Addison Pratt was an early Latter-day Saint convert and missionary.
14 Facts About Addison Pratt
1.
2.
Addison Pratt married Louisa Barnes, born in Warwick, Massachusetts, early feminist, an early contributor to the Women's Exponent, author of her own famous memoirs, and sister to Caroline Barnes Crosby, another influential early frontier woman writer and feminist.
3.
Years later, in October 1843, Addison Pratt recommended to Joseph Smith that the Church begin missionary work among the Polynesians, whom he expected to be receptive.
4.
Addison Pratt disembarked at Tubuai in the Austral Islands on April 30,1844, and began teaching in the Hawaiian language, noting its similarity to the local dialect of Tahitian.
5.
Addison Pratt later preached in Tahiti and other nearby islands and atolls.
6.
Addison Pratt resigned the presidency of that branch about a month later and left to join his family in Utah Territory.
7.
Addison Pratt traveled to San Bernardino, California in 1849, and by early 1850 had made his way back to San Francisco.
8.
Addison Pratt declined invitations from church leaders and entreaties of his wife Louisa to follow the practice of plural marriage.
9.
Addison Pratt died in Anaheim, California and is buried at Anaheim Cemetery.
10.
Addison Pratt was present at the discovery of gold in California, working on Sutter's Mill at the time of discovery.
11.
Addison Pratt worked in the gold fields in 1848, waiting for winter to pass so that he could be re-united with his family in Salt Lake City.
12.
The Hunt and Addison Pratt group is notable for being the first to discover gold and silver in Southern Nevada, recommending to Brigham Young the colonization of Southern Nevada, including Las Vegas specifically, and most famously for a group of malcontents that split with Addison Pratt's and Hunt's leadership.
13.
Addison Pratt's journals are an important source for historians, vividly illustrating the life of a whaler and seaman in the 19th century, being one of only a few primary sources on the discovery of Gold and the Donner Party, and are otherwise important as a resource for California history, Polynesian history and Mormon history.
14.
Lois Barnes Pratt, Addison Pratt's daughter, married John Hunt, son of Jefferson Hunt.