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Henry H. Pratt

A descendant from an excellent line of ancestors is Henry H. Pratt, a highly respected citizen of Maynard, Fayette county, who was born August 18, 1848, in Geauga county, Ohio, forty miles east of Cleveland. He is the son of Harvey and Sybil (Moore) Pratt. The former was educated at Hartford, Connecticut, and when a young man he came to Ohio and secured wild land, built a cabin, made a small clearing and began developing the same, establishing a comfortable home and a good farm in due course of time. The work of clearing the heavy timber and placing the raw ground in tillable condition was hard work, but it suited his rugged nature and his love of pioneer life. He was a carpenter by trade, but later in life devoted his time exclusively to farming. Later he removed to Green county, Wisconsin. Subsequently he went to Monroe county, Wisconsin, where he farmed until his death, his wife also dying there. They were members of the Seventh Day Adventist church, honest and highly respected people. Mr. Pratt was a Republican, but led a quiet life and did not seek political preferment.

Henry H. Pratt received a limited education, but he has become a well informed man by general reading. When a boy he went to school three months in a log school house, three miles distant from his home. He began working in the fields when six years of age, and remained at home assisting his father with the general farm work until he was twenty-four years of age.

In 1866, while living in Green county, Wisconsin, Mr. Pratt married Nancy C. Francisco, a native of Racine county, that state, and the daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth (Hoffman) Francisco, both natives of the state of New York, who were early settlers in Racine county, Wisconsin. In 1881 they came to Maynard, Iowa, where Mrs. Francisco died in 1892. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Pratt.

One of the most interesting chapters in the life of Henry H. Pratt is that bearing on his army career, which began with his enlistment in the Union army, in Green county, Wisconsin, on February 27, 1864, in Company B, Thirty-sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Mr. Pratt saw some hard service and severe fighting, among the most notable engagements in which he participated being those of the four days' battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Turner’s Farm, Cold Harbor. On June 3, 1864, he was shot through the left hand and forearm and it was seventeen days before the wound was treated, and it became necessary to have the arm amputated near the shoulder, which was done at Columbus hospital, where he remained four months and was honorably discharged on December 24, 1864. He returned to Green county, Wisconsin, where he remained until 1873, when he went to Minnesota, in which state he remained for three years. In 1876 he located in Fayette county, Iowa, settling at Maynard, where he built a cozy and substantial home. He bought a good farm in Westfield township, this county, where he remained five years, coming from there to Maynard, where he has since resided. He has spent his life farming and has been very successful, being a good manager and he is known as one of the greatest “hustlers” in Fayette county, where he is well known and has many warm friends. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post No. 47, at Maynard, and he is active in the Republican party.

~transcribed for the Fayette Co IAGenWeb Project by Kathy Moore