

CoParent

Dau-Bio*

1807

Mary Reeve Simmons

Dau-Bio*

1809

Laura Marie Simmons

Son-Bio*

1814

George Simmons

Son-Bio*

1818

John Holmes Simmons

Son-Bio*

11 Jun 1821

James Simmons+

Son-Bio*

1824

Charles Martin Simmons

Dau-Bio*

1827

Hanna Holmes Simmons

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons, Child of Abel & Hannah Holmes Simmons II. Died of a disease of the liver. Source; History of.
[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

Laura Bell¹ (F)
b. 26 Sep 1787, d. 22 Apr 1872

Birth*

26 Sep 1787

Richmond, Berkshire, Massachusetts¹

Marriage*

07 Mar 1807

John Simmons; Middlebury, VT¹

Death*

22 Apr 1872

Middlebury, VT¹

Immigrant

Last Edited

31 Mar 2001

CoParent

Dau-Bio*

1807

Mary Reeve Simmons

Dau-Bio*

1809

Laura Marie Simmons

Son-Bio*

1814

George Simmons

Son-Bio*

1818

John Holmes Simmons

Son-Bio*

11 Jun 1821

James Simmons+

Son-Bio*

1824

Charles Martin Simmons

Dau-Bio*

1827

Hanna Holmes Simmons

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

Mary Reeve Simmons¹ (F)
b. 1807
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

16 Sep 1775

Mother-Bio*

26 Sep 1787

Birth*

1807

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

Kate Eliza Simmons¹ (F)
b. 1856, d. 1860
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

11 Jun 1821

Mother-Bio*

Birth*

1856

Death*

1860

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

John Prescott¹ (M)
b. c 1604, d. Dec 1681
Pedigree

Reference

8LFK-Q0

Father-Bio*

c 1569

Ralph Prescott

Mother-Bio*

WFT Est. 1554 1581

Helen (?)

Father-Bio

c 1569

Ralph Prescott²

Mother-Bio

WFT Est. 1554 1581

Helen (?)²

Marriage*

WFT Est. 1640 1669

Mary Gawkroger¹

Name-Var

John PRESCOTT Farmer, Blacksmith, Millwright²

Note

FFOW. Blacksmith from Sowerby in the parish of Halifax, West Riding, Yorkshire, England. Cam e about 1640, 'as it is said with w[ife] Mary Platts, (a Yorksh[ire] girl, while he was b[orn ] in Lancashire, but liv[ed] at Sowerby in the parish of Halifax in the W[est] [p. 481] Ridin g of Yorkshire) and sev[eral] ch[ildren] sat down first at Watertown [Massachusetts], rem[ove d] 1645 or 6 to the foundat[ion] of new sett[lement] at L[ancaster]. Difficulty and loss i n his cross[ing] Sudbury riv[er] on his rem[oval] is told by Winth. II. 306. He took the oat h of alleg[iance] 1652, but was not adm[itted] freeman before 1669; was with his fam[ily] rem [oved] shortly aft[er] the doleful day of 10 Feb 1676 [King Phillips War], and the town was w holly abandon[ed] for sev[eral] y[ea]rs so that no white man liv[ed] betw[een] the towns on C onn[ecticut] riv[er] and those of the Concord. In 1682 the number of fam[ilie]s was not mor e than one third so large as seven y[ea]rs bef[ore]. But of these, Prescott's was one, and t he y[ea]r assign[ed] for his d[aughter's birth] tho[ught] with some hesit[ation] is 1683. ----Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England. Savage, Boston, 1860 Repea ted in other sources. Buried in Old Settlers Burying Ground. 'History of the Wheeler Family in America' 1914, Albert Gallatin Wheeler, Jr., p. 498, 'Genealogical Guide to the Early Settlers of America, 1967, p. 437. 'Ancestrial Roots of Sixty Colonists who came to New England between 1623 and 1650' 1969, Fre derick Lewis Weis, p. 34. Chuck Krause, RootsL. Latter record lists a second child named Mary, either the first or sec ond child. so there be two Marys in a row. He then lists two child Prescotts in a row. Th e FFOW only lists one of each, but then adds an infant Prescott between Martha and John, whic h Krause does not show, but shows a child Prescott at the end after Jonas. Source: John Prescott of Lancaster, MA 1643 - 1681 by F. L. Weis, Th.D, Dublin, NH p.35 to 4 1 The birthplace and ancestry of John Prescott, founder of Lancaster, MA 1645, are revealed als o by the Lancashire and Yorkshire families, his relations and life-long friends, who crosse d the ocean and came out to Lancaster (MA) to establish homes in the settlement which he bega n and placed upon a firm foundation. This friend, relative and fellow townsman in both Engla nds they respected, trusted and gladly followed into the wilderness. Others willingly signe d their names to the Town Orders to forward the settlement of which they desired to remai n a part, even though they continued to live in Dorchester or Roxbury or Dedham as the case might be. Amon g these were the Brecks of Aston, Lancashire and the Drapers of Halifax, Yorkshire. It has frequently been pointed out that groups of related emigrants from neighboring towns i n Old England, came to New England together, often on the same ship, under the influence an d encouragement of an acknowledged leader. Such cases were those of the Reverend John White' s settlement at Dorchester, MA in 1630, the Rev. Peter Hobart at Hingham, MA 1635 and the Rev . Ezekiel Rogers at Rowley in 1638. This is exactly what happened at Lancaster, MA. Settlers from the contiguous parishes of Sta ndish and Wigan, and other nearby places came together or separately, to join a recognized le ader from their home towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Here in New England, John Prescott w elcomed his friends and neighbors: Atherton Barron Breck Houghton Moore Rigby Rowlandson Sutton (above from Lancashire) Draper Fairbanks Farrer Deane Rugg (above from Yorkshire) Sawyer via Rowley, MA, the blacksmith soon to become John Prescott's son-in-law. At an Inquisition taken at Wigan, Lancashire, England, January 18, 1613/14, Edward Rigbye, Es q., Escheator, after the death of Edmund Atherton of Winstanley, by oath of Robert Markland o f Wigan, Gentleman, found that Edmund Atherton had lands in Billing and Winstanley (village s in the parish of Wigan). This Edmund died 10 April 1613 and Humphrey Atherton, his son an d heir came to New England where he was commissioned Major General and, as a magistrate, sign ed the Court Order which incorporated Lancaster, Massachusetts as a town in 1653. He had lon g been a friend of John Prescott and his kinsman, James Atherton of Winstanley in Wigan, wh o also settled in Lancaster, MA in 1653. The Rev. Joseph Rowlandson born in England son of Thomas Rowlandson and his first wife, may h ave been in Wigan Parish for there were Rowlandsons living there at that time. Prescott wa s the intimate friend and trusted admiser of Mr. Joseph Rowlandson (Harvard College, 1652) who became the first settled minister of Lancaster, MA. Among the influential families of the parishes of Standish and Wigan, Lancashire, England, an d related by marriage to the Standish, Prescott and Haryngtons (of Haigh) families, was tha t of the Rigby (or, Rigbye) family. This family furnished three Herald's Visitations in th e year 1613 (St George's Visitation of Lancashire, 1613, p. 6, 24, 65, 92 and 113). The mos t eminent member of this family Colonel Alexander Rigby, Esq. (noted above) of the Parliament ary Army, Baron of Exchequer, Member of Parliament, 1639 to 1640, Deputy-Lieutenant for Lancashire 1641 to 1642, Colonel, 1643 to 164 4, etc., who purchased the Plough Patent, 7 April 1643, which had been organized by Rev. Step hen Bachiler of Hampton, NH and which included the Province of Lygonia in Maine, between th e Sagadahoc and Kennebec Rivers, and he was Deputy President of Lygonia 1643 to 1644. His son Edward succeeded to his father's rights in Maine . They were descendants of Legh of Adlington, Stanley of Lathom, and of Sir John Haryngton o f Hornby Castle. This was the family of Rigby in Pemberton, Wigan Parish, Lancashire England (See Weis, Supplement to Ancestral Roots, etc., pp 89 to 90). The second visitatio n family was Rigby of Harrock and Standish Wood, while the third was Rigbye of Burgh, the tw o latter place being contiguous to Standish Parish, Lancs, ENG. As the following marriages prove, these Rigby families were clo sely connected with the Prescotts: Johanna Prescott b. 1540 m. at Standish Parish (Lancs) 23 June 1560, Roger Rigby. Alice Presc ott m. at Standish Parish, 11 Nov. 1560, Thomas Rigby (Johanna and Alice Prescott were great great aunts of John Prescott). James Prescott m. at Standish Parish, 23 Sept. 1612, Alice Rigby of Shevington. Two of these Rigby families lived between one and five miles from the Prescott of Coppull an d Shevington. p. 36 It must also have been noticed how closely connected by blood and marriage are the Rigb ys who acted as witnesses to the Prescott wills. These are especially pertinent to the will s of John Prescott's father and grandfather, and here again is shown the connection between t he great aunts who married Rigbys. In Roger Prescott's will (that of John's grandfather) Thomas Rigb y and Richard Rigby were witnesses. In that of John Prescott's father, Ralph Prescott, are f ound Edward Rigbye and Edward Rigbye the son of Thomas Rigbye as witnesses; and James Rigby e who took the inventory of this estate; while in the will of Richard Prescott of Coppull, Al exander Rigbie was a witness. p.37 All these matter are brought up because John Rigby of Standish Parish, (Lancashire, ENG ) signed the Church and Town Covenant in Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1655. Later he returne d to Dorchester, Massachusetts, where in the Church Records he is called Mr. Rigby, indicatin g that he was acknowledged as a gentleman there. (note: also one of the first settlers of Do rchester, MA was Joseph Farnsworth thought to be the cousin of Matthias Farnsworth of Groton , MA, first recorded at Dorchester in 1632, admitted Freeman May 14, 1638/9 whose children married Mansfield, Ripley, Jenkins, Ruggles, Belcher, Brackett, Ealmanthrop, Bass, Eddy, Clou gh, Eaton, Puffer, Holbrook, Newton, Stoughton, Moses, et al at Dorchester.) To continue: Edward and Robert Breck, father and son, of Ashton, Lancashire, (ENG) signed the Lancaster (M A) Church and Town Covenant with John Prescott among the first in 1652. Three years later, a s we have seen, the John Rigby, above signed and he died not long afterwards, and his widow, Isabel Rigby married Edward Breck as his 2nd wife and they were the parents of Capt. John Bre ck, all of whom were closely connected with John Prescott both in Lancashire and in New Engla nd. Ashton, in the Parish of Prescot, (ENG) is about five miles from Wigan and Shevington. There still remains another Rigbie connection as the accompanying pedigree (p.26) shows. Tho mas Rigbie and John Prescott were together on the Island of Barbadoes during the year 1638 wh ere each owned more than ten acres of land. After 1638 John Prescott continued on to Lancaster, Massachusetts while Thomas Rigbie remained on the island or returned to Lancashir e (ENG). 'Edward Breck is usually termed a yeoman, though of ancient lineage and possessing kinsmen me ntioned in the herald's visitations as Gentleman.' The Rigbies entered three visitations i n 1613. (Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 14:50). What has been said about Breck is equally true of John Pre scott, John and Thomas Rigby, the two Athertons, and of Ralph and John Houghton as well. Fro m Capt. John Breck descent the families of Breck, Minot, Parkman, Blake, Tuckerman, Denny, Shaw, Sturgis and others prominent in the Colony. The descendants of Prescott, Rigby , the two Athertons and the two Houghtons are equally prominent. A most valuable and interesting study could be made of the Brecks, Prescotts and Athertons, b oth in England and America. The writer has compiled a genealogy of the families of Major Gen eral Humphrey Atherton and James Atherton. (Manuscripts, Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1937, 17 4 pp, 936 Athertons). Major General Humphrey Atherton was, as Capt. Edward Johnson described him in 1651, 'a very l ively, courageous man, of a cheerful spirit and intire for the Country.' James Atherton was born in Wigan Parish, Lanchasire, (ENG) in 1626 and he died at Sherborn, M assachusetts on 6 Aug. 1710 aged 84 years. He first settled at Dorchester, (MA) where his ki nsman, Major General Humprhey Atherton lived. James Atherton came to Lancaster (MA) 1652/3. Both James Atherton and Major General Humphrey Atherton were well acquainted with Jo hn Prescott and Humphrey, as we have seen aided Prescott to get the town incorporated and fre quently visited him at Lancaster (MA) from time to time until his death in 1661. Watching Atherton, son of Humphrey of Winstanley in Wigan, Lancashire, ENG, married at Dorchester, M A 23 Jan 1678/9, Elizabeth Rigby, grand- daughter of John Rigby of Dorchester and Capt. Humph rey Atherton grandson of Humphrey marry Elizabeth Withington, whose father, Elder Henry Withi ngton born in Lancashire and Elizabeth Atherton marry Ebenezer Moseley (or Mawdsley) of the L ancashire family (Elder Henry Withington was baptized in the parish of Leigh, six miles fro m Shevington, Lancs, ENG - all of these families - the Prescotts, Standishes, Rigbys and Ahtertons lived in an area about five miles square and nearby lived the Houghtons, Withington s and Brecks. The will of Robert Orell (the Elder) of 1623 leaves legacies to four of the daughters of Joh n Prescott of Wigan (Lancashire, ENG), namely Cicely, Jane, Agnes and Elizabeth Prescott. H e speaks of Ralph Houghton and Thomas Molineaux of Pemberton as his 'loving cousins' (i.e. in that day meaning nephews) an d appoints them together with Ralph Woodward of Standish, Lancashire, ENG, yeoman, and Willia m Molineaux and Edward Woodward, yeomen, executors and supervisors of his will, and leaves th em 'a spure Ryall in golde.' in remembrance of his love. (Chetham Socitey. vol. 37 (1897) pag es 22-25). p.38 This Ralph Houghton was perhaps the father of our Ralph Houghton (1623-1705) for the latter deposed at Lancaster (MA) aged 47 years or thereabouts o n 24 March 1671 and he settled at Lancaster in 1652, and, next to his lifelong friend, John P rescott, was the most worthy and useful citizen of the town. John Prescott and Ralph Houghto n worked together for the good of the town for thirty years. Along with the Reverend Joseph Row landson and Deacon Roger Sumner, Prescott appointed Ralph Houghton overseer of his will and R alph Houghton with Deacon Sumner proved the will. The key to the solution of Ralph Houghton's ancestry lies in the will of Robert Orell, whic h also reveals the Prescott connection with Ralph Houghton of Pemberton Lancashire (ENG) Prob ably the solution to John Houghton's identity can be discovered here also, for it has general ly been conceeded that he was a cousin of Ralph Houghton. Register, October 1925. It is most i nteresting, as well, to find John Houghton (or Haughton, as it was then spelled, rightly or otherwise) associated with Halifax, Yorkshir e (ENG) in company with Samuel Deane, a member of the well know Heptonstall, Yorkshire famil y of that name. (my note: A Colonel Richard Deane was one of the signers of King Charles I death warrant; als o two regicides, Edward Whalley (a cousin of Cromwell) and Col. Richard Deane fought with Ol iver Cromwell,(Puritan, Lord Protector, and signer of Charles' death warrant. see Antonia Fra ser's Cromwell Knopf 1973) at the battle of Dunbar) We find too that the wife of Jacob Farrer of Halifax Parish co., York(shire) and Lancaster, M assachusetts, was Mary Haughton obviously a near relation and so mentioned in the Farrer arti cle in the Register. Mary Prescott, wife of John Prescott of Lancaster, Massachusetts deposed in 1678 'aged 66 years or thereabout' that she had known the Farrer family in Halifax, Yorkshire in her youth, and she recited certain facts needed fo r a Court decision. (NEHG Register vol 95 (1941), p. 8). This number of the Register gives a n excellent account of the Farrer family from 1536 to 1760. Jacob Farrer, son of Jacob and Mary (Haughton) Farrer, was born at Sowerby, (Halifax, Yorkshire, ENG) 21 August 1614 and baptized at Heptonstall, Halifax Parish, co. York, and he married there 28 November 1640 Grace Deane. We quote here a line or two from this interesting article which states that it is conjecture d that John and Jacob Farrer emigrated to America probably on the receipt 'of invitations t o go to New England from former Sowerby friends, among them the Fairbanks and Prescott famili es.' John Houghton and Samuel Deane subscribed the Town Orders of Lancaster, MA on the same day (24 September 1653) with John Pres- cott and Jacob Farrer, and the Farrer article considers them both to be related to the Farre r brothers. For Jacob Farrer married Grace Deane, undoubtedly of the same family of Samuel D eane. (ibid page 9 and footnotes.) p.39 John Farrer of Dedham, Lancaster and Woburn, Massachusetts, was baptized at Heptonstal l (ENG) 28 July 1611 and died at Woburn, Massachusetts, ll July, 1690. The brothers migrate d to New England about 1652 and settled first at Dedham (MA) but soon moved to Lancaster. Ja cob Farrer, Jr. was baptized at Heponstall, 3 Sept. 1641; married 11 November 1668, Hannah, d aughter of George Hayward of Concord (MA) and was killed by the Indians in King Philip's Wa r at Lancaster (MA) 22 August 1675. John Rugg was born at Sowerby, Yorkshire (ENG) about 1632, and he died at Lancaster, Massachusetts, January 1696/7. He signed the Lancaster (MA) Covenant 12 February 1654 and he married at Lancaster (MA) 1655/56, Martha Pre scott, baptized at Halifax Parish, Yorkshire (ENG) 11 March 1631/2; she died with her twin ch ildren at Lancaster (MA) in January 1656; he married (2) Hannah whose surname is unknown. (no te Torrey gives the date of his 2nd marriage as 4 May, 1660) In spite of the fact that Marth a left no posterity, many Ruggs through later marriages are descendants of John Prescott (not e: according to the Prescott Memorial p.41 Martha Prescott b. at Sowerby, Yorkshire Mar 11, 1 632 m. John Rugg and resided at Lancaster and d. Jan 24, 1656 ane he m. (2) her sister, Hann ah Prescott bp. 1639 (prob. at the Barbadoes) and they had issue: 1. John Rugg b. June 4, 166 2, Mary Rugg b. July 11, 1664, Thomas Rugg b. Sept 15, 1666, Joseph Rugg b. Dec. 15, 1668, Ha nnah Rugg b. Mar. 10, 1671 and Rebecca Rugg b. May 16, 1673. p.47). Jonas Fairbanks was born at Sowerby, co. York, 6 March 1624, the son of Jonathan and Grace (Smith) Fairbanks of that place. He signed the Lancaster (MA) Covenant 11 April 1659, having married at Lancaster 28 May 1658, Lydia Presc ott born at Watertown 15 August, 1641 the daughter of John Prescott and Mary (Gawkroger-Platts) Prescott. This was the first wedding in Lancaster, MA. He was killed by the Indians at Lancaster 10 Feb. 1675/6 and Lydia (Prescott) Fairbanks m. (2) before 1713, Ellis Barron, son of Ellis Barron. The Fairbanks family came in the Speedwell to Boston, 1633 and settled at Dedham, MA in 1636 and built the old Fairbanks House, still standing, perhaps the oldest colonial house in New England. http://www.dedham.com/fairbanks/house/default.htm The Fairbanks House Mary (Gawkroger-Platts) Prescott was the grand-daughter of James Gawkroger and Jennet Fairbank. (C.A. Torrey, The Gawkroger Genealogy, 1959, p. 2, No. 4.) http://www.smokykin.com/ged/f001/f26/a0012674.htm James Gawkroger (25 May 1609 - ) Matthias Farnsworth was born at Farnworth, co., Lancaster (ENG) 1612 (or 1615) His son (Benjamin) married 1695 Mary Prescott, dau of Capt. Jonas Prescott of Groton (MA). Matthias settled at Groton, then the bordering town of Lancaster (MA) and the family was always closely connected with the Prescotts. Farnworth was ten miles from Sheving- ton, Lancashire, England. While Matthias Farnsworth and Ellis Barron did not settle at Lanca ster nor sign the Town Orders there, they were both well known neighbors of John Prescott an d their families intermarried. (see the tombstones of all the Prescotts who married Farnswort hs Listed at the Old Burying Ground, Groton, MA end of this report.) Ellis Barron was born at Bury (Lancashire, Eng.) about fifteen miles from Shevington, in 1608 . He settled at Watertown (MA where he died 30 October 1676. His son, Ellis Barron m. as hi s second wife, before 1713, Lydia (Prescott) Fairbanks. There were numerous Barron familie s at Wigan (Lancs, ENG) and other nearby towns. Elizabeth Barron was bp. at Bury co. Lancast er 28 April, 1594 the daughter of Ellis Barron of that place. James Prescott of Croston (ENG ) married at Croston, 1603, Alice Barron. James Draper, son of Thomas Draper of Heptonstall, co. York, was born in that place in 1618 a nd he died at Roxbury, MA July, 1691, aged 73 years. He married at Heptonstall (ENG) 21 Apri l 1646, Miriam Stansfield born there 27 Nov. 1625, died at Roxbury, MA January 1691, the daug hter of Gideon and Grace (Eastwood) Stansfield of Heptonstall. The came to New England soo n after their marriage. He was a proprietor at Roxbury, MA 1650 and signed the Town Orders a t Lancaster (MA) 3 April 1654, but returned to Roxbury. They had nine children. (Note: Jona s Prescott, son of John and Mary (Platts) Prescott m. 1672 Mary Loker dau of John Loker and h is wife, Mary Draper of Sudbury, MA) Richard Sutton who signed the Town Orders at Lancaster in 1653 was undoubtedly the grandson o f James and Isabella (Prescott) Sutton, who were married at Standish Parish, Lancashire (ENG ) 20 August 1570. Thomas Rowlandson, father of Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, m. after 1644 as his 2nd wife, Bridget M uzzey, who died at Lancaster June 14, 1662. Mr. Rowlandson died at Lancaster 17 Nov. 1657, a nd his widow Bridget m. (3) William Kerley, Sr. who d. there 14 July 1670 (there were five Ro wlandsons at Wigan, Lancashire Eng. and other at Standish Parish, Lancs., Eng. Four other friends (of John Prescott) from Lancashire signed the Lancaster Town Orders: Joh n Moore, Sr. 11 Mar. 1653/53; John Smith subscribed four days later; John Mansfield and Ensi gn John Moore both signed on 13 April 1654. However, while Mansfield, Moore and Smith are co mmon Lancashire names, we lack sufficient information concerning these four to be any other u se towards the establishment of the identity of John Prescott than that of being four fellow countrymen who came to Lancaster, Massachusetts . A grandson of John Smith married Dorothy Prescott, granddaughter of Capt. Jonathan Prescot t of Lancaster and Concord. This makes a total of 27 English acquaintances who came to Lanca ster at his behest. Probably John Shaw of Halifax co. York should also be added. Source: Epitaphs from the Old Burial Ground, Groton, MA by Dr. Samuel A. Green pub l878 Bos ton: Little Brown & Co. p. 1 p. 1 Tombstone Here Lyeth The Body of James Prescott. Hee Dyed The 9 of May l704 Aged 20 and 7 Weeks Yere s Old. Author's note: The son of Jonas and Mary (Loker) Prescott, born March l6, l684. p.4 Tombstone (Death's Head) Here Lyes Buried the Body of Jonas Prescott Esq Who Deceased Decembr ye 3lst, l723 Aged 76 Ye ars. Author's note: The son of John and Mary (Platts) Prescott born at Lancaster, (MA), Jun e l648. p.9 Tombstone Here Lies Buried Ye Body of Ye Widow Mary Prescott Relick of Jonas Prescott Esq Who Decd Octo br Ye 28th A D l735 In Ye 82d Year of Her Age. Author's Note: The daughter of John and Mar y (Draper) Loker, born September 28, l653; she was the mother of twelve children, of whom te n lived to grow up and be married, each one having a large family. It is said that she live d to see l76 of her descendants. p.l0 Tombstone Here Lies Buried Ye Body of Ye Honourable Colonel Benjamin Prescott Esq Who Departed This Li fe August Ye 3d Anno Dom l738 Age 42 Years 7 M and 30 D. Author's note: The son of Jonas an d Mary (Loker) Prescott, born January 4, l696; married June ll, l7l8 Abigail Oliver, of Cambr idge (MA). Benjamin was the father of Colonel William Prescott who commanded the American f orces at the battle of Bunker Hill. p.11 Tombstone Here Lies Buried Ye Body of Abigail Prescott Daughter of Ye Honourable Colonel Benjamin Pres cott Esq and Mrs Abigail His Wife Who Dec'd Novembr Ye 7th A D l739 Age 20 Years 6 M & l2 D p.18 Tombstone Here Lies Buried Ye Body of Mrs. Mary Prescott Wife of Jonas Prescott Esq Who Dec'd Februar y Ye l7th A. D. l749/50 About 75 Years Old Author's note: The daughter of John and Faith (Dunster) PAGE born January 9, l674/5. She wa s married April 30 l7l8 and was Jonas Prescott's second wife. p.19 Tombstone Here Lies Buried Ye Body of Capt. Jonas Prescott Esq Who Departed This Life September Ye l2t h Anno Domini l750 Age 7l Years l0 M & l7 Ds. Author's Note: The son of Jonas and Mary (Loker) Prescott, born October 26, l678. p.2l Tombstone Here Lies Buried Ye Body of Mary Prescott Daugh'r of Colonel Benjamin Prescott Esq and Mrs Ab igail his wife Who Dec'd Octob'r Ye 25th A D l75l Age l6 Years 2 M & l8 Ds. p.29 Tombstone (Death's Head) Here Lies a Daughter of Dr. Oliver Prescott & Mrs Lydia his wife. Born Nov'r Ye l9th l757 . Still Born. p.44 Tombstone Hora (Hour Glass) Fugit (Cherub's Head) Here Lieth the Body of Abigail Prescott the Daughter of Dr Oliver Prescott and Mrs. Lydia hi s wife who died with the Throat Distemper, aug't 5th l765 age 5 years, 5 months and 16 days . Author's note: She was born February 2l, l760. p.45 Tombstone Memento mori (Skull and Cross-Bones) Here lies the Body of Lucy Prescott the Daughter of the Hon. Benjamin Prescott Esq and Mrs. A bigail his wife, who died with the Throat Distemper Aug't l0th l765 Age 37 Years, 5 months an d l3 days. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Author's note: She was born Februar y 25, l728/9 p.45 Tombstone Thomas the Son of Dr. Oliver Prescott and Mrs. Lydia his wife, who died with the Throat Diste mper Aug't l0, l765 Age 10 months. Author's note: He was born Oct ll, l764. p.46 Tombstone Memento mori (Skull and Cross-Bones) Here lies the Body of Abigail Prescott Relict of the Hon. Benjamin Prescott Esq who departe d this Life Sep't l3th Annoq; Domini l765, Aged 68 years 5 months l9 Days The memory of th e just is Blessed. Author's note: The daughter of the Honorable Thomas and Mary (Wilson) Ol iver. She was the mother of Colonel William Prescott. (commander of the American forces at B unker Hill) p.46 Tombstone (Cherub's Head) Here lies the Body of Abel Prescott the son of James Prescott Esq & Mrs. Susanna, his wife, w ho died with the Throat Distemper Sep't l7th A D l765 Aged 5 years, 4 months 24 Days. Author 's note: He was born April 23, l760. p.46 Tombstone (Cherub's Head) William the son of James Prescott Esq & Mrs Susanna his wife, who died with the Throat Distem per Sep't l9th A D l765 Aged 3 years 6 months 2l Days. From Death's arrest no Age is Free. (adjoining but separate tombstone): Tombstone (Cherub's Head) Sarah the Daughter of James Prescott Esq & Mrs. Susanna his wife, who died with the Throat Di stemper Sep't 20th A D l765 Aged l7 months l7 days. p.90 Tombstone (Willow Tree and Urn) Abigail Prescott daughter of Hon. Oliver Prescott Esq & Mrs. Lydia his wife. Died Oct 6th l7 83 aged l5 years & 3 months. 'An amiable Girl.' p.9l Tombstone Memento mori (Cherub's Head) In Memory of Mary (Farnsworth) Tarbell wife of Lieut William Tarbell who departed this Life F eb ye 29th l784 Aged 88 years l month and 24 days. Author's note: The daughter of Benjami n Farnsworth and his wife, Mary (Prescott) Farnsworth. She b. January 5, l696. p.l05 Tombstone (Cherub's Head) Beneath this monument lies Buried Susanna Prescott eldest daughter of James Prescott Jun. Esq . and Mrs. Hannah Prescott, Who died August l4th l795 In ye 3d year of her age. 'So fade s the lovely blooming flower, Frail smiling solace of an hour, So soon our transient comforts fly, And pleasure only blooms to die.' p.ll5 Tombstone To The memory of Hon. James Prescott Esq This Monument is Erected Inscribed: 'Stranger! Her e lies the son of Hon. Benjamin Prescott Esq and grandson of Jonas Prescott Esq of Groton, an d great grandson of Capt. John Prescott of Lancaster. He was bornJan l3th A D l720. He serv ed the public more than fifty years successively in various military offices, the office of c ivil Matistrate, Legislator, Counsellor of the Executive, Sheriff of Middlesex and Judge of t he C. C. Pleas, which last he sustained to his death. He was distinguished for his patrioti c labors to establish the rights and independence of his country. Ever the steady friend o f true liberty, inflexible in virtue and thro life exemplary for Christian piety.' He die d Feb l5th A D l800 AE. 80. 'Quick flees the shadow, man!' p.l22 Tombstone Here lies Lydia Ann Prescott daughter of Oliver Prescott Junr. Esq and Mrs. Ann his wife. Wh o died Sept. 4th l804 Aged l year and ll months. p.l23 Tombstone Erected in memory of Hon Oliver Prescott Esq. M.D. A.A.S. M.M.S.S. who departed this life No vember l7, AD l804. Aged 73 years 6 months and 9 days. Also: Mrs. Lydia Prescott Consort of the above said Oliver Prescott who died September 27 AD l798 aged 62 years ll months and ll days. p.l46 Tombstone (Willow Tree and Urn) In Memory of Mr. Sampson Prescott who died May l6, l8l5; AEt. 52 yrs. Also Mrs. Lucy his wi fe, died March l4, l834; AEt. 7l yrs. 'Here memory comes by true affection led To commune wi th the distant and the dead.' p.250 (a raised tombstone) This monument is in the Pepperell Burying Ground erected to the Memory of Col. Wm. Prescott and his wife, Abigail Prescott. He commanded the American Forces at Bunker Hill. It is a thick slate slab resting on a solid granite foundation. Here they are buried. _____ In memory of Mrs. Abigail Prescott widow of the late Colonel William Prescott who died Oc t l9, 1821 AEt 89 - and to right of the monument, depicting an open book: This stone is erected In Memory of Colonial William Prescott of Pepperell Who died on t he l3th day of October Anno Domini l795 in the seventieth year of his age. Note: Col. Willia m Prescott who lead the American Troops at Bunker Hill was the nephew of Mary Prescott and Be njamin Farnsworth BIOGRAPHY: Indian Land Transfer of Nashaway to Lancaster, MA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LANCASTER, MASSACHUSSETTS Source: Prescott Memorial by Dr. William Prescott published privately 1867 p.35 A brief history of the negotiation and purchase from Sholan, Chief of the Nashaway Tribe of I ndians of the territory of which the Town of Lancaster, MA was afterward composed; together w ith its subsequent settlement and its suffering and final destruction by fire by the Indians. BIOGRAPHY: 'Early in the seventeenth century some eight years before the settlement of Plymou th, many of the tribes of Massachusetts Indians had been swept over by a dreadful pestilenc e reducing their numbers from many thousands to a few hundreds. In this severe affliction th e Nashaway tribe suffered, though not equally with the others. The Nashaways had also been greatly reduc ed by the wars and the incursion of the Maquas or Mohawks, a powerful and warlike tribe on th e Mohawk River, NY. This tribe had become the scourge and terror of all the New England Indi ans. These circumstances induced the peaceful Sholan the sachem of the Nashaways to seek th e friendship and the protection of the English. Sholan occasionally visited Watertown for th e purpose of trading with Mr. Thomas King who resided there. He recommended Nashawogg as a place well suited for a plantat ion. He told King of the choice intervales, the woods and waters abounding in supplies, - th at the Great Spirit had been very bountiful to the place, and that his people would rejoice i n the prescence of that great people who had come from a distant world.* *Source: History of Lancaster, MA BIOGRAPHY: Finally King decided to visit the place, perilous though the undertaking might see m. He accordingly took the journey through the wilderness and became enamoured with the plac e and returned to Watertown. He made such favor able reports of the adaptation of the territ ory to agriculture and mechanical purposes, etc, that in l643 he entered into an associatio n and agreement with John Prescott of Watertown, Harmon Garrett of Charlestown, Thomas Skidmo re 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 purpose of purchas ing the tract (ten miles by eight, as above stated) According to Mr. Willard in his elaborat e address at the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Lancaster, the above purchase was made and the territory of Nashawa y first 'opened upon the view of the white man while the good Sholan or Shaumaun exercise d a peaceful rule in this, his little empire, over the tribe of the Nashaways. His principal place of residence was on a gentle em inence between the two lakes of the Washacuum in Chocksett, (a corruption or contraction of W oonksechaucksett or Woonksechauxett) now Sterling (MA)' The purchasers entered into an agreement to appear and begin the plantation at a speci- fied time. The deed of Sholan was s anctioned by the General Court but there were many circumstances which combined to retard th e growth of the plantation, all the associates except Mr. Prescott refusing or neglecting to fulfil their contracts, though c hoosing to retain their interest in the property purchased. Willard said only John Prescot t was faithful among the faithless. BIOGRAPHY: Mr. Prescott having chosen this for his future home, he with others petitioned fo r a bridge over Sudbury River. But the subject being delayed by the General Court, Mr. Presc ott, nothing daunted, attempted the perilous adventure of swimming his horse across Sudbury River in the aautumn of l646 but unfo rtunately he lost his horse and lading in the river, escaping with his life, only. About on e week later, his wife and children being on other horses attempted to pass the river and c ame near drowning. BIOGRAPHY: The settlement at Nashaway was treated by the General Court with indifference an d culpable neglect. They had repeatedly been denied those little helps and aids which are s o essential to all new settlements. The inhabitants petitioned for an acto of incorporatio n and asked that it be known by the name of Prescott. The General Court objects, quibbles ab out a name, pretending that 'it smacked too much of manworship or man-service'. BIOGRAPHY: The question was finally settled by a compromise and it was on the l8th day of Ma y, old style (28th of May new style) l653 incorporated into a township by the name of Lancast er. 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, al though Mr. Willard remarks that Richard Linton, Lawrence Waters, his son-in-law and John Bal l were the first inhabitants and that they had tilled the soil and were ready to recieve Mr . Prescott on his arrival. I do not see this stated by any other writer and if correct the y might be hired and sent there by Mr. Prescott and others to prepare for their own accommoda tion when they should remove there. The phrase that 'they had tilled the soil and were read y to receive Mr. Prescott on his arrival' is significant of this fact. BIOGRAPHY: At the time of the incorporation there were but nine families in the town. In on e year, that is, by the spring of l654 there were twenty families there. In answer to a petit ion of the inhabitants of the plantation, JOHN PRESCOTT, THOMAS SAWYER, EDWARD BRECK, NATHANI EL HADLOCK, WILLIAM KERLEY AND RALPH HOUGHTON were apptd prudential managers of the town by t he General Court. Source: Early Records of Lancastor, Mass. p.32. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth Also in the Descendants of Edmund Sawyer Death of John Prescott, Founder of Lancaster, MA Source: Henry S. Nourse, A.M. Lancaster, 1884, p.120 '1681: Dec 20. The Deposition of Tho Wilder aged 37 years sworn, sayth that being with Jno [J ohn] Prescott Sen'r about six houers before he died he ye said Jno Prescott gave to his eldes t sonn Jno [John] Prescott his house lott with all belonging to ye same & ye two mills, corn mill & saw mill with ye land belonging therto & three scor Acors of land nere South medow & fourty Acors of land nere Wonchesix & a pece of enterfile [intervale] called Johns Jump & Bridge medow on both sids ye Brook. Cyprian Steevens Testifieth to al l ye truth Above writen. Sworn in Court J. R. c [clerk] [Middlesex Court Files] Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth MAWORCES-L@rootsweb.com Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2000 18:19:53 EDT From: Farns10th@aol.com To: MAWORCES-L@rootsweb.com Subject: 1672 Petition of John Prescott to the General Court Source: The Early Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts by Henry S. Nourse 1884 p.90 March 17, 1672 'To the honourable the Gov'r the Deputy Gov'r magts & Deputyes assembled in the Gen'rall Cour t. The Petition of John Prescott of Lanchaster in most humble wise sheweth Whereas ye Petition' r hath purchased an Indian right to a small parcell of Land, occasioned & circumstanced for q uantity & quality according to the deed of sale hereunto annexed and a part thereof not bein g legally setled upon me unlesse I may obteyne the favor of this Court for the Confirmation t hereof, these are humbly to request the Courts favor for that end, the Lord having dealt grac iously with mee in giveing mee many children I account it my duty to endeavor their provissio n & setling and do hope that this may be of some use in yt (that) kind, I know not any claim e made to said land by any towne, or any legall right yt (that) any other persons have therei n and therefore are free for me to occupy & subdue as any other, may I obteyne the Courts app robation. I shall not use farther motives, my condition in other respecks & with my troubl e & expenses have been according to my poor ability in my place being not altogether unknow n to some of ye Court. That ye Lords p'rsence may be with & his blessing accompany all yo'r p'sons, counsells, & end eavo'rs for his honor & ye weale of his poor people is ye pray'r of Yo'r suppliant. John Prescott Sen'r' 17: 3: 1672 Read and referred to ye Comittee. 'In Refference to this Petition the Comittee being well Informed that the Pet'r (petitioner ) is an ancient Planter & hath bin a usefull helpfull & publique spirited man doinge many goo d office ffor the Country Relatinge to the Road to Conecticott, marking trees, directinge o f Passengers etc and that the Land Petitioned for beinge but about 107 Acres & Lyinge not ve ry Convenient for any other Plantation, and only accomodable for the Pet'r we Judge it reason able to confirme the Indian Grant to him & his heyres if ye honor'd Court see meete. The Deputyes approve of the returne of the Comittee in answer to this pet: or Hono'rd magis't s consenting hereto. Edward Tyng George Corwin Humphrey Davie Wm Torrey Cleric 29 May: 1672 Consented to my ye magist's Edward Rawson Secret.' (Attention was called to the above petition by the Honorable Samuel A. Green. Both petitio n and deed are among the Shattuck Manuscripts in the possession of the New England Historic , Genealogical Society. The Grantor was James Wiser, alias Quanapaug, the brave Christian ca ptain of the Nashaways, whose timely warning of the impending danger might have prevented th e massacre of February 1676, had the colonial authorities paid proper regard to it. The lan d joined Prescott's farm at Washacum previously granted. - Henry Nourse.) Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth from the database of Carol Smart Mero <casmero@crocker.com> 3604. John PRESCOTT was born in 1604 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. He was baptize d on 7 Feb 1612/13 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. He died in Dec 1681 in Lancaster , Worcester, Massachusetts.(173) In a note posted on Prodigy Service on 10/15/92 by Marie Louise Brei: As for your question regarding the whereabouts of the armor and service belonging to John Pre scott, I too, am interested. The book 'Appendix To the Story of My Ancestors in America' by R ev. Edwin Sawyer Walker, pub. 1908, does say this: 'His (John Prescott) favorite gun having been handed down from one generation to another, i s not (1906) in possession of Wisconsin Historical Society, in the State Library, at Madison . He gave the gun to his son John, upon whose death it fell into the hands of his daughter, T abitha, who married Silas Brigham, for her second husband, and their son Prescott Brigham, wh o was born in 1770, and lived to extreme old age, presented it to the Historical Society. The ancient Armorial bearings of the Prescott's are -- Black shield, bearing its silver chevr on, and displayed, two and one, the three silver owls. The crest is a cubet-arm, coupled, ere ct and vested red The cuff is ermined, and in the hand is held a cresset, or beacon, a burnin g pitch-pot, sabled, fiamed (sic ?flamed?) proper The Heraldic language tells us that they we re conferred for fidelity and watchfulness by day and night; but that the particular deed whi ch won the arms, was performed at night, on the coast-line in detecting the advance of some e nemy by water, and sending inland through the darkness, its warning bale-fire, which roused t he country to its defense. --Edwind Sawyer Waler, Springfield, Illinois, August 11, 1908. John Prescott Of Lancaster, Massachusetts 1643 - 1681 by Frederick Lewis Weis, TH.D., 1961, D ublin, NH. This book states that an infant child of John and Mary was buried at Sowerby 7 Mar ch 1630/31. Appendix To The Story Of My Ancestors In America by Rev. Edwin Sawyer, A.M. pub. 1909 (this p osted on Prodigy Service 10/13/92 by M-L Brei): 'John Prescott is known in history, as `Th e Founder of Lancaster.' For nearly forty years he was the very heart and soul of Lancaster , and after the `Massacre,' when the place was for a time entirely abandoned, he returned t o there to make his home, and to die at his post, enjoining in his will that `the worn out mo rtal part of him, should be committed on the Common Burying Ground in Lancaster.' On the 14th day of June, 1906, I, Edwin S. Walker, visited the `Burying-Ground above describe d, and copied the following inscriptions `Here lyeth the body of John Prescott deceased 1681' This inscription is rudely cut upon the original Headstone, which marks the grave. It is a sl ab of slate, in size about five inches in thickness, by twelve inches in width, and about thi rty inches high above ground. John Prescott had eight children as follows: Marie, Martha, John, Sarah, Hannah, Lydia, Jonat han, and Jonas. John Prescott inherited from his ancestors their arms and service. He brough t wit him from England a complete suite of armor, and of a more ancient fashion than was use d in his day. He was a man of fine presence, of stern commanding countenance. At one time his house was att acked by Indians, when he and his wife were alone. He had several muskets besides his favorit e gun; his wife loaded the guns, while he kept up a well directed fire, with fatal effects. T he Indians believing that they were resisted by a large body of men, as Mr. Prescott accompan ied his firing by loud authoritative commands, retired carrying their dead and wounded with t hem...' There is probably more to this article but this is all she copied of it. She then listed th e following: John Prescott b. in Standish, Lancashire, Eng d. 1681, Lancaster, Ma m. Mary Platts Prescott b. 1622 d. Oct. 20, 1688 He had an estate probated on 20 Dec 1681 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts. (174) - Joh n Prescott, founder of Lancaster, aged about seventy-seven years; nuncupative will proved Dec . 20, 1681. This lineage is still being studied by knowledgeable genealogists. (The Prescott s Unlimited Fam. Assn., headed by Doris Ward, is studying this lineage in England in detail f or ancs. of not only this John Prescott but other Prescott immigrants to America [in N.E. an d Va.]. They have found a John who was probably the son of Ralph Prescott who never left Engl and and died there which would eliminate our John from being his son.) If it is found to be c orrect that John Prescott is the son of Ralph Prescott of Lancashire, then the lineage is a n old and royal lineage. He would, for instance, be 17th in descent from William the Lion, Ki ng of the Scots. The complete proof of the connection between our John and Ralp h Prescott of Shevington in Standish Parish, Lancashire does not satisfy all authorities thou gh no proof against or contradicting it has been found either*. It is too lengthy a lineag e to be included here. Doris Cline Ward who puts out a newsletter, is still doing research in to this line along with others. She lives in Asheville NC. in 1992. She has published a book which she says is now out of date and has been corrected. W eiss has also published much on Prescott, some of which I have in my files. (BP) *Note: The m ost recent information that I have received from the Prescotts Unlimited Newsletter seems t o indicate that John Prescott who was mentioned in the Will of Ralph Prescott of Lancashire E ng. remained in Eng. and was not the emigrant to New England as was hoped. They are still pur suing the ancestry of John Prescott the emigrant.(12-17-1992) BP. (* see below) -- 'Magna Charta Sureties, 1215' (line 116:16), by Adams Arthur and Weis, 1964, Gen. Pub. Co. -- Line is listed as questionable in 'Ancestral Roots Of Sixty Colonists' (line 34:43) by Wei s. ---------------------------------- 'Pioneers of Massachusetts' by Charles Henry Pope, pg. 372: PRESCOTT, JOHN, blacksmith, Watertown, bought land and house at Lancaster (Nashaway) 5 (8) 16 47. Took oath of fidelity 1652. Petitioned General Court 19 Jund 1650. He finished his mill a nd began to grind corn 23 (3) 1654 [Mdx. Deeds III:406]. Wife Mary, daughter Mary m. 1648 Th omas Sawyer. Will dated 8 (8) 1673; in old age; probated 4 Apr 1682; bequeated to wife, son s John, Jonathan and Jonas; to James Sawyer his grand child and servant; to daughters Mary, S arah and Lydia; to grand child Martha Ruge (Rugg). Genealogies Of The Families And Descendants Of Watertown, Mass. by Henry Bond, M.D. pub. 185 5 by Little, Brown & Co. Boston, Vol. II, p. 1013: John Prescott, of Wat., 1641; fr. 1660; a first settler of Lancaster. He was grantee of a far m of 90 A., and he purchased 5 other lots. He bought the homestall, 3 A., of D. Peirce (who h ad gone to Newbury). He bought the lots in the Great Dividends and in Beaver Brook plowlands , which had been granted to John Griggs, and a lot in the remote meadows, which had been gra nted to D. Peirce. The Military Annals Of Lancaster Massachusetts 1740-1865, by Henry S. Nourse, A.M., pub. Lanc aster, 1889, (excerpted from) - p.339: John Prescott, The Founder of Lancaster 1605-1681 - The facts that have come down to us where upon to build a biography of John Prescott are scanty indeed, but enough to prove that he wa s that rare type of man, the ideal pioneer. Not one of the famous frontiersmen, whose figure s stand out so prominently in early American history, was better equipped with the manly qual ities that win here worship in a new country, than was the father of the Nashaway Plantation . Had Prescott, like Daniel Boone, been fortunate in the favor of comtemporary historians t o perpetuate anecdotes of his daily prowess and fertility of resource, or had he left gratefu l successors withal to keep his memory green, his name and romantic adventures would, like Bo one's adorn Colonial annals. Persecuted for his opinions, he went out into the wilderness wit h his family to found a home, and for forty years thought, fought and wrought to make that home the centre of a prosperous community. Loaded from his fi rst steps with discouragements that soon appalled every other of the original copartners in t he purchase of Nashaway from Showanon, Prescott alone held to his purpose, and death found hi m at his post. His grave is in the old burial field at Lancaster, yet not ten citizens can po int it out. [This has changed - today (1993) there is a large stone placed to honor this fore father by his descendants]. At it's head stands a rude fragment from some ledge of slate rock , faintly incised with characters which few eyes can trace. 'John Prescott Deceased' - No dat e! no comment! That is his only memorial stone-his only epitaph in the town of which, for it s first forty years, he was the very heart and soul. But this fair township-now divided amon g nine towns-and all it has been and is to be, may be justly called his monument. The House o f Deputies in 1652 voted it to be rightly his, and marked it by incorporative enactment with his name- Prescott. Unfortunately, however, some years before this he had favo red Doctor Robert Childe's criticisms of the Colonial system of taxation without representati on; criticisms that grew, and bore good fruitage when the time were riper for individual free dom, when Samuel Adams and James Otis took up the people's cause where Sir Henry Vane and Rob ert Childe had left it. Therefore when, in 1652, what had been known as the Nashaway Plantati on was fairly named for its founder in accordance with the petition of its inhabitants, som e one of influence, whether magistrate or higher official, perhaps bethought himself that n o Governor of the Colony even had been so honored, and that it might be well, before dignifyi ng this busy blacksmith so much as to name a town for him, to see if he could, pass examinati on in the cathechism deemed orthodox at that date in Massachusetts Bay. Alas! John Prescott w as not a freeman. Having a conscience and fixed religious convictions of his own, he had neve r given public adhesion to the established church covenant, and was therefor by law debarred from holding any civil office, and even from the privilege of vo ting for the magistrates. There was a year's delay, and, in 1653 - just after the Rump Parlia ment had disappeared, fleeing the wrath of Cromwell and his musketeers- 'Prescott' was expung ed from the Court's grant, and Lancaster began its history. - p. 341: I have stated that Prescott was an ideal pioneer.....The bibulous gamblers, reckles s duelists, blasphemous savages of mixed blood, the curse of our frontier today (1889), had n o prototype in Colonial days; for the human harvest then gathered to the stocks, the whippin g-post and the gallows, was of a far less obtrusive class of offenders against morals and soc ial decency. Prescott was a Puritan soldier, a seeker of liberty not license; rebellious agai nst tyranny, but no contemner of constituted authority or moral law. It was no accident tha t put him in the advance guard of Anglo-Saxon civilization, then just starting on its westwar d march from the shore of Massachusetts Bay. The position had awaited the man. When he set u p his anvil and with skillful blows hammered out the first plough-shares to compel the virgi n soil of the Nashaway valley to its proper fruitfulness, he was all unwittingly helping to f orge the destinies of this great republic; - was in his humble sphere a true builder of the n ation. His neighbors and friends, John Tinker, Ralph Houghton, and Major Simon Willard, doubt less excelled him in culture, but no neighbor surpassed him in natural personal force, whethe r physical, mental or moral...... Whether Prescott was by symmetry of form and comliness of feature a fit figure to grace the p ediment of a Grecian temple, or was moulded after a much more rugged northern type we do no t know. He is now a mere name, bereft by time even of ghostly shape and vesture. But his care er makes us sure that his gifts and traits were those of a born leader of men; that he was we ll dowered with brain, thew and sinew; was masterful and stirred to restlessness by useful e nergies. We may therefor trust the tradition which fays with these facts, telling that he wa s of commanding stature, stern of mien and strong of limb, and had a heart devoid of fear, gr eat physical endurance and an unbending will. These qualities his savage neighbors early reco gnized and bowed before in deep respect, and because of these no Lancaster enterprise but cla imed him as its head. His manual skill and dexterity must have been great, his mental capacit y and business energy remarkable, for we find him not only a farmer, trader, blacksmith and h unter, but a surveyor and builder of roads, bridges and mills. The records of the town show t hat he was seldom free from the conduct of some public labor. The greatest of his benefaction s to his neighbors were his corn-mill erected in 1654, and his saw-mill in 1659. No event cou ld rival in its vital interest to every family in that little hamlet the coming of the firs t millstone. Until the miller announced his readiness to take toll of their grain, every gris t had to be borne on horse-back to Watertown, nearly thirty miles away, or was prepared for b read by fatiguing labor at hand-quern and mortar, or made fit for human food by slow, crude p rocesses copied from savage life. Before the starting of his saw-mill, the rude houses must h ave been of logs, stone, and clay, for it was an impossibility to bring from the lower towns , on the existing 'Bay road' and with the primitive tumbril, any large amount of sawn lumber. We have the authority of Camden, the antiquary, writing in 1586, that in the northern countie s of England many of the smaller towns gave names to families having freeholds therein. Thu s originated the Lancashire names so familiar among us: Atherton, Farnsworth, Houghton, More , Rigby and Prescott. In West Derby Hundred, about eight miles to the eastward from Liverpool , in the very ancient town, Prescot, one of fourteen townships forming Prescot parish, wherei n certain manorial rights were granted by Edward III, in 1333, to Sir William de Dacre, the n its rector. Its name is obviously compounded of two Anglo-Saxon words, preost and cote, hen ce meaning the priest's dwelling place. (the foregoing is now in question as to whether it' s our John Prescott) In the adjoining parish of Standish, John Prescott - the youngest son of Ralph and Ellen of t he hamlet of Shevington, and the great-grandson of Sir James Prescot of the manor of Dryby-wa s baptized in 1604/5, the year famed in English history for the Gunpowder Plot. It was abou t this time also that William Shakespeare, comedian to King James I, retired from the stage . January 21, 1629, being then a land-holder of Shevington, Prescott was married to Mary Plat ts at Wigan (this marriage is proven). Probably within the year he removed to Sowerby, Halifa x parish, in the West Riding of Yorkshire where he lived for about seven years. It has ofte n been alleged that he crossed the ocean to escape from prelatical tyranny, but this statemen t may rest upon inference or tradition only, no evidence being given in proof of it. If indee d he fled from Anglican bishops, it was an irony of fate that he soon found himself subject t o the inquisitorial despotism of the Massachusetts Precisians. His first haven was Barbadoe s (also questioned now) where he is recorded as owning lands in 1638. For reasons now unknow n that prolific but hurricane-swept island did not prove a satisfactory residence, and in 164 0 Prescott landed in Boston. (my note- the John Prescott who lived in Barbadoes is now thought by Prescotts Unlimited -th e Prescott family newsletter, to have continued there after 1640.) He at once chose a home i n Watertown, and became possessor of six lots of land, aggregating one hundred and twenty-si x acres. In 1643 his name is associated with those of Thomas King of Watertown, Henry Symond s of Boston, and others, the first proprietors of the Nashaway purchase. p. 348: John Prescott, deserted by all his early co-partners, was sufficient for the emergenc y, a host in himself. He sells his one hundred and twenty-six acres and house at Watertwon, puts his all into the v enture, prepares a rude dwelling in the wilderness, moves thither his cattle, and chattels, a nd finally, mounting wife and children and his few remaining goods upon horses' backs, bids h is old neighbors good-bye, and threads the narrow Indian trail through the forest westward. T he scorn of men high in authority is to follow him, but now the most formidable enemy in hi s path is the swollen Sudbury River and its bordering marsh. We find the aristocratic scorn m ingling with the story of Prescott's dearly bought victory over this natural obstacle, told i n Winthrop's History of New England among what the author classes as remarkable special provi dences: Prescott another favorer of the Petitioners lost a horse and his loading in Sudbury river, an d a week after his wife and children being upon another horse were hardly saved from drowning . That the kindly-hearted Winthrop could cooly charge the pitiable disaster of the brave pion eer to the wrath of God towards the Erastian liberality or suspected Presbyterianism of Rober t Childe and his associate petitioners, pictures vividly the bigotry natural to the age and r ace, a bigotry which culminated in the horrors of the persecution for witchcraft. This Sudbur y swamp was the lion in the path from the bay westward during many a decade. In 1645, an earn est petition went up to the council from Prescott and his associates, complaining that much t ime and means had been spent in discovering Nashaway and preparing for the settlem ent there, and that on account of the lack of bridge and causeway at the Sudbury River, the p roprietors could not pass to and from the bay towns-'without exposing our persons to perill a nd our cattell and goods to losse and spoyle: as yor petitioners are able to make proofe of b y sad experience of what wee suffered there within these few dayes.' The General Court ordere d the bridge and way to be made 'passable for loaden horse,' and allowed twenty pounds to Sud bury, 'so it be donne wthin a twelve monthe.' The twelve months passed and no bridge spanne d the stream. That the dangers and difficulties of the passage were not exaggerate d by the petitioners is proven by the fact that more than one hundred years afterwards the br idge and causeway at this place, 'half a mile long,' were represented to the General Court a s dangerous, and in time of floods impassable. Between 1759 and 1761, the proceeds of specia l lotteries amounting to twelve hundred and twenty-seven pounds were expended in the improvem ent of the crossing. John Winthrop, writing of the Nashaway planters, tells us that 'he whom they had called to b e their minister [Norcross] left them for their delays, ' but omits mention of the fact recor ded by the planters themselves in their petition that the chief and sufficient cause of thei r slow progress was the inability or unwillingness of the Governor and magistrates to affor d effective aid in providing a passable way, even for horsemen, over a small river. Prescott, at least, was chargeable with no delay. By June, 1645, he and his family had becom e permanent residents on the Nashaway. Richard Linton, Lawrence Waters the carpenter, and Joh n Ball the tailor, were his only neighbors; these three men having been sent up to build, pla nt, and prepare for the coming of other immigrants. But two houses had been built. Linton pro bably lived with his son-in-law Waters, in his home near the fording place in the North Branc h of the Nashaway, contiguous to the lot of intervale land which Harmon Garrett and others o f the first proprietors had fenced in to serve as a night pasture for their cattle. Ball ha d left his children and their mother in Watertown, she being at times insane. Prescott's firs t lot embraced part of the grounds upon which the public buildings of Lancaster now stand, bu t this he soon parted with, and took up his abode a mile to the south-west, on the sunny slop e of George Hill, where, beside a little brooklet of pure cool water, which then doubtless ca me rolicking down over its gravelly bed with twice the flow it has today (and i s probably dried up now), there had been built two years at least before, the tr ucking house of Symonds and King. This trading post was the extreme outpost of civilization; beyond was interminable forest, tr aversed only by the Indian trails, which were but narrow paths hard to find and easy to lose , unless the traveller had been bred to the arts of wood-craft. Here passed the united trail s from Washacum, Wachusett, Quaboag and other Indian villages of the west, leading to the wad ing place of the Nashaway River near the present Atherton Bridge, and so down the Bay Path ov er Wataquadock to Concord. The little plateau half way down the sheltering hill, with fertil e fields sloping to the southeast and its never failing springs, was and is an attractive spo t; but its material advantages to the pioneer of 1645 were far greater than those apparent to the Lancastrian of this nineteent h century in the changed conditions of life. With the privilige of first choice therefore, i t is not strange that Prescott and his sturdy sons-in-law grasped the rich intervales, and wa rm, easily-tilled slopes, stretching along to the Nashaway south branch from the meeting wate rs to John's Jump on the east, and extending west to the crown of George Hill-lands now cover ed by the village of south Lancaster. In 1650 John Prescott found himself the only member of the company resident at Nashaway. Of t he co-partners, Symonds, King and John Hill were dead; Norcross and Childe had gone to Englan d; Cowdall had sold his rights to Prescott; Chandler, Davis, Walker and others had formally a bandoned their rights; Garrett, Shawe, Day, Adams, and perhaps two or three more, retained th eir claims to allotments, making no improvements and contributing nothing by their presence o r tithes to the growth of the settlement, thus becoming effectual stumbling blocks in the wa y of progress. Prescott, very reasonably, held this a grievance, and, having no other means o f redress, asked equitable judgement in the matter from the magistrates in a petition which c annot be found. (The court responded that Lancaster was not fit to make a plantation and di d not appear capable to have a ministry erected and maintained there and if one not be soon i nstalled that the parties were to live there without means supplied by the court. The calle d for ministry was not established in Lancaster until 1654.) - p. 351: No sooner had the plantation attained the dignity of a town under the classic nam e of Lancaster, than it's founder bent all his energies towards those enterprises best calcul ated to promote the comfort and prosperty of its then inhabitants, and to attract by materia l advantages a desirable permanent immigration. His practical eye had doubtless long before m arked the best site for a mill in all the region round about, and on the slope scarce a gun s hot away he set up a new home, afterwards well known to friend and savage as Prescott's Garri son. - p. 353. In six months from the date the mill was done, and Prescott 'began to grind corne t he 23rd day of the 3 mo. 1654.' (The town was granted the usual immunities by the court (pro bably no taxes) until 23rd of May 1662. His busy brain was soon planning a new benefaction to his fellow-citizens, and, when his mea ns grew sufficiently to warrant the enterprise, his busy hands wrought its comsumation. (H e received a grant for his saw mill) Monday, the seventeenth of February, 1659 'the Compan y granted him to fall pines on the Commons to supply his saw-mill.' (In April 1659, John Prescott was to assist Ensign Noyes in making a survey of the Nashaway g rant. It seems he had some practical skill in surveying, the laying out of highways and the c onstruction of bridges. He also pioneered a new path to Connecticut by Nashaway which was les s hilly than the former way. He assisted on a committee upon the building of bridges 'at Bill irriky and Misticke' in 1657. In 1658 he with his son-in-law Jonas Fairbank was appointed t o survey a farm of six hundred and fifty acres for Captain Richard Davenport , the western pa rt of which is now the most densley peopled portion of West Boylston. On 18 Oct 1659 he petit ioned the court for work he had done 10 years previous which was he was asked to do for Mr. W ilson of Boston and Mr. Shepard of Cambridge for which he was never paid. Therefor he asked f or the grant of a farm for recompense. One hundred acres were granted him, and laid out nea r the Washacum ponds where the railroad buildings stood in 1889.) We get very few glimpses of Prescott from the meagre records of succeeding years, but those s erve to show that he was busy, prosperous and annually honored by his neighbors with the publ ic duties for which his sturdy integrity, shrewd business tact and wisely directed energy pec ularly fitted him. He had taken the oath of fidelity in 1652. Such owning of allegiance was b y law prerequisite to the holding of real estate. Refusing such oath he might better have bee n a Nipmunk (Indian) so far as civil rights or priveleges were concerned. He was not yet a me mber of the recognized church, however, and therefore lacked the political dignities of a fre eman....(in the colony of Massachusett Bay there was no room for liberty of conscience.) (Other towns learning of Prescott's skills also hired his assistance. He was hired by town o f Groton to assist them in erecting a corn mill in 1667. Prescott's youngest son Jonas was th e first miller.) - p. 359: In 1669, John Prescott was proclaimed a freeman. He may have been long a church mem ber, or may not even at this date have yielded the conscientious scruples that had a quarte r of a century earlier subjected him to Winthrop's reproach. (The laws had been modified b y this date that even if not churchmembers if they owned a certain amount of property and wer e guaranteed by the local minister 'to be Orthodox in Religion and not vicious in their lives ,' might be admitted to the freedom of the commonwealth by a majority vote in the General Cou rt.) About this time he petitioned the court for more land. The request was referred to a spe cial committee composed of Edward Tyng, George Corwin and Humphrey Davie, who reported as fol lows: In Referrence to this Petition the Comittee being well informed that the Petr is an ancient P lanter and hath bin a vseful helpfull and publique spirited man doinge many good offices ffo r the Country, Relatinge to the Road to Connecticott, marking trees, directinge of Passenger s &c and that the Land Petitioned for beinge but about 107 Acres & Lyinge not very Cnvenien t for any other Plantation, and only accomodable for the Pet we judge it reasonable to confir me the Indian Grant to him & his heyres if ye honored Court see meete. (The Indian who owne d this land was James Wiser alias Quanapaug, the Christian Nashaway chief, whose bravery ha d been tested in the contest between the Nipmucks and the Mohawks, and was so firm a friend o f his white neighbors at Lancaster that when Philip persuaded the tribe with Sagamore Sam t o go upon the war path, James refused to join them. He also served as a spy and tried to sav e Lancaster from destruction. It is related that at his first coming, John Prescott, he soon won the respect of the savages, not only by his fearlessness and grea t strength, but by the power of his eye and his dignity of mien. They soon learned to stand i n awe of his long musket and unerring skill as a marksman. He had no doubt seen some militar y service in England, for he came of a soldierly race, his great-grandfather having been knig hted for gallantry in battle (remember, not proven ancestry!). He had brought with him from E ngland a suit of mail-helmet and cuirass-probably such as were worn by the soldiers of Cromwe ll. Clothed with these, his stately figure seemed to the sons of the forest something almost supe rhuman. One day some Indians, having taken away a horse of his, he put on his armor, pursue d them along, and soon overtook them. The chief of the party seeing him approach unsupported , met him menacingly with uplifted tomahawk. Prescott dared him to strike and was immediatl ey taken at his word, but the rude weapon glanced harmless from the helmet, to the amazemen t of the red men. Naturally the Indian desired to try upon his own head so wonderful a hat, a nd the owner obligingly gratified him, claiming the privilege, however, of using the tomahaw k in return. The helmet proving a scant fit or its wearer neglecting to bring it down to it s proper bearings, Prescott's vengeful blow not only astounded him, but left very little cuti cle on either side of his head and nearly deprived him of his ears. Prescott was allowed to jog home in peace upon his horse. In 1673 Prescott had nearly a ttained the age of three score and ten. The weight of years that had been full of exposure, a nxiety and toil and some sharp touch of bodily ailment warning him of his mortality, he mad e his will. But John Prescott's pilgrimage was far from ended, and severer chastenings than a ny yet experienced awaited him. He had lived to see the settlement that called him father str uggle upward from discouraging beginnings to become a thriving and happy community of over fi fty families.....All this fair scene of industry and rural content, which he might in modes t truth claim to be the fruit of his care and toil, he lived to see in a single day made mor e desolate than the wilderness from which it had been laboriously conquered. (The I ndian massacre of Lancaster in 1676 was devastating and those residents who survivied were f orced to flee to a safer place.) In October 1679, John Prescott with his sons John and Jonathan, his sons-in-law Thomas Sawye r and John Rugg, his grandson Thomas Sawyer, Jr. and his neighbors John Moore, Thomas Wilde r and Josiah White petitioned the Middlesex Court for permission to resettle the town, and t heir prayer was granted. No record of John Prescott's death is found; but when upon his death-bed, feeling that the ch anged condition of his own and his son Jonathan's affairs required some modification of the w ill made in 1673, he summomned two of his townsmen to hear his nuncupative codicil to that do cument. The date of that affidavit makes it certain that his death occurred about the middl e of December, 1681. 'Some Descendants Of Thomas Bryant Of Chester Pennsylvania by Miriam L. Luke and Frances L. F erguson pub. 1977 by Unigraphic Inc. p. 222 et seq.:The Massachusetts Families Prescott, Sawy er, Houghton, White, Whitcomb, Rice, Moore, Chapin, Taft The lineage of Sarah Matilda (Moore ) Bryant is so extensive it requires a book of its own, and is given here as briefly as poss ible in Appendix M, N, and O. John Prescott is reported to have been born c 1640 at Shevington, Standish Parish, Lancashire , England, youngest son of Ralph and Helen ____ Prescott and grandson of Roger and Helen (Sha w) Prescott, married at Sowerby Parish, Yorkshire, Eng. 11 Apr. 1629, Mary Gawkroger, baptiz ed at Sowerby 7 Feb. 1612/13, daughter of Abram and Martha (Riley) Gawkroger, which surnam e in America was Platts.*Prescott sold his land at Shevington and they lived several years a t Sowerby where some of their children were born. They left England and landed in Barbadoe s in 1638, but Prescott sold his acreage there and in 1640 landed in Boston, and immediatel y settled at Watertown, Mass. There he became associated with Thomas King and other s who purchased 80 square miles from the Nashaway Indians. There in 1646/7 John Prescott foun ded the settlement of Lancaster, Mass. Farmer, blacksmith and millright, he built the first m ills. He brought to America with him a complete coat of mail; he wore it on numberous occasio ns to frighten the Indians when they attempted to burn his barn, or mill. He died at Lancaste r in Dec. 1681, and his wife died there 20 Oct. 1688. Of their 10 children, the eldest, Mar y Prescott, b. 24 Feb. 1630 at Sowerby, married c1648 Thomas Sawyer, and died at Lancaster i n Apr. 1716. References cited are: William Prescott, Prescott Memorial, 1870, Boston; Henry S. Nourse, Military Annals of Lanca ster, 1889; Clinton, Mass.; Rev. F.L. Weis, Families of Standish Paris Lancashire, England , 1959; Alfred L Holman Blackman and Allied Families, (Chicago; Private Pr., 1928) Savage 's Gen. Dictionary, Vol. 3, p. 480 Charles E. Pope, Pioneers of Mass. Rev. Abijah P. Marv in, History of the Town of Lancaster, Mass. 1646-1879, pub by the town 1879. *Note- the lineage of John Prescott and the facts about his migration are now all in questio n and are being re-researched by the Prescott's Unlimited family association. He was married to Mary PLATTS on 11 Apr 1629 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. 3605. Mary PLATTS (121) was born on 7 Feb 1607 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. She wa s christened on 15 Mar 1607 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. She died in 1674 in Lanc aster, Worcester, Massachusetts. Genealogy of the Gordon-Macy Hiddleston-Curtis and Allied F amilies by Jessie Gordon Flack and Maybelle Gordon Carman gives date of baptism as 15 Mar 16 07, m. 11 Mar 1629, d. 1674. Note: Appendix To The Story Of My Ancestors In America by Rev. Edwin Sawyer Walker, A.M. pub . in 1909 gives a date of death for Mary of Oct. 20, 1688, and date of birth as 1622. Genealogical Dictionary Of The First Three Generations Of New Nd Settlers by James Savage. Automated Archives, CD 113 gives place of birth as Waygan, England, and date of marriage as 2 1 Jun 1629. John Prescott Of Lancaster, Massachusetts 1643 - 1681 by Frederick Weis, TH.D., 1961 Dublin , NH gives date of her baptism as 7 Feb 1612/13 and marriage date as 11 Apr 1629 at Sowerby , Halifax, Yorks, Eng. citing C.A. Torrey, Gawkroger Genealogy p. 3, No. 23. Children were: i. Mary PRESCOTT was born before 24 Feb 1629/30 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. She was bapti zed on 24 Feb 1629/30 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. See source for John Prescott. She m. i n 1648, Thomas Sawyer. Birth date from The Military Annals of Lancaster Massachusetts 1740-1865 by Henry S. Nourse , A.M., pub. Lancaster, 1889. Also from JOHN PRESCOTT OF LANCASTER, MASSACHUSETTS 1643 - 1681 by Frederick Lewis Weis, TH.D., 1961, Dublin, NH. m. Jun 1648 Thomas Sawyer ii. (infant) PRESCOTT died before 7 Mar 1630/31 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. iii. Martha PRESCOTT was born before 11 Mar 1630/31 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. She was b aptized on 11 Mar 1631/32 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. She died on 24 Nov 1655 in Lancast er, Worcester, Massachusetts. iv. (infant) PRESCOTT died before 3 Jan 1634/35 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. He (o r she) was buried on 3 Jan 1634/35 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. v. John PRESCOTT was born before 1 Apr 1635 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. He was ba ptized on 1 Apr 1635 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. vi. Sarah PRESCOTT was born in 1637 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. She was baptize d in 1637 in Sowerby-Halifax, Yorkshire, England. She died on 20 Nov 1727 in Sudbury, Middles ex, Massachusetts. See source for John Prescott. She m. Richard Wheeler Birth date from The Military Annals of Lancaster Massachusetts 1740-1865 by Henry S. Nourse , A.M., pub. Lancaster, 1889. Gen. Desc. of Edmund Rice, (q.v.) vii. Hannah PRESCOTT was born in 1639 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. She died on 11 Sep 169 6 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts. 965 viii. Lydia PRESCOTT. ix. Dr. Jonathan PRESCOTT(175) was born between 1645 and 1647 in Lancaster, Worcester, Massac husetts. He died on 6 Dec 1721 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts. See source for John Pr escott. He m. in 1670 Dorothy _____. Marriages:Death: Concord, Massachusetts Births, Marriages, and Deaths; Heritage Books, Inc . 1992; p. 20, 31, 93, 104. He is said to have md. 1) in Lancaster 4 Aug 1670 Dorothy Held. ( Torrey's NE Marriages Prior to 1700, p. 602) Randy Seaver (desc.) lists his marr. to Doroth y as 9 Aug 1670 at Lancaster. Birth date from The Military Annals of Lancaster Massachusetts 1740-1865 by Henry S. Nourse , A.M., pub. Lancaster, 1889. 3 children by his wife Dorothy Heald. No children by Rebecca (Wheeler) Bulkeley, widow of Peter Bulkeley, nor any by Ruth Brown wh o outlived him and d. 9 Feb 1740. No children by last two wives. He was driven from Lancaster by the Indians. He was captain, f reeman 1690, and representative 1692 at first Court under the new charter. His day of death i s not known but he was on service Feb. 1707. JOHN PRESCOTT OF LANCASTER, MASSACHUSETTS 1643 - 1681 by Frederick Lewis Weis, TH.D. 1961, Dublin, NH: Captain and Dr. Jonathan Prescott, born Lancaster, 1646; blacksmith, gent leman, Captain and physician; m. (1) Lancaster, 3 August 1670, Dorothy, (1 son Samuel); sh e died at Lancaster, 1674; m. (2) Elizabeth Hoar of Concord (6 ch.); d. 1687; m. (3) Rebecc a Bulkeley; m. (4) Ruth Brown; after the massacre, he removed to Concord and left a distingus hed posterity; representative 9 years; d. 6 Dec 1721. 1802 x. Captain Jonas PRESCOTT.²

GEDCOM

0C0853D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201BF509²

Note

Mary Gawkroger; _STATMARRIED²

GEDCOM

Mary Gawkroger; 7BE652D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201B41ED²

Birth*

c 1604

Shevington, Standish Parish, Lancashire, England³

Christning

1604/5

Standish Parish, Shevington, Lancashire, England²

Birth

1604/5

Standish, Shevington, Lancashire, England²

Marriage

24 Jan 1629/30

Mary Gawkroger; Wigan, Lancaster, Lancashire, England²

Death*

Dec 1681

Lancaster, MAssachusetts¹

Death

20 Feb 1681/82

Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts²

Burial

20 Feb 1681/82

Old Settlers Burying Ground, Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts²

Immigrant

Last Edited

24 Mar 2001

CoParent

Mary Gawkroger

Dau-Bio

b 24 Feb 1630

Dau-Bio*

b 24 Feb 1630

Son-Bio*

07 Mar 1631

son PRESCOTT²

Dau-Bio*

b 11 Mar 1632

Dau-Bio

b 11 Mar 1632

Son-Bio*

c 1633

infant PRESCOTT²

Son-Bio*

b 01 Apr 1635

Son-Bio

b 01 Apr 1635

Dau-Bio*

c 1637

Dau-Bio

c 1637

Dau-Bio*

1639

Hannah Prescott+

Dau-Bio

1639

Dau-Bio

1639

Dau-Bio*

15 Aug 1641

Lydia PRESCOTT+²

Son-Bio

1646

Son-Bio*

1646

Son-Bio*

1645/46

Joseph PRESCOTT²

Son-Bio*

30 Jun 1648

Jonas PRESCOTT+²

[S16] Unknown subject, World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, Tree #0098

Date of Import: Dec 27, 1997.
[S281] Joseph Neil Fairbanks, 19 JAN 2003.
[S16] Unknown subject, World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, Tree #4281

Date of Import: Dec 28, 1997.

Mary Gawkroger¹ (F)
b. 1612, d. a 1678
Pedigree

Reference

9KS8-D4

Father-Bio*

c 1574

Abraham Gawkroger

Mother-Bio*

c 27 Mar 1579

Martha Riley

Father-Bio

c 1574

Abraham Gawkroger²

Father-Bio

1574

Abraham Gawkroger

Mother-Bio

c 27 Mar 1579

Martha Riley²

Mother-Bio

27 Mar 1579

Martha Riley

Marriage*

WFT Est. 1640 1669

John Prescott¹

Note

Family Source³

Note

CHAN24 November 2000

GEDCOM

John Prescott; 7BE652D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201B41ED²

Note

John Prescott; _STATMARRIED²

Name-Marr

PRESCOTT²

Note

REFN: 895

Name-Var

Mary Platts-Gawkroger

Name-Var

Mary Gawkroger PLATTS²

GEDCOM

0E0853D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201BF729²

Note

FFOW The Prescott Memorial Also in The Descendants of Edmund Sawyer from the database of Carol Smart Mero <casmero@crocker.com>²

GEDCOM

(?) GAWKROGER; A1F652D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201B773D²

Christning

15 Mar 1607

Halifax, Sowerby, Yorkshire, England²

Birth

15 May 1607

Of Halifax, Yorkshire, England, England of 3/15/²

Birth*

c 1612

Birth*

1612

Sowerby, Yorkshire, England

Baptism

07 Feb 1613

Sowerby, Yorkshire, England

Marriage*

11 Apr 1629

Sowerby, Yorkshire, England⁴

Marriage

24 Jan 1629/30

John Prescott; Wigan, Lancaster, Lancashire, England²

Death

1674

Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts²

Death*

a 1678

Lancaster, Worcester, Ma⁴

Death*

a 1678

Immigrant

Last Edited

6 Apr 2003

CoParent

John Prescott

Dau-Bio

b 24 Feb 1630

Dau-Bio*

b 24 Feb 1630

Son-Bio*

07 Mar 1631

son PRESCOTT²

Dau-Bio*

b 11 Mar 1632

Dau-Bio

b 11 Mar 1632

Son-Bio*

c 1633

infant PRESCOTT²

Son-Bio*

b 01 Apr 1635

Son-Bio

b 01 Apr 1635

Dau-Bio*

c 1637

Dau-Bio

c 1637

Dau-Bio*

1639

Hannah Prescott+

Dau-Bio

1639

Dau-Bio

1639

Dau-Bio*

15 Aug 1641

Lydia PRESCOTT+²

Son-Bio

1646

Son-Bio*

1646

Son-Bio*

1645/46

Joseph PRESCOTT²

Son-Bio*

30 Jun 1648

Jonas PRESCOTT+²

[S16] Unknown subject, World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, Tree #0098

Date of Import: Dec 27, 1997.
[S281] Joseph Neil Fairbanks, 19 JAN 2003.
[S1898] Unknown compiler, 11 OCT 2002.
[S1897] Unknown author, John Prescott of Lancaster, MA by F. L. Weis, (copy in Lorna Toti'slibrary), Pg 17..

Abraham Gawkroger¹ (M)
b. c 1574, d. WFT Est. 1615 1665
Pedigree

Reference

8LFK-R5

Father-Bio*

bt 1540 -
1541

Mother-Bio*

26 Apr 1556

Jenet FAIRBANKS (again)²

Father-Bio

bt 1540 -
1541

Mother-Bio

26 Apr 1556

Jenet FAIRBANKS (again)²

Marriage*

WFT Est. 1607 1624

Martha Riley¹

Death*

WFT Est. 1615 1665

Name-Var

James Gawkrogers PLATT²

GEDCOM

720853D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201B5B69²

GEDCOM

1E0953D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201B0838²

Name-Var

Abraham GAWKROGER²

Note

Beheaded in Halifax, as were with his mother and grandfather²

GEDCOM

Martha Riley; A3F652D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201B795D²

GEDCOM

Martha RILEY; 49F752D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201B20CC²

Birth*

c 1574

Halifax, Yorkshire, England¹

Birth

21 Nov 1574

Sowerby, Halifax Parish, West Riding of Yorkshire, England²

Christning

21 Nov 1574

Halifax Parish, West Riding of Yorkshire, England²

Birth

07 Sep 1578

Sowerby, Halifax Parish, Yorkshire, England²

Christning

07 Sep 1578

Sowerby, Halifax Parish, Yorkshire, England²

Marriage

05 Sep 1601

Martha Riley; Sowerby, Halifax Parish, Yorkshire, England²

Marriage

10 May 1605

Martha RILEY; Halifax, Yorks, England²

Death

15 May 1623

Warley, Halifax Parish, West Riding of Yorkshire, England²

Burial

15 May 1623

Warley, Halifax Parish, West Riding of Yorkshire, England²

Death

06 Oct 1628

Sowerby, Yorkshire Parish, Yorkshire, England²

Burial

06 Oct 1628

Immigrant

Last Edited

22 Mar 2001

CoParent

Martha Riley

Son-Bio*

Samuel GAWKROGER²

Son-Bio*

1602

John GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

1603

Anna GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

1605

Lydia GAWKROGER²

Son-Bio*

1609

James Platts GAWROGER²

Son-Bio*

25 May 1609

Son-Bio*

1611

Abraham GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

1612

Mary Gawkroger+

Dau-Bio

1612

Mary Gawkroger+²

Dau-Bio*

1614

Martha GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

1615

Sarah GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

26 Jan 1616

Sarah GAWKROGER (again)²

Son-Bio*

1617

Samuel Platts GAWROGER²

Son-Bio*

1620

Isaac GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

12 Mar 1623

Esther GAWKROGER²

[S16] Unknown subject, World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, Tree #0098

Date of Import: Dec 27, 1997.
[S281] Joseph Neil Fairbanks, 19 JAN 2003.

Martha Riley¹ (F)
b. c 27 Mar 1579, d. c 1627

Reference

8LFK-SB

Marriage*

WFT Est. 1607 1624

Abraham Gawkroger¹

GEDCOM

Abraham Gawkroger; A3F652D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201B795D²

Name-Var

Martha AINSWORTH²

GEDCOM

740853D38C38D511BE7AAD2ECFF4201B5D89²

Note

also has AFN: NZMS-D1 (file G0000011.html) with only surname.²

Name-Marr

PLATT²

Christning

26 Jan 1578

Bingley, Yorks, England²

Birth

1579

of Sowerby, Halifax, Yorks, Eng²

Birth*

c 27 Mar 1579

Marriage

05 Sep 1601

Abraham Gawkroger; Sowerby, Halifax Parish, Yorkshire, England²

Death*

c 1627

Death

10 Dec 1632

Halifax, Sowerby, Yorks, England²

Burial

10 Dec 1632

Halifax, Sowerby, Yorks, England²

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

CoParent

Abraham Gawkroger

Son-Bio*

Samuel GAWKROGER²

Son-Bio*

1602

John GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

1603

Anna GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

1605

Lydia GAWKROGER²

Son-Bio*

1609

James Platts GAWROGER²

Son-Bio*

25 May 1609

Son-Bio*

1611

Abraham GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

1612

Mary Gawkroger+

Dau-Bio

1612

Mary Gawkroger+²

Dau-Bio*

1614

Martha GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

1615

Sarah GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

26 Jan 1616

Sarah GAWKROGER (again)²

Son-Bio*

1617

Samuel Platts GAWROGER²

Son-Bio*

1620

Isaac GAWKROGER²

Dau-Bio*

12 Mar 1623

Esther GAWKROGER²

[S16] Unknown subject, World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, Tree #0098

Date of Import: Dec 27, 1997.
[S281] Joseph Neil Fairbanks, 19 JAN 2003.

Laura Marie Simmons¹ (F)
b. 1809
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

16 Sep 1775

Mother-Bio*

26 Sep 1787

Birth*

1809

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

George Simmons¹ (M)
b. 1814
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

16 Sep 1775

Mother-Bio*

26 Sep 1787

Birth*

1814

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

John Holmes Simmons¹ (M)
b. 1818
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

16 Sep 1775

Mother-Bio*

26 Sep 1787

Birth*

1818

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

Charles Martin Simmons¹ (M)
b. 1824
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

16 Sep 1775

Mother-Bio*

26 Sep 1787

Birth*

1824

Immigrant

Last Edited

7 Mar 2001

[S17] L A Simmons, Mayflower Marriages- Simmons.

Hanna Holmes Simmons¹ (F)
b. 1827
Pedigree

Father-Bio*

16 Sep 1775

Mother-Bio*

26 Sep 1787