The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 5, February, 1885 — John Shaqi
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 5, February, 1885Various
History
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 5, February, 1885
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
7. Jonathan--if twenty three years old in 1670, as an unknown authority
has noted, or "about 38," November 6, 1683, as stated in a deposition of
that date--was probably born in Lancaster between 1645 and 1647. He was
a blacksmith and farmer, and married first Dorothy, August 3, 1670, in
Lancaster. She died in 1674, leaving a son Samuel, noted in the town
history as the unfortunate sentinel who, on November 6, 1704, killed by
mistake his neighbor, the beloved minister of Lancaster, Reverend Andrew
Gardner. Jonathan Prescott married second, Elizabeth, daughter of John
Hoar of Concord, who died in 1687 leaving six children. Jonathan's third
wife was Rebecca Bulkeley and his fourth Ruth, widow of Thomas Brown. He
did not reside in Lancaster after the massacre of 1676, but became an
influential citizen of Concord, which he served as representative for
nine years. He died December 5, 1721.
8. Jonas, born June, 1648, in Lancaster, married Mary Loker of Sudbury,
December 14, 1672. The marriage took place in Lancaster and here their
first child was born, (they had twelve children in all), but later they
removed to Groton, where Jonas became Captain, Selectman and Justice. He
died in Groton, December 31, 1723. Of his more illustrious descendants
were Colonel William, and the historian William H. Prescott.
In May 1644, John Winthrop records that "Many of Watertown and other
towns joined in a plantation at Nashaway "--and Reverend Timothy
Harrington in his Century Sermon states that the organization of this
company of planters was due to Thomas King. The immediate and final
disappearance of this original proprietor has seemed to previous writers
good warrant for charging that King and his partner Henry Symonds were
but land speculators, who bought the Indian's inheritance to retail by
the acre to adventurers. I believe this an unjust assumption. At the
date when Winthrop noted down the inception of the Nashaway Company,
Henry Symonds had already been dead seven months. He was that energetic
contractor of Boston noted as the leader in the project for establishing
tide mills at the Cove, and was no doubt the capitalist of the trading
firm of Symonds & King, who set up their "trucking house" as early as
1643 on the sunny slope of George Hill. Symond's widow a few months
after his death married Isaac Walker, who in 1645 was prominent among
the Nashaway proprietors. If King really sold his share of the Indian
purchase, may it not have been therefore because, his senior partner
being dead, he had no means to continue the enterprise? He too died
before the end of the year 1644, not yet thirty years of age. The
inventory of his estate sums but one hundred and fifty-eight pounds,
including his house and land in Watertown, his stock in trade, and
seventy-three pounds of debts due him from the Indians, John Prescott,
and sundry others. King's widow made haste to be consoled, and her
second husband, James Cutler, soon appears in the role of a Nashaway
proprietor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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