JOHN SAMUEL PRESCOTT

Lawyer, Minister, Pioneer

But Never a Doctor
Beth Davies AG®

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Perm ission is gra nted to copy for persona l, non-co mmerical use.
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FORWARD

In 1984, as part of a class I was taking, I researched many different kinds of records looking for
information on John Samuel Prescott, my 3rd great grandfather, and his family. Because of his
occupations and his connection with controversy, John appeared more often that most of his
generation in legal and other records. As I collected the information for my class, I thought, "Here
is a story that should be told". And so here is that story. It has been up-dated periodically since the
original writing and will continue to be so as I find new information, particularly on his wives and
children. The middle years of Grandpa Prescott's life are well documented. The Iowa years were
already mostly known to the family, but the Ohio and Wisconsin years were new. Unfortunately,
the beginning and ending of his life are a bit hazy. But I'm getting ahead of my story.

2009: Recently I acquired a number of letters written during the last few years of Grandpa
Prescott’s life which have added much to his history. This history is a rough draft. It was
written originally before footnotes were easy to insert and I have learned much since then
about the proper way to show documentation and am the process of up-dating each chapter.
New information will have proper footnotes while some of the end-notes from the original
version remain.

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Perm ission is gra nted to copy for persona l, non-co mmerical use.
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Chapter One
Roots

In order to understand the direction a person takes in life, it is often helpful to see the
environment he was raised in and what the rest of his family was like. John Samuel Prescott was
the son of Samuel Prescott and Frances Johnson. Little is known of his mother's life. Annals of the
Town of Keene by Salma Hale, tells of Samuel: "1801, Feb. 26--Samuel Prescott, Esq. a native of
Westford, Mass, and a graduate of Harvard college, of the year and class 1799, assumed the charge
of the grammar school as its instructor, and continued the school for a year.---He subsequently
prepared himself for the bar and was admitted; he first settled in Chesterfield, N.H.; afterwards
removed and opened his office in Keene; then went, with his father-in-law, Moses Johnson, to
western New-York, and finally returned to Keene, where he died."1 Harvard did not begin its law
school until 1817, so Samuel would have probably been self-educated in law, as was common in his
day. In addition, he received a Master of Arts from Harvard in 1807.2 Samuel died when he was
333 and his son, John Samuel was only 4, but the legacy of seeking higher education and the
profession of lawyer were both handed down to his son.

Because of the early death of his father, John's grandfathers may have had a strong influence on
his life. The legacy of education began with John's grandfather Prescott, for whom John was
probably named. Of him, the Prescott Memorial says, " John [Prescott]....was a farmer and deacon
of the church, and a useful and pious citizen. . . . He gave his sons what was of more value to them
than money, a liberal education."4 Three of John's sons graduated from Harvard and became
lawyers, two of them serving in the Massachusetts legislature.5 The Prescott legacy begins even
earlier with the original John Prescott who came from England. The town of Lancaster
(Massachusetts) placed the following memorial stone on his grave:
HERE
WITH HIS CHILDREN ABOUT HIM LIES
JOHN PRESCOTT
FOUNDER OF LANCASTER AND FIRST SETTLER
OF WORCESTER COUNTY
BORN AT STANDISH LANCASHIRE ENGLAND
DIED AT LANCASTER MASSACHUSETTS DEC. 1681
INSPIRED BY THE LOVE OF LIBERTY AND THE FEAR OF GOD

1
Salma Hale, Annals o f the tow n of K eene : from its first settlement in 1734 , to the year 1 790 : with
corrections, additions, and a continuation from 1790 to 1815 (Keene, N ew H amp shire : J.W . Pren tiss and C omp any,
1851), 109.
2
Harvard University. Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates 1636-1930. (Cambridge : The
University, 19 30), 207 .
3
Died, Colum bian Cen tinel, Boston, Massachusetts, Wed., Nov. 24, 1813, p. 2.
4
W illiam Presco tt, The Prescott memorial, or, A genealogical memoir of the Prescott families in America :
in two parts (Boston : Henry W. Dutton & son, 1870),72.
5
Prescott, The Prescott memorial, 105.

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Perm ission is gra nted to copy for persona l, non-co mmerical use.
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THIS STOUT HEARTED PIONEER

FORSAKING THE PLEASANT VALES OF ENGLAND
TOOK UP HIS ABODE IN THE UNBROKEN FOREST
AND ENCOUNTERED WILD BEAST AND SAVAGE
TO SECURE FREEDOM
FOR HIMSELF AND HIS POSTERITY
HIS FAITH AND VIRTUES
HAVE BEEN INHERITED BY MANY DESCENDANTS
WHO IN EVERY GENERATION HAVE WELL SERVED THE STATE
IN WAR, IN LITERATURE, AT THE BAR, IN THE PULPIT, IN PUBLIC LIFE,
AND IN CHRISTIAN HOMES6

John's other grandfather, Moses Johnson, lived for a number of years in Keene, New Hampshire,
where he was a merchant and also at various times owned a pot and pearlash works and
manufactured brass shoe-buckles. In A History of the Town of Keene by S.F. Griffin, it says of him,
"Moses Johnson was an enterprising trader here from 1787, or earlier, to 1804; also had a store
Walpole but in 1799 removed all his goods to Keene and enlarged his business here; in 1788 had a
store in Federal Row; built the store since known as the Railroad store....afterwards joined James
Mann in their large store, subsequently owned by A. & T. Hall. His large potash and pearlash works
on the ridge north of what is now Castle street, near a distillery which he owned, were so profitable
that at one time, even in those early days, he received a check for $5,000 for his manufactured goods.
When he came to Keene the ground where the railroad track now lies, on each side of Main street,
and where the Sentinel building and the Watson house, south of the track, now stand, was a dense
swamp, covered with a thick growth of alders, with only a narrow causeway across it in the middle
of the present street. Mr. Johnson cleared away those alders and did much toward filling that part
of the swamp and making it solid ground. He also did a large amount of similar work near his
distillery, filling in the old river bed, which ran along at the foot of the bluff near the present Tilden
schoolhouse, and making it fertile land. So much did he accomplish for the benefit of the town that
at the centennial celebration in 1853 a toast was given in his honor. But he was too generous and
public spirited for his own good, was unfortunate in his investments, lost his property, and removed
to New York state."7 The actual toast given to him at the centenniel was, "Moses Johnson--For many
years an active, enterprising, and public spirited citizen of the town. He has stamped the impress of
those qualities upon various portions of the village in a manner hardly to be effaced by time."8 In
New York, Moses was involved in some controversy over land. Land controversy and dealing with
swamps, along with being public-spirited were legacies passed to his grandson.

6
Daniel M . W heeler, The W heeler F amily of Rutland , Mass. and Some of Their Ancestors (Pittsfield,
Massachusetts : D.M. Wheeler, 1924), 11.
7
S.G. Griffin, A history of the town of Keene : from 1732, when the township was granted by
Massachusetts, to 1874, when it became a city (Keene, N.H. : Sentinel Printing Company, 1904), 616-617.
8
Griffin, A history of the tow n of K eene, 456.

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Perm ission is gra nted to copy for persona l, non-co mmerical use.