Biography - Henry A. Pratt
HENRY A. PRATT. In the American way of carrying on farming, there is not
a great deal of room for sentiment. The practical man is he who succeeds.
Our subject is at the same time one of the most practical and successful
farmers in Moweaqua Township, where he owns eighty acres located on section
32. He is the proprietor, also, of thirty acres in the adjoining township.
He purchased his present farm in 1870, and has since that time added greatly
both to the comforts and appearance of the place by new buildings, fences,
and the neat and methodical way in which every department of his farm work
is conducted.
Our subject came hither from Morgan County, where he lived for four years.
He was for about five years a resident of Macon County. His advent into the
State was made when twenty-one years old, coming hither from Vermont, where
he was born in Addison County, .March 22, 1838. He comes of good New England
stock. His grandfather was Abraham Pratt, a native of Vermont. The father of
our subject was also a farmer. He was first married to Mary Pratt, a Vermont
lady, who died after the birth of her first child. This child was a daughter
who was given the name Mary, and who is now deceased. In his second
marriage, Abel Pratt wedded Miss Sarah Wing, in Rochester. Vt. She was a
native of the Green Mountain State, and came also of New England stock. Her
parents were descendants of a family in excellent standing and were
long-lived people, her father passing away at the age of ninety years, and
her mother being over eighty years of age at the time of her death. They
were members also of the Congregational Church.
Our subject's father, Abel Pratt, died when fifty-seven years of age, in
Addison County, Vt. His widow is yet living, and is now eighty-four years of
age. She and her husband were co-workers in the Congregational Church. Our
subject is one of eldest of five sons and two daughters. He and a brother,
James Pratt, are all who are now living of the family. The early training of
him of whom we write was all with reference to the life of a farmer. When
about of age he came to Illinois, soon settling in Morgan County, where he
met and married Miss Angelina Foster. She was born in Morgan County, October
6, 1840, and is a daughter of Orson and Eliza (Sherwood) Foster, who were
natives of New York State, and who came West to better their fortunes in a
new country at an early day, locating here in the late '30s. They first
settled in Morgan County, there improving a small farm, upon which they
lived until the time of their death.
Mrs. Pratt, the wife of our subject, is one of a large family, having
received her education in her native county. She is a kind neighbor and a
gentle, loving mother, wisely conducting the rearing of her children. Of
these, four are deceased, two having passed away in childhood, and two
having attained womanhood. The living children are Albert, Laura, Charles,
Eva, Harry, Edson and William. Of these, Albert was married to Clo. Dean and
is a farmer near Pana, where he is carrying on a farm on his own account;
Laura at present resides in Colorado, at Wagon Wheel Gap; Charles is a
farmer near Pana. The younger children have not yet left the home nest. They
are well educated and intelligent, being respected members of the
communities wherein they live. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are attendants of the
Baptist Church. Mr. Pratt is a Republican of the strongest kind, accepting
the tenets of his party in an unqualified sense.
Extracted 26 May 2018 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, pages 542-543.
