ed tract of land butted & bounded as aforesaid, to be
to him his heyres and asssignes for euer with all the priuiledges
and appurtenances thereon, and therevnto belonging to be to his and
their owne propper vse and behoofe as aforesaid, and the land and
eurie part of it to be free from all rates vntil it or any pt of it
be improued, and also his saw, sawes, and saw-mill to be free from
all town rates, or ministers rates, prouided the aforementioned
worke be finished & compleated as abouesaid for the good of the
towne, in some convenient time after this present contract covenant
and agrem't.

And the said John Prescott did and doth by these prsents bynd
himself, his heyres and assignes to set vp a saw-mill as aforesaid
within the bounds of the aforesaid Towne, and to supply the Towne
with boords and other sawne worke as aforesaid and truly and
faithfully to performe, fullfill, & accomplish, all the
aforementioned p'misses for the good of the Towne as aforesaid.

Therefore the Selectmen conceiving this saw-mill to be of great vse
to the Towne, and the after good of the place, Haue and do hereby
act to rattifie and confirme all the aforemencconed acts,
covenants, gifts, grants, & im'unityes, in respect of rates, and
what euer is aforementioned, on their owne pt, and in behalfe of
the Towne, and to the true performance hereof, both partyes haue
and do bynd themselves by subscribing their hands, this
twenty-fifth day of February, one thousand six hundred and fifty
nine.

JOHN PRESCOTT.

The worke above mencconed was finished according to this covenant
as witnesseth.

RALPH HOUGHTON.

Signed & Delivr'd In presence of,

THOMAS WILDER
THOMAS SAWYER
RALPH HOUGHTON

Monday, the seventeenth of February, 1659, "the Company granted him to
fall pines on the Com'ons to supply his saw-mill."

In April 1659, Ensign Noyes came to make accurate survey of the eighty
square miles granted to the town, and John Prescott was deputed by the
townsmen at their March meeting to aid in the survey and "mark the
bounds." Among his varied accomplishments, natural and acquired,
Prescott seems to have had some practical skill in surveying, the laying
out of highways and the construction of bridges. In 1648 John Winthrop
records: "This year a new way was found out to Connecticut by Na