Pratt Family Jubilee Reunion

Members of the families of the Apostles and Pioneers, the late Elders Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt, met at the residence of Milando Pratt on Wednesday evening and decided to hold a Pratt family jubilee reunion to commence on the 21st day of July, 1897, that being the fiftieth anniversary of the entrance into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake by Elders Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow.

The following organization was effected: Parley P. Pratt, honorary chairman; executive committee—Nephi Pratt, chairman; Mathoni W. Pratt, vice chairman; Milando Pratt, secretary.

The executive committee met and appointed standing committee on invitation, program, finance, reception, picnic and decoration.

[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, June 11, 1897, 5]
[Deseret News, June 11, 1897]

[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Apr. 2006]

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Local and Other Matters.

Salt Lake City, June 10, 1897.

To the descendants of the late Elder Erastus Snow, greetings:

You are hereby cordially invited to cooperate with us in a Jubilee reunion to commence July 21, 1897, which will be the fiftieth anniversary of the entrance into the valley of Great Salt Lake of the late Elders Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow of the Council of Apostles.

Yours truly,

N. Pratt, Chairman,
M.W. Pratt,
Milando Pratt, Sec.,
Executive Committee.

[Deseret News, June 19, 1897]

[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Apr. 2006]

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Pratt Family Pioneer Jubilee Reunion.

On July 21st at the Fourteenth ward assembly rooms, commencing at 2:30 p.m., there will be rendered under the auspices of the Pratt families a most enjoyable entertainment, consisting of vocal and instrumental music, recitations, historical sketches, etc.  What may be expected at this notable meeting may be better appreciate when it is understood that such artists as Orson Pratt, Willard E. Weihe, Mrs. Viola Pratt Gillett, Miss Ruth Eldredge and others will contribute their professional services for the occasion.  “My Fiftieth Year,” by the late Apostle P.P. Pratt, will be recited by Capt. F.M. Bishop; “Response,” by the late President John Taylor, will also be given.  At the conclusion of this meeting an adjournment will be taken till 9 a.m. on the 23rd inst., when the families and friends will meet at Liberty park, where they will spend the day in social enjoyment.

[Salt Lake Tribune, July 20, 1897]

[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Apr. 2006]

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A reunion of the Pratt Family commenced today in the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms. An hour was spent in family registration before the program was rendered, which commenced at 3:30 p.m. The hall was decorated, and two life size portraits of the deceased Apostles, Parley P. and Orson Pratt, painted for the occasion by Lorus, son of Orson Pratt, were hung immediately over the platform; also a portrait of Charles Pratt, an ancestor of the family, a distinguished English barrister and member of parliament, who after being Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, was on July 16, 1765, made the First Earl of Camden, and in 1776 appointed Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. A facsimile of the old flag described by Parley P. Pratt when he made his escape from prison, in Columbia, Boone County, Mo., July 4, 1839, was also displayed. The day for this reunion was chosen on July 21, as on that day in 1847, Elder Orson Pratt being in advance of the Pioneers, entered Salt Lake Valley, and was the first to place his foot upon its soil.

The program was rendered as follows under the direction of Captain F.M. Bishop, opening prayer by Elder Geo. B. Wallace; song by Miss Cora M. Pratt; address of welcome by Parley P. Pratt, read by Nephi Pratt, of which the following is a synopsis:

“As president of this reunion, I bid you all a hearty welcome to our family gathering. All hail to this year of Pioneer Jubilee! I had greatly desired to meet with you and give to each one a personal kindly greeting, but as my Heavenly Father has suffered me to be brought down, at this time to the portals of death, I shall have to be satisfied to write from a sick couch a few broken sentences or thoughts, as they may be suggested to me by the Holy Spirit. I feel thankful that I have been born of goodly parents, and that my lot has been cast among a God-fearing, illustrious people. I feel thankful that my life has been spared to see this suspicious year of Pioneer Jubilee. I am in full sympathy with these family reunions, and take pleasure in contributing my mite for their success. This should be a time of interchange of thought, a day of rejoicing, a day long to be remembered. Theses walls should resound with oratory, with music and with songs of praise and thanksgiving, until every heart is softened and made glad.

“I was born March 25, 1837, at Kirtland, OH. Soon after my mother died. While being reared by other hands, my father for conscience sake lay in a ‘dungeon bound in chains;’ making his escape from prison, he fled to Nauvoo. My early boyhood was spent in Nauvoo. I was acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, and I have never had, during my life, a doubt in regard to their divine mission. When eight years old I was baptized in the Mississippi river by my Uncle Orson Pratt.

“Owing to the spirit of political and religious intolerance, my father and family, with many thousands of Saints, including myself, fled from Nauvoo. We crossed the Mississippi river on ice, in February, 1846. In our pilgrimage to the West through the wilderness of Iowa, under the leadership of Brigham Young, we suffered many hardships and privations. We had snow, hail and sleet, thunder, lightning and torrents of rain, being oftened drenched to the skin. Have often awakened in the night, when sleeping in a tent, or under a wagon, and found myself laying in pools of water. Spent the dreary winter of 1846 and 1847 at Winter Quarters, on this bank of the muddy Missouri, when for the want of the necessities of life, many of the Saints died with scurvy and fever. Marion Brady and myself were the “cow boys” of the camp at Winter Quarters in the spring of 1847. The Omaha Indians being hostile at times, when we were out in the rolling hills with our cows, they would take a shot at us with their bows and arrows. At one time an arrow struck in a bush one or two feet from my person.

“I was present in Winter Quarters when the great Pioneer company was organized, and saw them start out April 5, 1847, under the leadership of Brigham Young, on their perilous journey across the plains. Some weeks later three thousand Saints and about six hundred wagons followed in the wake of the Pioneers; Apostle John Taylor and my honored father having the general supervision of these first companies of emigrating pilgrims. The journey across the plains to the father and mother in Israel for the most part one of trial, hardship and sacrifice; to the young men and maidens, the ‘darkest clouds’ had their ‘silver lining.’ The trip to me, as young boy, although sorely vexed at times, was one of interest, novelty and pleasure. As the camps of Zion wended their way towards the land of promise, daily new scenes burst upon our view, and now and again we would meet the hunter and trapper or a band of Indians decked with beads, ornaments and feathers. The novelty and bustle of camp lie, the neighing of the horse, the lowing of the cows with their young calves, the deer antelope and buffalo and flocks of wild geese, the chase, and the crack of the hunter’s rifle, the fresh fish from the angler’s hook, the vast plains and sunburnt hills, the rocks, rills and caves; the lone tree by the way and the cold spring, the oasis in the desert, the Indian wicktup and grave, the wild flowers, and laughing children, the prairie fires and moonlight nights, the howling wolves and screeching night owls; the inspired Sabbath address and song of Zion, all filled my young heart with delight and inspiration.

“Being provided, by my father, with a good Indian pony, my boy companions and myself, drove cows most of the way across the Plains. We drove down through the mouth of Emigration Canyon, where we got a full view of the valley, Sept. 28, 1847. In my boyish dreams I had fancied we were coming to a choice land; to a land of timber, grass, flowers and gurgling springs; but when I saw the parched soil, the alkill beds, the sagebrush plain, the large black crickets, and half starved Indians, my heart sank within me, and I felt we had come to a land of desolation, instead of to a land of promise. How thankful we should be for our mountain home, for the Lord has changed the desert into a fruitful field.

“I have been acquainted with the leading men of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all my life; with the Prophet Joseph Smith, with that great and good man Brigham Young, the Apostle and Pioneer; with Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, John Taylor, Joseph Young, Orson Pratt, Erasmus Snow, Parley P. Pratt, and our venerable President Wilford Woodruff, whose life is still spared to lead Israel. These mighty, heroic, self-sacrificing, God-fearing men, with others, have laid the foundation, under God, of a theocracy which is to endure for time all eternity. It is expected that the sons and daughters of these early Pioneers of religion and the American desert will build upon the foundation laid by their parents, until the earth shall be redeemed and man shall be placed upon a higher plan of intellectual, moral and spiritual program.

“For the benefit more especially of the young, I desire to refer to an item of history in my father’s life never before published. In the fall of 1856 my father was stricken down with sickness, and said to his family gathered around him: ‘My time has come to die,’ when President Brigham Young, H.C. Kimball and others came to his bedside and said, ‘Brother Parley, we cannot spare you, we desire to have you live to assist us in the work of the Lord,’ when he replied, ‘Pray for me that I may be healed, and that my life may be prolonged.’ They then administered to him and he recovered rapidly, and spent the winter in preaching through the settlements. In the following spring, 1857, he was sent on a mission to the states, and died as a martyr in fulfillment of prophecy.”

[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, July 21, 1897, 5]

[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Apr. 2006]

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The Pratt family held their reunion in Liberty Park today, in honor of Elder Orson Pratt, who was the first of the Pioneers to set foot on the soil of Salt Lake Valley. This morning Mrs. Nathan W. Pratt, wife of the youngest son of Elder Parley P. Pratt, gave birth to a fine boy at 5 o’clock.

[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, July 23, 1897, 4]

[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Apr. 2006]

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The Pratt Family
Big Jubilee Reunion and a Permanent Organization

Interesting Two Days Meetings
Reminiscences of Pioneer Life and Experiences—
Names of the Officers Chosen—Record Opened

On Wednesday, July 21, 1897, at 2:30 p.m. at the Fourteenth ward assembly hall, this city, about 300 persons—probably the largest gathering of the Pratt family, their relatives and friends, that had ever gotten together in this region—assembled in commemoration of their respected sires—those dominant Pioneers, the late Apostles Parley P. and Orson Pratt, who, in 1847, just fifty years ago, entered this valley, Orson Pratt being the very first man of that memorable band who entered July 22, 1847, preceding one day (July 21) in advance of the main company led by Brigham Young—Parley P. Pratt and family coming in later in the season of that year.

From 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. was spent in the registering of the names and addresses of those present, and introductions and general sociability, and at 3:30 the assembly was called to order, when the following program under the management of Captain F.M. Bishop was rendered.

Opening Prayer by Pioneer Elder Geo. B. Wallace.
Song by Miss Cora M. Pratt.
Address of welcome by Parley P. Pratt read by Nephi Pratt.
Recitation by Miss Ruth Eldredge.
Solo by Mrs. Viola Pratt Gillett.
Tenor solo by Mr. Fred C. Graham.
Historical address “Flag of Liberty,” by Nephi Pratt.
Poem in beautiful ornamental scroll work composed and written for the occasion by Valton M. Pratt, read by Miss Ruth Eldredge.
Song by Miss Hermione P. Tyler.
Violin solo by Prof. Willard E. Weihe.
Pioneer Jubilee Address by Moroni W. Pratt.
Baritone solo by Ernest L. Pratt.
Reading, “My Fiftieth Year,” Parley P. Pratt, and “Response,” John Taylor, by Capt. F.M. Bishop.
Remarks by “Aunt” Zina D.H. Young and Pioneer George Whitaker.
Permanent organization.
Singing “Amid Langvine” (?) by assembly.
Benediction by Elder A.M. Musser.

The hall was nicely decorated and striking life-size portraits of the two late Apostles, Parley P. and Orson Pratt, painted for the occasion by the artist Lorus Pratt, son of the latter named Apostle, hung upon the walls immediately over the platform; also a portrait of Charles Pratt, the first earl of Camden, who distinguished himself after becoming one of the most eminent and successful pleaders at the bar. He became a member of Parliament and was made his majesty’s attorney general, and in 1761 he was constituted chief justice of the court of common pleas. On July 16, 1765, he was advanced to the dignity of a peer of Great Britain by the style and title of Lord Camden, baron of Camden, in the county of Kent, and on July 30, 1766, his majesty delivered the great seal to his lordship as lord high chancellor of Great Britain.

A very interesting feature of the occasion was a quaint looking old flag made to represent the flag described in the autobiography of Parley P. Pratt when he made his escape from prison, where he had been confined for over eight months by his enemies in Columbia, Boone county, Mo., July 4, 1839.

At the time mentioned, P.P. Pratt in his autobiography says, “The Fourth of July dawned upon us with hope and expectation. While the town and nation were alive with the bustle of preparation for the celebration of the American jubilee, and while guns were firing and music sounding without, our prison presented a scene of scarcely less life and cheerfulness, for we were also preparing to do proper honors to the day. We had prevailed on the keeper to furnish us with along pole, on which to suspend a flag, and also with some red stripes of cloth. We then tore a shirt in pieces and took the body of it for the ground work of a flag, forming with the red stripes of cloth an eagle and the word “Liberty” in large letters. This rose (??) flag of red and white was suspended on the pole from the prison window directly in front of the public square and court house, and composed one of the great attractions of the day. Hundreds of the people from the country, as well as villagers who were there at the celebration, would come up and stare at the flag, and reading the motto, would go swearing or laughing away, exclaiming, “Liberty! Liberty! What have the Mormons to do with celebrating liberty in a damned old prison?” But notwithstanding their hilarious ejaculations, the escape from that dreary old prison was made that very day while this improvised flag of liberty still floated to freedom’s breeze from the window of that old Missouri jail, proclaiming liberty to the victim of mobocratic heresy."

The address of welcome by Parley P. Pratt was interesting and pathetic, a portion of which in brief ran about as follows,

“As president of this reunion, I bid you all a hearty welcome to our family gathering. All hail to this year of Pioneer Jubilee! I had greatly desired to meet with you and give to each one a personal kindly greeting, but as my Heavenly Father has suffered me to be brought down, at this time to the portals of death, I shall have to be satisfied to write from a sick couch a few broken sentences or thoughts, as they may be suggested to me by the Holy Spirit. I feel thankful that I have been born of goodly parents, and that my lot has been cast among a God-fearing, illustrious people. I feel thankful that my life has been spared to see this suspicious year of Pioneer Jubilee. I am in full sympathy with these family reunions, and take pleasure in contributing my mite for their success. This should be a time of interchange of thought, a day of rejoicing, a day long to be remembered. Theses walls should resound with oratory, with music and with songs of praise and thanksgiving, until every heart is softened and made glad.

“I was born March 25, 1837, at Kirtland, OH. Soon after my mother died. While being reared by other hands, my father for conscience sake lay in a ‘dungeon bound in chains;’ making his escape from prison, he fled to Nauvoo. My early boyhood was spent in Nauvoo. I was acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, and I have never had, during my life, a doubt in regard to their divine mission. When eight years old I was baptized in the Mississippi river by my Uncle Orson Pratt.

“Owing to the spirit of political and religious intolerance, my father and family, with many thousands of Saints, including myself, fled from Nauvoo. We crossed the Mississippi river on ice, in February, 1846. In our pilgrimage to the West through the wilderness of Iowa, under the leadership of Brigham Young, we suffered many hardships and privations. We had snow, hail and sleet, thunder, lightning and torrents of rain, being oftened drenched to the skin. Have often awakened in the night, when sleeping in a tent, or under a wagon, and found myself laying in pools of water. Spent the dreary winter of 1846 and 1847 at Winter Quarters, on this bank of the muddy Missouri, when for the want of the necessities of life, many of the Saints died with scurvy and fever. Marion Brady and myself were the “cow boys” of the camp at Winter Quarters in the spring of 1847. The Omaha Indians being hostile at times, when we were out in the rolling hills with our cows, they would take a shot at us with their bows and arrows. At one time an arrow struck in a bush one or two feet from my person.

“I was present in Winter Quarters when the great Pioneer company was organized, and saw them start out April 5, 1847, under the leadership of Brigham Young, on their perilous journey across the plains. Some weeks later three thousand Saints and about six hundred wagons followed in the wake of the Pioneers; Apostle John Taylor and my honored father having the general supervision of these first companies of emigrating pilgrims. The journey across the plains to the father and mother in Israel for the most part one of trial, hardship and sacrifice; to the young men and maidens, the ‘darkest clouds’ had their ‘silver lining.’ The trip to me, as young boy, although sorely vexed at times, was one of interest, novelty and pleasure. As the camps of Zion wended their way towards the land of promise, daily new scenes burst upon our view, and now and again we would meet the hunter and trapper or a band of Indians decked with beads, ornaments and feathers. The novelty and bustle of camp lie, the neighing of the horse, the lowing of the cows with their young calves, the deer antelope and buffalo and flocks of wild geese, the chase, and the crack of the hunter’s rifle, the fresh fish from the angler’s hook, the vast plains and sunburnt hills, the rocks, rills and caves; the lone tree by the way and the cold spring, the oasis in the desert, the Indian wicktup and grave, the wild flowers, and laughing children, the prairie fires and moonlight nights, the howling wolves and screeching night owls; the inspired Sabbath address and song of Zion, all filled my young heart with delight and inspiration.

“Being provided, by my father, with a good Indian pony, my boy companions and myself, drove cows most of the way across the Plains. We drove down through the mouth of Emigration Canyon, where we got a full view of the valley, Sept. 28, 1847. In my boyish dreams I had fancied we were coming to a choice land; to a land of timber, grass, flowers and gurgling springs; but when I saw the parched soil, the alkill beds, the sagebrush plain, the large black crickets, and half starved Indians, my heart sank within me, and I felt we had come to a land of desolation, instead of to a land of promise. How thankful we should be for our mountain home, for the Lord has changed the desert into a fruitful field.

“I have been acquainted with the leading men of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all my life; with the Prophet Joseph Smith, with that great and good man Brigham Young, the Apostle and Pioneer; with Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, John Taylor, Joseph Young, Orson Pratt, Erasmus Snow, Parley P. Pratt, and our venerable President Wilford Woodruff, whose life is still spared to lead Israel. These mighty, heroic, self-sacrificing, God-fearing men, with others, have laid the foundation, under God, of a theocracy which is to endure for time all eternity. It is expected that the sons and daughters of these early Pioneers of religion and the American desert will build upon the foundation laid by their parents, until the earth shall be redeemed and man shall be placed upon a higher plan of intellectual, moral and spiritual program.

“For the benefit more especially of the young, I desire to refer to an item of history in my father’s life never before published. In the fall of 1856 my father was stricken down with sickness, and said to his family gathered around him: ‘My time has come to die,’ when President Brigham Young, H.C. Kimball and others came to his bedside and said, ‘Brother Parley, we cannot spare you, we desire to have you live to assist us in the work of the Lord,’ when he replied, ‘Pray for me that I may be healed, and that my life may be prolonged.’ They then administered to him and he recovered rapidly, and spent the winter in preaching through the settlements. In the following spring, 1857, he was sent on a mission to the states, and died as a martyr in fulfillment of prophecy.”

On Friday, July 23, 1897, a continuation of the Pratt Family Reunion was held at Liberty Park, where a most enjoyable time was spent in the further acquaintance, picnicking and frolicking through the park. It was estimated that there were three and four hundred relatives and friends present upon this occasion. An autograph record was provided in which about 250 signatures were obtained. This record will also contain the minutes and the proceedings of the two days meetings of the Pratt families. Another very interesting feature of the occasion was the wearing of a souvenir badge by the relatives and members of the family. Three badges were made of silk ribbon in Jubilee colors upon which was beautifully inscribed upon which was beautifully inscribed the old English Pratt coat of arms and the following words: “July 21, 1847, Pratt Family Pioneer Jubilee Reunion, July 21, 1897.”

An interesting letter from Elder John W. Taylor was received and read.

At the first meeting held on the 21st inst., a permanent organization of the Pratt family was effected, consisting of Parley P. Pratt, president; Nephi Pratt, vice-president; Milando Pratt, secretary; Mathoni W. Pratt, assistant secretary and treasurer, the three latter names to act as the executive committee.

A committee of three was also elected on Temple work, consisting of Laron Pratt, chairman, Jane Elizabeth Pratt Kesler and Cornelia Pratt Driggs.

–Milando Pratt
Secretary Pratt Family Reunion
Salt Lake City, Utah, July 26, 1897

[Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, July 26, 1897, 4]
[Deseret News, July 26, 1897]

[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Apr. 2006]

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Pratt Family Reunion

Held in Honor of Two Eminent Pioneers

Three Hundred Present

Permanent Organization Effected, of which Parley P. Pratt of Salt Lake is President—Programme Rendered in the Fourteenth Ward Schoolhouse—Picnic at Liberty Park Attended by Found Hundred of the Pratts and their Friends—Wore a Special Jubilee Badge

Three hundred members of the Pratt families, their relatives and friends enjoyed a reunion and celebration last week in honor of Parley P. and Orson Pratt, two of the best known members of the Pioneer band.  The first day’s celebration was held at the Fourteenth ward assembly hall, and the following programme was rendered under the direction of Capt. F.M. Bishop.

Opening prayer by Pioneer George B. Wallace.
Song by Miss Cora M. Pratt.
Address of welcome by Parley P. Pratt, read by Nephi Pratt.
Recitation of Miss Ruth Eldredge.
Solo by Mrs. Viola Pratt Gillett.
Tenor solo by Mr. Fred C. Graham.
Historical address “Flag of Liberty,” by Nephi Pratt.
Poem in beautiful ornamental scroll work composed and written for the occasion by Valton M. Pratt, read by Miss Ruth Eldredge.
Song by Miss Hermione P. Tyler.
Violin solo by Prof. Willard E. Weihe.
Pioneer Jubilee Address by Moroni W. Pratt.
Baritone solo by Ernest L. Pratt.
Reading, “My Fiftieth Year,” Parley P. Pratt, and “Response,” John Taylor, by Capt. F.M. Bishop.
Remarks by “Aunt” Zina D.H. Young and Pioneer George Whitaker.
Permanent organization.
Singing “Amid Lang Syne” by assembly.
Benediction by Elder A.M. Musser.

The hall was decorated with life-size portraits of the late Parley P. and Orson Pratt, painted by Lorus Pratt, son of the latter, and a portrait of Charles Pratt, First Earl of Camden, a member of the English Parliament, and in 1761 Chief Justice of the English Court of Common Pleas.  Another feature of the decorations interesting from a historical point of view was a quaint old flag made to represent the flag described in the autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, when he made his escape from prison in Columbia, Mo., July 4, 1839.

The address of welcome by Parley P. Pratt of this city was interesting and pathetic.  He wrote from his sick bed expressing his sorrow at being unable to attend.  He told in a graphic and vivid style of the trip across the plains which he made in the summer and fall of 1847, as a boy of 10 years of age, and spoke with much fondness of his father and the experiences he had had as a missionary and a preacher of the doctrines of the Mormon church.

The second day’s programme included a picnic at Liberty park, at which about 400 were in attendance.  During Jubilee week the members of the Pratt family wore a special badge in Jubilee colors upon which was inscribed the old English Pratt coat-of-arms and the words “July 21, 1847, Pratt Family Pioneer Jubilee Reunion, July 21, 1897.”  The officers of the permanent organization are: Parley P. Pratt, President; Nephi Pratt, vice-president; Milando Pratt, secretary; Mathoni W. Pratt, assistant secretary and treasurer.  The three latter were named to act as the executive committee.

A committee of three was also elected on Temple work, consisting of Laron Pratt, chairman; Jane Elizabeth Kesler and Cornelia Pratt Driggs.

[Deseret News, July 27, 1897]

[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Aug. 2006]

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