Captain Jonas Prescott

Jonas Prescott

• BIRTH 30 Jun 1648 - Massachusetts, USA
• DEATH 31 Dec 1723 (aged 75) - Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
• BURIAL Old Burying Ground - Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
• Son of John Prescott and Mary Gawkroger-Platts
• Husband of Mary Loker

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Biography

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23798608/jonas-prescott

Around 1680, the blacksmith and Groton landholder named Jonas Prescott (b. 1648), son of John and Mary Prescott, built the first iron works in nearby Forge Village and began its 300-year history of industrial activity. He lived with his wife Mary (Laker) at the southwest corner of Pine and Town Farm Roads. He mined bog-ore in Groton to be smelted into iron at the mill site on Stony Brook. The iron was used for making candlesticks, farm tools and household items such as irons according to local historian Gordon Seavey's 1988 local news article on the influence of Stony Brook. Mr. Prescott might also have operated a grist mill at the outflow of Forge Pond at this time according to town histories of Westford and Chelmsford.

Some of his descendants who influenced the development of the town are the town clerk Jonas Prescott Jr. (1678-1750) and his wife Thankful Wheeler (1682-1716), Jonas Prescott III (1701-1784) and his wife Esther Spalding (1705-1730) and Lieutenant Jonas Prescott (1727-1813). (Information from Westfords Historic Commission)

Jonas and Mary, had 12 children: (birth listed in both Lancaster and Groton)

1. Mary, Feb, 3, 1674 -
2. Elizabeth, Jan. 23, 1676 - Mar. 17, 1744 (birth listed in Lancaster, Groton, Sudbury)
3. Jonas, Oct. 26, 1678 - Sep. 12, 1750 (b. in Groton, MA)
4. Nathaniel, Dec. 21, 1680 - Jan. 9, 1681
5. Dorothy, Feb. 16, 1681 -
6. James, Mar. 16, 1684 - May 9, 1704
7. Sarah, May 3, 1686 -
8. Abigail, May 8, 1688 - Aug. 14, 1751
9. Martha, Feb. 20, 1690 -
10. Susannah, Dec. 31, 1691 - Sep. 19, 1771
11. Deborah, Mar. 5, 1694 - Sep. 16, 1723
12. Benjamin, June 4, 1695 - Aug. 3, 1738

Jonas himself is listed in both the Lancaster and Groton, MA Vital Records under births.
- Lancaster VRs, births, pg 452,
Jonas, s. John and Mary (Platts) Prescott, 1648
- Groton VRs, births, pg 190,
Prescott, Jonas, s. John and Mary, June 1648

• Inscription
• Here Lyes Buried
• the Body of
• JONAS PRESCOTT
• Esqr Who Deceased
• Decembr ye 31st, 1723
• Aged 76 Years.

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Lieutenant Jonas Prescott lived on the old Ayer Road and was in charge of a garrison house which was probably the one that was at the corner of the old Ayer Road and Peabody Street and had formerly been Richard Satwell's.( pg 32, Petapawag Plantation...Hx of Groton) Site of grist mill now within town lines of Harvard, MA.( pg 43, Petapawag Plantation...Hx of Groton) On Oct 10, 1680; Oct 10, 1683; Oct 10, 1684; Oct 10,1685; May 21,1688; & June 24,1689 Jonas Prescott is a selectman in Groton. On Dec 10, 1689; Dec 9,1690; Dec 10, 1691; & March 5, 1694 Left. Prescott is a selectman in Groton. On March 3, 1696; March 1,1698; March 30, 1699; March 23,1702; & March 9,1705 Capt. Prescott is a selectman in Groton. ( pg 2 & 3, Petapawag Plantation...Hx of Groton)

Mary Loker was the wife of Jonas Prescott (1648-1723). The story of the romance of Mary and Jonas is told in William Prescott's "Prescott Memorial", p.42-43, and also in Caleb Butler's "History of the Town of Groton", pages 287-288. They were the parents of twelve children, ten living to maturity and each had a large family. It is said that Mary lived to see 176 of her descendants.

References

• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Prescott-264
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23798608/jonas-prescott
• http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~dearbornboutwell/genealogy/fam8806.html
• https://westfordma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1617/Westlawn-Cemetery-PDF