*****Copying of the files within by  non-commercial individuals and 
libraries is encouraged.  This message must appear on all copied files. 
Commercial copying must have permission. *****
Submitted by  Cindy Bryant




				LYMAN H. & MARY (WALKER) PRATT

	Among the names which are inseparably connected with the annals of Montcalm County is 
that of Lyman H. Pratt.  He has been prominently identified with its progress and prosperity from 
the earliest settlement.  He was born in Paris, Oneida Co., N. Y., May 12, 1822.  When fourteen 
years of age his father died, leaving a family of four children, of which Lyman was the oldest.  
The family were poor, and the only support of the widowed mother was the fourteen-year-old boy, 
who went to work until the younger children could earn their own support.  In 1843, being then 
twenty-one years of age, Mr. Pratt started out in quest of a home and independence.  He came to 
Kent Co., Mich., where he spent one winter in the town of Paris, which was then a wilderness.  
The howl of the wolf was no unusual sound, and attracted Mr. Pratt.  Taking a rifle he soon 
brought in a wolf-scalp, for which there was a bounty of twelve dollars.  Then he procured traps 
and caught six others, making seven in all that winter, which was a paying business.
	In the spring of 1844, Mr. Pratt and his brother-in-law, S. D. Barr, purchased the 
"Lincoln Saw-Mill," at the mouth of the Black Creek, Montcalm township, this county.  This mill
had then just been erected, was the first and only mill in Montcalm County, and was the most 
primitive kind.  Mr. Pratt then returned to New York and brought his mother to the wilderness 
home.  At that time their nearest neighbor was eight miles distant.  The only white family in the
county was that of R. K. Divine, residing on the south line of the county, where the city of 
Greenville now stands.  No white man had disturbed the primitive forest or obstructed the waters
of Flat River.  Indians were numerous and frequent callers on the new settlers.  Mr. Pratt 
relates many interesting incidents of their peculiarities.
	The lumber manufactured at this mill was run in rafts to Grand Haven, where it commanded 
only a small price.
	About this time settlers began to come in, and in 1846 a mail-route was established from 
Ionia to "Lincoln's Mill," and "Montcalm" office established, Lyman H. Pratt, postmaster, 
appointed by Cave Johnson, Postmaster-General.  This was the first post-office established in 
Montcalm County.
	After operating the mill four years Mr. Pratt sold his interest.  In 1850  was married to
Mary A., daughter of Nathan Walker, of Oakfield, Kent Co.  Mrs. Pratt, by her industrious and
frugal habits, has aided her husband, and in their early pioneer days was never found wanting as 
a helpmeet.
	In 1855, Mr. Pratt purchased the hotel in Greenville (now Kieth's Exchange), built the 
upright part, and kept it as Pratt's Exchange for some years.  Was engaged in various business 
operations until 1866, when he engaged in mercantile business in Mecosta County, and where he was
also interested in the construction of the Greenville and Big Rapids State road until the fall of
1868, when he returned to Greenville until 1874, when he purchased the farm in Fair Plains where 
he now resides; but he has other important interests which call him in different parts of the 
country, and has spent several weeks in Florida.  He is a man of strong common sense, charitable 
to the poor, and always pays a hundred cents on the dollar. 



This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" 
by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881.  Pages 458-459.  Fair Plains Township.