Person:John Prescott (1)

Based on The New England Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, vol. 2, p. 273: Nuncupative will of "John Prescott of Lancaster in the Countie of Midlesex in New England Blaksmith", dated "8 of 2 month one thousand six hundred and seaventie three" [8 Apr 1673], proved 4 Apr 1682, mentions his wife[not named], two sons John [called eldest son] and Jonathan [named second son], grandson James Sawyer, third son Jonas Prescott, three daughters namely Marie, Sara and Lydia, Martha Ruge his grandchild, sons John and Jonathan executors with "Reuerend Mr. Joseph Rowlandson, deacon Sumner and Ralph Houghton overseers".

What do we know about the origins of John Prescott of Massachusetts? We know for certain that he is NOT the John Prescott who was the son of Ralph Prescott, for reasons indicated in the notes. However with the research of Adell Prescott (Prescotts Unlimited) we have learned the following ...

We know that John Prescott was a resident of Sowerby when he married Mary Gawkroger, 11 April 1629. We know that the baptisms and deaths of his children were recorded either at the Halifax church or at the chapelry of Luddenden within Halifax Parish just across the valley from Sowerby.

We know that his wife Mary made a deposition in 1678 regarding the Jacob Farrer, Senr., family and based on her deposition, the Halifax Antiquarian Society has accepted the Farrer family of Lancaster, MA, as being the same Jacob Farrar family of Sowerby, a township within Halifax, Yorkshire.

We know that Richard Prescott of Sowerby was buried 30 April 1623. We do not know his age.

We know that John Prescott performed smith work for Sowerby. The handwritten unpublished Constable records from 1635 to 1651 indicate that he was paid for various work performed on sundry pieces of armor and coats of arms, etc., between 25 June 1635 and 28 January 1639/40. The community was bracing for the Civil War. Captain John Farrer and Jacob Farrer were paid frequently that spring for training of troops, one entry speaks of "Spending with Jo. Fairbanks about the watch house." [This is another Lancaster, MA, family.]

There was no mention of John Prescott in the Constable records after the entry on 28 January 1639/40 which reads "payde for a sworde for John Prescott 0:7:01." This may have been the same sword that John brought to America with him.

There is though what may be a very important clue to be found in an entry dated 3 November 1647: "spent of 10 men in carrying Thomas Farrer on Beare (bier) to his father in Erringdon. The Heptonstall parish records which include the burial 12 July 1623 of Bridgett Prescott [who was Bridgett (Fairfax) Prescott, wife or widow of James Prescott] and the burial 13 January 1643/44 of Thomas Prescott indicate that both of these Prescotts were from Erringdon, which was less than three miles from Sowerby.

It seems that John of Sowerby had to be closely related to Richard Prescott of Sowerby and to James and Bridgett Prescott and to Thomas Prescott of Erringden. We do not know what age Thomas was when he died or what age James was when he married Bridget Fairfax at Wakefield in 1619. About the only thing certain is that Bridget was not the mother of John as he was a grown man in 1629. It is perplexing. For instance, was Richard who died in 1623 an old man and father to James, John, and Thomas? Or, was Richard an infant son of Bridgett who died some three months later? Or, was James the father? Or, Thomas? Or, perhaps all four were brothers?

Previous researchers apparently ignored these people as being irrelevant, because John Prescott of MA was supposed to be from Lancashire. Who can say that these people were not from Lancashire? Most Prescotts were.

Hope someone can use the above information to help us identify John's parents and origins.

1. ↑ Nourse, Henry Stedman. Birth, Marriage, and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643-1850. (Clinton, Massachusetts: W.J. Coulter, 1890)
   20.

   John Prescott, founder of Lancaster, aged about seventy-seven years; nuncupative will proved Decmeber 20, 1681.
   [Birth about 1604.]

2.   There is a fairly important note by John G. Hunt in Source:The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, p. 113:70-1 (1959), on John Prescott in which the author makes several points:
   1. A series of books by Dr. Frederick Lewis Weis trace the ancestry of John Prescott based on his being a son named in the will of Ralph Prescott of Shevington, Standish parish, Lancashire, England. Hunt argues this is incorrect. Most significantly, the parish registers show the burial of a John Prescott of Shevington in 1616. But there are multiple John Prescotts in the parish, and so it is nearly impossible to say that the John mentioned in a 1609 will is the same as the one in New England. John Prescott of Lancaster did not name any children with family names from the Shevington family.
   2. It is presumed that John is the founder of Lancaster, and so the name is assumed to mean he came from Lancashire. But in reality, he is only one of the founders, and it cannot be assumed that he alone was responsible for the name.
   3. His children were baptized in Halifax, Yorkshire, England which is 40 miles away.
   4. There are several Prescott families in the parishes in the border region of Yorkshire and Lancashire, including one Richard Precsott of Ince, Lancashire, England with will dated 1633, who like John of Lancaster, was a blacksmith.
3.   Yes, Weis was in error. Ralph is not the father. Ralph's son John remained in Lancashire where he died, leaving children and grandchildren that lived for many years. Weis had made false assumptions about the age of Ralph's son John and also about Ralph's other son. Weis had the other son in a prominent position in Wigan with a large family; however, Ralph's other son died as a child. See research by Adell Prescott published in Prescotts Unlimited.