Lehi Pratt
By Joyce Morrison Nay
Lehi Pratt was born at Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, June 9, 1851. His parents were Parley Parker Pratt and Belinda Marden Pratt. At the time of his birth his father had arrived in Los Angeles, California on his way to San Francisco to sail for a mission to the Islands of the Pacific of which he was to be in charge.
Lehi was baptized when 8 years old and received his own endowments when 16 years old by order of President Brigham Young as he was called by direction of the First Presidency to drive a team across the plains to take aid to the pioneers. He was set apart for this mission just as any other missionary and made eight trips, driving sixteen mules and three wagons. At one time he was surrounded by Indians and his companion was killed. He saved himself by pulling the head of a dead horse over his body thus keeping the arrows from hitting him. He did get wounded in the back of his hip but recovered.
When he was released from that mission he went to work for the railroad, building bridges and doing other carpenter work such as stations and depots—learning the carpenter trade while in the employ of the railroad. He followed this for some time.
He married Sarah Ann Mitchell, a convert from England; at the age of twenty and lived in Skull Valley working for Quince Knowlton in Utah, built a home and followed the carpenter trade again.
He took a contract for James Dalley to build a barn at Summit and while there fell in love with Emma Bertelsen, a daughter of James Dalley. They went to the St. George Temple and were married on January 30, 1879. Sometime during that year they moved to Fillmore, Utah.
On the 28th of March 1879, their first child was born whose name was Alma. They afterwards moved to Parowan where they lived for two years. Their son Parley Parker Pratt was born there on August 14, 1881. From there they moved to Salt Lake City where Lehi joined the police force under Captain Andrew Best. He continued in the service of the city for nine years after which he went to Deseret for the Church and took out an Abraham Canal parcel. He worked at that for two or three years then moved back to Salt Lake City where he rented Becks Hot Springs and ran that for two years.
In the month of April 1892 the family moved to Teton Basin, arriving there on the 4th of May. They located at Alta, Wyoming living there on the south side of a creek about a mile from the Idaho state line and about four miles east and a little north of Driggs, Idaho. They took up 320 acres of land as a homestead and built a log house.
After some two years he secured a mail route and contract from Teton City to Victor, Idaho a distance of 68 miles. In the winter the snow fell from two to four feet deep making it very hard to keep the roads open. When he finally secured a daily mail route, it made it easier to keep the road open.
He was active in the church and held many positions. He was a member of the Stake High Council before his death.
He died August 15, 1905 in Rexburg, Idaho of dropsy and was buried in Pratt Ward Cemetery at Alta, Wyoming, just east a ways from the Pratt Ward Chapel. This is a small cemetery and only holds a few people, one of them being his oldest grandson, William Walker Pratt, first born of his oldest son Alma Pratt and Clara Diantha Allen Pratt.
[The Lehi Pratt Family History, Volume II¸ compiled by Wesley Larsen]
[transcribed by David Grow, Feb. 2007]