Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/422

 PRATT

PRATT

at Manchester. Eiig.; returned to Utali in 18r)l, and was a representative in the territorial legis- hiture for several j-eai-s, serving repeatedly as spa-iker. While on a mission to Washington, D.C.. in 185'2-o3 he edited and publislied eighteen issues of a monthly entitled The Srcr. He was president of the cliurches iji the United States and in the British Province east of the Rocky Mountains. In 1854 he published his discovery of the law of planetary rotation, namely, that the cubic roots of the densities of planets vary as the square roots of their periods of rotation. He went on an unsuccessful mission to Austria in 1865; was appointed i>rofessor of mathematics in Dt'seret university. Utali, in 18(59. and church historian and general cliurcli recorder in 1874. He held a notable discussion on polygamy with Dr. John P. Newman in 1870. He is the author of: The Propheiic Ahnanac (1845); Divine Autlicn- ticity of the Book of Mormons (6 parts); Series of Pamphlets on Mormonisrn, icith Tiro Discussions (1851); Patriarchal Order, or Plurality of Wives (1853); Cubic and Biquadratic Equations (1866); Key to the Universe (1879); The Great First Cause; The Absurdities of Immaterial ism, and many religious pamphlets. He left in MS. Lectures on Astronomy and Differential Calculus, and at the time of his death was engaged in a work entitled A Xew System of the Universe. He died in Salt Lake city, Utah, Oct. 3, 1881.

PRATT, Parley Parker, Mormon leader, was born in Biirlingtoii. X.Y., April 12, 1807; son of Jared and Charity (Dickinson) Pratt. He received a common school education, and was married, Sept. 9. 1827. to Thankful (Halsey) Halsey of Canaan, N.Y. He became a Baptist preacher, but was converted to Mormonism in 1830. He was cliosen one of the first quorum of the twelve apostles in 1835, and traveled widely in the United States in his efforts to make converts, numl>ering among tliein John Taylor (q.v.) in 18:56. He was imprisoned by the local authorities in Far West, Mo., for seven months in 1839; finally escaped and joined the sect at Quincy, 111., and visitetl England on a mission in 1840 and 1846. during the former year establishing and editing The Millniial Star at Manchester. He was one of the first to explore the Great Salt Lake Valley in lf^47 and 1849, Parley's Canon and Parley's P»'ak being named in his honor. He served in the territorial legislature of Utah and as- sisted in forming a constitution for the provisional government of Deseret. He made a proselyting tour to the Pacific coast in 1851 and 1854, and while on a like mission eastward in 1856, was as- sassinated. He translated the Book of Mormon into Spanish, preparatory to a second visit to South Amerira; published several pamphlfts, and is the author of: The Voice of Warniny and

Instruction to all People, or an Introduction to the Faith ayid Doctrine of the Latter Day Saints (1837); History of the Persecutions in Missouri (1839); Key to the Science of Theology (1854). He \Vas killed near "Van Buren, Ark., May 13, 1857.

PRATT, Robert M., portrait painter, was born at Binghamton, N.Y., iMarch 21, 1811; son of Zenas and Sally (Sabin) Pratt; grandson of Elias and Patience (Clark) Pratt, and a descen- dant of Lieut. William Pi'att. He studied art under Samuel F. B. j\Iorse and Charles C. Ing- ham, and established himself in New York city as a portrait and flower painter. He was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1849 and an academician in 1851. His portraits include; Aaro7i D. Shattuck (1859), and George H. Smillie (1865), both owned by the National Acad- emy. He died in New York city, Aug. 31, 1880.

PRATT, Samuel Wheeler, author, was born in Livonia, N.Y., Sept. 9, 1838; son of George Franklin and Sarah Ann (Wilcox) Pratt; grand- son of George and Charlotte (Risdon) Pratt and of Abner and Sally (Horton) Wilcox, and a descendant of Lieut. William Pratt, who came to Cambridge, Mass., in 1633 and removed to Hartford, Conn., in 1636. He was graduated from Geneseo academy, 1856, from Williams col- lege in 1860, and from Auburn Theological seminary in 1863; and was ordained by the pres- bytery of St. Lawrence in Julv, 1863. He was married, Aug. 12, 1863, toLucillia Bates, daughter of Alfred and Ann (Beals) Field of Canandaigua, N.Y'. He was pastor at Bi'asher Falls, N.Y., 1863-1867; at Hammonton, N.J., 1867-71; at Prattsburg, N.Y., 1872-77, and at Campbell, N.Y., 1877-83; at Monroe. Mich., 1883-89; moderator of the Synod of Geneva, 1878, and vice-moderator of the Sj^nod of Michigan, 1889. He was married secondly, Feb. 25, 1880, to Sarah Margaret, daughter of James Stuart and Hester McKay of Campbell, N.Y'. He served as a commissioner of Auburn Theological seminary, 1875-83 and 1893- 99, as a .synodical examiner of Elmira college, 1877-83 and after 1892; as correspondent and editor of the Christian Endeavor department of the New Y''oi-k Evangelist, 1890-98, and correspondent under the pen names " Steuben " and " Wheeler " after 1873. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Williams college in 1902. He is the author of: A Summer at Peace Cottage (1880); Tlie Gospel of the Holy Spirit (1888); Life and Epistles of St. Paul Harmonized and Arranged in Chronological Order (1895), and The House- hold of Timothy (MS.. 1903).

PRATT, Thomas George, governor of Mary- land, was born in Georgetown, D.C., Feb. 18, 1804; a descendant of Thomas and Eleanor (Magruder) Pratt of Prince George county, Md. He was educated at Georgetown college, and