Joseph Eldon Prater was born in 1839 in Hall County, Georgia. He was the son of Robert Morgan Prater and wife Ann M. Cain. He married Elizabeth Jane Bobo, the daughter of Levington Bobo and wife Sarah Rainwater. They had three children. He enlisted in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and died from battlefield wounds (see below). He was buried in Virginia.

Joseph enlisted on April 14, 1862 at Fayette County, Alabama, at the age 21. He served as a private with the Company H, 41st Alabama Infantry. He was captured on April 21, 1863, in McMinnville, Tennessee, while on guard duty at Commissary, and was forwarded to Market House, Nashville, TN (27 Apr 1863) then to the Military Prison in Louisville, KY. From there, on May 2, 1863, he was sent to Baltimore, MD, where he released on May 7, 1863. Joseph rejoined the Confederate force soon after his release, fighting in the siege of Petersburg. He was wound on February 25, 1865 and treated in Petersburg for a gunshot would. He was wounded again in May, 1865, with a minie ball to the thigh, which resulted in the amputation of his left leg. He did not recover from the injury, and died May 24, 1865 a the Confederate States Hospital in Petersburg. He was buried in Bethel Cemetery.

His brother-in-law Pvt Tillman Bobo also died at this hospital and is buried at Bethel Cemetery.

Children of Joseph Eldon Prater and wife Elizabeth Jane Bobo:

• James LaFayette Prater (1858 - 1936)
• Miles S Prater (1860 - 1943)
• Absolom Franklin Prater (1861 - 1928)