The Fairbanks and Prescotts, Friends and Neighbors who came to the New World in the Seventeenth Century
Who did the Fairbanks and Prescotts know in the New World
People from all over England came to the New World. Frequently, those from specific areas in the old country settled together in the new. Sometimes whole congregations came with their religious leader. People of similar cultural backgrounds tend to settle in the same areas even today.
In this blog, we explore the people who came to early Dedham and Lancaster, Massachusetts, when the Fairbanks and Prescotts settled. First we will introduce people from the Halifax Parish, West Yorkshire, England, where the Jonathan Fairbanks and John Prescott attended church and registered their marriages and births. Then we’ll meet those from Lancashire County, England, particularly Standish and Wigan parishes, where John Prescott was reared and worked before moving to the Halifax Parish, England.
All of England is about the size of Alabama. Lancashire County, England, is about the size of Rhode Island (1,189 square miles/1,214 square miles). West Riding of Yorkshire County, England is about the size of Delaware (2767/2489 square miles).
The Fairbanks and Prescotts couldn’t know everyone in their county, but they likely knew the people in their parish, towns, and nearby towns. England was a mobile society in the 1600’s, people from all around gathered for the two large fairs they held in Halifax each year. Our families were probably familiar with many of the names, if not the people, that we will explore below. See if you can find any of your other family names. We would love to hear from you.
This is not intended as a research guide into genealogies. The purpose is to show that some of the people that came to the areas settled by Jonathan Fairbanks and John Prescott were acquaintances, friends or relatives in England.
By exploring the history of these families, the intricate lace formed with the threads of friendship, family relations, and neighborly love from their common areas in England becomes evident.
Locating Friends, Relatives, and Acquaintances from England
It is important to note that some early resources state a person is from a certain town or location in England. However, that location is often their last known residence before emigrating from England. It was quite common for people to move around England. They and their families may have originated in other parts of the country. For instance, John Prescott was said to be from Sowerby, Halifax, Yorkshire, England, in historical lists in the New World. He was most likely born in Shevington, Standish Parish, Lancashire County, England.
A Refresher on the Fairbanks and Prescott Families in England
Jonathan and Grace (Smith) Fairbanks were probably born in the Halifax Parish of West Yorkshire, England. We know that is where their marriage was registered. https://www.fairbankshistory.com/colonial-history/fairbanks-and-prescott-families-in-17th-century-new-england Although they moved within the Halifax parish, based upon their children’s registrations, they were in Sowerby, Halifax parish, at the time of their emigration.
Shevington, Standish Parish, Lancashire, England is believed to be the birthplace of John Prescott. He probably learned the trade of blacksmith in Wigan, not far from Shevington. His wife, Mary Gawkroger-Platts, is believed to be from Warley, Halifax parish, just across the Calder River from Sowerby. Their children, born before leaving England, were registered in Sowerby.
Jonathan and Grace either knew or were related to Mary Gawkroger-Platts. Mary’s family is named in a will of George Fairbanks which also named Jonathan Fairbanks. Since both the Fairbanks and Prescotts are said to emigrate from Sowerby, they were likely friends in that small town.
Those who Preceded Fairbanks and Prescott to New England
Sir Richard Saltonstall was the Justice of the Peace for Wakefield Manor, West Yorkshire, England. He may have influenced the Fairbanks and Prescott’s choices of where to stay in the New World, before they settled their own towns. Saltonstall was an early signer of the charter for the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was first assistant to the first governor, John Winthrop. Sir Richard took a group up the Charles River from Boston to start a new plantation in 1630. At first the plantation was called Saltonstall, but later the name was changed to Watertown. He returned to England after one year. His wife died, his daughters were ill, and he didn’t do well in the cold temperatures of New England. His sons remained in the New World. Sir Richard was back in England before Jonathan Fairbanks and his family left.
Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks and John and Mary Prescott and their families lived in Watertown. We have not proof of Jonathan’s stay there, but he was promoted by John Dwight of Watertown as a prospective proprietor of Dedham. The first settlers of Dedham were made up of mainly Watertown men. John Prescott bought and was granted land in Watertown before he left for Nashaway (Lancaster), Massachusetts.
Richard Fairbanks is another person who may have preceded Jonathan Fairbanks, or perhaps they came together. We do not know Richard Fairbanks’s origin in England or the relationship of Richard Fairbanks to Jonathan Fairbanks. Richard is believed to arrive in Boston in 1633 based on his and his wife’s admittance into the church there in October the same year. Richard Fairbanks ran one of the first ordinaries, house of entertainment, or taverns in Boston. Ordinaries served food and beverages and provided short stays for travelers. He had the first post office in the New World, accepting trans-Atlantic mail in 1639. The mail was fastened to a post in his tavern.
People from Halifax Parish, West Yorkshire, England
Many Yorkshire men came after 1633. It is written that one hundred Yorkshire men came over on the ship, the St. James, in 1635. Kenneth A. Lockridge in A New England Town: The First Hundred Years on page 4 in foot note 3 states that the people who came early to Dedham were chiefly from “ North Country {England} (Yorkshire, chiefly) or from East Anglia..”
One prominent man on that ship, Matthew Mitchell, was either a merchant or mason in the Halifax area. Reverend Richard Mather, who kept an extensive diary of the journey, was also on that ship. He was from Lancashire, England, although about twenty three miles from Wigan. Reverend Daniel Maud, from Halifax, and Humphrey Atherton, from Lancashire, were also aboard.
Many clergy made the voyage because of religious persecution and restrictions of practicing in the Puritan or Presbyterian manner. Reverend Richard Denton, from Warley, preached in both Lancashire and Halifax before emigrating. He sailed for Massachusetts in 1635. There he preached in Watertown before moving to Werthersfield, Massachusetts on the Connecticut River.
Abraham Shaw, a tailor and miner in the Halifax parish, brought his wife Bridget and children to Watertown sometime after June 1636. Abraham was one of the nineteen plus men who petitioned the General Court for additional land grants for Dedham in September of 1636. Their house burned in Watertown in October 1636, making them one of the first settlers in Dedham. Shaw worked with the Farrar family in 1633 in mining of coal in the Hipperholme and Sowerby, Yorkshire areas. The Farrars came to Dedham later. Abraham was given a grant to put up a water driven grist mill. He was granted permission to search for mineral and metals in Dedham and mine what he found. He was considered the first to be given mineral and mining rights in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Another Shaw, John, was a butcher in Boston when he joined the Nashaway Company with John Prescott . The Nashaway Company bought the land that would become Lancaster, Massachusetts. Abraham Shaw had a son named John, but his son was young. There were other Shaws in Halifax.
William and George Bearstow came from Halifax parish as young men. They sailed to the New World on Truelove in 1636. William signed the petition for additional land grants for Dedham in September 1636 and was an early settler. George settled in Dedham later. George likely had clay pits in Dedham.
John and Jacob Farrar were from Heptonstall, Halifax Parish. The Farrars first settled in Dedham and then moved to Lancaster, Massachusetts where John Prescott founded the town. Jacob’s wife was Mary Houghton (Haughton). Mary Prescott, wife of John Prescott, stated in 1678 that she had known the Farrer family in Halifax in her youth. Jacob Farrar, son of Jacob and Mary (Houghton) Farrar, was born in Sowerby and married Grace Deane. Samuel Deane of Heptonstall, Halifax Parish, also settled in Lancaster.
Ralph Houghton (Haughton) and his wife, Beatrix, were from Halifax parish. Houghton bought the first house John Prescott built in Lancaster. He was also an early settler of the town. Ralph served as the clerk of the town for many years and was an overseer of John Prescott’s will.
John Rugg Sr. was from Sowerby, Halifax Parish. His son settled first in Watertown, then in Lancaster where he married Martha, John Prescott’s second daughter. After Martha died of childbirth, John Rugg, Jr. married Prescott’s fourth daughter, Hannah.
Sgt. Ralph Daye, born in the Halifax Parish, settled in Dedham about 1640. He married Susan Fairbanks, youngest daughter of Jonathan and Grace. He was a stone mason and beat the drums to call residents to meetings in Dedham.
James Draper, born in Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England, became an original proprietor of Lancaster. He lived in Dedham for a short time, early and was a weaver by profession.
The above families may not have been the only people familiar to our families from Halifax, but they seem to be the people that were known to interface or influence the Fairbanks and Prescott families.
People from Lancashire near Shevington and Wigan, England
James Atherton, from the parish of Wigan, Lancashire, England, was one of the earliest settlers of Lancaster, Massachusetts with John Prescott. James was probably related to Humphrey Atherton, whose father had land in the parish of Wigan. Humphrey sat on the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was instrumental in getting Lancaster approved as a town.
Ellis Barron, Sr. was from Ashton, Prescot Parish, Lancashire, England, about five miles from Wigan. When he came to New England, Ellis Barron lived in Watertown, next to one of the men who was in the Nashaway Company with Prescott. Ellis Barron, Jr. married, Lydia Prescott Fairbanks, after his first wife died. Lydia’s first husband, Jonas Fairbanks, was killed in Lancaster, Massachusetts in the King Philip’s War in 1675/6.
Thomas Rowlandson was from Kirkham, Lancashire, England, about 25 miles from Wigan. He and his family settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. They removed to Lancaster, Massachusetts when Joseph Rowlandson became first teacher, then minister of that town. It is unknown if John Prescott knew this family in Lancashire, but he became a champion of Joseph Rowlandson as minister of Lancaster, Massachusetts.
Edward Breck from Lancashire, England about five to ten miles from Wigan, was an early settler in Lancaster, Massachusetts. He was one of the few early freemen, men who could legally vote in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to inhabit Lancaster, Massachusetts.
John Rigby’s family owned land around Standish and Chorley, in the Standish Parish, Lancashire, England. Some Rigby’s witnessed Roger Prescott’s will (this is believed to be John Prescott’s grandfather.) John Rigby was in Lancaster until after King Philip’s War. There is a road named Rigby road from Deer Horn’s District to Clinton. Jabez Fairbanks bought some land that once belonged to the Rigbys.
John Prescott had to find men and families to settle the plantation of Nashaway (Lancaster) in what was called the wilderness of the Massachusetts Bay Company. He may have looked to old acquaintances for support. He had to have a number of residents before Lancaster could be recognized as a town. Some of the above may have been recruited to settle in his town. Others may have been solicitedto promote other requirements needed for the development of his town. Many were already in Watertown. where the Prescotts resided, and John worked as a blacksmith for about five years.
Conclusion
We surround ourselves with friends and relatives when we are dealing with difficult situations. The Fairbanks and Prescott developed challenges by moving into unknown territories. No doubt, they sought the comfort and the aid of people they knew, or at least with similar geographical and social commonalities, to help them with their transitions. They did not settle this New World alone, but had friends, relatives, and loving neighbors from the Old World here to help them.
Some of the many resources used for this blog
Bond, Henry, and Jones, Horatio Gates. Genealogies of the families and descendants of the early settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, including Waltham and Weston. Boston : N.E. Historic-genealogical Society, 1860.
https://archive.org/details/genealogiesoffam00bond/page/n3
Bull, Malcolm. The Prescott Family. The Calderdale Companion
http://www.calderdalecompanion.co.uk/p.html#p122
Find a Grave: Memorials. Abraham Shaw
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16195670/abraham-shaw
GENI: Old Historic Families of Lancashire
https://www.geni.com/projects/Old-Historic-Families-of-Lancashire/15657
Hurd, Duane Hamilton. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men. Volume I. Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis & Co., 1886.
https://archive.org/details/historyofnorfolk00hurd/page/n5
Lockridge, Kenneth A. A New England Town:The First Hundred Years.W.W. Norton & Company, New York. 1985. p. 4.
Nourse, Henry Stedman. The Early Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts. 1643-1725. Lancaster, MA: by W. J. Coulter, 1884.|
https://archive.org/details/earlyrecordsofla1643lanc/page/n5
Pilgrim Ship Lists Early 1600's: Over 7100 families and 290 ships by Anne Stevens
https://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/shiplist.htm
Ancestry Message Boards
https://www.ancestry.ca/boards/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=6&p=surnames.fairbank
Prescott, William. The Prescott memorial, or, A genealogical memoir of the Prescott families in America, in two parts. 1870.
https://archive.org/details/prescottmemorial00pres/page/n53/mode/2up
Weis, F. L. John Prescott of Lancaster, MA 1643 – 1681. Dublin, NH, p.35 to 4.
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Founding Tiot/Contentment/Dedham of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635/36