Albert Raymond Pratt

From Portrait and biographical album of Champaign County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of Illinois, and of the presidents of the United States.':

ALBERT R. PRATT. The subject of the following sketch occupies a prominent position in the farming community of Champaign Township, where he has a snug homestead located on section 9, a view of which will be found on another page. He is a native of the Old Granite State, and was born in Nashua, Hillsboro County, Sept. 19, 1842. His parents were Dura D. and Mary (Raymond) Pratt, the former a native of Marlboro, Vt., and the latter of Mt. Vernon, N. H.

Dura D. Pratt was reared on a farm in his native county, but when a young man learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner. Beyond serving his apprenticeship, however, he did nothing at his trade. He was of a deeply religious turn of mind and had become a member of the Baptist Church in his youth. While working as a carpenter he employed his leisure time in the study of theology, and when twenty-six years of age commenced preaching at Nashua, where he was soon installed as pastor of the Baptist Church, remaining thus for a period of about twenty-three years and until his death, which occurred in 1855. The mother is still living, and resides with her daughter, Harriett S., in Chicago. Of the four children comprising the parental family, Albert R. was the eldest; Mary became the wife of George C. Urann, and lives in Penacook, N. H. ; George D. died in Burlington. Vt., when twenty-one years of age; Harriett S. is unmarried, and lives in Chicago.

Albert R. Pratt was but thirteen years old when his father died. He was educated in the district school and lived in the town of Nashua until 1868. While not in school he was engaged in agricultural pursuits on the farm which his mother had purchased after becoming a widow. In 1868 he came to Champaign County, and purchased 120 acres of land near Mahomet, which he occupied three years. Subsequently he purchased 160 acres in Colfax Township, upon which he removed and lived until 1881, when he purchased the farm in Champaign Township which he now owns and occupies. His land is in a good state of cultivation and supplied with a handsome and substantial set of frame buildings. Everything about the homestead is kept in first-class order and evinces on all hands the thrift and intelligence of the proprietor.

The marriage of our subject occurred on the 31st of May, 1870, the lady of his choice being Miss Rose Barber, who was born in England, Nov. 15, 1849. Her parents, Benjamin and Eliza (Bower) Barber, both natives of England, came to America in 1852, when the wife of our subject was a child but three years old. They located first in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, near the city of Cleveland, where Mr. B. was first employed on a farm, but soon afterward rented a tract of land, the cultivation of which he carried on until 1858. In the spring of that year he came to this county, settling first in Champaign Township. Afterward he purchased a farm in Mahomet Township, where he remained a resident for nearly twenty years, and thence removed to Scott Township in about 1876, where he still resides. He is the owner of 212 acres of improved land and is numbered among the first-class citizens of that locality.

Mrs. Eliza Barber was born in England in about 1823 and lived with her parents until about twenty years of age, when she because the wife of Benjamin Barber. Of their union there were born eleven children, eight now living, as follows: Thirza E., Alfred C., Rosanna, Sarah, Samuel, William M., Frederick J. and Mary. Thirza is the wife of Freeman Adams, of Nashua, N. H. ; Alfred C. married Miss Louisa Peters, and is farming in Colfax Township, this county ; Rosanna became the wife of our subject, and resides in Champaign Township; Sarah, Mrs. Samuel Fox, lives with her husband in Kansas; William M. married Miss Hattie Kemp, and is a resident of Kansas; Frederick married Miss Ella Wright, and they occupy a farm in Mahomet Township; Mary, Mrs. Asa Franklin, is a resident of Sherman County, Kan. Mr. and Mrs. Barber are consistent members of the Baptist Church, and Mr. B. is Democratic in politics. Both are living at present in Bondville, this county.

Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Pratt there have been born four children Josephine R., George W., Minnie C. and Frank H. Our subject and his wife are prominently connected with the Baptist Church at Bondville, and politically Mr. P. is a firm adherent of the Republican party.