Yolo-Yuba County CA Archives Biographies.....Pratt, E. D. 1835 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com December 7, 2005, 11:08 pm

Author: Tom Gregory

E. D. PRATT

    One of the most successful and highly esteemed ranchers of Winters is E. D.
Pratt, who since 1861 has been a resident of Yolo county, to the development of
which he has contributed materially. A native of New York, he was born in Erie
county August 4, 1835, and removed in 1842 to DuPage county, Ill., with his
parents, Daniel and Lucretia (Cook) Pratt, natives of New York. In 1861 E. D.
Pratt left the farm and came to California with ox-teams, crossing the Missouri
river at Omaha, Neb., up the Platte to Sublett's cutoff, thence into Humboldt
and Honey Lake valley, in which section he noted numerous natural springs, both
hot and cold, many of which were within four feet of each other. While camping
on Green river his party was besieged by Indians, who drove away some of their
cattle. Pressing onward toward the desert, which they crossed in thirty-six
hours, they struck northward, shortly thereafter reaching water, much to the
relief of both themselves and their weary stock. After a six months' journey
full of dangers and hardships, the travelers reached Marysville, Cal., the
latter part of the trip having been made in company with a train of seventy wagons.

   Mr. Pratt remained with his brother-in-law, S. M. Enos, being employed in the
old tule house that was washed away in the flood of 1862. This was rebuilt and
Mr. Pratt continued there until he and Mr. Enos became associated in the stock
business in Yolo county. About 1865 Mr. Pratt sold his interest and returned to
Illinois, and after one year settled in Iowa. In Poweshiek county, that state,
he engaged in farming and stock-raising until 1876, when he returned to Yolo
county and ever since he has been engaged in stock-raising and horticulture.
Some years ago he purchased ten acres of the Wolfskill tract near Winters,
setting it out to peaches. Selling this property in 1908, he then located in
Winters, where, on Putah creek, he has a small prune orchard.

   The marriage of Mr. Pratt, which occurred December 18, 1872, in Grinnell,
Iowa, united him with Miss Mary J. Hamilton, who was born in Syracuse, N. Y.,
and whose parents, Andrew J. and Elizabeth (Shaw) Hamilton, were natives of New
York and England, respectively. Mr. Hamilton died in Grinnell, Iowa, in 1875,
and Mrs. Hamilton in New York in 1906. Their children were as follows: Mary J.
(Mrs. Pratt), Frank F., James V., William A., Harriett (Mrs. C. McIntyre) and
Andrew J. The three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are Raymond E., a fruit
grower in Winters, who married Miss Sophia Dunnebeck and has one child, Cecil;
Edith M., a graduate of the San Jose normal school and now the wife of Dr. M. W.
Haworth of Sacramento and the mother of two children, Edith Claire and Maiva
Wells; and Elmer H., who makes his home in Lodi with his wife, formerly Bernice
Thistle, and their daughter, Dorothy.

    Mr. Pratt is a stanch Republican, prompt to lend to his party all the
influence in his power, and as a citizen of broad, generous principles and
sterling characteristics, fully merits the wide esteem which, throughout his
career, he has enjoyed. His wife is a woman of rare qualities and as an active
member of the Christian Church of Winters is untiring in her aid of the many
worthy causes supported by that institution.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]

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