Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/129

Rh Angel of the Prairies." and was the author of Voice of Warning and Instruction to all People, or an Introduction to the Faith and Doctrine of the Latter- Day Saints '' (New York, 1837) ; " His- tory of the Persecutions in Missouri" (Detroit, 183!)) ; and " Key to the Science of Theology " (Liv- erpool, 1834). His marked Hebraic character and tone led to his being called the Isaiah of his peo- ple. His brother, Orson, Mormon apostle, b. in Hartford, N. Y., 19 Sept., 1811 ; d. in Salt Lake City, 3 Oct., 1881. He was educated in common schools in Columbia county, and acquired an extensive knowledge of Hebrew and the higher mathematics. In September. 1830, he joined the Mormon church, which he followed in its travels to Missouri, and became an elder in 1831, a high-priest, in 1832, and one of the twelve apostles in 1835. Soon after his connection with the church he was sent on numer- ous preaching missions, extending from the New England and other eastern states and Canada to wrstrrn Missouri. He and Erastus Snow were the first Mormons to enter the valley of the Great Salt Lake, and he was the first to stand upon the site where Salt Lake City was afterward built. Mr. Pratt went on successful missions to Great Britain in 1840, 1848, 1850, 1853, 1856, 1864. 1877, and 1878, and was twice president of the British and Euro- pean missions, and in 1865 he went on a mission to Austria. In 1852 he went on a mission to Wash- ington, D. C., where he edited and published " The Seer," eighteen monthly numbers, at the same time presiding over the churches on the Atlantic slope and in Canada. He was a member of the legisla- tive assembly of Utah during the first session, and also of every other session when he was in the ter- ritory, and was seven times its speaker. For some time he held the professorship of mathematics in Deseret university and in 1874 was appointed church historian and general church recorder. Mr. Pratt entered into theological controversies in England, and in 1870 discussed polygamy with Dr. John P. Newman before nearly 15,000 people in the great, tabernacle in Salt Lake City. These discussions were published in pamphlet-form and in many papers in the United States. His mathematic knowledge was applied in his discovery of the " Law of Planetary Rotation," showing that the cubic roots of the densities of the planets are as the square roots of their periods of rotation, which he announced in November, 1854. In 1845 he wrote and published "The Prophetic Almanac," which he calculated for the latitude and meridian of Nauvoo and the principal cities of the United .States. His publications include " Divine Authen- ticity of the Book of Mormon " (6 parts) ; " Series of Pamphlets on Mormonism, with Two Discus- sions" (Liverpool, 1851); "Patriarchal Order, or Plurality of Wives " (1853); "Cubic and Biquad- ratic Equations " (London, 1866) ; " Key to the Universe" (Liverpool, 1879); "The Great First C;m<e"; "The Absurdities of Immaterialism"; and several volumes of sermons. Mr. Pratt left in manuscript " Lectures on Astronomy " and a treatise on " Differential Calculus."

PRATT, Peter, lawyer, d. in New London, Conn., in November, 1730. He was eminent as a lawyer and published " The Prey taken from the Strong, or an Historical Account of the Recovery of One from the Dangerous Errors of Quakerism" {New London, 1725).

PRATT, Phinehas, pioneer, b. in England in 1590 ; d. in Charlestown, Mass., 19 April, 1680. He came to Massachusetts with Capt. Thomas Wes- ton's colony in June. 1022, and settled at Wessa- gusset, afterward called Weymouth. On the fail- ure of the colony, he fled from the place in Febru- ary, 1623, and made his way alone through the forest, pursued by Indians, to Plymouth, thirty miles distant. lie subsequently resided many years in Plymouth colony, and then removed to Charlestown, Mass. He wrote a " Declaration of the Affairs of the English People that First inhab- ited New England," published in the " Massachu- setts Historical Collections" (Boston, 1858).

'''PRATT. Robert M.''', artist, b. in Binghamton, N. Y., in 1811; d. in New York city. 31 Aug., 1880. He studied under Samuel F. B". Morse and Charles C. Ingham, and became well known as a figure- and flower-painter. Among his numerous portraits are those of Aaron D. Shattuck (1859) and George II. Smillie (1865), both in the posses- sion of the Academy of design. He was elected an associate of the National academy in 1849, and an academician in 1851.

PRATT, Samuel Wheeler, clergyman, 1>. in Livonia, Livingston co., N. Y., 9 Sept., 1838. lie was graduated at Williams in 1860. and at Auburn theological seminary in 1863. He was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian church in July, 1863, and preached at Brasher Falls, N. Y., in 1863-7 ; at Hammonton, N. J., in 1867-"71 ; at Pratts- bnrg. X. Y.. in lS72-'7; at Campbell, N. Y., in 1877-'83 ; and was then stationed at Monroe, Mich. He has written much for the periodical press, pub- lished historical discourses, and is author of " A Summer at Peace Cottage, or Talks on Home Life " (NVw York. 1880), and "The Gospel of the Holy Spirit" (1888).

PRATT, Thomas George, governor of Mary- land, b. in Georgetown, D. C., 18 Feb., 1804; d. in Baltimore, Md., 9 Nov., 1869. He was educated in his native place, studied law, and in 1823 removed to Upper Marlborough, Md., where he engaged in practice. He was in the legislature in 1832-'5, and in 1837 was chosen president of the last executive council that was held under the state constitution of 1776. In 1838-'42 he was in the state senate, and in 1844 he was the Whig candidate for gover- nor on a platform that opposed the repudiation of the state debt. He was successful after one of the fiercest political contests that was ever waged in Maryland, and during his term the finances of the state were placed on a solid basis. On the expira- tion of his service he practised his profession in Annapolis till 1849, when he was elected to the U. S. senate in place of Reverdy Johnson, who had resigned on being appointed attorney-general. He was re-elected, and held his seat from 14 Jan., 1850, till 3 March, 1857. During his term he became an intimate friend of Daniel Webster, and he often entertained Webster and Henry Clay at his home in Annapolis. Subsequently he removed to Balti- more. At the beginning of the civil war Gov. Pratt was a strong advocate of secession, and was confined for a few weeks in Fort Monroe, Va. lie was a delegate to the National Democratic conven- tion at Chicago in 1864, and to the Philadelphia Union convention of 1866.

PRATT, Zadock, manufacturer, b. in Stephenstown, Rensselaer co., N. Y., 30 Oct., 1790 ; d. in Bergen, N. J., 6 April, 1871. His father, of the same name, had served in the Revolutionary army, and was a tanner and shoemaker. The son was employed in his father's tan-yard, and, while he was a boy, invented an improved pump for raising liquid from the vats, which is still in use. He was apprenticed to a saddler in 1810, began business on his own account a year later, and in 1815 formed a partnership with his brothers in the tanning business, in which he was very successful. In 1824 he