I finally have the Prescott family information that had been misplaced, and will begin to include it here. If it were not for the tremendous amount of research done by Adell Prescott of North Carolina, I would still be locked into just the last three or four generations of our ancestors. All descendants of John Prescott of Virginia owe her tons of gratitude and must  acknowledge what she has done in that area. I openly admit that much of this is due to her efforts. She has also researched many of the other immigrations of Prescotts to the American shores. There were many.  Now...we go to as much as is known about the origins of the Prescotts.

Sir Richard de Prescote (date of birth unknown) was alive and had children in the year 1192. He died c1230 and was survived by two sons, Walter de Prescote and Patricus de Prescote.

Walter served as vice-chancellor of London. The South of England Prescotts were descendants of his, but his line died during the reign of Henry IV.

Patricus had a son Patrick that was alive in 1254. Patrick had a son, Richard, that was shown to be alive in 1284. Richard had a son (name unknown) that sired two sons. One, Robert de Prescote is shown to be alive in 1339. The other son, The Reverend Nicholas de Prescote, was rector of Ellesborough in 1349

Robert was a knight of Lancashire and his name appears as a witness on deeds dated June 1336 and July 1353. Robert had son, Thomas, that had a marriage recorded November 30, 1350. Thomas' son, Richard de Prescote, was born c1380

Richard had a son and daughter and the son's name is unknown. But this son sired James Prescott (notice spelling change of surname) and James had a son, William, born c1484. William Prescott; Gentleman, married and had a son named James.

This James Prescott was born c1509 and married Alice Standish, daughter of Roger Standish; Esquire. James and Alice had eight children. The off-springs were named; James, Roger, Richard, Robert, Ellen, William, Alice and John.

The fifth son of James and Alice, William, married Margaret of Coppull. John, Edward and Francis appear to be descendants of William. They are the three Prescotts that emigrated to America c1650. John settled in Virginia and his descendants are referred to as the Southern Branch of the Prescotts in America.Another John Prescott emigrated to Massachusetts in 1640 and a James Prescott settled in New Hampshire in 1665. These are the Northern Branch of Prescotts. More about them in "Prescotts in History". 

John comes to Virginia:

Taken from the book by Adell Prescott on the Prescotts of Virginia:

The Colony of Virginia was only 35 years old when civil war broke out in England. King Charles I was imprisoned by Cromwell, leader of the Puritans, in 1646. Sir William Berkeley was Governor of Virginia at the time and had been appointed by Charles I. Berkeley. He was a Royalist, or Cavalier as they were known, and invited other Cavaliers to join him in Virginia.

When additional fighting continued, Cromwell had Charles beheaded in 1649. The Virginia Assembly had Charles II proclaimed King of Virginia and remained loyal to their king. Although some came to the Colony after the death of Charles I, most came after Cromwell assumed rulership of England in 1653. During the 1650s there was continual stream of Cavaliers emigrating to Virginia.          

            In 1653, Edward Prescott and his widowed sister Sarah Prescott Meares, sailed with John Prescott to the colony of Virginia in America. Edward was a ship's Captain, merchant and landowner in London, Virginia and Maryland. John was a cooper (barrel maker), merchant and owned land in Virginia. Sarah later married William Drummond, the first governor of Albemarle (Carolina)

Although a land owner, Edward made many voyages to Islands of the Carribean and around the world. It was on a voyage to the Madiera Islands in 1662 that Edward died. He had no children. But he did bring to Virginia on one of his ships, John Washington--great-grandfather of George Washington--as a merchant copartner.

John Prescott, on arriving in Virginia, was individually granted 787 acres of land in Norfolk County and another 1000 acres with four others. All these men were sea captains or coopers. These lands were granted in parcels of 50 acre headrights for the purpose of transporting from England those persons interested in settling in the Colony of Virginia.            

As no records show that he had a wife or children at the time, it is believed that he met and married Anne after his arrival in Virginia. His two sons Moses and Aaron were trained in the cooper's trade, a trade that has served the family well for almost three centuries. John continued to add to his holdings, acquiring an additional 895 acres. Johm died intestate (without a will) and as primogeniture was still in effect, his eldest son Moses inherited all the lands in his possession. At the time of his death, John was in the top 2.5 percent of acreage owned in Virginia.         

Some Prescotts migrate:

John's younger son, Aaron, was born c1660 and having inherited no lands after his father’s death, purchased 220 acres from his brother Moses. He then sold the acreage to a George Batten and migrated to North Carolina. There he purchased land and became a farmer and cooper. Coopering was a trade building barrels to be used to transport almost everything in those days. He married and had four sons and a daughter. William, Moses, Aaron, John and Dinah. At his death, William was married to Mary Smith. John and Moses migrated further south in North Carolina and acquired land.

John moved to Beaufort County, NC in 1740 and became a farmer. In August of 1740, he petitioned the court to exempt him from public service and paying taxes and this exemption was granted. Such exemption was usually granted if a person was no longer to make a living for himself; either due to age or infirmity.

At this point the lineage from John of Beaufort County to Olvan (Alvin) Prescott, the father of Simon Prescott, get s little fuzzy. What few records exist are not decisive enough to officially confirm the lineage. But it seems that there was a son of John of Beaufort County named Benjamin and that this Benjamin had a son named Francis. There is further indication that Olvan (Alvin) was the son of Francis. I hope to do more research on that, but even Adell is not sure at the time of this writing.

Indications are that Benjamin, Francis and Olvan were illiterate farmers and only signed documents with their mark in front of witnesses. To continue to enjoy these recorded Prescott Family History, you will need to link to the next page: The Prescotts (cont).