English: habitational name from any of the places so called, in southwestern Lancashire (now Merseyside), Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, and Devon, all of which are named from Old English prēost ‘priest’ + cot ‘cottage’, ‘dwelling’. The surname is most common in Lancashire, and so it seems likely that the first of these places is the most frequent source. It is also present in Ireland, being recorded there first in the 15th century.
FOREBEARS John Prescott of Standish, Lancaster, England, arrived in New England in 1640 and in 1643 was one of the first settlers of Lancaster, MA. His descendants include several prominent Americans of the revolutionary war, including Samuel Prescott, born in Concord, MA, in 1751, whose fame lies in completing the midnight ride of warning in 1775 after Paul Revere was captured.
