Pratt, Parley P. (Parley Parker), 1807-1857

Author, publisher, and apostle of the Mormon Church.l.

Member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church, author, missionary, and pioneer.

Author, Utah pioneer, and apostle in the Mormon Church.

Mormon Church leader and apostle.

Apostle in the Mormon Church, author, and Utah pioneer.

Parley Parker Pratt was born in Burlington, New York, on April 12, 1807. He married Thankful Halsey in 1827 and the couple settled in Cleveland, Ohio. While traveling to New York to visit his family, Pratt happened to read a copy of the Book of Mormon, and, believing it to be true, went to Palmyra, New York, the one-time home of Joseph Smith. He was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Oliver Cowdery at Seneca Lake in September 1830. Pratt met Smith in Fayette, New York, in October 1830 and joined a missionary trip to the Missouri frontier. He would later participate in missions throughout the United States, Canada, England, the Pacific Islands, and South America. Pratt became an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1835. After Smith's death, he traveled with his family to Utah as a follower of Brigham Young. In the mid-1850s, Pratt developed the Deseret alphabet along with George D. Watt. In 1854, he presided over the Pacific Mission in San Francisco. While there, he married one of his many plural wives, Eleanor McLean, who was still legally married to her first husband, Hector McLean. Hecor McLean confronted Pratt while the latter was returning from a mission to the southern United States in 1857, and accused him of kidnapping his wife and children. Pratt was arrested in the Oklahoma Territory and was acquitted of minor charges. On May 13, 1857, Pratt was shot and stabbed to death by McLean on a farm near Van Buren, Arkansas. Pratt was later buried near Alma, Arkansas.

Apostle in the Mormon Church.

Member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles.

Parley Parker Pratt (1802-1857) was born in New York state. During the Second Great Awakening he felt a need to become a Christian missionary. He soon encountered the new Mormon movement and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He carried his missionary zeal into his new faith and later became an apostle in the LDS Church. He served several missions including missions in Canada, Britain, the Pacific Islands, and Chile. When the Saints moved to Utah he explored some of the surrounding areas and later built a toll road where I-80 runs today. He had a large family after joining the practice of polygamy and eventually had twelve wives and twenty-nine children. While returning from a mission in the Eastern States, he was murdered in 1857 in the state of Arkansas.