  The following correspondence, extracted from a letter from my brother, Orson Pratt, Sen., dated at Washington, D. C, March 10th, 1853, throws a clear light upon our ancestry, back as far as the earliest settlements of the Pilgrim Fathers in Saybrook and Hartford, Conn. "My dear brother Parley—I embrace the present opportunity to write a few lines to you. * * * "It affords me much joy to be able to inform you that I have obtained the names and some knowledge of our ancestors back for many generations. "The genealogy runs thus: Our father, Jared Pratt, was the son of Obadiah, who was the son of Christopher, who was the son of William Pratt, who was the son of Joseph Pratt, who was the son of Lieutenant William and Elizabeth Pratt, who is supposed to have come with his brother, John Pratt, from Essex County, England, about the year 1633, who were found among the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut, in the year 1639. They are supposed to have accompanied the Rev. Thomas Hooker and his congregation, about one hundred in number, from Newton, now called Cambridge, Massachusetts, through a dense wilderness, inhabited only by savages and wild beasts, and became the first founders of the colony at Hartford, Connecticut, in June, 1636, and thence to Saybrook about the year 1645. "The way I came by this information is as follows: Seeing a short editorial in some of my exchange papers, that there was an attempt being made to search out the lineal descendants of Lieutenant Wm. Pratt, and that the Rev. Frederick W. Chapman, of South Glastenbury, Conn., was engaged in that work, I immediately addressed a letter to him, giving him the names of Jared, Obadiah and Christopher, and asking him for all the information he was in possession of in relation to our ancestors. He immediately sent me a letter and two printed circulars. The following is a copy of the letter: South Glastenbury, March 5th 1853. "Dear Sir—I have just received your favor. It affords me pleasure to be able to show you the connecting links between your grandfather, Obadiah Pratt, and the first settler, William Pratt, who came with the company that located at Hartford, Conn. He received a portion of land in the first distribution in February, 1639. He married Elizabeth Clark, daughter of John Clark, of Milford, Connecticut, about the same time. He had eight children. Of these, two were born in Hartford. He removed to Saybrook in 1645. His third child, Joseph Pratt, born at Saybrook, August 1st, 1648. SECOND GENERATION. Joseph Pratt & Sarah Chapman, Married September, 1686. THIRD GENERATION. William Pratt & Hannah Hough, Married October 8, 1700. Six children, viz: FOURTH GENERATION Christopher Pratt, Sarah Pratt, Married June 14, 1739 Children: "I want very much to get all the descendants of the last six. Your letter was the first clue to any of them which I have received. It is more difficult to trace the descendants of Joseph than any other of the six children of William Pratt. In fact, they seem to have disappeared from Saybrook about a century ago. "I have already collected about two thousand of the descendants of William Pratt. There are probably not less than five thousand. Robert Chapman, my ancestor, was married about two years after William Pratt. I have collected over five thousand of his descendants, and the work—a volume of three hundred to three hundred and fifty pages—is nearly ready for the press. I shall be able to collect most of the descendants of William if those whom I address will answer my letters and lend a helping hand. "May I rely on you to aid me in collecting the descendants of Christopher Pratt? "Is your father living? If so, he may be able to inform you where the brothers and sisters of his grandfather, Christopher resided—or, perhaps, give the post-office address of one of the descendants of each family. "He can, of course, give me some account of his uncles and aunts. Please write immediately and inform me. I want the marriage of Stephen, when and to whom—and of Obadiah, when and to whom, and the names of their children—dates of birth; and so of Sarah and the others. "You can, of course, give me a list of your grandfather's children. Also give the name of your mother, and date of your father's marriage, with a list of all his children. "I enclose two circulars. There is a Pratt, ex-Governor of Maryland; I know not his address; if you can ascertain, please forward one. Let me hear from you soon. Respectfully yours, Frederick W. Chapman. "Now, my dear brother Parley, when I received the foregoing letter I wept like a little child; I was so overjoyed that I could not refrain from weeping. "There are none among all the descendants of our ancestor, Lieutenant William Pratt, who have so deep an interest in searching out his descendants as ourselves. We know that the God of our fathers has had a hand in all this. He it was who brought our ancestor William from England, and established him in this choice land of promise, given to us by virtue of the covenant made with our ancient father, Joseph, the son of Jacob. "The Lord God of our fathers has multiplied them in this land, and made them almost a nation within a nation. Blessed be the name of our God, for He remembereth his covenants forevermore. "He has wrought upon the hearts of his servants, our relations, though unknown to them, to inquire out the genealogy and history of our fathers upon the promised land. Yea, blessed be the name of the Lord God of Joseph and of Israel, for he hath given into our hands the keys of the priesthood and the doctrines of salvation, that we might stand as saviors upon Mount Zion, in behalf of our ancestors and their lineal descendants. Let us, my dear brother Parley, take hold of this matter in earnest and assist our kindred in the laudable enterprise which they have undertaken. "I have no records with me and my memory is weak. Therefore, I hope you will search up all the family records, and all the verbal information within your reach—-with names, dates, births, places, marriages and deaths, and forward without delay. "Does our father's sister, aunt Lovina Van Cott, or yourself know anything about the descendants of Stephen, Sarah and others, the brothers and sisters to our grandfather, Obadiah? How shall we get a clue to them? Is It possible to find out any descendant of either of the brothers or sisters of Christopher Pratt, of Saybrook, our great-grandfather? Who and when did our grandfather, Obadiah, marry? How many children had Obadiah? Whom did they marry, and when? How many children had each of our uncles and aunts, the brothers and sisters of our father? And how many children and grandchildren has each of these cousins? In short, all the descendants of our great-grandfather, Christopher, are wanting. * * * Send all the information you can gather to Mr. Chapman. It might not be amiss to send him your 'History of the Persecution,' your 'Voice of Warning,' and such other works as you may be the author of; and also, if you see proper, a biographical sketch of your life I have forwarded to him all of my works. * * * I have also sent him all the information in my power concerning our kindred. * * "I sent a letter last evening proposing to take some fifty or a hundred dollars worth of the records as soon as published. These will supply myself and brothers and our rising families. I also proposed to search out, if possible, the ancestors of William Pratt, in England. I expect to visit England in April or May, and shall probably be absent two or three months. "This from your younger brother, "Orson Pratt." After receiving the foregoing, I gathered the little information I could, in so new a country as Utah Territory, and adding it to that which I knew myself, the result or summary of the whole is as follows— for a portion of which I am indebted to the family records of my aunt Lovina Van Cott, and to her memory, she being still living, and near my residence in Salt Lake City. Our great-grandfather, Christopher Pratt, of Saybrook, Conn., had six children, as follows, viz: Stephen, born June 30, 1740, at Saybrook. Our grandfather, Obadiah Pratt, son of Christopher and Sarah Pratt, born in Saybrook, Conn., September 14, 1742, received in marriage Jemina Tolls, born in New Haven, Conn., August 11th, 1754. Date of marriage not known. He died in Canaan, Columbia County, New York. March 2, 1797. His wife died in Washington, Dutchess County, New York, Nov 24, 1812. Eleven children, as follows: Our father, Jared Pratt, son of Obadiah and Jemima Pratt, received in marriage Mary Carpenter, daughter of Samuel Carpenter, of New Lebanon, N. Y. She bore him one daughter, named Mary, and afterwards died. This daughter married a Mr. Brown, of New Lebanon, and bore one son, named Jerome Brown. She afterwards lost her husband, and was married to Samuel Bigalow, of New Lebanon; they may be still living at that place. Our father, Jared, afterwards received in marriage Charity Dickison, daughter of Samuel Dickison, of Bolton, N. Y. I remember seeing him once (Dickison) when a small boy. Our father, Jared, died at Detroit, Michigan, of a fever, November 5, 1839, being near seventy years of age. He died in the house of his eldest son, Anson, who buried him some three or four miles north or northeast from Detroit, in Michigan. Our mother, Charity, died of cholera in the house of her son Anson, at St. Joseph, Missouri, May 20, 1849, and was buried in the graveyard of that town, and a tombstone erected to her memory. Their children, five in number, were as follows: Anson, born January 9, 1801, died May 26, 1849. |
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