Pratt, Addison, 1802-1872

Addison Pratt was born in Winchester, New Hampshire, on February 21, 1802, and spent more than ten years as a whaler in New England. He married early feminist Louisa Barnes, and under the influence of Caroline and Jonathan Crosby joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and settled in Nauvoo, Illinois. Pratt had lived in Hawaii and learned the Hawaiian language during his time as a whaler, and in 1843 requested that Joseph Smith allow him to serve as a missionary in Polynesia. Pratt spent four years in Tahiti and the surrounding islands, and is recorded in Mormon Church history as the first Mormon missionary to preach in a language other than English. PRatt returned from the Tahitian mission in 1848 and emigrated with his family to San Bernardino, California. In 1850 the family returned to the Pacific Islands, where they were held under house arrest in 1852 after the French government restricted the preaching of Mormonism. They were soon released and returned to California. Pratt was present when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848, and, after spending the winter in Salt Lake City, traveled to Las Vegas and San Bernardino and north to Sacrament, blazing the trail that now makes up much of the I-15. Pratt died in Anaheim, California, on October 14, 1872.