Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/423

 PRATT

PRATT

opened an office for the practice of law in Upper Marlborough, Md., in 1823. He was married to Adelaide, daughter of Governor Joseph Kent of Maryland. He was a representative from Prince George county in tlie Maryland legislature, 1832- 35 ; a Harrison elector for the eighth district of Maryland in the electoral college of 1837 ; president of the last ex- ecutive council of Maryland in 1837, and a state senator, 1838-44. He was governor of Maryland, 1844-47, and during his term of office established the financial stand- ing of the state. He resumed the practice of law in Annapolis, Md., in 1848, and was elected U.S. senator to succeed D. Stewart, appointed admin- istrator to complete the term of Reverdy John- son (q. V. ), resigned. Senator Pratt was re-elected for a full term, 1851-57. He supported the Con- federacy during the civil war and was confined for a few weeks in Fort Monroe. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention, 1864, and the Union convention, Philadelphia, 1866. He died in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 9, 1869.

PRATT, Waldo Selden, musician and educa- tor, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 10, 1857 ; son of the Rev. Dr. Lewellyn and Sarah Putnam (Gulliver) Pratt ; grandson of Selden Mather and Rebecca Clark (Nott) Pratt and of John and Sarah (Putnam) Gulliver, and a descendant of Lieut. William Pratt of Saybrook, Conn.; Serg. John Nott of Wethersfield, Conn.; Alice South worth (second wife of Governor Bradford), and Lemuel Gulliver, Milton, Mass. He grad- uated from "Williams college, A.B., 1878, A.M., 1881 ; was a student at Johns Hopkins university, 1878-80, and fellow in gesthetics and the history of art there, 1879-80 ; was assistant director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York city, 1880-82, and in the latter year removed to Hart- foi'd. Conn., to become professor of ecclesiastical music and hymnology at the Hai-tford Theolo- gical seminary. He was also organist of the Asylum Hill Congregational church, and con- ductor of the Hosmer Hall Choral union, Hart- ford, 1882-91 ; was conductor of the St. Cecilia club, 1884-88 ; registrar of Hartford Theological seminary, 1888-95 ; in 1891 became instructor in elocution, Trinity college, Hartford ; in 1895 lecturer on musical history and science at Smith college, Northampton, Mass., and was lecturer at Mt. Holyoke college, 1896-99. He was married, July 5, 1887, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Mary (Richmond) Smyly of New York city. He was elected a member of the Music Teachers' National association and of the International Society of Musicians, and honorary vice-president of the American Guild of Organists. In 1898 he VIII. — 26

^^P'

received the degree of Mus.D., honoria causa, from Syracuse university. He edited : St. Nicholas Songs (1885); Songs of Worship (1887); was musical editor of ^i'ds to Common Worship (1887), and of the Century Dictionary (1892); is the author of : Musical Ministries in the Church (1901), and contributions to cyclopedias and periodicals.

PRATT, Zadock, representative, was born in Stephenstown, Rensselaer county, N.Y., Oct. 3, 1790 ; son of Zadock and Hannah (Pickett) Pratt; grandson of Zephaniah and Abigail Pratt, and of Benjamin Pickett of New Milford, Conn., and a descendant of Lieut. William Pratt, the immigrant 1633. He assisted his father who, besides being a tanner and shoe- maker, carried on a small farm, and in 1810 he invented a pump, which came into general use in the tanning business. He became an inde- pendent saddler and harness-maker in 1813; was called to join the forces raised bj' Gov- ernor Tompkins for the defence of New York in 1814, and in 1815, in partnership with his brothers, conducted a tannery in Lexington, which was removed in 1824 to Scohariekill, Greene county, and became the nucleus of the town of Prattsville. He was actively influen- tial in establishing other tanneries throughout the state, and received the first silver medal awarded by the New York Institute for hemlock sole-leather in 1837. He retired from business in 1845 and engaged in farming the following year. He was colonel of the 116th New York infantry, 1823-26 ; a state senator in 1830 ; a presidential elector on the Van Buren and Johnson ticket in 1836, and a Democratic representative from the eighth New York district in the 25tli and 28th con- gresses, 1837-39 and 1843-45. He was an advocate of cheap postage and of the gratuitous distribu- tion of foreign seeds to the farmers of the United States ; submitted the plans and estimates for the new general post-office in Washington, which wei'e adopted, and organized the national bureau of statistics. He established and was president of the bank at Prattsville in 1843, was a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1852, and a presidential elector on the Pierce and King ticket in 1852. He was an extensive traveler, a lecturer, president of several industrial institu- tions and a liberal contributor to religious and