Introduction
Oliver Prescott (27 April 1731, in Groton, Massachusetts - 17 November 1804, in Groton) was a colonial-era physician, soldier and judge.
Biography
He graduated from Harvard in 1750, after which he was apprenticed to Ebenezer Robie of Sudbury, and then practiced medicine in Groton. He returned to Harvard to get an M.A. in 1753.He and Lydia Baldwin were wed in 1756. Three of their seven children died in an epidemic of 1765/6.
From 1779 until his death, he was judge of probate for Middlesex County. In 1780 he became one of the original fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he was a trustee, patron, and benefactor of Groton Academy.
Son
His son, also named Oliver (4 April 1762, Groton - 26 September 1827, Newburyport, Massachusetts), was also a physician. He graduated at Harvard in 1783, studied medicine with his father, and was surgeon of the forces that suppressed the Shays insurrection in 1787. Leaving a large practice in Groton, he removed to Newburyport in 1811, practising successfully there till his death. He was often a representative in the legislature, and was a founder, trustee, and treasurer of Groton Academy.
He contributed articles to the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery, but is best known for a discourse before the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1813, entitled a "Dissertation on the Natural History and Medicinal Effects of Secale Cornutum, or Ergot," which was republished in London, and translated into French and German.