Relative Discovery: January 2013

John Prescott, my 12th great-grandfather, was born in 1604, the youngest of four sons of Ralph Prescott and Ellen (Unknown) in Standish Parish, Lancashire, England. On April 11, 1629, John Prescott married Mary Gawkroger alias Platt(s) from Sowerby, Yorkshire, England. They had children: Mary, (who I descend from) Martha, Sarah, John, Hannah, Lydia, and Jonas. The first four children, along with two others who died young, were born in England, Hannah was probably born in Barbados, and Lydia and Jonas were born in Massachusetts.

In 1638, the Prescott family set off to Barbados in order to pursue religious and economic freedom. Records indicate that John Prescott owned ten acres in Barbados before John and Mary Prescott decided the island wasn’t a proper place for them to raise their family, and in 1640 they sailed to Massachusetts. The family lived in Watertown for a few years and eventually settled in Lancaster. John collaborated with a few other men in the area to purchase land from the Nashaway Indians.

John Prescott settled Lancaster, Massachusetts and many members of the town wanted to name it Prescottville in his honor; however, he wasn’t a “freeman” so the General Court declined to name it after him, but instead after his hometown in England. In order to be a “freeman” you had to be a member of the church and John Prescott wasn’t a fan of having organized religion forced on him. He became a “freeman” in 1669 after the implementation of church reforms by Charles II.

By trade, John Prescott worked as a blacksmith; he also built the towns first gristmill and sawmill. His sawmill literally changed the way houses in the area were constructed because people could purchase straight boards of various sizes, rather than using whatever crude materials they found locally.

At the onset of King Philips War in 1675, the Narragansett Indians attacked and killed or captured many of Lancaster’s residents, although most of the Prescott family escaped alive. Ephraim, the son of Mary (Prescott) and Thomas Sawyer, and John’s grandson, died at the hands of the Indians while at his grandfather’s house. Everyone evacuated Lancaster, but three years later, the Prescott’s were among the first to return and help rebuild the town. Of all the towns in New England, Lancaster fared the worst during this time of fighting with Native Americans.

John Prescott proved incredibly brave and refused to back down from the Native Americans on numerous occasions. A story repeated by several relatives, and mentioned in a few books, details one incident in which Indians stole a horse belonging to John Prescott, who donned his suit of armor, grabbed his impressive rifle, and pursued them by himself. (John Prescott is said to have brought the suit of armor with him from England. It’s also possible that he made the suit since he worked as a blacksmith. Some claim that John Prescott served in Cromwell’s Army. Based on the dates, that proves impossible. John Prescott and his family resided in Watertown, Massachusetts before this war broke out in England.) The Indian Chief approached with a tomahawk and John Prescott instructed him to strike. The Indians found it amazing that no mark was left on John, and the Chief wanted to try on the helmet. John Prescott agreed, if the Indians returned his horse back. The helmet proved too small for the Indian and when the tomahawk came down, so did the helmet, scraping the Indians ears, neck, and head. This convinced the Indians that John Prescott was something other than human and they returned the horse. On another occasion, Indians set fire to his barn, so he put on his armor, chased the Indians off and let his animals free. The Indians set his mill on fire, he chased them off and put the fire out. In another incident at the mill, the Indians tampered with the water gate, so he pursued them with his “best gun” and they retreated. He decided to walk home backwards with his gun pointed in the direction of the Indians and when he heard a whoop, fired the gun, and later found blood in that area. The Indians attacked his house and his wife, Mary, loaded his muskets while he shot at the Indians for half an hour until they retreated carrying their dead. I can’t vouch for certainty that there was a suit of armor, however; we can say that on more than one occasion John Prescott bravely pursued the Indians when they stole or destroyed his property and he survived to tell the story. His “best gun” was passed to son John, who passed it onto his son John, and it continued to be passed through the family until Prescott Brigham donated it to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Relative Discovery

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

John Prescott: Lancaster, Massachusetts Pioneer