Pratt, John Bridge, 1833-1870

In 1858, the year the Alcotts moved to Orchard House in Concord, Louisa and Anna helped form the Concord Dramatic Union. Another member of the group was John Bridge Pratt. He and Anna fell in love while playing opposite each other in a play called "The Loan of a Lover."

The couple announced their engagement in spring 1858 and married at Orchard House in May 1860. Their wedding provided the basis for the fictional marriage of Meg and John in Little Women. Anna wore a grey silk dress to the wedding. Guests included Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lidian Jackson Emerson and Franklin Benjamin Sanborn. The early years of the marriage are portrayed in Anna's diary (1859-1862).

Anna and John had two sons: Frederick Alcott Pratt (1863-1910) and John Sewall Pratt (1865-1923). John Sewall Pratt later changed his name to John Alcott "in deference to Louisa [May] Alcott's will." Both worked in book publishing.

John Bridge Pratt died unexpectedly in late 1870.