Fairbanks and Prescott Come to Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Settling in New England

Jonathan Fairbanks and John Prescott both lived in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England, before leaving for the New World. Sowerby was small, they must have been acquainted. We believe both settled for a short time in Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Soon, each became a founder of a new town. Jonathan Fairbanks and his family helped found Dedham and Medfield. Jonas Fairbanks helped John Prescott and his family found Lancaster and the towns that grew out of that plantation.

Why would Fairbanks and Prescott choose to live in Watertown?

Sir Richard Saltonstall, Jr., preceded our ancestors to the New World. The Saltonstall family was from Warley, Yorkshire, England, just across the river from Sowerby where the Fairbanks’ and Prescott’s lived just before emigrating. Actually the Fairbanks lived in Warley earlier in their marriage.

Saltonstall joined the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629 and was named the first assistant to Governor John Winthrop. Sir Richard was the Justice of the Peace in West Riding, Yorkshire, England. Fairbanks and Prescott would have known of him.

After Sir Richard arrived in New England in 1630, he took a small group of men, servants, and cattle up the Charles River. They established a new town, first named Saltonstall, later known as Watertown.

One year later, he and his children, except two boys, returned to England because of disease and cold weather. This gave people of West Riding an opportunity to get first-hand information about the colonies. Fairbanks and Prescott may have sought the familiarity of a town founded by a West Riding resident.

Fairbanks in Watertown

There are no records of Fairbanks settling in Watertown. Many think he and his family came to New England in 1633. The first records of Fairbanks are in the minutes of Dedham’s first town meeting on the land of that plantation . “Dedham. The 23th of ye first Month called March 1637. The First Assembly in Dedham,….” At that meeting, Fairbanks was pressented by John Dwight of Watertown. When John Dwight vouched for Fairbanks’ membership, Dwight was putting his own reputation on the line. If Fairbanks was not an upstanding member of the town, both Fairbanks and Dwight would have suffered the repercussions. Dedham was settled primarily by families from Watertown or Roxbury. Thus we believe Fairbanks was in Watertown until the family settled in Dedham.

Prescott in Watertown

John Prescott and his family came to New England in 1640. Prescott’s time in Watertown is better documented because he purchased land. Daniel Pierce, a blacksmith, like Prescott, left Watertown in 1638. John probably rented Pierce’s three acre homestall and upland for a time. By 1642, Prescott purchased the homestall from Daniel Pierce and the upland later. Before that, Prescott received ninety acres in the 9th and last division of land, lot 13, in 1641. The same year, he purchased twenty-five acres from a John Griggs, lot 29. Both men who sold land to Prescott had left or were leaving Watertown.
In 1643, John joined the Nashaway Company to purchase and settle land forty miles west of Watertown. Four undertakers in that contract were from Watertown. The three men who opened the land that became Lancaster were also from there.
John Prescott and his family left Watertown in 1645. However, their ties to Watertown and the other Bay Towns remained strong. They would return again in 1676 for three years for protection and sustenance.

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

Coming Up

Many friends and others with family ties followed both Fairbanks and Prescott to Dedham and Lancaster. It was common for friends, families, and congregations to move together. Their friends proved important in establishing the new towns or “plantations.”

Next, we will look at the many names of people from Lancashire and Yorkshire, England, that came to Dedham and Lancaster, influencing the lives of the Fairbanks and Prescotts.

Perhaps you will recognize names of your families in this list? Perhaps you know others who came. We would like to hear about them. Leave us a comment. Share your information.

Tags: History, Fairbanks, Prescott, Daniel Pierce, John Grigg, Watertown, Dedham, Roxbury, Lancaster, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Sowerby, West Riding, Yorkshire, Saltonstall, John Winthrop, John Dwight England