My Genealogy Hound

AUGUSTUS G. PRATT. There are few men in Clark County who have made a greater success of their agricultural labors than the subject of this sketch, who occupies one of the finest farms in Madison Township and owns a large amount of real estate. He was born in Milford Center, Union County, January 3, 1833, his father being a merchant of that town. Since the age of six years he has lived on a farm, with the exception of a few years spent in Springfield, to which place he went in 1850, to work in his uncle’s store. During the college year of 1852-53 he went to Wittenberg College for a finishing course of education. In 1854 he took to himself a wife and began housekeeping on the farm upon which his father had died. There he remained about two years when he removed to his present location. The home estate comprises three hundred and forty acres of fine land which is devoted to general farming and in every part gives proof of the intelligent manner in which it has been conducted. It bears excellent improvements of the most complete kind and in every respect is a home of comfort and prosperity.

During the late war Mr. Pratt was a member of the celebrated “squirrel hunters” and also of the National Guards of the State. He saw something of campaign life in repelling the raid of the rebel Gen. John Morgan. His political adherence has been given to the Republican party since the organization of that body. He has been useful in his day and generation, not only in setting an example of persistent industry and good citizenship, but in serving his fellow-men in local affairs. For eleven years he has been Township Trustee and for twenty-one years he has held the office of School Director. His continuation in these positions year after year is a sufficient proof of his able efforts to advance the cause of education and build up the material prosperity of the township, and of the appreciation of his merits which is felt by those about him. Mrs. Pratt is a respected member of the Presbyterian Church, as the family was before her.

The lady who for a number of years has held a place at the head of Mr. Pratt’s household, was known in her girlhood as Mary C. Clark. She became the wife of our subject April 27, 1854, and since that time has been his most cherished companion, highly valued for her fine character which endears her to many beyond the family circle. She is the daughter of John D. and Susannah (Foley) Clark, who became man and wife December 24, 1823. John Clark was a native of Hampshire County, Va., but of English descent and came to the vicinity of Springfield when but a boy, accompanying his parents, James and Martha (Davis) Clark. His wife was a daughter of James and Mary (Marsh) Foley and in the maternal line was of Welsh extraction. James Foley was Captain of a light horse company and served in the War of 1812.

Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are the happy parents of eight children whose record we subjoin. Charles E. is a resident of Chicago, working in the stockyards; he has a wife and four children — Mabel, Edna, John A. and Harry C. A. Irene, is the wife of Ed. Gilroy, of Darlington, I. T., where he is Indian agent. John Clark is farming on the old homestead where our subject owns five hundred and fifty- three acres of land; he is married and has one son — Wyatt C. Ida F. married Frank M. Murray of South Charleston, a son of Cyrus Murray, and a farmer. Josie is the wife of Edward Flynn, editor of the South Charleston Sentinel. Norma E., a miss at home, is devoting herself to the study of shorthand. Anna Blanche and Mabel E. complete the familiar circle.

The first of the Pratt family to take up their abode in this vicinity was Elijah Pratt, the first physician in the township, who came hither from the Empire State in 1816. It was under his tuition that the aged Dr. Houston studied his profession. He owned the land just west of the village of South Charleston and a large tract of other land in the neighborhood. The mortal remains of himself and wife were deposited on a lot back of where John Murray now lives. His wife was a Miss Martha Woodruff, who bore him five children, all being born in the Empire State. They were: Hannibal, Fletcher W., Elwell, Anna and Martha. The second son married a Miss Lightfoot and reared a family of eleven children; Martha spent her life in single blessedness; Anna died in childhood.

Hannibal Pratt was the hero of a runaway match, his companion in the elopement being Miss Charlotte Murray. There being some opposition to their union, they went on horseback to the residence of Squire Whitely, which was about half way between South Charleston and Springfield and routing the official from his bed persuaded him to tie the knot which made them one. At that time Mr. Pratt was keeping store at Fairfield.

Some time after their union Mr. and Mrs. Hannibal Pratt removed to Milford Center, where they remained until after the birth of their three children. They then took up their abode on a farm in Darby Plains, Madison County, where the husband and father died of typhus fever in 1836, having been ill but eleven days. The widow with her children removed to Charleston, but in 1843, moved onto her farm which is a part of the place upon which our subject now lives. Here she lived until 1863, when she was stricken with typhoid fever and died at the age of sixty-four years. She was the daughter of Mongo and Catherine Murray, and a native of Scotland, where her father was a blacksmith to the Duke of Arthel. When she was but an infant her parents came to America, and she learned to walk on shipboard, their voyage occupying many weeks. Her children are Amanda J., who is unmarried; Marilla A., who was married but has no children; and he who is the subject of this sketch.