_William BALLARD _+
_William BALLARD _|
| |_Mary ____________
|
|--Hannah BALLARD
|
| _Thomas BERWICK __+
|_Grace BERWICK ___|
|_Ann BLOUNT ______+
_John BENJAMIN _
_John BENJAMIN _|
| |_Abigail EDDYE _+
|
|--John BENJAMIN
|
| _William ALLEN _
|_Lydia ALLEN ___|
|________________
_Samuel BLANCHARD _+
_John BLANCHARD _|
| |_Hannah DOGGETT ___
|
|--Rachel BLANCHARD
|
| _Simon CROSBY _____+
|_Mary CROSBY ____|
|_Rachel BRACKETT __+
________________
_Samuel BLODGETT _|
| |________________
|
|--Sarah BLODGETT
|
| _John IGGLEDEN _+
|_Ruth EGGLESTON __|
|_Jane __________
[102] No record of her death - she may have remarried.
_Thomas BLOWER ______
_Thomas BLOWER _|
| |_Susan VINCENT ______+
|
|--John BLOWER
|
| _Edward FROST _______+
|_Alice FROST ___|
|_Thomasine BELGRAVE _+
__
__|
| |__
|
|--Thomas BLOWER
|
| __
|__|
|__
[575] Resided: Lavenham, Suffolk, England
__
__|
| |__
|
|--Elizabeth BRADSHAGH
|
| __
|__|
|__
_Nathaniel BUTTERFIELD _+
_Benjamin BUTTERFIELD _|
| |_Deborah UNDERWOOD _____+
|
|--John BUTTERFIELD
|
| _John BATES ____________+
|_Sarah BATES __________|
|_Mary FARWELL __________+
_John DAVYS ____
_James DAVIS ___|
| |_Agnes SAMON ___
|
|--Judith DAVIS
|
| _John THAYER ___+
|_Cicily THAYER _|
|_Joan LAWRENCE _
_Elisha DAVIS ______+
_Moses DAVIS _________|
| |_Grace SHAW ________
|
|--Susanna DAVIS
|
| _Joseph RICHARDSON _+
|_Hepzibah RICHARDSON _|
|_Hannah NELSON _____+
__
______ GOODALE _|
| |__
|
|--Alice GOODALE
|
| __
|_Elizabeth _____|
|__
_Ralph PRESCOTT _____________+
_John PRESCOTT ___________|
| |_Ellen or HELEN _____________
|
|--Jonas PRESCOTT
|
| _Abraham Gawkroger (PLATTS) _+
|_Mary Gawkroger (PLATTS) _|
|_Martha RILEY _______________+
[169] pp. 42-43.
[170] JONAS PRESCOTT
[171]
A story bordering on romance has been handed down by family tradition to the present time, and preserved with much accuracy, of the courtship of this affectionate pair of fruitful progenitors.
John Loker, of whom we have no other account than as connected with this affair, is said to have been wealthy, and both he and his wife to have been somewhat aristocratic in their feelings and notions. Having only one daughter, and she exceedingly fair
and of good promise, they disdained to betroth her to a blacksmith, the son of a blacksmith, however rich or otherwise unexceptionable he might be. They had set their hearts on Mary's marrying a lawyer. So when they found that there was a strong
attachment between their idol, Mary, and the young blacksmith Jonas Prescott, they remonstrated, but, like many other imprudent parents, they unwittingly pursued a course well calculated to foster and strengthen it. They forbade his entering their
house, or having any communication whatever with their daughter; and the more effectually to prevent any intercourse, they grated the windows of her apartment, in the house; and when they thought there was any danger of an interview between them, they
locked her in.
Jonas and Mary however were not to be baffled by grates and locks. Jonas took opportunities, when the cold night wind blew and the pelting storm raged, when no listener could overhear their soft whisperings, to place himself beneath her grated window
and there enjoy sweet communion with his beloved Mary. Their intercourse was soon discovered, however, by the vigilant and chagrined parents. The next expedient resorted to was to place her in some secluded spot under the care of some watchful and
faithful guardian. Chocksett (a corruption of the Indian name Woonksechaucksett or Woonksechauxett), now called Sterling, then a frontier settlement, although adjoining to Groton, was chosen as the place of her seclusion. Jonas searched the country
around, and made diligent inquiry to find the place of her banishment, for some time in vain. At length, being one day in the wilds of Chocksett, he made his usual inquiry of some young men he saw if they had any pretty girls in their neighborhood.
They told him there was to be a quilting that very day, where all their girls would be; that they were going in the evening to dance with them and invited him to accompany them, where he might see for himself.
He very cheerfully accepted the invitation, and on arriving at the cottage where the seamstresses of the settlement were assembled, whom should he there find but his beloved Mary Loker. This was indeed to them a happy adventure. Concealing, as well as
they could, their former acquaintance, they took opportunities to be partners in the dance and made assignments for future meetings. Having thus fortunately discovered the place of banishment, he renewed his visits, till her parents, finding it out,
took her home. She was then sternly told, that she must reject the blacksmith and receive the address of the lawyer. She resolutely replied, "She would never marry anyone but Jonas Prescott." The rejoinder was, "Then you shall never have a farthing of
our property." To this there was a general demurrer; a decree for marraige without dowry followed. The consummation took place before even the most common utensils for housekeeping could be procured (perhaps there was some delay to see if the old folks
would not relent and procure or provide some). The tradition asserts that her only implements for boiling was a two quart kettle, and her wash tub the shell of a large pumpkin. From this affectionate and happy pair sprung the doctors, warriors,
civilians, statesmen, jurists, historians, etc, noticed in this genealogical record and memoir, with numerous other descendants of whom Mary lived to see one hundred and seventy five.
[172]
Jonas (or perhaps his father for him) built the mill in the south part of Groton, now within the limits of Harvard, and is still called the "Old Mill." At a town meeting in Groton, Nov. 19, 1672, it was voted that "By agreement of the town Jonas
Prescott is to gring the town's corn for the town ever second and every sixth day in every week."
He bought lands in Groton until he became one of the largest landholders in the town. He was also a blacksmith. Upon the resettlement of the town, after its destruction by Indians in 1676, he built mills and a forge for the manufacture of the iron from
the ore at Forge Village (so called), which was then in Groton, but now in Westford.
At a town meeting at Groton, June 13, 1681, liberty was granted to Jonas Prescott to set up his corn mill at Stony Brook. "An agreement between Jonas Prescott and the town of Groton that he, the said Prescott, have liberty to set up a saw mill at Stony
Brook on conditions that hefurnish the town with merchantible boards at six pence a hundred (feet) cheaper than they are sold at any other saw mill, and for town pay, and that the town be supplied before any other person." This priviledge was to
continue or cease at the priviledge of the town.
[173]
He resided on the farm, near Lawrence Academy. An ancient wall has the following inscription.
I.P.
1680
O.P.
1784.
Rebuit by
S. J. Park
1841.
[174] I.P. are the initials of Jonas Prescott, O.P. Oliver Prescott, his grandson, and S. J. Parks a lawyer who owned it as late as 1866.
[175]
He was a man of extensive influence. He was town clerk in 1691;a selectman for several years; represented the town in the General Assembly in 1699 and 1705; was also captain in the militia and Justice of the Peace. He maintained an elevated rank in the
community, and died lamented, Dec. 31, 1723 aged 75 y 6 m.
[986] 50 Great Migration Colonists, Threlfall, J.B., Heritage Books. 1990
_John PRESCOTT ___________+
_Jonas PRESCOTT _|
| |_Mary Gawkroger (PLATTS) _+
|
|--Sarah PRESCOTT
|
| _John LOKER ______________+
|_Mary LOKER _____|
|_Mary DRAPER _____________
_Richard SHEFF ______+
_Thomas SHEAFE _|
| |_Elizabeth ANDREWS __+
|
|--Ann SHEAFE
|
| _Thomas HARMAN ______+
|_Mary HARMAN ___|
|_Mrs. Thomas HARMAN _
_Thomas WEBSTER _
_John WEBSTER ___|
| |_Margaret _______
|
|--Elizabeth WEBSTER
|
| _John SHATSWELL _
|_Mary SHATSWELL _|
|_Judith _________