YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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Hon. Daniel Pratt

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NEW HAWEN. ""MN.
Cm9 308

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

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Hon. DANIEL PRATT:
A BIOGRAPHY.

DANIEL PRATT.

Hon. DANIEL PRATT

A BIOGRAPHY,

WITH
EULOGIES ON HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER.

EDITED HY
MkS. S. F. H. TARRANT.

RICHMOND, VA. :
Whiti'et & Shki'PERSON, Publishers and Printers.
1904.

Dedicated to
MRS. AUGUSTA D. MORGAN
and
Mrs. MERRILL E. PRATT.

CONTENTS. Pace.
Introduction,  . 9
Daniel Pratt and Prattville, . . 13
History of Prattville,  20
Reminiscences of Daniel Pratt,  60
A Day with Daniel Pratt at Prattville, 62
Reminiscences of the J.ife of Daniel .
Pratt,  .69
Death of Hon. Daniel Pratt, ... 87
The Late Daniel Pratt, . . -93
Eulogies on the Life and Character of
Hon. Daniel Pratt, . . 96
Merrill E. Pratt,  -174

INTRODUCTION.
It has been said, "The more biography the world
gets on hand, the better informed it will become in
history." Not every man is fortunate enough to have
a Boswell. Indeed, Sam Johnson stands alone, as the
man best known, of all the vast army of writers who
have lived and passed away.
A wise man has said, "Xo public man's work can
be intelligently judged before half a century has
, passed over his grave."
Thirty years have been added to the past since a
million people mourned the death of Daniel Pratt,
founder of Prattville, Ala., and to-day he can have
no higher praise than that which his own consistent
adherence. to loyalty for the State of Alabama will
bestow upon him. On my return to Alatama from
a neighboring State, after an absence of more than
a decade of years (during which time Mr. Pratt had
died), I asked this question, "Has any one written
a biography of Mr. Pratt?" For a reply, the follow
ing: "Some articles were written soon after his death
and printed in the daily papers. A near relative of
Mr. Pratt asked me, with earnestness, to collect these,
and add any particulars I might see fit. I complied.

lo INTRODUCTION.
and in doing so, have two motives. The first, to place
before the young of the present generation salient
points in the life of, to my mind, one of the grandest
men who has lived in Alabama. This grand old Com
monwealth has had statesmen with no peers in the
forum ; ministers of the gospel in whom was no guile ;
soldiers as brave as any who ever gazed into the
cannon's mouth — but only one Daniel Pratt — ever
ready to serve his God, his country and humanity.
To get at the inner life of a nation, read the biography
of individuals, the more personal the better worth pre
serving. Would that every boy would study well the
character of Daniel Pratt, and become inspired to
follow his example. Remembering ever, the secret
power of Daniel Pratt was his singleness of purpose
and the spirituality of his life.
My second motive : to preserve tributes paid to the
memory of Mr. Pratt soon after his death. Though
there may seem some repetition, I wish to preserve
intact the papers, one by "Julian," and a series of
papers written by that worthy, good man, S. Mims,
I felt that I must copy, verbatim, every article he
wrote, for I cherish with fond affection the memory
of Mr. Mims and his noble wife. They truly be
longed to the elect. It was an inspiration to go in
and out of their home, as was my wont, in my inti
macy with their daughter Katharine.

INTRODUCTION. ii
Recently I stood by the graves of these loved ones,
and I exclaimed, "Would that every Methodist
church, every town in Alabama, had such a man as
S. Mims ; and that the women of our State could
have known and would emulate the example of a
woman like Mrs. Mims.
S. F. H. T.

DANIEL PRATT AND
PRATTVILLE:
A Famous Town and its Famous Founder.
T N the little boro,ugh of Temple, up among the rocky
-¦¦ hills of New Hampshire, there was born, in the
twilight of the last century, a man who in after years
helped to build a great State, and by honest industry
erected a monument to himself prouder than any
column of chiseled stone or cloud-piercing marble.
That man was Daniel Pratt, a name which every Ala-
bamian breathes with reverence.
After spending several years in Georgia, Daniel
Pratt came to Alabama in 1832, when the State was
scarcely a dozen years old, and stayed his busy feet
on what is now Albert Elmore's farm, near Elmore
Station, in the county of that name. Here he built
something of a blacksmith and ginshop, and here
Daniel Pratt made the first cotton gin ever con
structed in the State of Alabaina, and from that small
beginning in the backwoods of what was then
Autauga county, has sprung the most famous gin fac
tory in the world. Not fancying his location, the
pioneer manufacturer went to the falls of the Coosa
river, at Wetumpka, and sought to purchase that
great water power. As is usual in such cases, the
owners of the property ran up the price on Air. Pratt

14 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
and drove him away, thus losing the opportunity of
making that town great and famous. After looking
around for a suitable location, Mr. Pratt decided on
McNeill's mill-site, on Autauga creek, one mile from
the Alabama river and two miles and a half below
the present town of Prattville. This place is now
locally known as Montgomery's Mill, and here Mr.
Pratt established his gin factory and remained
through a five-year lease. When the lease was about
to expire he sought to renew it, but McNeill made
the same mistake that the people of Wetumpka had
made five years before. He thought his opportunity
for getting rich was at hand, and he charged Mr.
Pratt accordingly. This drove the manufacturer off,
and strolling up the wilderness through which the
pearly stream dashed and laughed its way to the river,
-that man of iron will and tireless energy came to a
dense thicket, which he saw could be utilized as the
seat of a great industry. The water power was fine,
and Mr. Pratt saw that it could be easily put to driv
ing the wheels of manufacture. Here he planted his
stakes and began to build a town in the heart of the
wilderness. That vvas in 1838, and in that year the '
Pratt Gin Factory foiuid its permanent location, and
then Daniel Pratt began to reap the fruits of his labor
and hi? genius. It was the turning point in a career
that was nothing short of the marvellous.
The wonderful story of the wonderful life of Daniel
Pratt cannot be told in the short space of a newspaper
letter. It is a part of Alabama's history, and a part
upon which every Alabamian loves to dwell. And

A BIOGRAPHY. 15
the student of that worthy history which, soon or late,
must be written, will linger long and lovingly over
the long chapter devoted to the most illustrious light
of a great State's material glory. From the Yankee u^
lad, with his pack upon his back and his one shilling
in the pocket of his coarse trousers, leaving his home
where the blue mountains kiss the bluer skies, to wan
der through the brush and bramble of a new land;
and rising, step by step, up the toilsome steep that
self-made men do climb with bleeding feet, achieving ^^
fame and fortune — ¦ founding the greatest industry
of a great State and living out a grand and noble
life set to grand and noble purposes, and at last com
ing to the end of a career that must for a very long
time serve as a glorious incentive to youth, and dying
with a million people as his mourners — there is a
pen-pathway in which no man will dare to walk
hastily and hope to leave footsteps that will last
through a moment of history.
Prattville, the great manufacturing centre founded
by Daniel Pratt forty-six years ago, is a remarkable
town in many respects. It is nine miles from the
nearest railroad station, and fourteen miles frojiii/'
Montgomery, through which nearly all of its business
is carried on. The thousands of cotton gins, millions
of yards of cotton cloths and immense quantities of
sash, doors and blinds are hauled by mule teams to
Montgomery, and from that point shipped all over the
country. And, in spite of the apparent drawback of
being away from the railroads, Prattville has grown
and flourished, and still grows and flourishes. There

i6 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
is not another town of ten or twelve hundred people
in America which can make as good an industrial
showing as Prattville, Ala.
The pride of Daniel Pratt's heart was his world-
famous gin factory. There is not a cotton planter in
the South who is not acquainted with the superior
merits of the Pratt gin, it being acknowledged as the
best cotton gin manufactured. Over twenty-seven
thousand of these gins have been manufactured and
sold. In one year the factory turned out fifteen hun
dred gins, or about five gins for each working day.
The average output of the factory has been about
five hundred gins a year for forty-six years, a record
altogether unexampled in the history of gin manu-
factoring. Added to this are the thousands of gin-
feeders and condensers manufactured of late years,
and which have become as popular as the gin. itself.
One hundred men are employed in the gin factory,
and the pay-roll is upwards of a thousand dollars a
week — $55,000 a year. The steel from which the
saws are made is imported from England in sheets
about four feet long and ten inches wide. The iron
"for the ribs is from the Shelby Iron Works, this State,
and all other iron comes from the Mary Pratt Fur-
'^ iiace, at Birmingham. Alabama woods are most used ;
so that it will be seen that nearly all the material used
in manufacturing the Pratt gin is obtained in Ala
bama. The State of Texas and what is known as
the Memphis cotton district buy more of the gins
than any other sections of the cotton belt.
The ruling spirit of the Daniel Pratt Gin Company

A BIOGRAPHY. 17
is Air. Alerrill E. Pratt, nephew of the founder of
Prattville. Mr. Pratt was born in the same New
Hampshire village in which Daniel Pratt first saw.
light, his natal day being February 23, 1828. He is,
therefore, fifty-six years old, and is himself one of
the most noted of living Alabamians. Mr. Pratt came
to Alabama in 1841. His stalwart figure and his
great benevolent face are familiar to tens of thousands
of people in this and other States, and everywhere
he receives the proud title of Honest Man. Merrill
Pratt is a true man in all the walks and affairs of
life, and is an eminently worthy successor to the
grand old man who reared him and whose name he
bears. The people of Alabama have manifested their
regard for him in more ways than one, and they will
never cease to appreciate so true and so progressive a
citizen. Air. W. T. Northington, Mr. Pratt's brother-
in-law and right-hand man, is a gentleman of con
spicuous merits and the finest business, qualifications,
and to him is due no small degree of the success that
marks the present administration of Daniel Pratt's
great industry. Among the numerous competent and
worthy gentlemen who aid in the manufacture of gins
may be mentioned Mr. E. H. Fletcher, general fore
man; Mr. M. D. Fisher, foreman of the foundry;
Capt. W. L. Ellis, superintendent of the frame and
brush department ; Mr. F. E. Smith, one of the oldest
and most accomplished mechanics South, who has
charge of what is termed the "breasting job"; Mr.
J. C. Burns, general inspector, and Mr. W. G. Beck-
with, master mechanic. Referring to the men in the

i8 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
gin factory, Mr. Mac A. Smith said : "They are the
most intelligent set of mechanics I ever knew or heard
of. You ought to see their mail matter. It is im
mense. They read and think, and they are gentlemen
who are very capable of deciding all questions for
themselves. And, above all, they are prosperous and
happy." Another great industry founded by Daniel Pratt is
the cotton factory of the Prattville Manufacturing
Company, No. i. This factory was established in
1846, and it has made a dozen fortunes. Its products
are osnaburgs, sheeting, shirting and rope, and it em
ploys one hundred and seventy-five hands, paying
them monthly $2,500, $30,000 a year. About twenty-
five hundred bales of cotton are annually consumed,
fifteen hundred of which are brought in by farmers
from the surrounding country. The establishment is
now controlled and chiefly owned by ex-Mayor Henry
E. Faber, of Montgomery, and his brother, Mr. Jacob
Faber, of Prattville. Mr. R. W. Willey is the super
intendent. Owing to the general depression in the
cotton goods trade, the mill now runs only four days
in the week. The goods manufactured by this mill
are famous for their excellence, and are shipped to
every Southern State. The principal warehouse for
the sale of the goods is in Montgomery, and is in
charge of Henry E. Fa:ber.
The great sash and blind factory now owned and
controlled by G. L. & D. P. Smith was established
in 1850, being the third enterprise to spring up under
the magic touch of Daniel Pratt. This is the largest

A BIOGRAPHY. 19
and most widely patronized sash, door and blind fac
tory in the State, employing twenty-five men, whose
pay amounts to about $1,000 a month. The factory
sells house-finishings and moulding by the hundred
thousand feet. It is owned by Mr. George L. Smith,
of Prattville, and Mr. D. P. Smith, of Philadelphia,
who, by the way, is night editor of the Inquirer, a
leading newspaper of the Quaker City. Mr. D. E.
Holt is the accomplished superintendent. Thus, it
will be seen that there are three hundred hands em
ployed in the factories of Prattville, whose annual
pay reaches nearly $85,000. Hundreds of thousands
of dollars in goods are turned out every year; and
for a town of twelve hundred people this is a re
markable showing.
Prattville is one of the most beautiful and charm
ing towns in the country. Its people are noted for
their intelligence and hospitality, and surely no love
lier village ever nestled beside any crystal stream that
ever stole away to any sea.

A BIOGRAPHY. 21
ber 5, 1842, March 27, 1844, and August 22, 1847.
Of these, Mary and Maria died in infancy. Ellen
was married February 4, 1863, to Henry DeBar-
deleben, and at the time of her death, February 12,
1893, was survived by eight children.
The firm of Griswold & Pratt decided to start a
branch of their business in Alabama. After con
sidering the dangers by the way, travelling through
the country in wagons, liable to an attack by the red
man, Mr. Griswold abandoned the enterprise. The
indomitable will of Mr. Pratt, that spirit of enter
prise which characterized him through life, was not
to be daunted nor discouraged. He purchased mate
rial for fifty gins, put same on wagons, and, in 1833,
he, with his brave wife and two African negroes,
started for Alabama.
After a long, tedious journey, he arrived at El
more's Mill, about sixty miles from Wetumpka. Here
Mr. Pratt put together the material he brought with
him, painted the gins and placed them on the market.
He found no difficulty in selling the same. After
remaining at the place mentioned above about a year,
he leased from Col. John McNeil the water privilege
where Montgomery's Mill now stands (three miles
below the present site of Prattville). This lease was
for five years. Here Mr. Pratt bent every energy
to carry out his plans. He erected a gin shop. He
lived in a log cabin, with a dirt chimney bending over
and propped' by poles. Then he built a two-story
frame gin shop. His family lived in the upper story
and boarded his operatives. The gin saws at this

22 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
time were cut, and the holes punched by hand, yet,
by hard work, he was enabled to make at this place
about two hundred gins a year.
In 1838, one year before his lease expired, be
bought the lands where Prattville is now situated,
and began to lay the foundations for a town which
would bear his name — a town now noted far and
wide for manufactories — a town that shall serve as
a more enduring monument than any marble slab or
chiseled stone.
I have often exclaimed, "What an undertaking!
to build a town in a dismal swamp." For such was
the nature of these lands. The only feature to recom
mend the location was Autauga creek, with its water
power. This land Mr. Pratt bought from Joseph May, the
neighbors all believing he had made a bad invest
ment. At this time there was a small grist-mill, a saw
mill and a small dwelling-house. Mr. Pratt used the
saw-mill to get out lumber, to build a new mill which
lie located on the site where the grist-mill stands;
also, put up a building for a shingle machine.
Mr. Pratt moved to this place in 1838.

Cotton-Gin Trial.

We see in the last number of the London Cotton
Plant an account of the trial of cotton gins in the
city of Manchester, at which one of the gins of the

A BIOGRAPHY. 23
manufacture of our esteemed and enterprising citizen,
Daniel Pratt, was exhibited. The Cotton Plant
says :
"The machine which first attracted attention was
an American sixty-saw gin, on Whitney's plan, but
combining the most modern improvements, and
manufactured by Daniel Pratt, Prattville, Ala. It
was sent to this country, and to the Association, by
Consul Dyer, at the express request of Lord Claren
don when Foreign Secretary. This gin was much
admired."

J

Alabama may be proud of such an energetic, public-
spirited citizen as Daniel Pratt.
Wherever the cotton gin is used, Prattville and its
founder are as familiar as household words. Every
one, however, who has heard of Prattville and its
products does not know the real designs of its founder
in building up a manufacturing village. It is very
natural to suppose that the love of money was at the
bottom, as is the case in most enterprises of the kind.
It appears, however, from a conversation which the
author had with Air. Pratt in 1845, that his object
was to build up a village for the purpose of dignify-
y/ ing labor in the South, and to give the laboring class
an opportunity of not only making an independent
living, but to train up workmen who could give dig
nity to labor, and thereby add to the respectability and
wealth of his adopted State. The conversation, as
nearly as the writer recollects at this distant date, was
as follows:

24 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
Mr. Pratt said that during the six years, com
mencing at Elmore's Mills in 1833, and five years at
McNeil's Mills, he had prospered in business beyond
his most sanguine expectations ; indeed, he had made
enough to settle himself comfortably for life, and he
proposed to Mrs. Pratt that, if she preferred, they
would return North and settle themselveg among
their relations, for they both had parents, brothers
and sisters there ; otherwise, he would direct his .
future life to the purpose of building up a manufac
turing village. Mrs. Pratt very wisely decided to
remain in the South and share with him his fortunes.
In this enterprise it seems that woman played an im
portant part, as she really does in most matters, either
for weal or woe. Some men are so manish that they
think it a weak point to consult their wives, when
perhaps their greatest weakness Ues in their not con
sulting them. The question of their remaining South
being settled, the next thing was a location. The
present locality was determined on and purchased cf
Joseph May — one thousand acres at twenty thousand
dollars — a portion payable in cotton gins at factory
prices. This location was selected, not so much for
its beauty as for the pine timber, which was necessary
for his gin business and building purposes. Perhaps
a more unsightly place could not have been selected
anywhere on the creek, as it was. literally a quagmire,
with a few dry spots in places, which required a large
outlay of money to ditch and drain, which he did at
his own expense as he could find time and means to
do so. Even where his dwelling and garden are lo-

A BIOGRAPHY. 25
cated required a -great deal of digging down and
filling up before he fixed it to his notion ; but he never
stopped at expense when his taste required a change
to suit it.
Just here I will relate a little incident, which,
though a little laughable, was characteristic of the
man. When he was fitting up his warehouse at
Washington Ferry, there was considerable digging
down and filling up in order to give a level yard.
Whilst his negro men were employed at this, a gen
tleman riding by asked one of his negro men what
he was doing. The boy replied that he did not know.
He said that "his jnassa, Daniel Pratt, seemed dis
satisfied with the way God had made the earth, and
that he was always digging down the hills and filling
up the hollows ; that was all he knowed about it."
In the selection of a site for his dwelling he dis
played quite a taste for the picturesque. For a back
ground view, he chose a lofty hill, which he terraced
and planted as a vineyard; for front and side view,
a beautiful sheet of water. Up>on the whole, he ex
hibited a taste for poetry as well as prose.
In 1839 Prattville was commenced, and Mr. Pratt's
usual success followed him in a more extended way,
as he had increased his facilities for turning out a
greater number of gins. In order to meet the de
mands for his gins in the West, he found it to his
interest to keep a constant supply on hand in New
Orleans, where he built a large and commodious
brick building, and commenced a commission business
with H. Kendal Carter, whom he knew in Macon,

26 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
Ga. In this business he also prospered, besides its
offering facilities for the sale of his gins. In 1846,
the year the writer moved to Prattville, Mr. Pratt
had started up a small cotton mill of five hundred
spindles, for the purpose of making thread only.
Many of his friends insisted on his extending his
mill and taking stock ; consequently, the stock was
subscribed to the amount of $110,000. An additional
building was put up for looms, one hundred in num
ber. The whole machinery was purchased at once
and paid for, but a large portion lay idle for three or
four years for want of capacity in the superintendent
to manage the establishment. Another man was put
in his place, but being too slow, he was displaced, and
Gardner Hale put in charge. From that on things
began to tell; old debts were paid off. There were
many difficulties in the way in the first starting up
of cotton mills in the South. Hands had to be trained.
These were brought up from the piney woods, many
of them with no sort of training to any kind of labor ;
in fact, they had to learn everything, and in learning
many mistakes and blunders were made fatal to suc
cess. The darkest hours that cotton manufacture has seen
in Prattville has been since the war ; but recently, I
am glad to learn, the mill is making heavily, and mat
ters are moving on prosperously. Since the war the
entire mill has been filled with new machinery of the
latest and most improved patterns. A good deal of
expense has been gone to in wheels and fixtures, and,
besides all this heavy expense, two large law suits

A BIOGRAPHY. 27
have been decided against the company, the cause
of which arose during the war.
Mr. Pratt's great success in his, business attracted
the attention of many gentlemen of wealth and dis
cernment, who visited the place, not only from this
State, but from the adjoining States. Among the
distinguished gentlemen. Dr. B. Manley, then Presi
dent of our State University, paid Mr. Pratt a visit
in 1846, to whom Mr. Pratt revealed his purposes in
establishing a manufacturing village, the same as
heretofore mentioned. In January, 1847, ^ corre
spondence took place between these two gentlemen.
These letters not only reflect credit on the authors,
but to the trustees of our State University. As far
back as 1847, ^ commendable spirit was shown by
/ them towards elevating labor to its true dignity, by
conferring honor on one to whom honor was justly-
due — who was laboring to promote the true interests
of his adopted State, by diversifying labor, by mak
ing it, not only honorable but profitable for our sons
and daughters to engage in, but to enrich his State
and make it respectable amongst States. Of these
letters, the following relates to the honorary degree
conferred by the University of Alabama:
"University of Alabama, Jan. 4, 1847.
"To Daniel Pratt, Esq.
"Dear Sir: The trustees of the University of
Alabama, appointed by the Legislature of the State,
in the exercise of the discretionary powers entrusted
to them, have authorized and instructed me, as their

28 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
official organ, to confer upon you the honorary degree
of Master in the Mechanic and Useful Arts; and
at the late public anniversary of this institution, held
on the 2 1st of December, 1846, the said degree was
conferred. "This is a token of the respect and honor felt by
the trustees, in common with reflecting men in every
station, for that high degree of intelligence, benevo
lence, uprightness and success which you have exer
cised and displayed in the relations of life allowed
to you by divine Providence. Without having de
voted your life to literary pursuits, you have attained,
in an eminent degree, that which is the end of all
letters and all study — the art of making men around
you wiser, better and happier. You have shown, in
a substantial manner, that you value and know how
to promote the industrial and economical virtues
among men, rendering your own intelligence and
honestly acquired wealth a blessing to all that come
within the sphere of your influence. You have shown
yourself the friend and supporter of schools for the
son of the laboring man, as well as of the rich, that
all the rising generation may be fitted for that con
dition of republican freedom which it is the peculiar
privilege of American citizens to enjoy; above all,
you have shown that you discern what is the great
source of all virtue and happiness, of all knowledge
and success, by your efficient maintenance of the insti-
. tutions of the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ
among your people.
"May your life and health be long preserved ; may

A BIOGRAPHY. 29
you enjoy the special influences of God's Holy Spirit,
and, while filling the hand of honest industry with
the wages of labor, and erecting over the shelterless
a neat and comfortable home, may you too receive a
return for your labors such as this world cannot give,
and find for yourself a mansion in that 'building of
God, that house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.' "In attestation of the honor which has been con
ferred upon you, I have caused a diploma to be made
out, duly signed and sealed, of which I beg your
acceptance, and which will be sent to your address
or delivered to your order, as you may be pleased to
designate. "With great respect, I am, sir,
"Your obedient servant,
"B. Manley,
"President University of Alabama."
On receipt of this letter, Mr. Pratt was taken en
tirely by surprise, for he had never conceived the idea
of such an honor ; his own letter, in reply, will more
fully express his feelings, and we therefore introduce
a copy of it:
"Prattville, Autauga Co., Ala.,
"January 21, 1847.
^'Dr. Manley.
"Revered and Dear Sir: Your highly esteemed
favor of the 4th instant, notifying me of the honor
conferred on me by the trustees of the University,

30 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
through you, was duly received. I must confess that
I am at a loss to know how to answer it. It was
received with a degree of surprise and astonishment.
I feel unworthy of the honor, and unworthy to re
ceive such a letter as you have been pleased to write
to me. You speak in the very highest terms of the
course I have pursued in my business transactions,
and credit me with many good acts, for which I feel
I deserve no credit. If I have done anything to
benefit others, or to benefit society, it is through the
bountiful goodness of the author of all blessings.
Had not the means and disposition been derived from
a purer source than poor erring and degenerate marj,
I should never have deserved any applause for any
good deed. My desire is that this high degree of
honor which you have been pleased to confer on me
may be the means of awakening me to a higher sense
of duty, that I may be more 'diligent in business, fer
vent in spirit, serving the Lord.' I will accept the
diploma, but do assure you that your very highly
esteemed letter will be kept quite as sacred as the
diploma. Allow me to subscribe myself,
"Your obedient servant,
"Daniel Pratt."
The only true test of character is the works and
utterances of men who have finished the work as
signed them on earth. If these works and utterances
art in keeping with the truths of God's revealed will
to man, then we are at liberty to pronounce favorably
upon them. Judging from the language used, and

A BIOGRAPHY. 31
the true Christian spirit which breathed in the above
letters, it is very evident that both men were deeply
impressed with a due sense of the practical bearings
of the truths of the Christian religion on the hearts
of men; kindred spirits met and were in sympathy
with each other ; though engaged in widely differing
pursuits in life, yet their end and aim was the same —
to make men "wiser, happier and better," which is the
end of all letters and study — truly a noble and de
vout thought, which could only proceed from God.
It will be recollected by the reader that Dr. Manley
was a Christian minister, of high literary character,
¦learned in the deep things of the Bible as well as
human science ; his great work was to call men to
repentance and to apply the soothing words of the
gosj>el of peace to heal the broken spirits of the
children of men. In yielding to the call of the trus
tees of the University of Alabama to preside over its
interests, be did not lay aside his ministerial calling,
but placed himself in a position where he could wield
an influence over the minds and hearts of young
men which would bear the fruits of righteousness in
after generations.
The letter addressed to Mr. Pratt was in his official
capacity, notifying him of the honor conferred on
him by the trustees. The occasion did not necessarily
call for a reference to the great and important truths
of the Christian religion. The reference to these in a
purely business point of view was rather out of the
usual routine of things, yet as a true minister he
choose to sow his seed out of season as well as in

32 Hon. DANIEL' PRATT.
season, that the seed sown might spring up and bare
fruit is shown by Mr. Pratt's letter, saying in bis
letter of acceptance that he should cherish his truly
Christian letter quite as sacredly as he did the honor
conferred. Of the truth of Mr. Pratt's sincerity in
this acknowledgment, the writer had the fullest proof.
He happened to be in Mr. Pratt's office a short time
after he received the notice from Dr. Manley, and as
he handed me the letter the tear-drop stood in his eye.
That he ever afterwards conformed strictly to the
suggestion of the letter, of making men wiser, happier
and better, thirty years' intimate acquaintance fully
justified. I now reluctantly take leave of a character
so lovely, regretting my misfortune of having known
so little of him personally.
Mr. Pratt's letter exhibits great simpHcity and sin
cerity of heart, both traits for which he was distin
guished in all his intercourse with men. He bore
the honor meekly, so much so that his friends spared
his modesty by not affixing it to his name.
I now resume the history of Prattville. In 1845,
Mr. Pratt fitted up an upper room over B. F. Miles'
store for the purpose of a church and Sabbath-school.
The Rev. Jesse P. Perham, of the Methodist Epis
copal Church, South, was the stationed preacher ; he
also was machinist, and worked at bis trade. He was
a true orator b/ nature. Though laboring under an
impediment of speech when he first opened his dis
course, but, after getting under way, it seemed to
be an advantage to him in the prosecution of his sub-

A BIOGRAPHY. 33
ject — like one equipped for running a race after
removing his weight from his feet. As a revivalist
he had no superior. Very soon a large church was
formed of young people, mostly engaged in the manu
facturing departments. Quite a flourishing Sunday-
school was under way, well attended and well be
haved. At that time the Baptist Church existed, even
before the room was fitted up for Methodist preach
ing. The Presbyterian Church had no existence then,
but, I think in 1850, one was built on the same side
of the creek (west side) that the other churches were.
Notwithstanding all these helps, Satan stood his
ground, and never lacked of either men or means to
carry on his work. The leading men and women of
the place belonged to some or other of the churches,
and the influence was decidedly religious and orderly.
In the meantime the gin shop on the west side of the
creek was built, and the old location occupied by the
present brick building, constituting the cotton mill.
This is without doubt one of the most substantial
buildings of the kind in the South. This building
was put up by David McCord, under the superin-
tendance of Gardner Hale, which is a lasting monu
ment to their skill and taste in building. The cost
of the house, with wheels and shafting, exceeded
$45,000, and was paid for out of the earnings of the
cotton mill, without a call on the stockholders. The
woollen mill had been previously fitted up at the ex
pense of the cotton mill, costing over $11,000. This
mill came in very opportunely to assist the cotton
mill at a time when it needed assistance. The profits
3

34 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
on this mill for a number of years was enormous for
the amount of capital invested, and during the war
the profits were fabulous, but it all went up with the-
Lost Cause, besides upwards of $150,000 of outstand
ing claims when the war commenced. The loss of
the gin shop exceeded half a million dollars in out
standing claims. I take no risk in saying that the-
four years' war, and the dull times since, have injured
the manufacturing interest of Prattville over two mil
lion dollars. Notwithstanding all this, both com
panies have maintained characters for punctuality
scarcely ever before done under similar circum
stances. The sash, door and bhnd factory, under the
superintendence of G. L. Smith, has had hard work
to keep up, as this business has, in common with all
others, suffered from the effects of the war and the
dullness of the times following ; yet with the untiring
and indefatigable labors of its proprietor, Mr. G. L.
Smith, I learn that its business is at this time pros
perous. Before I close the history of Prattville, it is my
purpose to mention one building which, of all others
on the west side of the creek, attracts attention on
account of its size, the completeness of its finish, and
its adaptability for the purposes for which it was
originally designed. I mean the Methodist Church
building. The cost of this magnificent structure ex
ceeded twenty thousand dollars, which Mr. Pratt
deeded to the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South. The apartments on the lower floor were fitted
up for stores and offices, the rentals of which were

A BIOGRAPHY. 35
to be appropriated to expenses of the pastorate and
keeping up the necessary repairs of the building;
this the writer knows to have been one of the fondly
•cherished plans of Mr. Pratt, one which he conceived
before work was begun. His plan succeeded to his
liking before the war of the States. During the war
there was a failure, as the house doing business made
a failure. After the war, however, Mr. Pratt started
another store, which succeeded during his lifetime ;
tut from causes which I need not here relate, busi
ness was given up, and at present there are scarcely
any occupants of the building. It is to be hoped, how
ever, that the accomplishment of this long-cherished
scheme of Mr. Pratt may succeed, as it is altogether
practicable, and justly due to one who deeply felt
for the church of his choice to the last. Mr. Pratt
was not visionary in any of his plans ; he had more
than twenty years to reflect upon this one act of his
life, which he intended for the glory of God and the
good of the church. Had he lived, his original pur
pose would, no doubt, have been carried out to the
letter. It is true, so far as the support of the church
is concerned, his friends have nobly come up to the
work of bearing the expenses of the church ; yet this
may not always be the case. The tenure of life is
uncertain, and while there is a present opportunity
of carrying out Mr. Pratt's original designs of mak
ing the building support the church, it should be
-done; it is due to his memory. In connection with
this subject, the writer would call the attention of
±he present officials of the church to a set of resolu-

36 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
tions conspicuously placed in the Sabbath-school
room. It will be borne in mind that these resolutions
were the spontaneous outpouring of the feelings of
the church when the deed to this building was pre
sented to the church through her officials. The name-
of the writer of this, I think, stands the first to these-
resolutions. He was then a member of the Quarterly
Conference, but now, from age and its infirmities, is.
no longer capacitated to take an active part in the
church, yet he feels a very deep interest in all that
pertains to its interest. The citizens of Prattville, and
more especially the Methodist Church, are greatly-
indebted to Mr. Pratt for his great efforts to promote-
their moral and spiritual welfare, and the writer sin
cerely hopes before he dies to witness the effort tO'
carry out the original designs of that building, which
will stand as a more lasting monument to his memory
as a good man than that of marble which stands in.
full view of the building.
The Sabbath-school has acted wisely in placing-
portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Pratt in full view on the-
walls, where may be seen the first originating of the-
school, and its active abettors and. workers, to the close
of their long and useful lives. How impressive were
the almost dying utterances of the man of whom I
write, when he said to a friend who attended him in.
his last sickness, in a voice scarcely audible, "Work
for the church ; work for the church." He meant
this not only for his friend then present, but for all
the members of the church.
Having given the brief outlines of the history o£

A BIOGRAPHY. 37
Prattville, it is my purpose to mention some of the
leading traits in the character of its founder. In
doing this I am well aware of my incompetency to
do full justice to it, notwithstanding thirty years of
intimate acquaintance with him, both in his business
and social relations in life. That he exhibited a rare
combination of qualities of head and heart, which
made him the man he was, no one who knew him will
doubt. But before relating further some of the leading-
traits in the character of Mr. Pratt, we will refer to
a few incidents in the history of Prattville, written by
Judge Wilkinson, editor of the Southern Signal.
When Mr. Pratt moved from Alontgomery's Mills,.
in 1837, be moved his gin shop from that place the
latter part of the same year, and joined it to the build
ing where he had his shingle machine. This entire-
building was then used for a gin shop. During the
latter part of 1839 and the first part of 1840, he
erected six or eight operaitive houses and a black
smith's shop. The shop was located on the bank of
the creek below the bridge, about where the store
house now occupied by Ward & Brother stands. In
1840, Col. L. Spigner, now the oldest living inhabitant
of Prattville, who had been carrying on a wood and
blacksmith shop at McNeill's Alill, moved up to this
place and built for a wood shop the house in which
Mr. J. A. Nummey now does business, and the old
red building next to Col. W. H. Northington's law
office, for a blacksmith's shop. In this same year Mr.
Pratt commenced building a large flour and grist-mill.

38 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
on the site where the sash and blind factory now
- stands. This was an undertaking, on account of its
size and the outlay of money required, at which the
people of the whole country was surprised. They
-again predicted that he would soon break, as such
an enterprise at that time was so extraordinary. In
this mill he put five sets of rocks and their bolting
-chests ; in fact, he had the finest and most improved
machinery that could be had at that time. Bolted-
meal was then something with which the people were
not accustomed. This mill was finished in the early
part of 1841, and proved to be a success, like all his
other undertakings. Wheat was brought here from a
distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and so
crowded was it that eight or ten large wagons could
be seen at a time, standing waiting for their turn,
though it ran day and night during the wheat season.
For several years before other mills were erected,
this piece of property was as valuable as any Mr.
Pratt ever owned. He cut out roads running in every
direction, and put them in good condition, digging
"up all the stumps and bridging the impassable places,
•all with his own means.
In the early part of 1841 the Baptist Church was
¦commenced, but was not finished until several years
later. This church was built by subscription, Mr.
Pratt donating the land and subscribing liberally him
self. This was the first church building erected in
the place. In the latter part of the same year he
commenced improving the lot on which he built his
residence, in which Mr. H. F. DeBardelaben now

A BIOGRAPHY.

39

lives. He completed this building in 1842, and moved
into it in the early part of 1843. In this year the
foundation of the old Alethodist Church was laid
near where the fountain now is, but was not com
pleted until some time in 1844. The upper story of
this building was used as a church and the lower one
for a store. The store was occupied by Mr. B. F.
Miles with a full stock of goods. This was the first
store in this place, and Air. Haywood Allies (a
brother of B. F. Miles); now living in Prattville, was
the first clerk. This building was afterwards moved
down the creek a few hundred yards, and is now used
by the negroes as a dhurch. In 1845 the covered
bridge over the creek, near the cotton factory, was
built by Mr. Pratt, at his own expense ; also, the
school-house, which was situated on the side of the
hill south of the foundry. This was a nice frame
building, supplied with excellent seats and well fin
ished. During this year the old frame cotton factory
was erected. This was a two-story building, and
stood just below the present picker-room. In 1846
the machinery for this factory was put in, and it
soon started, giving employment to other hands, and
thereby increasing the population of Prattville, and
giving it more notoriety as a manufacturing place.
I now proceed to sketchy the life and character of
the founder of Prattville, the principal object in view
being to hold him up as a model for young men just
setting out in life, having no other advantages than
their own self-reliance and the business they have
selected as a foundation for their success. These

40 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
advantages are within reach of every young man
possessed of ordinary endowments of body and mind,
without which success in any pursuit is altogether
doubtful. There are two prerequisites necessary to
success : first, a definite pursuit ; and, second, an
adequate knowledge of the pursuit. In order to make
business pleasureable rather than irksome, there
should be a congeniality between the present and the
peculiar taste of the individual. Men are differently
constituted in their tastes, and it is riglit they should
be. If not so, every man would follow the same pur
suit, much to the annoyance and inconvenience of the
human family. As this state of things is the order
of a wise Providence, it follows, as a matter of course,
that every man should follow the pursuit most con
genial to his peculiar turn of mind. It is apparent
that Mr. Pratt so selected his pursuit in life.
It is due to the memory of his parents that the
reader should be made acquainted with the parental
training of their son Daniel, and for this purpose I
here introduce a sketch of his life prepared by his
youngest sister, Mrs. Eliza Holt, the only surviving
member of that branch of the Pratt family, and who
now resides in Prattville. This sketch is remarkable
for its simplicity — a characteristic of all the mem
bers of the family with whom I have become ac
quainted :
Daniel Pratt, son of Edward and Asenath Pratt,
was born in Temple N. H., July 20, 1799. He was
the fourth in a family of six children, of whom only
one, the youngest, survives him. His parents were

A BIOGRAPHY. 41
poor but comfortable livers, obliged to use the strict
est economy, as their only means of support was the
produce of a small farm in a newly settled town.
They were members of the Congregational church,
and not only strict in their duty as church members,
but as parents, in their disciphne with their children.
The Sabbath was considered by them not only a day
of rest, but a day to be devoted to the service of God.
They required their children to attend church and
prayer-meetings and to avoid all vain and trifling
conversation on that day. As Sabbath-schools were
then unknown, there were two services during the
day, and Sabbath-school duties were performed at
home, by catechising the children, or requiring them
to read the Bible or some religious book. A novel
was not permitted in the house.
The educational advantages of Daniel, with the rest
of the children, were limited, compared to what many
children now enjoy, being confined to a district school
of eight or ten weeks in winter and the same length
of time in summer. As soon as the subject of this
memoir was old enough to assist in farming, he was
deprived of the summer term, owing to the ill-health
of his father. At the age of sixteen, as he desired to
learn a trade, and his father had discovered in him
a mechanical genius, he applied to a gentleman by
the name of Putnam, who was a fine carpenter and a
worthy man, to take Daniel and teach him his trade,
but would not consent that he should be bound to
stay until he was twenty-one, as was then required
of those apprenticed, for he knew his firmness, and

42 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
that he would remain if kindly treated. He also re
served the ten weeks for winter attendance at school,
which time was to be spent at home. To all of this
the gentleman to whom he was apprenticed readily
agreed. At the age of eighteen his mother, to whom he
was devotedly attached, died. During her illness,
which was of several months' duration, as he was
permitted to be with her much of the time, he acted
the part of a tender and careful nurse.
He continued to serve for his trade, and the attach
ment between him and his employer mutually in
creased, until he arrived at the age of twenty, when
Mr. Putnam became involved by going security for
another, and was forced to mortgage his home. Mr.
Pratt felt deeply for him in his trouble, and told him
if he would release him from the remaining year of
his apprenticeship he would come to the South, and
if successful in making money, would go back and
assist him in redeeming the mortgage on his place,
of which he had possession for only one year. He
then went to his grandfather, who approved of his
purpose, and offered to furnish the money to pay his
passage out.
He started, a young man of twenty, alone, going
to a land of strangers. This caused his surviving
parent, brother and sisters, much anxieity and many
tears ; but the Lord preserved and prospered him.
When he landed at Savannah, after a long passage,
he found he had scarcely money enough to pay his
fare, and told the captain of his situation: without

A BIOGRAPHY. 43
money, a stranger in a strange land, and uncertain
whether he could obtain employment. The captain
gave him back twenty-five dollars, which Mr. Pratt
told him he should replace if he ever met him again.
He soon succeeded in finding work, and was success
ful in accomplishing the purpose he so much desired,
of being able to relieve his endeared friend, Mr. Put
nam. At the end of the year he started for home,
and, strange to say, almost the first person he met,
upKDn landing at Boston, was the captain of the ship
on which he came out, who did not recognize him ;
but Mr. Pratt asked him if he recollected the poor
boy whom he took to Savannah on his ship one year
before, who was not able to pay his passage. He
told him he was then able, and would repay the money
so kindly loaned. He then went to his friend, Mr.
Putnam, and by redeeming the mortgage on his place,
secured to him the pleasant home where he died, at
the advanced age of ninety-three. He always ex
pressed the deepest gratitude for this timely aid.
Thus, with the first hard earnings, was cultivated
that spirit of honesty in paying the one to whom he
was obligated, and also of benevolence in assisting
those who were needy, which was always practiced
by him to the end of his useful life. After spending
a few months at home, he thought it best to return
South, as he could succeed better in business here.
It was very hard parting with his numerous friends,
particularly his invalid father, whom he never saw
again. He was followed by a father's prayers, which
were answered by the preservation of his life; and

44 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
although at this time he did not profess to be a Chris
tian, it was not many years before his anxious friends
were made happy by the reception of a letter, saying
he had been brought to see the sinfulness of his
heart, and to trust alone in the atoning blood of the
Saviour, and had connected himself with the Metho
dist Church.
By carefully noting the early training of Mr. Pratt,
it is clear that it was favorable for bringing out the
character which he developed and maintained through
a long life. He was taught in early life under the
paternal roof to fear God and keep his command
ments. This he never lost sight of in all his contact
with the business world, verifying the wise saying
of Solomon, "Train up a child in the way he should
go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
The reader no doubt took note of the two instances
in which he made good his promise to Mr. Putnam,
his boss, and the captain of the vessel in which he
landed in Savannah, Ga.
At a very early age he evinced self-reliance to a
very large degree. His trade, an indomitable will in
a sound body, an honest heart and a chest of tools
were all bis stock to commence and carry him through
life; with these in a strange land, and amongst
strangers whose habits of life were entirely dissimilar
to his own, he chose to commence life. Wherever he
went, such was his conduct as to make friends
amongst the better class of the people. Honest,
faithful and punctual in all his dealings, the character
he made was permanent and continued through life.

A BIOGRAPHY. 45
Many men have succeeded in amassing fortunes ;
comparatively few, however, have succeeded in estab
lishing the reputation that he did for liberality. His
motto was, "Live and let live." So far from envying
the prosperity of others, he rejoiced to see every man
prospering in business. As a business man, he had
no superiors and but few equals; indeed, business
was the ruling passion with him during business
hours. However much his devotion to business, yet
whenever the church-bell rang he dropped his busi
ness, and was in his place in -due time, and seemed
as much engaged as though he was a man of leisure.
He seemed to regard his church duties as a part of
his business programme. In this particular he had a
wonderful control over his will. He remarked to
me on one occasion that whenever he left home on
business his home affairs never troubled him. In the
latter part of his life he was often from home, and
during his travels he was a very close observer of
passing events, and of men he met in his travels. On
such occasions' he was highly social and agreeable in
his manners. When at home he was right after his
business, and seemed devoid of any social qualities,
yet when the social hour came round he was pleasant
and agreeable to all about him. With those in his
employ he rarely ever conversed unless on business
connected with their immediate department during
business hours. When things did not go on to suit
him, he was impatient and fretful, and sometimes
abrupt ; and yet he seldom discharged a man for neg
lect, and rarely ever had disputes. Measuring others

46 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
by himself, there were but few men who come fully
up to his standard of a business man. After all, he
exercised great forbearance towards the shortcomings
of others.
His friends thought that he gave himself unneces
sary worry about his business, and often brought on
some suffering by exhausting his physical powers;
but no persuasion from his friends, or even his family
physician, could prevail with him to favor himself,
even at the near approach of his last illness. Work
was his element, and work he would, when he should
have been in bed under treatment. He once remarked
to me, that if he knew that to-morrow would be his
last day on earth, he would continue his regular
routine of work, as though such an event was afar
off. I thought at the time this was carrying the thing
to excess ; but it was such a spirit as this that assured
his success in his business. Had he had no other
object in view than his own personal emolument, his
motives would have been sinful, but his whole career
through life was proof positive that he was laboring
for the benefit of others as well as himself ; for whilst
he was liberally receiving with one hand the fruits of
his labors, he was at the same time liberally dis
pensing to others with his other hand. He was un
selfish in his nature ; there was no littleness about
him in any of his dealings; he thought it poor
economy to be engaged in picking up dimes w^hen
dollars were in reach.
The excellency and strength of Mr. Pratt's char
acter lay in its fullness and completeness, combining

A BIOGRAPHY. 47
all those qualities of heart and mind which constitute
true manhness in all the relations of life. "In busi
ness he was diligent, in spirit he was fervent, serving
the Lord," thus happily blending his business with
his religion, and his rehgion with his business, and
at the same time faithfully attending to his various
duties as husband, father, friend and neighbor, in all
of which he was true and faithful. His love for the
church and its interests was manifested in his very
liberal support of its pastorate, and in making every
thing convenient and tasteful in all its arrangements,
neglecting not even the minister ; for it is well known
that, as long as he was physically able, ne superin
tended the duties of sexton, doing much of it with
his own hands, and not infrequently, when the attend
ance on church was flagging, he would go round the
village visiting families, and urging the necessity and
importance of punctual attendance on Sunday-school
and church. He was particularly careful to look
after the young, knowing, as he said, they were the
hope of the church. He lost no opportunity of attend
ing not only to public preaching, but to all the social
meetings, never refusing to take an active part in
conducting them when necessary. In these things
he showed his completeness in Christian character,
although he spoke not "with-enticing words of man's
wisdom." Yet such was the earnestness with which
he spoke, and such the confidence of those who heard
him, he never failed to make a deep impression.
Although we dare not rely upon our works as
meriting salvation, yet they are most assuredly the

48 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
fruits of the grace of God through faith in Christ
Jesus. As regards Mr. Pratt's liberality in building
up his place and supplying it with church and educa
tional advantages, there can be no question, as his
works speak for themselves. In giving, he exercised
great discretion, choosing rather to devote all his
spare means to his own place. I have said all his
spare means, which was not exactly true. He con
tributed liberally to several institutions of learning
and to church buildings abroad, but not on what is
termed a magnificent scale, to be seen and talked of
by men. His giving was like a constant stream of
water, giving refreshment to all who came in contact
with it. A gentleman of Prattville told me he was
travelling in Arkansas, and at a house where he put
up to spend the night, an old man, an invalid, hear
ing him speak of Prattville, roused up, apparently
deeply interested, and asked if he knew Mr. Pratt.
The gentleman said he did. "Well," said the invalid,
"he gave me fifty dollars at the Hot Springs, where
I was entirely destitute, and not only that, to my
knowledge he gave to others equally liberal sums, to
the amount of several hundred dollars.
In his dealings with his laborers he was just and
liberal, but not too liberal for his own good. No man
knew better than he the value of labor, for he was a
laborer himself, and knew how much and how work
should be done. He studied his plans well, and
counted up the cost beforehand, and, therefore, was
seldom mistaken in his estimates. Whilst other men
were asleep, or at leisure, enjoying themselves so-

A BIOGRAPHY. 49
cially, he was engaged in arranging and perfecting
his plans for operating in the future; he seemed
never to tire with his work. His indomitable spirit
buoyed him up, not only through the day, but late at
night. From Mrs. Holt's account of his early life and
training, it appears that his educational advantages
were limited, having gone to school only about ten
months, through a period of years during the winter
season. This defect he felt all through his life, as
there were many things in connection with his ex
tended operations which he was compelled to employ
others to do for him, not that he lacked capacity to
learn these things, but for the want of time to devote
to their study. His knowledge of the common, plain
rules of arithmetic was very deficient, and as to Eng
lish grammar he knew nothing, except what he
learned from reading standard works. From his
limited course of reading he learned to construct sen
tences in appropriate language, so much so that he
could express himself with ease and profit to others.
He wrote considerably on leading topics of the day
for newspapers, which were greatly sought after and
read with great interest, on account of his superior
judgment in all matters of public interest.
The writer does not claim for Mr. Pratt extra
ordinary jKDwers of intellect, yet we may be justified
in saying that he possessed a well-balanced mind, and
was under the control of a will which could concen
trate all his faculty of mind on any one subject which
he mig'ht think proper to investigate.
4

so Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
In this peculiar gift to con'centrate lies the great
secret of success in any enterprise of life. A man
may possess what is termed a brilHant intellect, and
yet not succeed in life for want of power in the
will to bring his intellect to bear directly upon sub
jects which come up for his investigation. The world
we live in is practical, when "Greek meets Greek"
in direct conflict in our business relations ; hence, the
necessity of every man to examine both sides of all
questions arising in his business operations. An
astute lawyer never fails to examine both sides of
the question, in order to meet his antagonist on his
own side.
For many years before his death, Mr. Pratt had
a heavy charge on his mind, which demanded much
close study, which he did not fail to give, devoting
many hours in the night season as well as the day.
He was one of the best and most successful financiers
of the country, never failing to meet his engagements
punctually. Notwithstanding that he lost more than
half a million dollars by the war between the States,
and all his arrangements were interfered with, he met
all his indebtedness promptly. Order and system were
observable in all his business. On one occasion the
writer took account of the stock of his gin establish
ment, and such was the order and arrangement ob
served throughout that the work was comparatively
light to what .he expected. From what I have dis
covered in other members of his family, I have no
doubt that he learned this in his family training.
In writing of the history of Prattville, I had occa-

A BIOGRAPHY. 51
sion to speak of his taste ; but the practiced eye will
not fail to see this in everything about the place.
His family cemetery is located on a hill overlooking
the entire village south of his family residence.
Whether this was a matter of taste or from neces
sity, arising from want of room, the writer will not
undertake to say, but presumes that it was from the
latter reason. There was another difficulty in the
way of its being located on the level ; in wet times
the water rose to within a few feet of the surface.
Air. Pratt was an economist, but not on a stinting
scale. He used the best material he could command,
regardless of cost, in constructing his buildings. He
provided bountifully for his household, extending to
his servants while their owner, and to his stock com
fortable and commodious shelter. In all his domestic
arrangements he had an eye to comfort and conveni
ence, which no doubt proved to be economy in the
end. Having given this short sketch of Daniel Pratt
as a thorough and successful business man, the writer
feels that the true portrait of the man is incomplete
without further giving his character as a man of
deep and solid piety. We may infer from the short
account given by Mrs. Holt of his early family train
ing, that the seeds of a religious life were sown in
his heart at an early period; but, like most persons
who leave the family altar at an early, period of life,
to take their chances to grapple with the world for a
living, the great and important truths of personal
and heart-felt religion were neglected until he was

52 Hon. DANTEL PRATT.
about thirty-three years of age. He was then living
in Chnton, Ga., and, as well as I recollect, it was
under the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Hardy that he
was brought to see his want of a thorough change of
heart. He did not hesitate or delay in setting about
the work in earnest in working out his salvation with
fear and trembling in the Lord. In his religious life
he was like himself in his worldly pursuits, deter
mined and thorough, leaving nothing unturned
which might contribute to bis spiritual welfare.
The first time the writer ever saw him was at a
Quarterly Meeting west of old Washington, and near
his house, which was then at McNeil's Mills.
Though not a member of the Conference, he walked
in and invited the whole Conference to dine with
bim. Of course all did not do so, as all who were
within reach of home went to their homes. The
invitation was cordial, as every one felt. The next
time I met him was on a similar occasion, at Indian
Hill. He was invited to take a seat, though not a
member; it was at the last Quarterly Meeting of
the year, when the stewards were settling up with
their preachers; and, as is usual on such occasions,
they were in arrears; they, however, assessed eac'h
society or church with its proportion of the de
ficiency. They handed one to Mr. Pratt for his vil
lage, where then there was no society, and asked
him to please try and raise the amount. Without
hesitating a moment, he pulled out the money and
cancelled it on the spot. This, I found out from a
long acquaintance, was not spasmodic, but his way

A BIOGRAPHY. 53
of doing on all occasions when money was needed
for useful purposes. He seemed to think that really
money had no other value than to subserve a valuable
purpose. This is not only a religious view of the
subject, but a philosophic view.
Another incident I will relate : after some sev
enty or eighty persons had joined the church at a
revival of religion, the preacher advised the young
persons, who were totally ignorant of the usages of
the church, to procure, as far as possible. Disciplines
of the church and read them carefully. Mr. Pratt
told the preacher to order the books and he would
foot the bill, which he did.
These little incidents are mentioned to show that
he did not things by halves and quarters, but on the
whole-souled plan; and though seemingly trifling,
yet really they become the true index to the character
of the man. Large benefactions are generally her
alded abroad without stint. It is the smaller ones
occurring in every-day life that stamp the character
of a man as a cheerful giver. His bookkeeper, Mr.
T. B. Avery, once told me that he could never keep
a cash account satisfactory to himself, inasmuch as
Mr. Pratt used funds for purposes which he did not
think proper to communicate to his bookkeeper. All
who knew Mr. Avery's method of keeping books
knew that he was exceedingly particular in his en
tries, showing for what purpose the money was used.
I scarcely need say that Mr. Avery suspected that
the money was spent for cJharitable purposes.
It is not my purpose in this short sketch of Mr.

54 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
Pratt's religious life to represent him as a faultless
being. He had his faults as well as the rest of the
human family, and no one knew and felt those faults
more sensibly than he himself; for he saw them
through the medium of God's Word, which, if read
honestly and prayerfully, never fails to show the
least speck of the corruption within. That he read
God's book honestly, the many tears he shed while
relating his religious experience fully attest. Yes,
faults he had ; but -they were so few in comparison
to his many virtues that they were scarcely noted,
even by the infidel and scoffer. His parents were
Congregationalists ; of course, his early predilections
ran that way. In after life, however, being separated
from this influence, he received his convictions of
the sinfulness of his own heart under Methodist
preaching; he joined that church, and ever after
wards maintained a preference for it. He was, how
ever, no bigot. When there was no preaching in his
own church be was in the habit of attending other
churches; but he did not believe in that kind of
loose Catholicism which preferred any and every
church before its own.
Thus far I have said but little of the social quali
ties of Mr. Pratt. Indeed, his time was so taken up
with business during the week that he found little
time for society. How far a man may neglect such
with impunity I will not attempt to say. That there
is a medium ground necessary to be observed is self-
evident, for both mind and body need relaxation.
Now, how far a person can be justifiable in overwork

A biogr:i.pfiy. 55
it is difficult to say ; this embraces temperance in
all things, work as well as play. Many of the best
friends of Mr. Pratt thought he overtasked himself.
Be this as it may, he lived to pass the allotted period
of man's life, and it is altogether speculative to say
that he injured himself.
, That he accomplished much of good, no one will
gainsay. Indeed, the half has not been told of the
good he did bring to bear for the amelioration of
fallen humanity. Oh festive occasions, Mr. Pratt
enjoyed himself greatly, yet he never permitted him
self .to be led into any excess, always maintaining the
dignity and propriety of his. position in society. On
occasions when he gave entertainments at his own
house he was always attentive to the comfort and
enjoyment of his guests, striving to make every one
feel at ease.
In conversation be was modest at all times, pre
ferring to listen rather than talk. He never indulged
in foolish jesting, thoug'h he enjoyed a pleasant wit
ticism or repartee that gave no offence. In the com
pany of ladies he was ever courteous and polite ; with
men, he never stooped to undue familiarity; he re
served to himself the right to repel it in others
toward 'himself. This peculiar trait in his character
saved him, doubtless, from many annoyances, and at
the same time commanded respect. He had few
confidants. To sum up the whole matter, Mr. Pratt accom
plished far more than ordinary men. He passed
through the varied changes of his life and times

56 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
without the least compromise of his character as an
honest man.
At one time he lost upwards of half a million
dollars, besides having his business operations sus
pended more than three years. The strength of his
character lay in his indomitable spirit and the power
to concentrate the faculties of his mind upon the ope
purpose of his life. The same faculties would have
succeeded in any avocation of life — under the same
control and with the same honest and unselfish
heart. The last and crowning act of his life, in a busi
ness capacity, was his Red Mountain enterprise.
This was undertaken reluctantly, on account of his
age and infirmity, for he doubted if he should live
to witness its completion; yet his State pride urged
him to undertake it. He believed something should
be done to develop the mineral resources of the State.
He thought labor should be diversified in order that
the South mig'ht sustain herself. He seemed to pos
sess almost a prophetic vision, and felt convinced that
cotton would need assistance in order to sustain the
South. For this enterprise he felt great solicitude. He
remarked to the writer a few days before his last
sickness, "If it is the will of God, I should like to
see the completion of this enterprise." This was
denied him ; yet on his death-bed he learned that one
furnace was in successful operation, and a second
would soon be in blast.
Although not a native-born citizen, he loved the

A BIOGRAPHY. 57
State of his adoption; and Alabama has great cause
to be proud of such a man. Mr. Pratt never hoarded
up money, but expended all his means in building
manufactories. Money by him was valued only as it
subserved to the betterment of mankind. He re
garded himself only as a steward ; surely, he was a
faithful one. His patriotism was of the purest kind,
never compromising his State for the sake of popu
larity. It is generally known that he was opposed
to secession, fearing ability to sustain the same ; yet
when Alabama did secede, he sustained her to the
last. He probably gave more of his means to help
the Confederacy than any other man in Alabama;
and when the cause was lost, he never alluded to his
anti-secession principles, nor said, "I told you so,"
but bravely sympathized with his own people and
shared with them the common loss.
As a husband, he was faithful and devoted ; as a
father, tender and affectionate ; as a friend, firm and
loyal ; as a neighbor, kind-hearted and generous ; as
a citizen, coming up to the full meaning of a Chris
tian gentleman; as a master, humane and liberal in
providing all the comforts of life for his slaves, who
obeyed, respected and loved him.
Mr. Pratt made his success by legitimately pur
suing his mechanical operations, without once turn
ing to the right or the left, to engage in speculation
of any kind. Reader, please observe this feature in
his character and do likewise.
Nothing is more prejudicial to success in life than
instability in our pursuits; to pursue any avocation.

58 Hon. DANIEL FRATT.
however humble, with a single purpose, will, to a
great extent, ensure success.
In the bestowment of favors, Mr. Pratt made
no parade ; he was a cheerful giver, and usually took
the beneficiary on surprise. For many years he main
tained a school for the poor children of Prattville.
When new families came from the "pine woods" to
work in the cotton factory, Mrs. Pratt, always
thoughtful, would see that the children of those fami
lies were supplied with suitable clothing to enter
Sunday-school the first Sunday after their arrival.
A few years before the death of Mr. Pratt his
picture gallery had to be abandoned because of the
woodwork being affected by dry rot. He sent two of
the largest paintings to an institution of learning in
Georgia — Athens, I think. The newspapers at the
time, with proper appreciation, complimented his lib
erality in thus remembering the State where he spent
the first years of his sojourn in the South.
Mr. Pratt was far-seeing in many ways. A few
years before his death he had young men in charge
of his, manufacturing establishments, with his own
general supervision, gradually loosening his hold on
business in order to initiate them. May they prove
faithful to the trust imposed in them, and may it
result in great good, and demonstrate the fact that
the mantle of Mr. Pratt has fallen on shoulders
worthy to bear the same, like their illustrious pre
decessor. May they continue to demonstrate this
truth, that a man may be earnestly engaged in busi
ness, yet always in conformity with a Christian life.

A BIOGRAPHY. 59
If Dr. Manley could have seen the sequel of the life
of Mr. Pratt, I am certain he would have found that
he did not mistake the man, and that his confidence
was not misplaced.
Both men have ceased from their labors on earth,
but their works will surely follow them, and a vast
multitude, now unborn, will rise up and call them
blessed.

REMINISCENCES OF DANIEL
PRATT.
By AMOS SMITH.
/^ N the 28th January, 1837 (Saturday), I took
^^ passage on the steamer Comet for Washington,
Autauga county, arriving the next Tuesday night,
about midnight. I had a machine for sawing shin
gles, bringing it to Eber N. Coe, who had a saw-mill
on the opposite side of the creek from the present
site of the Allenville Factory. I put the machine in
his mill, and it gave him perfect satisfaction. Mr.
Pratt, with other gentlemen, came to see the machine.
He invited me to visit him, and I spent the night
of February 22nd with his family. After concluding
my business with Mr. Coe, I went to New Orleans,
and put a machine in operation. I then returned to
Mobile, and again went to Washington. Mr. Pratt "
was then making arrangements to build a grist-mill.
I agreed to get some machinery for the mill and
secure a wheelwright to put it up.
I left Washington May 3rd, and arrived home at
Meridan, N. H., May 30th. I returned with ma
chinery, and Mr. Litheid to put it up, No-vember 13th.
Mr. Litheid went to work immediately, but I did not
reach Washington before May 14, 1838. The work
was completed June 25th. Mr. Pratt then engaged
me to take charge of his gin shop for one year.

A BIOGRAPHY. 6i
The business was then at the McNeil place, but
next year all was moved to Prattville; at that time,
however, the place had no name. Mr. Pratt imme
diately had the distance to Washington measured, and
mile-posts put up. The place had occasionally been
called "Pratt's Mills." William Ormsby was about
to letter the posts that way, when I remarked "Pratt
ville" would be more appropriate. He went to see
Mr. Pratt, and came back and marked the posts, "One
mile to Prattville," etc. The name has never been
changed. Mr. Pratt made a proposition for me to
go into partnership with him and his two brothers-
in-law, the Messrs. Ticknor, -which I accepted for a
term of five years, com-mencing January i, 1840. At
the expiration of that time I moved my family to
Prattville and went in for five years more. Then a
change was made in the firm. Mr. Griswold and son,
from Georgia, took Mr. Pratt's interest; but, long
before the five years expired, Mr. Griswold retired,
not seeing enough profit in the business, Prattville
being so far from market. The son sold his interest
to Mr. Mims, and in 1857 I left the firm and moved
my family to Philadelphia. . . .
Note. — Mr. Amos Smith lived to be almost a
hundred years old. He would have rounded out his
century on his next anniversary. He died, a few
years since, at his home in Philadelphia.

A DAY WITH DANIEL PRATT AT
PRATTVILLE.
[From the Cotton Planter and Soil ]
TV /T R. PRATT had long, long ago invited us to
^ ^ visit him and examine his manufacturing estab
lishment at Prattville, in Autauga county, some four
teen miles west of Montgomery. Our incessant
business arrangements prevented the pleasure of this
visit from time to time, till finally, some ten days
since, we determined to defer it no longer. Prattville
is a thrifty and handsomely situated manufacturing
village, on Autauga creek, about four miles from
Washington, on the Alabama river. This village has
been built up by the industry and energy of Mr.
Daniel Pratt, mainly, whose name it bears, within the
last few years, probably eighteen. We arrived at
Prattville as the sun was going down, when every
thing inanimate, with the operatives in the various
factory departments, were, with the setting sun, clos
ing the performances of the day. We found Mr.
Pratt at home with his family, with whom we spent
the evening to a late hour, in various conversations
on the subject of agricultural improvement, agricul
tural machinery and Southern manufacturing, in all
of which Mr. Pratt is deeply and practically inter
ested. And we found Mrs. Pratt also, who is a lady

A BIOGRAPHY. 63
of unusual intelligence and social vivacity, instruc:-
ingly interesting on every subject appertaining to im
provements about the homestead, such as tastefully
arranged shrubbery, fine fruit and vegetable gardens
and terraced vineyards, which contribute so essen
tially to the comfort, content and true pleasure of
home, sweet home !
In the morning we commenced early after break
fast, as we had a great day's work before us. We
spent the first hour in Mr. Pratt's gallery of paintings.
Many hours we could have remained there, had time
permitted, in contemplating the canvassed scenes of
passed grandeur and greatness. Its beauty cannot be
appreciated in description, however ; it must be seen
to be fully enjoyed. From the gallery we proceeded
to the gin factory, which one at Prattville might easily
imagine to be the pet of Mr. Pratt's ambition.
As you enter the door of the first floor you have
in full view a line of shafting 250 feet long, on which,
at suitable distances apart, are over seventy drums
for driving the various machines used in the manu
facture of gins. This room is 250 by 50 feet, fitted
with machines adapted to the different kinds of work
and material employed in the construction of gins.
The second floor is used for breasting and finish
ing gins. It has a large room partitioned off for the
purpose of testing gins with seed cotton. Fifty
pounds are run through each gin, and a note made
of the time required to gin it. If the speed is not
sufficient, or there is any other defect found in the
performance, it is remedied at once. No gin is

64 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
allowed to leave the shop until it performs satisfac
torily. The third floor is all in one room — probably the
largest in the State — 250 by 50 feet. Here the gins
are painted and varnished, and put in order for box
ing and shipping. There is an elevator large enough
to receive the gins, which raises and lowers them
from one floor to another by the aid of machinery.
In the garret is a cistern, kept full of water, which
is raised from a spring underneath the shop by ma
chinery. From this cistern each room is supplied with
pure cold water by means of pipes. The waste water
from the cistern is conveyed to the centre of the
square in front of the shop, where it jets thirty feet,
and falls into a large circular reservoir.
Connected with the gin shop by a railway is a brick
lumber-house, 172 feet long by 40 feet wide. In this
house the lumber for manufacturing the gin stands is
carefully stacked away, where it remains two years
to season before it is used. An iron foundry is also
connected with the shop, whic^b works up about a
hundred tons of iron annually. The gin shop turns
out about $160,000 worth of gins annually.
Adjoining the gin shop is a brick building, three
stories high and 250 feet long, which is used for a
grist-mill, a sash, door and blind factory, a machine
shop, a shop for making horse mills, and a carriage
and wagon shop, all furnished with suitable ma
chinery for these various branches of business. The
machinery in both buildings is driven by one breast
wheel of sixty-horse power.

*¦ ¦ * *

-jj ¦! I es « S l! I. , , iS

COTTON GIN FACTORY AND MACHINE SHOPS.

A BIOGRAPHY. 65
There are fifty hands actively employed all the
time in the gin factory and foundry together, many
of w<hom are slaves, that seem to be well skilled in
the performance of this work.
There is also quite an extensive and flourishing
cotton factory here, a large share of the stock of
which is owned by Mr. Pratt. It contains twenty-
eight hundred spindles, one hundred looms, and is
worked by one hundred and fifty hands, several of
them slaves. It works up twelve hundred bales of
cotton, and turns out two thousand bales of osnaburgs
annually. The company contemplate at an early
period putting up a new and greatly enlarged build
ing for increasing their spindles and looms.
At a sihort distance below the gin factory — per
haps a half mile ¦ — - Mr. Pratt has fitted up a large
two-story brick building, in which he has already
received and is putting up machinery of the latest
improvement for carding and spinning wool, to be
manufactured into kerseys, in another department of
the cotton factory.
After examining the various factories and ma
chinery, we took a stroll with Mr. Pratt through his
g-arden, orchard and vineyard, where we found the
same skill, industry and improvement on the soil; in
a rich and well-cultivated vegetable garden, a beau
tiful orchard of fine fruit trees, embracing various
varieties of the apple, peach, pear, plum and fig, all
hiealthful and thrifty, and a vineyard of perhaps three
to five acres of Scuppernongs and Catawbas, terraced
in the most picturesque style to the summit level of
5

66 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
a high and very steep hill, perhaps one hundred feet
or more perpendicular, the upper terrace above the
lower or first. The vines are all kept up by castiron
posts, set along on the terraced embankments, and
wire railings from post to post. This vineyard plat,
so favorably located, contains, in all, twenty-five acres
of land, and enclosed by a substantial brick and picket
fence. From the vineyard we returtied to the mansion,
where Mrs. Pratt had prepared for us an elegant
dinner, with which we had the pleasure of testing
several specimens of fine Autauga wine, the pure juice
of the grape, and fruit of the vineyard we had just
before examined. O* this wine Mrs. Pratt had sev
eral casks, the vintage of last year.
Thus closed one of the most interesting social
visits it has been our good fortune to enjoy for years
past. Of Mr. Pratt's gins, we can say to our readers
in want of a first-rate stand, unhesitatingly — and we
say so without prejudicing any other factory — that,
with all his late improvements and the advantages
afforded by his large factory arrangements, he is able
to furnish -the neatest, -most complete and best cotton
gin stand in America.

ADVERTISEMENT
Issued by Mr. Pratt, January, 1858, Showing his Method
OF Conducting Business, and Announcing to the
World the Manufactures of Prattville.
With an experience of Twenty-Seven years in the Gin
Business — during which time he has made and sold nearly
Twelve Thousand Stands, together with extensive build
ings, thoroughly provided with the best of machinery and
material, and with good workmen — the undersigned feels no
hesitancy in warranting his Gins to be equal in workmanship
and performance, to the best made by any manufacturer.
His Gins are all Tried with Seed Cotton before leaving
the Factory, and none sent away that will not perform well.
He could produce thousands of certificates from planters,
testifying to the superiority of his Gins, but the fact that his
sales during the past year have amounted to one hundred
and forty-four thousand dollars, is a sufficient testimonial.
Heretofore, it has been his custom to employ travelling
agents to sell Gins in different sections of the cotton growing
States, but as it is attended with a very 'heavy expense, he
lias concluded to dispense in a great measure with such
agencies, and to rely upon Planters, who may be disposed to
patronize him, to order their Gins direct from the factory.
During the fall he will send persons out to see that gins per
form well. He solicits the patronage of all in want of Gins.
It is desirable that orders should be forwarded early, so that
there need be no delay in delivering.
¦S^ Those who order are requested to be particular in
stating the name of their Post-Office, on what road their
plantations are situated, and the distance and direction from
the Court House.
I®" Gin Segments and Bolts, and Mill Gearing will be
furnished from his Foundry at short notice.

68 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
The following local agents will attend promptly to orders
for his Gins :
H. Kendall Carter & Co., New Qrleans, La.
Mather, Hughes & Saunders, Galveston, Tex.
H. P. Coolidge, Helena, Ark.
F. M. Gilmer & Co., Montgomery, Ala.
E. M. Apperson & Co., Memphis, Tenn.
Hale & Murdock, Columbus, Miss.
Campbell & Co., Mobile, Ala.
The following is a statement of the business of Prattville
for the year 1857:
Cotton Gin Manufactory,  $144,000 00
Prattville Manufacturing Co.,  151,724 00
Sash, Door and Blind Manufactory,  13,360 00
Corn Mill (Horse-Power),  17,160 00
Foundry,  1 1,432 00
Carriage,  6,500 00
Tin,  3,050 00
Machine and Blacksmith's Shops,  8,694 oo.
Printing Business,  8,000 00
Mercantile Business,  155,249 00
Total,  $519,169 00
DANIEL PRATT.
Prattville, January, 1858.

REMINISCENCES OF THE LIFE OF
DANIEL PRATT.
By Mrs. S. F. H. TARRANT.
'Tp HERE is no truer expression than the following :
-*¦ "The force and development of a country de
pends mainly upon the industry and energy of its
individual men." Then, what a vast debt the State
of Alabama owes to Daniel Pratt, in his career during
the forty years of his life in this Commonwealth. I
knew him for a period of twenty-five years. During
a greater part of that time my father, Gardner Hale,
was intimately associated in business for him. Mr.
Pratt was seeking a new superintendent for the cotton
factory. He made a proposition, which my father
accepted, and moved his family to Alabama. He took
charge of the cotton rnanufactory, which he found
largely in arrears, yet the second year of his adminis
tration the company was able to pay a dividend.
My father was quick to appreciate the value of
new methods and to invent others ; as an illustration
of which it may be related that, after he had been in
control of the business a few years, he conceived the
idea of experimenting on finer cloth ; but at that time
(more than a half century since) the public doubted
wthether manufacturing in Alabama would be success
ful, therefore some ingenious device must be used in

70 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
order to convince men against their will. The fine
cloth was made, in limited quantity, baled, stamped
with some Indian name, sent to New York, and
shipped back to Montgomery, finding a ready sale,
and was in demand. Mr. Pra^tt's attention was called
to the cloth in Montgomery, and when he returned
to Prattville he said, "Mr. Hale, why can't we make
such cloth in Prattville?" "Well, I think we can,"
replied Mr. Hale; "and now that the little scheme
has proved a success, we will ^hip that cloth direct
to Montgomery, and not send any more by way of
New York." One can imagine the surprise and
pleasure of Mr. Pratt.
It is always an easy matter to behold results, but
how few know of the beginnings? Mr. Pratt had
a plank road built, four miles, to Washington, the
landing being on the Alabama river, where he shipped
his gins ; but for years he had talked of railroads, and
wrote many letters on the subject. I here insert one
that was printed in the Southern Statesman, May 26,
1855: "Autauga County and its Resources.
"I know it will be asked why a railroad would
benefit so vastly the various interests of Autauga
county. Some will say we have a navigable river
the whole length ; that transportation by the river
would not be very expensive ; that if Autauga county
could not prosper with such facilities, it would not
with railroad advantag'es.
Any person who has had much experience in

A BIOGRAPHY. 71
manufacturing will agree with me when I say it re
quires concentration of machinery and capital to make
manufadturing profitable, and that capital and ma
chinery will concentrate where the greatest facilities
are found. There are three things to be considered
to ensure success : first, health; second, motive
power; third, accessibility to market. The two first
we have ; the third we shall have if we can succeed
in building our railroads — one running across our
streams, connecting us with Selma and the western
railroads on one side, and Wetumpka, Tallasse and
the Georgia roads on the other side — the northern
road to intersect this at the most accessible point,
which will furnish us with cheap building materials
and provisions. Let us suppose that Tallasse has two
millions of dollars invested in manufacturing, which
she has ample power for ; Wetumpka the same ; Mor
tar, Autauga, Swift, Little Mulberry and Big Mul
berry creeks, two millions more, which would make
six millions of capital invested on about sixty miles
of the road. I suppose I have put the motive power
of these streams far below their capiacity. With the
facilities we would -have for getting iron, coal and
building materials, we could build large machine
shops, and all machinery cheaper than it could be ob
tained abroad. Mechanics from all parts of the coun
try would seek employment here ; operatives would
flock here in abundance to supply the demand. The
New Orleans and Mobile markets would be easily
reached by railroad or steamboats, as also all markets
northeast of us. From the West Point road to Selma

72 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
will be a link of a road running across Alabama, Mis
sissippi, Louisiana and Texas, and probably to the
Pacific Ocean. I doubt whether as good water power
could be found on the whole route as that mentioned
above, and I feel confident that it will not run through
a more healthy section of country. The manufac
turing villages would be from ten to twenty miles
distant from each other, on the streams mentioned,
which I would consider far preferable to the same
amount of capital concentrated in one place. We
might expect better health, better society, and as
changes seem to be necessary for some persons, they
could go from village to village, without inconve
nience to themselves or their employers. One village
would stimulate another in trying to excel, and we
would not fear epidemics in this piney woods range.
"Many will say that this is a visionary production.
I do not expect tliis generation to see this accom
plished, but I hope to see them make one step towards
it, which is in building the railroads mentioned ; the
balance, I predict, will follow in due time. Should
the first be neglected at the proper time, the proba
bility is the balance will be a failure.
"From the knowledge I have of the country from
Selma to Wetumpka, Tallasse and the West Point
road, it 'appears to me to be the best route that could
be seledted. It 'has several advantages over the Mont
gomery route. First, the distance would be short
ened. Second, it would cross the rivers above naviga
tion, which is vastly in its favor. Third, it would
build up these manufacturing towns, and thereby add

A BIOGRAPHY. 73
greatly to the profits of the road; and, fourth, it
would add very much to the revenue of the State.
The northern road would cross, on the same bridge
at Wetumpka to Montgomery, and thence connect
with the Pensacola and Mobile road.
"These are my views, liastily drawn, with the hope
that some person better qualified will take up the
subject. If the route running across the water courses
mentioned is not the proper one for a road, I stand
open to conviction, and will advocate the best route.
I am a railroad man, and what some might call a
'State aid' man. I would not advocate any railroad
that I thought would not be for the interest of our
Staite; neither would I advocate any assistance from
the State only where she could be made perfectly
secure. When this could be done, it would not only
be helping railroad companies, but add largely to the
revenues of the State. I think every county through
which the road would run ought to do what it can
to promote the building of the road for the same
reason. Individuals may reap benefits without the
State sharing in them, but the State cannot be bene
fited without in some degree benefiting its citizens
generally. If the State can loan her credit to a com
pany without risk of loss she ought to do so, because
she would be the greatest recipient of the favor.
Railroads not only increase the value of real estate,
but they build up many towns and villages, which
add greatly to her revenue.
"The little village in which I live would not have
had an existence had not the water power been used

74 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
for manufacturing purposes ; the tax of which last
year was $1,623.86. It will probably be $2,000 this
year. A half dozen such villages would help the
revenue of the county considerably. Our. policy ought
to be to invite capital into our State, instead of driv
ing it out, as has been the case for some years back.
"Daniel Pratt."
The following latter was written by Mr. Pratt, and
printed in the Cotton Planter in 1859 :
"Alabama Improvements and the True Interests
OF Her People.
"Dr. Cloud.
"Dear Sir: I have just been reading an article
in the South Coimtryuian, published at Marietta, Ga.,
written by Col. Mark A. Cooper, on the subject of
internal improvements and Southern enterprise. It is
an article which corresponds very nearly with my own
views, and has brougiht some of my old ideas into my
head again.
"Colonel Cooper advocates a railroad to the min
eral and farming regions of Cherokee, Ga., and points
out its advantages to the State. I could not but think
of our North and South Alabama railroad, that would
run throug'h a region probably much richer than that
of Cherokee, Ga. I thought of the great change that
would be brought about in our State if this road was
built and in operation. The many manufacturing
villages that would spring up, the increased value of
the land, and the vast revenue the State would derive
from it.

A BIOGRAPHY. 75
"We would not have to go out of our State to
procure our iron, lime, coal or marble, but should
have them at home, of the best quality, and as cheap
as could be procured elsewhere.
"These are important articles that we must use
daily in vast quantities. These are articles that, if
procured here, would annually save -or retain millions
in the State, and also draw from other States.
"I have also thought how this road could be built
— whether there is individual enterprise and wealth
near the line of the road to build it. My conclusion
is that there is not. If individual enterprise and capi
tal in all the States north of us have failed to dig
through the mountains, surely we need not expect it
to be more successful in Alabama. Who, then, is to
build it? I answer, those most deeply interested;
those who will reap the benefit of it. Who is this?
I ask. Is it not the State of Alabama — the whole
State ? 1 certainly think so. Then I say, let the State
of Alabama cult through the mountains ; and let her
enterprising citizens build to and from it just as many
branches as they need, and as they can make it their
interest to build. The number of these, I doubt not,
will be many.
"I frofess to be a Southern rights man, and
strongly contend that the South ought to maintain
her rights at all hazards. I would, however, pursue
a somewhat different course from that of our poli
ticians. I would not make any flaming, fiery speeches
and threats, but, on the other hand, I would go quietly
and peaceably to work, and make ourselves less de-

76 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
pendent on those who abuse and would gladly ruin
us. I would use our own iron, our own coal, oUr own
lime, our own marble, our own make of axes, ho->-s,
spades, firearms, powder, wagons, carriages, saddles,
bridles and harness, clothing for our negroes, plows,
doors, sash and blinds, shoes and boots, and last, but
not least, our own cdtton gins.
"You will say all this looks very well, but who is
to accomplish it, and how is it to be done? I say it
could be accomplished, although it might require
many years.
"In the first place, we must have facilities, and
the most important to commence with are railroads to
such portions of our territory as will make the raw
material available and cheap, by furnishing quick
transportation ; so that a mechanic or manufacturer
can obtain sucih articles as he daily uses in a short
space of time. Instead of -having to order from New
York and Boston, six months in advance of the time
he wishes to use the articles, and paying interest on
it, let him order from our own or an adjoining State,
where it could be obtained in one week, and, at the
same time, get as good and as cheap an article, and
save the interest on his capital, say from three to six
months, and, what is still better, save the whole cost,
or rather retain it in our State, instead of sending it
in bills of exchange on New York, at a premium of
one per cent. One branch of business will build up
another, and competition in business will regulate the
prices. Some may say, 'We have not capital in the
South to invest in such enterprise.' Give me the other

A BIOGRAPHY. yj
necessary facilities, and I will guarantee the capital'.
Give proper encouragement, and you will be furnished
with mechanics and manufacturers. I know this will
require time. I also know that hitherto we have at
the South pursued a wrong course. Let us attend
strictly to our business, and if others interfere we
will defend ourselves, and eventually bring them to
our terms.
"I say, then, let us go on and build such bulwarks
as will not only defend ourselves, but conquer our
enemies. I am trying to reverse things a little ; I get
all my shafting fron* Etowah, Ga., say forty tons per
annum. I find it a better article than I get from the
North, and as cheap. I use about one hundred and
fifty tons of pig iron, mostly from Shelby county, Ala.
I think it equal to any iron made. I get all my lime
from Alabama, the best I ever used. The Prattville
Manufacturing Company work up about 1,200 bales
of Alabama cotton and 120,000 pounds Southern wool
annually. For the past twelve years I have been
patronizing Southern schools. I have carried it so far
as to bring out eight children from the Northern
States, and educated -them in Alabama. Some pretend
to show their works by their faith; I hope to show
my faith by my works, so long is God blesses me with
health and strength,
"Daniel Pratt."
Note. — Nearly a half century since above letter was writ
ten Mr. Pratt looked down the years, with prophetic vision.

78 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
It has been said, "Contrast is one of the laws of
sympathy;" and no doubt ithere was something in
the magnetic heat of the Southern pulse quite fasci
nating to a young man from New England. In those
days, so long ago, Mr. Pratt met few men from his
native heath in Georgia or Alabama, compared to
the hundreds and thousands now found in the South,
who, though from New England, are seemingly more
to the manor born than their neighbors who have
always lived in the South. Mr. Pratt, the young man
from New Hampshire, with his cool temperament,
caught the prevailing tone of geniahty without losing
his characteristic calculation.
The brave young man who left his native New
England to seek his fortune had made a name in a
few years which caused his native town. Temple, to
feel honored by his presence. In 1858 that town
celebrated its centennial, and the following letter was
written by Mr. Pratt in response to an invitation to
attend : "Prattville, Ala., September 8, 1858.
"Dear Sir: Yours of the 15th instant, with an
invitation to attend your Centennial Celebration of
the settlement of Temple, has been received. I should
be much pleased to be with you on that interesting
¦occasion, but the distance is such I could not con
veniently attend.
"Will you allow me to say a few words on this
interesting occasion? It is nearly forty-three years
since I left Temple, the place of my birth, and thirty-

A BIOGRAPHY. 79
eight since I left New Hampshire to come South.
Notwithstanding the length of time that has elapsed,
I still look back with pleasure to the time when I lived
in your town, and bring to mind many of its inhabi
tants. I also remember the great rocks and hills,
which, on my last visit there, appeared much mo-re
natural to me than the people I met. The former I
found much as I left them ; but, sad to reflect, most
of the old inhabitants had passed away. I shall soon
follow them. When I first settled in Alabama, the
distance, in point of time, between here and New
Hampshire was great. It took me between two and
three weeks to travel it. I can now go there in one-
fourth of that time, and with much more ease. This
is certainly a great improvement ; but it is, however,
almost lost sight of when we consider the lightning
speed at which we can communicate with our friends
and with business -men.
"When we reflect upon the great advantages we
enjoy as a nation, and the superiority of our privileges
over those of any other people on the globe, ought
we not to be grateful to that Being who, by a special
providence, has granted us these blessings? And,
f ur'thermore, ought we not, by all means in our power,
endeavor to perpetuate these precious privileges
through all itime ? We are the most independent peo
ple on earth. We have a great variety of climate and
soil — can raise and manufacture every article we ac
tually need, as well as have also the luxuries of Hfe.
"The New England States are blessed with a
healthy location, excellent water power, and an enter-

8o Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
prising, energetic people. Their soil is nothing to
boast of; that, however, is offset by their excellent
witer power and the health of their location. Nature
seems to have designated them for -manufacturing
States. The inhabitants have so assisted nature, with
railroad facilities, that probably New England is the
most desirable country in the world for that purpose.
But what could New England do if disconnected with
other porltions of the country ? A large portion of its
inhabitants would be obliged to leave for more fertile
regions or starve. What was the great Western coun
try designed for? and what the Southern States?
Was the former to raise wheat, corn, beef and pork,
all to be consumed at home, and the latter — the
South — to raise cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco for
•their own exclusive consumption? If so-, what would
become of the manufacturing States? Was California
to dig gold, and keep and use it all herself? It seems
to me that it needs but little reflection to decide that
this great and fertile country was intended for a great
and united people. We were made dependent upon
each other, for the purpose of securing strength and
developing the agricultural and mechanical skill and
resources of the country.
"A happier people does not exist on earth. The
laboring classes are better fed and cared for than Tn
any other portion of the world. We have a popula
tion better adapted to the various climates and occu
pations of the country, as a whole, than any other.
We are certainly a happy, thriving and prosperous
people — and but one thing is necessary to secure

A BIOGRAPHY. 8i
the perpetuity of these blessings : that is, for each
division of the country to attend to its -own individual
interests — the North to manufacture, the South to
provide the raw material, the West to furnish the
provisions, and California the circulating medium. In
conclusion, I would offer this sentiment : May God
-continue to bless us as a nation, and may we appre
ciate the blessing and strive to retain it.
"Yours respectfully,
"Daniel Pratt.
"Mr. Nahum A. Child, Temple, N. H."
Mr. Pratt sent his check for fifty dollars to aid
in the expenses of the celebration.
Although to write the name of Daniel Pratt as a
genius might not accord with his idea of propriety,
lie did possess the qualities which ensure success,
namely, common sense and perseverance. More than
one writer has defined genius as common sense inten
sified. The public deeds of Mr. Pratt are famiHar to
every one who knows of Prattville and the works
around Birmingham honored by his name — Pratt
City, Henry Ellen Mines, and others — but the per
sonal attributes of this man are in many ways dis
tinguished from the attributes of other great men,
and should become a most interesting study for young
and old throughout our land ; therefore, I can con
ceive no more pleasant duty than to bring these before
the public in such a manner as will ensure preserva
tion. Daniel Pratt was resolved to find a way, or
6

82 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
make one. Surely he made a laudable reputation
during life, and left a name worthy to be honored
and revered by posterity. He ever strove to be helpful
to his fellow-man. Not college men alone have
accomplished most in life, for often the most prolific
school is the school of difficulty.
From Du Bose's excellent History of Alabama I
copy the following: "A few far-sighted men had
braved the impressions of the times, and entered other
lines of business. Daniel Pratt, who 'had become im
mensely wealthy in the manufacture of cotton gins
and the coarser produrts of the loom, with his son-
in-law, H. F. DeBardeleben, imbued with the spirit
of new enterprise, opened mines and planted furnaces
in the mineral belt around Birmingham, bringing a
brighter future within the vision of development.
Other gentlemen of similar enterprise saw the avenues
to commercial and industrial independence, through
mining and manufacturing, furnaces, foundries, fac
tories, mills and machine shops, began to work up the
raw material of dormant wealth. The compiler of
these memoirs is of opinion that Birmingham owes
to Daniel Pratt's thousands, used by that great de
veloper, H. F. DeBardeleben, more than time or per
sons will ever give the credit."
During the civil war, Mr. Pratt spent his money
freely and faithfully for the good of Alabama.
I recall an incident, when the dark shadow of war
gathered over our loved Southland. A company of
our best young men — "The Prattville Dragoons" —
responded cheerfully to the call, "To arms," and went

A BIOGRAPHY. 83
with the first troops, Mr. Pratt presented to every
member of this cavalry company a uniform, made of
black broadcloth, trimmed with gold braid. No other
company in the State had a uniform so handsome.
When any member of this company came home on
furlough he wore this uniform, and in every instance
a private was ushered into the coach for officers.
When death laid low a member of the Prattville
Dragoons, he was clothed in this dress suit. Thus,
the gift froin Mr. Pratt served as a passport in the
halls of gaiety, on the thoroughfares of travel, or a
martial shroud when life's fitful fever ended in camp.
Adjutant-General (Confederate Veterans) A. C.
Oxford, of Birmingham, kindly wished to furnish a
good photograph of Mr. Pratt for this volume, be
cause of his higih regard and love for the man, relates
the following : "The first time I ever saw Mr. Daniel
Pratt he unconsciously performed a kindness for me
w'hich I shall never forget. I was going from Selma
to Montgomery (horseback), to join my company,
when, just as I reached the residence of Mr. Pratt,
in Prattville, the rain poured down in torrents. I
sitopped for shelter under the projecting eaves of a
building. Mr. Pratt saw me, invited me into his
hospitable mansion, gave me dinner, fed my horse,
then told his good wife to put some garments into
my haversack. I have thought of that incident a
hundred times, and revere the memory of that noble
benefactor of his race."
Daniel Pratt blended the actual and the ideal —
the cotton gin, an exponent of the former, and the

84 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
picture gallery (with its numerous large paintings
in massive gilt frames), an illustration of the latter.
It has been well said, "The habitual contemplation
of the beautiful tends to soften the asperities of the
heart and make its strong places gush with the waters
of charity and love."
The picture gallery had two entrances : one from
the flower yard, with its beautiful hedges of cape
jessamine, in the centre of which played a fountain.
The other entrance was from the long back piazza
of the residence, shaded by the beautiful live oak
trees. Skylights were so arranged that the paintings
could be seen to best advantage. One end of the
gallery was entirely covered with a canvas on which
was represented the interior of St. Peter's Church,,
Rome, the processions of priests and cardinals ap
pearing life-size when viewed from a distance. Just
above the door of entrance (occupying the entire
width of the room) was the painting of "The Last
Supper," Christ and twelve apostles represented Hfe
size. Then there were large paintings, as follows :
"Rome," "Landing of Columbus," "The Annuncia
tion," "Jewish Captives," and others, with family por
traits, and portraits of great men, Washington, Clay,
Calhoun, and others ; "The Roman Forum" and "The
United States Senate."
Mr. George Cook -was the artist, who spent years
in Rome copying from the old masters. His works
would well bear the criticism of a connoisseur. Mr.
Cook was engaged three summers in painting "The

A BIOGRAPHY. 85
Interior of St. Peter's Cathedral." This was, a few
years before the death of Mr. Pratt, presented to the
University of Georgia.
In my girlhood days I spent hours in this gallery of
paintings, inspired by the revelations on canvas, and
always grateful that there was one man — I've never
seen his like — who was willing to spend money for
the fine arts, and make the same accessible to those
who otherwise might have no oppwrtunity to gratify
their love for the beautiful. Yes, Daniel Pratt was
an artist as well as an artisan ; his soul full of music,
also. In one parlor of his home was a Grand piano ;
in the Other a large music box; an organ in the
library, and a sweet-toned hand-'organ in the gallery.
This latter was made to order, and contained cylin
ders for seventy tunes, all sacred music. It was Mr.
Pratt's pleasure on Sunday afternoons to sit down
before this instrument, and soon the grand old tunes
of "Dundee," "Mear," "Old Hundred," and others,
would be heard pealing out their hallowed strains,
delighting him and other lisiteners.
"On May 14, 1859, the corner-stone of the Acad
emy was laid. Col. John W. A. Sanford, of Mont
gomery, was the orator. After the address, which
was listened to by about two thousand persons, Mr.
Pratt invited all to a sumptuous dinner, spread in the
upper room of the gin factory. The room was two
hundred and fifty feet long, and there were four
tables, extending nearly the entire lengfth of the room.
Everybody ate and enjoyed the dinner, and there was
plenty for all. The occasion passed off pleasantly.

86 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
to the satisfaction of all." — Copied from "Southern
Statesman" of May 21, 1859.
Mr. Pratt found Prattville a swamp, and left it
the loveliest village in the State, built .mostly of
brick. Such a man is entitled to rank as a hero ; his
patient self-reliance amidst trials and difficulties ; his
courage and perseverance in the pursuit of noble aims
and purposes, are no less heroic, of their kind, than
the bravery and devotion of the soldier and the
sailor, whose duty and whose pride it is heroically
to defend what such a leader of industry has heroic
ally achieved. If this little volume efifeots its object,
then will the author feel more than compensated.
The life of Daniel Pratt is full of lessons of self-
help and self-respect, and every young man may, if
he will, accomplish for himself a like honorable com
petence and a solid reputation.

DEATH OF Hox. DANIEL PRATT.
\From the Prattville  , May is, iSyj-^
XT' OR the first time during the existence of our
¦¦• paper, now stretching back into the past through
more than twenty years, we clothe our columns in
the sable habiliments of mourning. Daniel Pratt, the
founder and builder of our town, is no longer num
bered among the living. He died, after a long, lin
gering and painful illness, soon after the break of
day on Tuesday morning last.
" But ere the sun, in all his state.
Illumed the eastern skies.
He passed through glcrj-'s morning gate.
And walked in paradise.''
Since this unhappy event, Prattville has been in
mourning. For the past two days our buildings have
been draped with the sombre ensigns of grief. The
busy hum of industry was hushed, because the great
hand that brought them into existence was cold in
death. All houses of business were closed. The bells
no longer summoned industrious toilers from labor
to refreshment, and from refreshment to labor, but
only tolled in solemn requiem o'er the honored dead.
Every heart was oppressed with sadness, and every
countenance betokened a consciousness that a com
mon disaster had befallen us all. A common grief

88 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
pervades our entire community. Universal sorrow,
consequent upon the inevitable conviction of a great
public loss, hangs over our town like some dire pall
of evil. It is meet and proper that it should be so.
Mr. Pratt was not only the founder, but the constant
and faithful friend of Prattville, and of all her inter
ests. They were dear to his heart; his labors and
his life afford the most ample evidence of this. The
people of our town, of our county and of the State,
are under strong obligations to him, and it is their
duty to acknowledge them. There is not an indi
vidual here, be he rich or poor, of whatever profes
sion, whom he has not directly or indirectly benefited.
It is our duty to remember all this, and cherish a
grateful sense of the benefits he has conferred upon
us. We mourn for the loss of a fellow-citizen, a
neighbor, a companion, a friend, whose great heart
was the dwelling of all the generous feelings ; whose
hospitable roof and genial fireside were the abode of
all the domestic charities and kindly virtues of a true
Christian home; and who, having evinced through
life a reverence and devotion for the Bible and the
ordinances of religion, found support in the last try
ing hour in the hopes and promises of the gospel. A
great man has passed away from earth. On yester
day, as we stood by his open grave, in the family
cemetery on the lovely plateau of the lofty hills over
looking his late beautiful residence, and listened to
the mournful strains of vocal music falling from the
lips of his neighbors and friends as they sung that
beautiful, but sadly sacred, poem, commencing.

EULOGIES. 89
"Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore
thee," the thought was incapable of repression that a
far-shining light was extinguished and a strong
column had fallen, and that we, who had been guided
by that light and had leaned upon that column, were
left. to walk by fainter rays, and to rest upon feebler
supports. In the freshness of our grief, it is more
appropriate that we should mourn than eulogize our
departed friend. The many virtues and moral ex
cellencies of Mr. Pratt are as familiar to our entire
community as "household words." It is needless that
we, in this brief notice of our common bereavement,
should unfold the treasures of his beneficence and
greatness, or should attempt to set forth his eminent
claims as a patriot, a philanthropist, a Christian. All
our readers know them well. To suppose them igno
rant of them is to suppose them ignorant of the his
tory of our town, where they are written in lines
bright as the belt of Orion.
In the general bereavement, ours is a particular
loss, for he belonged to us. It is now thirty-five years
since he purchased the site of our town, then almost
a wilderness — the fit habitation for the owl and the
bat — and laid the foundation of our present prosper
ous and happy community.
He was born in Temple, N. H., on the 20th day
of July, 1799. His father's name was Edward Pratt,
who was the son of Daniel Pratt, of Massachusetts.
Our late distinguished fellow-citizen, Daniel Pratt,
at the age of sixteen, apprenticed himself as a car
penter, and in 1819, at the expiration of his appren-

90 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
ticeship, came to Savannah, Ga., to reside. In July,
1821, he left Savannah and went to Milledgeville.
In the vicinity of the latter town and Macon, Ga., he
carried on his trade until 1831, when he removed
to Clinton, Ga., where he was engaged with Samuel
Griswold in the manufacture of cotton gins until
1833. During that year he settled aJt Autauga county,
Ala. He employed his remarkable energies for some
time at McNeil's Mills, three miles below Prattville,
on Autauga creek, in manufacturing cotton gins. He
desired and endeavored to purchase the lands em
bracing said mills, as a suitable field for the expendi
ture of his wonderful enterprise and genius ; but his
efforts in this direction proving futile, he purchased,
in 1838, of Joseph May (who many years ago died
in the State of Mississippi) a large body of land,
including the site of the present town of Prattville,
and began at once, with extraordinary zeal and en
ergy, the building of a town. His untiring energies
and indomitable industry had no parallel in this
country. It is unnecessary for us to recount the results of
his extraordinary labors about Prattville. We have
but to walk out into her streets and say ecce, and the
whole field of panegyric is covered. His fame needs
no monument to proclaim to coming generations his
wonderful works and munificent benefactions. His
monumental piles are here in great profusion. Look
around you, *nd behold magnificent buildings, noble
structures of art and genius, looming up in every
direction, which will attest his remarkable enterprise

EULOGIES. 91
and liberality long after we shall have passed away
"like the dust from the summer threshing floor." He
v/as a fast friend of the arts and sciences, and an
active patron of the church. A few years ago he do
nated to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of
which he was a faithful and devoted member, that
magnificent building in our town embracing the
Methodist Church, Sabbath-school room above, and
store rooms and offices below, costing many thou
sands of dollars. This munificent charity was in
tended as a contribution for the support of the pas
torate of said church in the future.
We have not the time or space to recount the nu
merous contributions and lavish charities of the dis
tinguished dead. The theme is prolific. We resign
to an abler pen the pleasant task of a more extended
biography. How truly does the old maxim apply to
him, "Vita brevis est; cursus glories sempiturnus,"
and does not his long and useful life, full of good
works and charities, assure us of his participation in
the gracious proipise, "He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never -die"? Biit he has gone from
amongst us, and we would turn in cheerful Christian
faith from the gloomy aspect of this great bereave
ment to the hopes inspired by his Christian triumphs,
which attended the close of his earthly career. He
died at peace with heaven and earth. The religion
of Jesus, to which he was so ardently devoted in life,
pillowed his dying head. Nearly four years since he
had rounded the full measure of threescore years and
ten. The record of his long life's services to his

92 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
country had been made up. His work was finished.
He enjoyed the full fruition of that eastern benedic
tion, so dear to the heart of man, "May you die
among your kindred." This blessing was given unto
him. He died as the heart hopes to die. He died
in his own home, amid those scenes of natural beauty
endeared to him by the joys and sorrows of many
eventful years, and with the faces of family, kindred
and friends around -bis bed. And thus this good man
departed, surrounded by all "thait which should ac
company old age, as honor, love, obedience, and
troops of friends."
" For him there is no longer any future ;
His life is bright; bright without spot it was
And caonot cease to be. No ominous hour
Knocks at his door with tidings of mishap ;
Far off is he, above desire and fear;
No more submitted to the chance and change
Of the unsteady planets. Oh ! 'tis well
With him."

THE LATE DANIEL PRATT.
[From the Montgomery  , May 14, iS'^j.']
'Tp HE announcement of the death of this singularly
-¦¦ pure and upright man will be received with
emiotions of profound, sorrow throughout the entire
State. For several years past he has been in declining
health ; but with the indomitable will which was one
of his characteristics, he continued to transact an
amount of business under which many of younger
years would have given way. His last illness was
of about three weeks' duration, and terminated fatally
at half-past four o'clock yesterday morning.
Mr. PraJtt was born at Temple, N. H., in the year
1799, and was nearly seventy- four years of age at
the time of his death. More than forty years ago he
located at what is now -the flourishing town of Pratt
ville, but which then contained not a single habitation.
He soon utilized the fine water f)ower afforded by the
beautiful stream on which he first fixed his bo-pes of
future usefulness to himself, family and State. From
an humble beginning in the manufacture of cotton
gins, be soon realized sufficient means to enable him
to erect one of the most extensive establishments of
the kind in the United States, and his name in con
nection with that special branch of manufacturing
is known almost wherever cotton is planted and
raised. He established on the same stream a splendid

94 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
cotton factory, a woollen factory, and other branches
of industry.
He was a man of unbounded liberality. His mu
nificent donations were confined to no sect or creed,
no place or people. It descended upon and blessed
the needy everywhere within the bounds of its benefi
cence. But there was no ostenltaJtion in his gifts.
His right hand knew not what the left did. Had he
hoarded all the earnings of his long and useful life,
he would have left behind him an estate worth a
million, instead of thousands.
He was a patriot, too, in the highest and widest
sense of the word. He loved his country for herself
alone, and not as latter-day patriots do, for what
could be made out -of her offices of trust and profit.
He was no office-seeker. Content to fill the sphere in
which he reigned supreme, the world had no recom
pense of reward sufficiently tempting to lure him
away from the hearts and homes of his family and
friends. Had those friends commanded his services,
he would have held them, as he did his purse, at their
service; but he sought no man's vote for the sake
of a promotion which he neither needed nor coveted.
A Northern man by birth, he was in life a standing
refutation of the charge that Northern men are not
respected at the South. The universal esteem of all
who knew bow was the chiefest jewel in the crown
of honor which formed the pride and ornament of
his riper years. His death, therefore, is a severe
blow, not only to his family, but to his country. It
is a great public calamity; and while we tender his

EULOGIES. 95
family our sympathies in this hour of trial and deep
gloom, we cannot refrain from extending to each and
every citizen of Alabama a similar recognition of the
loss which in this instance we have one and all sus
tained.

EULOGIES
ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF
Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
COUNCIL MEETING.
Council Chamber, May 22, 1873.
Present : Councilmen J. L. Alexander, W. A. Mor
gan, W. L. Ellis and G. L. Smith; also, the In-
tendant-elect, Merrill E. Pratt.
On motion of W. A. Morgan, J. L. Alexander was
called to the chair. Mr. Alexander introduced Mr.
Pratt, Who took and subscribed to the oath of office,
and was duly installed as Intendant.
The minutes of the special meeting of May 17,
1873, were read and adopted. G. L. Smith, from
the special committee appointed to prepare resolu
tions in reference to the death of our lamented chief
officer, Daniel Pratt, reported the following preamble
and resolutions, which were read :
"Whereas, Through the dispensation of an all-wise
Providence, we have been called to mourn the loss
of our beloved, most excellent and venerable Inten
dant, Daniel Pratt — the founder, builder, and de
voted friend of our town — who bias ever been to us,
and all the inhabitants of our now sad and bereaved
community, the synonym of all that is great and good

EULOGIES. 97
in man, and around whom, for many long years, our
people have delighted to gather and listen to, and
imbibe his words of patriotic wisdom and his sage
and most excellent counsel, and on whose staff we
have all been accustomed to lean, and by the light of
whose extraordinary wisdoim we have long been
safely and surely guided — to whom universal senti
ment unhesitatingly accorded the place of the head
of -our peaceful and prosperous town, and the fore
most man of our county. In a feeble attempt to give
expression to our deep sorrow under this great be
reavement, therefore, be it —
"Resolved, That while we submit with all humility,
and bow our heads with Christian resignation to this
afflicting dispensation of him who cannot err, yet we
cannot exclude from our hearts the bitter pangs of
poignant grief that our brightest ornament is taken
away ; that our great founder and extraordinary ex
emplar, who so wonderfully illustrated and embodied
in his remarkable character all the noble virtues and
the moral excellencies of lan efficient officer — a lib
eral, enterprising and public-spirited citizen and a
wise patriot — is cold in death ; and that our greatest,
best and noblest friend will never walk our streets
again, nor mingle with us, nor preside over our de
liberations. "Resolved, That while we deplore the depressing
conviction that the great light and glory of our town
has departed from our sight forever, yet we rejoice
that he lived to accomplish all -that a great patriot, a
devout Christian, a noble philanthropist, and a most
7

98 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
distinguished citizen and mian could do to benefit his
town, his country and his race ; and especially, as his
crowning excellence, that he did not omit that higher
function of turning their hearts and thoughts from
the alluring engagements and engrossing cares of this
transitory life to a higher and more enduring state
of existence beyond the grave ; and that, having fully
completed the record of a long and glorious life, full
of usefulness and good works ; having transmitted
to lasting fame, as a legacy for posterity, the long list
of his benefactions and charities, and having, nearly
four years since, rounded the full measure of three
score years and ten, he died, as the great and good
man would ask to die, at home, surrounded by fond
and devoted kindred and friends, and in the bosom
of the town which be had founded and built, and to
whose prosperity and happiness be had ardently de
voted the best years of his long and useful life, and
pillowing his dying head upon the hopes and promises
of that religion which had long been the solace of his
devout heart.
"Resolved, That in the future we will profit by the
good examples he has given us, and the grave lessons
which his life, character and death have taught us;
and having ever before us the noble example of our
departed associate, we will take courage and go on,
with new faith and renewed zeal, in the pathway of
usefulness and good works which his worthy example
has marked out for our feet.
"Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon
the minutes of the Council, and that an attested copy

EULOGIES. 99
of the same be transmitted by the Secretary to the
tereaved family of our beloved Intendant, with the
assurance of our heartfelt and respectful sympathy
in their irreparable loss ; and that a copy of the same
be furnished to the Autauga Citizen for publication.
"Geo. L. Smith,
"J. L. Alexander,
"Committee on Resolutions."
On motion of W. L. Ellis, the resolutions were
unanimously adopted.
The following resolution was offered by Mr. J. L.
Alexander :
"Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed
by the Intendant for the purpose of making the neces
sary preliminary arrangements for the holding of a
public meeting of the citizens of Prattville and
vicinity, at a time and place to be designated by the
committee, at which meeting eulogies will be pro
nounced upon the life and character of the Hon.
Daniel Pratt."
Said resolution was unanimously adopted, and
J. L. Alexander and W. L. Ellis were appointed said
committee. On motion, the Council then adjourned.
M. E. Pratt, Intendant.
Geo. L. Smith, Secretary.

100 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.

TRIBUTE OF RESPECT.
Pursuant to published notice, the citizens of Pratt
ville land vicinity assembled in the Methodist Church,
in this place, at ten o'clock on Tuesday, the 12th of
June. On motion of C-olonel L. Spigner, Rev. E. S. Smith
was called to the chair. In a few remarks, the Chair
man stated that we had assembled to pay public
tribute to the memory of our late friend and fellow-
citizen, the Hon. Daniel Pratt, deceased. In the death
of Mr. Pratt, our country has lost one of her most
enterprising, public-spirited men, humanity a bene
factor, and the church one of her brightest ornaments.
Such manifestations of public esteem were perfectly
fit and proper, and no place more suitable for such
than in a church built by the liberality and conse
crated by the many prayers of the deceased.
At the close of the Chairman's remarks, prayer was
offered by Rev. James K. Hazen.
On motion of Col. William H. Northington, J. W.
Matthews was requested to act as Secretary of the
meeting. After appropriate music by the choir, \he Chairman
announced the meeting organized and ready for busi
ness. In behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, Col.
T. W. Sadler presented and read the following pre
amble and resolutions, pending the adoption of which
eulogies on the life and character of the deceased

EULOGIES. loi
were pronounced by Col. H. J. Livingston, Mac. A.
Smith, Esq., Hon. C. S. G. Doster, Jesse H. Booth,
and W. H. Northington, Esqs. :
"Whereas, Death has invaded our county, and
taken from the walks of life our late and honored
fellow-citizen, Daniel Pratt; and whereas, by this
afflictive dispensation of a mysterious Providence, our
county has been deprived of one of its most useful
and public-spirited citizens, the community in which
he lived its head, and -one who looked with parental
solicitude upon every effort of honest industry — the
church of its chief support and brightest ornament,
and the poor and -distressed everywhere of their most
generous benefactor; and whereas' it is meet and
right that, while we mingle together our sorrows, we
should seek to honor his life by imitating his example
and perpetuating the memory of his noble deeds ;
therefore, be it —
"Resolved, That w-e recognize in this most painful
visitation of the angel of death the work -of him who
e ..-is too wise to err and too good to do wrong; that
while we feel and deplore the irreparable loss we have
sustained, we bow with thankfulness for the gift of
that life, so replete with blessings, so rich in good
works, and so abounding in lessons of truth and
virtue. "Resolved, That in reviewing his long and useful
life, we find the key to the mystery of his remarkable
success in everything which his hands found to do,
to have been his unwavering devotion to principle.

102 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
always condemning what he believed to be wrong,
and approving and sustaining what was right. His
position, therefore, whether with reference to public
policy or private interest, was never doubtful. To
be capable of discovering truth and detecting error,
was to be capable of defining, under all circumstances
and upon all questions, the position of the lamented
dead. "Resolved, That in his death the country has lost
one of its purest and most earnest patriots, virtue its
surest patron, the world one of its most generous
benefactors; one, the works of whose hands were
abundantly blessed, and the measure of whose days
was filled with usefulness — one who, in all good
works, was a pattern of excellence and a model
woi^thy of all imitation.
"Resolved, That while we mourn his loss, we bow
with resignation to the divine will in this sad bereave
ment, and will seek to imitate the virtues so. beauti
fully demonstrated in his blameless life.
"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be fur7
nished the editors of the Autauga and Montgomery
papers for publication."
The resolutions were then adopted. On motion of.
Col. William H. Northington, the meeting adjourned.
Rev. E. S. Smith, Chairman.
J. W. Matthews, Secretary.

EULOGIES. 103

EULOGY BY H. J. LIVINGSTON.
Mr. Chairman : Pending the adoption of the reso
lutions just offered by Colonel Sadler, I propose some
remarks in humble tribute to the memory of our de
parted fellow-citizen, the Hon. Daniel Pratt, who
quietly folded his arms in death on the morning of
May 13, 1873, and his enfranchised spirit took its
everlasting flight to the bosom of its God. In this
hour of public gloom, while the "footprints" of the
illustrious dead are yet fresh upon "the sands of
time," it is meet that we should assemble here to do
honor to his many virtues and com'mem-orate his
noble deeds — to trace the cliaracteristic features of
his exemplary life, and place them- upon the historic
page for the guidance of other generations.
It has been observed by a poet of renown'that "the
proper study of mankind is man." The biographical
history of Mr. Pratt affords a volume for study and
investigation more profitable to the youth of our time
rhan the brightest scintillations from the pen of
genius. Many hfeve become eminent for their learn
ing, and emblazoned their names high in the literary
iirm:ament of the world ; but, as is true of Voltaire,
Hume, Byron, and Bulwer, there has not appeared in
their moral character any evidence of a conservative
principle of intelligence adequate to the exigencies
of man's frailty and moral depravity. The essence of
genuine greatness consists in goodness. To whatever

304 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
heights genius may soar, all efforts are vain unless
the world is benefited thereby ; for —
" Talents angel bright, if wanting worth,
Are shining instruments in false ambition's hand
To finish faults illustrious, and give infamy renown."
In the broad fields of literatilre and science these may
play a conspicuous part ; but, in looking out upon the
^reat interests of time, and those which lie beyond its
mysterious confines, we are signaled from afar by
.the blight and mildew arising from their pernicious
teachings. In the hands of Justice, the scales are
-poised, and men must be vi^eigbed according to their
deeds and moral excellencies. It is, nevertheless,
true that men who are in immediate contact with the
living world rarely ever receive impartial criticism
-of thei'r acts and works. Man is liable to misconcep
tion in his time, both to his undue disparagement and
undue elevation ; but when "Death draws the drapery
of her couch around him" — when the feelings and
passions of his day have subsided — then the histo
rian can record his genuine worth and noble triumphs.
We see him, then, through his mighty deeds left
behind. As the islands of the azure sea are but
built-up casements of myriads of departed lives, and
the earth itself one vast catacomb, so we, who live
and move upon its surface, inherit the productions
and enjoy the fruits of those who have already jour
neyed to the silent city of the -dead. They have be
queathed us by far the larger and richer portion of
all that influences our thoughts and feelings, or min-

EULOGIES. 105
gles with the circumstances of our daily life. We
walk the streets they laid off, live in the houses they
buih, worship in the temples they erected, and enjoy
the towns and cities they founded.- We practice the
customs they established, and gather wisdom from
the books they have written ; we pluck the ripe clus
ters of their experience, and revel in the glory of
their brilliant achievements. Every noble work and
.generous deed, every word of comfort and expression
of sympathy, comes back to us through the dim aisles
of the past, and is attuned anew upon the tender
strings of "memory's golden lyre."
We feel this the more impressively upon entering
the customary place of one recently departed, and
behold on every side the accomplishment of his handi
work. Here we are assembled to-day in this beau
tiful temple, dedicated to God and his holy service ;
tut why these sombre habiliments of mourning —
these sad faces and tear-gemmed eyes on every side ?
Alas ! the vacant seat before me tells its own sad
story : Daniel Pratt, the founder of Prattville, the
patron of labor, the friend of humanity, the exemplar
of virtue, the synonym of honor, and the ernbodiment
of Christianity, is no more !
His life is an open book, filled with genuine ex
cellencies — on every page of which instructive les
sons are given to the living millions of to-day. Let
us turn over its leaves and examine the volume care
fully, that perchance we may gather the mellow fruits
of his labors, not for ourselves alone, but for the use
of generations yet unborn.

io6 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
The lamented deceased, Daniel Pratt, was born in
Temple, N. H., July 20, 1799. He was the son of
Edward Pratt and Asenath, .daughter of Ebenezer
Flint, of Wilton, N. H. From a scene before us, we
behold the house in which Daniel Pratt was born,
representing one of those quaint, comfortable man
sions of the old New England style. It requires no
scrutiny to discern it but an humble roof, the home
of an "honest yeoman" ; yet the broad fields of wav
ing grain in front denote "New England thrift,"
while in the rear of the ancient domicile rise the
cloud-capped summits of granite hills, presenting a
lovely picture to the artist's eye. And to this day
that venerable mansion of almost a hundred years is
still preserved in its simple proportions — the heri
tage of a worthy family. This is also the native place
of our honored fellow-citizen, Merrill E. Pratt, upon
whose shoulders, we trust, the mantle of the illus
trious deceased has fallen.
The limited pecuniary circumstances of Mr. Pratt's
parents rendered it impossible for them to give their
son collegiate advantages ; indeed, his entire school
education was embraced within the short period of
nine months, broken by intervals of the planting and
garnering seasons. Happily endowed by nature with
a mind remarkable rather for vigor than brilliancy,
he utilized his meagre store of learning to the best
advantage, thereby securing a firm foundation for
future success. A willing son of toil, and inspired
with a spirit of determination, at the age of sixteen
years he went forth alone from the paternal roof to

EULOGIES. 107
carve out his own fortunes, and apprenticed himself
to learn the carpenter's trade. Perceiving a more
extensive and profitable field of labor in the South
for the development of his energies, he removed from
the New England States, at -the expiration of his
apprenticeship, in the year 1819. Upon arriving at
Savannah, Ga., he had but twenty-five dollars and his
chest of tools. What a pittance on which to begin
the great battle of Hfe ! How many youth of our
country would have paused "upon the brink," and
finally fallen in the slough of despair! But not so
with our moral hero; arousing his energies for the
emergency, he began work with determined vim, ex-
emphfying the injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do, do it with all thy might." After the
expiration of two years, in 1821, he left Savannah,
moving into the interior of the State, with his finan
cial position much improved. In the vicinities of
Macon and Milledgeville he conducted his trade until
1831, when he moved to Clinton, Ga., and took charge
of the cotton gin manufactory -of Mr. Samuel Gris
wold, at that period the most extensive cotton gin
factory of the country. He superintended this estab
lishment one year, under contract, for five hundred
dollars ; after which time he became interested as a
partner in business until 1833. It was during his
sojourn in Macon, Ga., that he formed the acquaint
ance of Miss Esther Ticknor, who subsequently be
came the companion of his bosom, the sharer of his
toils, his fortune, and his fame. From Clinton he re
moved to Autauga county, Ala., with a few unfin-

io8 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
ished gins, making a temporary abode near Elmore's
Mills, in the eastern section of the county. During
the same year (1833) he leased McNeill's Mill (now
Montgomery's), on the rippling waters of Autauga
creek, one mile from its entrance into the Alabama
river ; here he remained toiling, under a lease of five
years. The fertility of our soil and salubrity of the climate
had already induced a tide of emigration hither, and
Alabama, at -this juncture, had begun to be peopled by
planters from the old States. The staple production
of the country being cotton, the demand for cotton
gins increased with great rapidity, and consequently
Mr. Pratt began to manufacture them on a still
more extensive scale. Already, at this early date,
were his gins receiving special attention, noted alike
for superior excellence and durability. Mr. Pratt had
thereby established for himself a reputation which
soon extended throughout the Southwestern States.
At the expiration of five years, however, he was un
able to negotiate another lease of Mr. McNeill's mill,
and consequently, from motives and circumstances
known only to himself, we perceive him ready to
abandon his noble work and return to his New Eng
land home — the first and only exhibition of discour
agement ever manifested in the numerous intricate
plans of his business career. To the companion of
his bosom he revealed his intentions ; but, contrary
to the yearning -promptings for her native hills, Mrs.
Pratt declined the tempting proposition, and with the
superior intuitive perception of woman, surveyed at a

EULOGIES. 109
glance the broad future expanse, advising Mr. Pratt
to remain South and perfect his plans for developing
the manufacturing interests of the country.
In the year 1838, Mr. Pratt purchased the tract of
land on which the town of Prattville is situated. At
that time it was an extensive swamp, with only the
water privileges of Autauga creek to recommend it.
To citizens generally it was considered an experi
mental and unprofitable investment. The first build
ing Mr. Pratt erected was a saw-mill, in 1839; then,
in course of time, a planing mill, flour mill and gin
factory. So rapid was the increase of Mr. Pratt's
business that he then found it expedient to establish
a house in New Orleans, where he erected a building
which proved to be one of the most convenient busi
ness establishments in the city.
Having been remarkably successful, his fortune by
this time had rapidly accumulated ; and instead of
hoarding it up with miserly hands, he exemplified the
true philanthropist by employing his vast means in
such a manner as would contribute the greatest
amount of good to the community in which he lived.
His attention was specially directed to that species
of labor which would induce concentration; fre
quently the mechanic, merchant and laborer were re
cipients of his bounty, while he ever regarded with
zealous care the progress of the village he fostered.
Under the guidance of his indomitable energy, the
limits of the town were rapidly enlarged; even
marshes were rendered tenable, streams changed from
their natural course, and mountainous hills yielded to

no Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
his herculean efforts. Soon a tide of emigration
flowed hither, and anon surrounding towns were ab
sorbed in the magic village of Prattville.
To the poorer classes of the community, Mr. Pratt
has ever been their greatest benefactor. The inspira
tion of this spirit prompted the erection of a cotton
manufactory in 1846, which has since been exten
sively enlarged, and is now one of the best-arranged
mills in the Southern States, consuming from twelve
to fifteen hundred bales of cotton annually, and giv
ing employment to hundreds of laborers. With the
accumulation of wealth, an extensive sash, door and
blind factory was erected; then, at a later date one
of the largest, most perfectly constructed gin manu
facturing establishments in the entire country, turn
ing out annually from twelve to fifteen hundred gins.
Then, in rapid succession, arose other shops — an ex
tensive iron foundry, elegant halls of learning, a com
modious Sabbath-school room, and a piagnificent
church (donation of Mr. Pratt's own munificent
bounty to the Methodist Episcopal denomination) ;
and all these splendid structures rising from the
magic touch of the master mechanic, who acknow
ledged "no criterion but success."
Let us take a retrospective glance of days long
since past, and for a moment consider what Prattville
was in 1838 — nothing but a dismal swamp, fit habi
tation only for the bear and panther — and contrast
it with this now beautiful village, nestling at the base
of innumerable hills, where hundreds of homes, with
happy hearts, toward the blue heavens rise —

EULOGIES. Ill
" Where the olive grows green, and the laurels of labor
Were -won in the wild, 'neatli our own Southern star."
Look where you may, on every side; behold the
productions of this mighty philanthropist, and do
you wonder, worthy auditors, that we revere the name
of Pratt ? — when every sound of the anvil, every
flight of the shuttle, and every revolution of the vast
wheel of machinery seem to resound eternal praises to
our great benefactor?
Ere I close, Mr. Chairman, permit me, as his his
torian, to dwell for a few moments upon Mr. Pratt's
political principles. A Whig of the Henry Clay and
Daniel Webster school, his patriotism embraced the
Union, his views were positive and well defined, and,
knowing them, he "dared maintain them." Ardent
in his devotion to the Union of the States, he re
mained unwavering in allegiance until Alabama tore
her star from the national flag in 1861. During the
memorable presidential campaign of i860, he was an
earnest supporter of John Bell and Edward Everett.
In his conversation and speeches he advised' modera
tion, asserting that the election of Abraham Lincoln
would not be a justifiable cause for secession ^ pre
dicting that in such a course the country would be
involved in a gigantic internecine war. The South
had been injured and insulted; but before entering
the field of deadly strife, wisdom, prudence and sound
policy dictated that she should prepare for the worst.
In a speech at Alida Hall, -he urged the South to
"build up her arsenals, her powder manufactories,
and establish her navies," ere she involved herself in

112 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
war. The wisdom of his suggestions in i860 was
established as prophetic in 1865. Yet, notwithstand
ing his violent aversion to war, when Alabama cast
her lot with the seceding States, he hearkened to her
voice, and knelt in allegiance at her shrine. The
infirmities of age rendered active service in the field
impossible, but his ample means were lavishly offered
upon the altar of her sacred cause. He expended
liberal donations in equipping the first company that
organized in this county (the Prattville Dragoons).
To the Lost Cause his purse-strings were never
closed ; and pardon the seeming egotism when I as
sert that to your humble servant he contributed seven
teen thousand dollars toward mounting and equipping
the regiment I bad the honor to command. This is
but one of his many princely donations, for his heart-
and hand were ever ready to respond to the call of his
adopted State.
Though much averse to entering the political arena,
he nevertheless yielded to the earnest entreaties of
his friends, and served in the Legislature of 1861-62
as representative from Autauga county. While serv
ing in that Assembly, his course was distinguished
alike for prudence and wisdom ; eminently conserva
tive in principle, his opinions were universally re
ceived as genuine emanations from a patriotic heart.
In the Democratic State Convention of 1870, he came
within a few votes of being nominated by that party
as their candidate for Governor ; and had it not been
for his extreme age, he would doubtless have re
ceived the nomination. Universally honored and be-

EULOGIES. 113
loved, he was the pride and model of all who knew
him well.
An earnest advocate of internal improvement, he
was ever alive to the development of the inexhaustible
resources of Alabama. Not only the influence of his
counsel and the treasures arising from a profound
comprehensive mind, but also the vast accumulated
wealth of years, has been freely poured into the lap
of his adopted State. The last crowning effort of his
eventful life was the successful establishment of the
Red Mountain Iron Works, thereby opening a mine
of mineral wealth to the country, the vast propor
tions of which were heretofore scarcely conceived.
Rising superior to the distressed condition of financial
affairs, Mr. Pratt devoted his time, means and energy
to this stupendous movement; and ere his eyelids
closed in the slumber of death, he was permitted to
see a village of six months' existence assuming grace
ful proportions, while from the glowing furnaces of
fronton the curling smoke mounted heavenward in
grateful attestation of his manifold noble services.
" All honor to him who has honored his station.
In the land where his labor its earnest has found —
Where the works of his hands are the pride of the nation.
And the worth of his heart is the hope of mankind."
May I presume upon your patience, attentive hear
ers, in order to make a passing comment upon Mr.
Pratt's Christian virtues ? — only for a moment, Mr.
Chairman — then entrust the pleasing subject to his
able biographer who succeeds me? A worthy exem-

114 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
plar of that charity which "vaunteth not itself," his
left hand remained in total ignorance of the bounties
his right bestowed. The widow's wail and the
orphan's cry ever met a responsive echo in his heart.
Born and reared in poverty, he well knew how to
appreciate the wants of the needy. Strangers he
clothed and fed, and to the sick he administered com
fort. Not restricted by limits of sectarian propriety,
he considered the poor of every creed, and bestowed
his charities with a lavish hand.
" As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake.
The center moved, a circle straight succeeds ;
Another still, and still another spreads;
Friend, parent, neighbor, first it will embrace —
His country next, and next all human race;
Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty blessed.
And Heaven beholds its image in bis breast."
How fondly we dwell upon the resplendent virtues
of this great -man — great in goodness, and great in
the love of his countrymen ! Yet Death has stalked
in our midst "with remorseless tread," despoiling
labor of her brightest jewel and the country of its
greatest benefactor.
Daniel Pratt is no more ; yet no marble shaft need
rear its head to perpetuate his fame. Every sound of
the hammer and blast of the forge, every ring of the
anvil and shove of the plane, every fly of the shuttle
and turn of the wheel, unite in bearing his illustrious
name down to posterity. These silent walls and fres
coed columns of this magnificent building are mutely
eloquent in praises to him who has elevated humanity.

EULOGIES. 115
Magnanimous in youth, great in life, and glorious in
death, he has bequeathed to posterity the inheritance
-of bis works, and erected his monument in the hearts
of his countrymen.
I now give in charge his name to future genera
tions. " The historic Muse,
Proud of her treasure, marches with it down
To latest times ; and Sculpture, in her turn,
Gives bond, in stone and ever-during brass.
To guard his fame and immortalize ber trust."

EULOGY BY MAC A. SMITH.
Mr. President and Bereaved Friends : Plutarch
tells us that Lysias once composed a speech with
which a criminal was to defend himself before a tri
bunal of justice. On its first perusal, this poor but
intelligent criminal pronounced it one of rare merit.
Its profound logic, the admirable construction of its
sentences, the stirring pathos of every line, and the
beauty of its well-rounded periods, he regarded as
a sure guarantee of bis triumphant vindication. On
a second perusal, however, it lost a portion of its
interest. He began to detect here and there, as he
supposed, defects in the reasoning, and to look for
ward with fear and trembling to the ordeal he was
soon to pass ; but he read it a third time, and what
think you was the consequence? He threw it aside
in disgust, and, turning to its immortal composer.

ii6 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
addressed him thus, "Lysias, O Lysias ! why, why
have you advised me to risk my fortune, my honor,
my happiness, my all, on so miserable a production ?"
Impressed as I am, my friends, with the conviction
that my remarks on this occasion will not be com
mensurate with its important character, yet I trust,
from its nature and the mournful circumstances
which surround us as a people, that you will not turn
from them in disgust, as did the unfortunate criminal
from the speech prepared by the eloquent Lysias ; for
if, perchance, I can but feebly enforce a single useful
lesson taught in the life of the great and good exem
plar whose character we are to contemplate to-day,
it will be to me a sufficient compensation for the em
barrassment consequent to the position.
But why this convocation of our citizens? Why
these evidences of mourning, these symbols of sor
row? Why is sadness depicted upon the counte
nances of our friends ? Why are their hearts bowed
down and "refuse to be comforted" ? Aye, why this
weeping of nature? Why does the cypress bend
lower, the willow droop more sadly, the air vibrate
with suppressed emotion? What means this voice of
mourning, coming from valley and hill, from stream
lets and riverside, from rural quiet and busy marts —
this pall of grief that spreads its sable folds over all
the land ? Hark ! listen ! — a voice speaks with sig
nificant intonation ! It is as if it were a solemn an
nouncement from the throne of the King of kings
and Lord of lords ! An appropriate answer is con
tained in the awful interrogatory of the inspired

EULOGIES. 117
writer, "Know ye not that a prince and great man
has fallen in Israel?" Verily, may we say to the
grim, insatiate monster —
" Now boast thee. Death ; in thy possession lies
A man unparalleled !"
It is highly proper, my afflicted friends, that we
should assemble at this time — as has been already
remarked by the reverend Chairman of this meet
ing — and engage in profitable contemplation of the
late untoward dispensation of Providence. Amid the
first paroxysms of a grief occasioned by such an over
whelming calamity, we were ill prepared "to reason
one with another" with regard to the virtues and
characteristics of the noble dead founder of our town.
You demonstrate, by your assemblage here, that it is
not your desire or inclination to expel from your
hearts the sad reflections occasioned by -the lamentable
death of the revered patriarch of our community.
"Sorrow for the dead," says the great Irving, "is
the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced.
Every other wound we seek to heal, every other afflic
tion to forget ; but this wound we consider it a duty
to keep open — this affliction we cherish and brood
over in solitude. No ; the love which survives the
tomb is one of the noblest attributes of the soul.
Though it may sometimes throw a passing cloud even
over the bright hour of gaiety, or spread a deeper
sadness over the dark hour of gloom, yet who would
exchange it even for the song of pleasure or the burst
of revelry. There is a voice from the tOmb sweeter

Ti8 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
than song ; there is a recollection of the dead to which
we turn even from the charms of the living. Oh !
the grave, the grave ! it buries every error, covers
every defect, extinguishes every resentment." And
especially is it true of the grave'of our lost -guardian
and benefactor, that from its peaceful bosom spring
none but fond regrets and tender recollections. If
lie died leaving an enemy behind him (which I very
much doubt, let him go and look down upon his
grave, and feel a compunctious throb that ever he
should have warred with the poor handful of earth
that lies mouldering before him !
My earliest recollection of Mr. Pratt dates back
to the time when I first, as a small child, attended
the Union Sabbath-school in Prattville. He became
my immediate Sabbath-school teacher, and as often
as the holy day would return was I accustomed to
being drilled by him in questions touching the his
torical portions of the Scriptures. By his care, kind
ness and solicitude, my heartstrings were made to
cling closely around the good old man ; and these, I
may .add, were never broken throughout his subse
quent life, but, on the contrary, they rather "grew
with my growth and strengthened with my strength."
I trust that I may not be charged with egotism for
stating, in this connection, that ,my teacher became
very much attached to his pupil in return. Of this
I have sufficient evidence when I remember that he
reported to my father that my Sabbath recitations
were perfect, and that, in view of what he supposed
to be a bright promise of a successful future, he asked

EULOGIES. 119
permission to superintend and even bear the expense
of my subsequent education. This proffered kindness
was, of course, gratefully declined. But it caused me,
however, to at once enthrone my venerable teacher,
in my boyish mind, as the prince of good men, as a.
benefactor and philanthropist; and I rejoice to-day
that I am at last enabled to make even a mean return
in so much, forsooth, as to pronounce but an indiffer
ent eulogy upon his- hallowed life and character. His
"life and character," did I say ? What are they ? Do-
they afford a theme proper for meditation — a sub
ject worthy of investigation? Aye, never, never did
the words of -the immortal Bard of Avon more sea
sonably occur ! They are —
" A combination and a form, indeed.
Where every god did seem to set his seal
To give the world assurance of a man.''
It is now my purpose to speak more particularly of
the achievements made by the distinguished deceased
in the d-epartm-ent of art, or of his very marked devo
tion to the arts. To other eulogists will be resigned
the duty of portraying more vividly his successes in
other spheres of labor, and illustrations of other char
acteristics and idiosyncrasies. The department of art,
especially the mechanical art, was evidently the fav
orite field -or element of Mr. Pratt. It was with him,
in other words, the ne plus ultra of avocations. In
it he earliest tested his youthful skill and energies,
spent the greater porition of his long and useful life,
achieved his highest distinction, and amassed his.
largest fortune.

-120 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
As has been remarked by the gentleman who pre
ceded me, at the tender age of sixteen he apprenticed
himself to learn the carpenter's trade. We thus per
ceive that at a very early period he enlisted in the
mechanical art, and laid the foundation of that char
acter whose wondrous beauty and perfect symmetry
we -are contemplating to-day with mingled emotions
of sadness and admiration. What an example is here
.afforded, what a lesson is here taught to the youth
¦of our land ! The avocation which Mr. Pratt selected,
and his subsequent career in its prosecution, furnish
a grand and striking illustration of the importance
and dignity of labor. It is at once a powerful answer
and cotnplete refutation to all that we sometimes hear
said in fashionable circles in reference to the pro
priety of selecting the so-called "respectable occupa
tions." Who, let me inquire, was, while living, more
respected and honored, and, now that he is dead, is
more lamented and deplored, than Daniel Pratt? and
yet he entered upon the grand drama of life as a
mere carpenter's apprentice ! To use the words of
one who appreciated the subject, "Toil, either of the
brain, of the heart, or of the hand, is the only true
manhood, the only true nobility." And for myself, I
unhesitatingly say to you, my friends, that there is no
more respectable man among us than the honest,
hard-working mechanic; and I trust that, so long as
we are mindful of the strong tenure which the hon
ored dead had, and still has, upon our regard and
affections, we will remember that it is not the bare
occupation which confers respectability, but that —

EULOGIES. 121
" Honor and shame from no condition rise ;
Act well your part — there all the honor lies !"
The good old poet,' Burns — who wrote as sweetly
as the silvery streams of his native heath were wont
to purl in musical ripples — never penned a truer
sentiment than the trite quotation :
'¦ The rank is but the guinea's stamp ;
A man's a man for all that."
Trace our deceased friend from his humble begin
ning — when thrown into a heartless and selfish
world as a poor tyro in the mechanical trade, without
any of the adventitious circumstances of fortune, -or
.a helping hand to sustain him over life's rugged path
way — and follow him as he makes his gradual, but
steady and unfaltering, .ascent to the acme of his
wonderful achievements, or to -the zenith of his unex
ampled prosperity, -and tell me how much is there
in his splendid career, luminous as it is all along with
noble deeds, which should evoke the unstinted praises,
the loudest plaudits, and the warmest admiration of a
just, generous and virtuous humanity!
In 1821, Mr. Pratt removed from Savannah (where
he first located after coming South), and took up
his abode at Milledgeville, Ga., in and around which
latter city be followed the business of house-building.
I am here again constrained to ask pardon for a per
sonal reference. While the deceased resided at Mil
ledgeville, he erected a dwelling-house for a citizen
living a short distance in the country, in which it was
my fortune to board during a part of my collegiate

122 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
career. At the time, however, I was accustomed to
taking meals beneath its roof, it did not stand where
it was originally located by Mr. Pratt ; but my host,
the gentleman who superintended its removal, in
formed me that the workmen who were engaged in
tearing down and displacing its various timbers fre
quently remarked the manifest care and honesty dis
played by the original builder in its construction and
in fasteiiing together its different parts. This fidelity,
I may here remark, exhibited at so early a dajte, in
the erection Of a rural abode in an agricultural section
of the State of Georgia, was a distinguishing feature,
of every specimen of bis workmanship. Excellence
in all undertakings was the goal of his ambition. In
the glorious but bloodless victories which he achieved,
the shibboleth by which his own energies were ever
rallied, was the sage motto of Dr. Franklin, "What
is worth doing at all is worth doing well." Or, it
may be said of him that he "made some conscience
of what he did," as was Cromwell's habit in alluding
to the almost incredible achievements of his invin
cible old Ironsides.
In 1829 or 1830, we are told, Mr. Pratt abandoned
the scene of his labors about Milledgeville, and lo
cated at Clinton in the same State, where, with Mr.
Samuel Griswold, he engaged in the manufacture of
cotton gins until his removal to Alabama, which oc
curred some time in the year 1831. He first located,
in this State, in the county of Elmore, near the water
privilege commonly called Elmore's Mill, where he
remained only about one year, and manufactured fifty

EULOGIES. 123
He then settled in Autauga county,
leasing the water privilege now known as Mont
gomery's mill, on Autauga creek, one mile from
Washington Landing, on the Alabama river, and
three miles from the present town of Prattville.
After the expiration of his term of lease, in 1838,
he purchased the tract of land on which Prattville
is situated. He commenced at this point by building
a saw-mill in 1839, then a planing mill, then a flour
and grist mill, -and next a gin factory. In 1846 he
built a cotton factory, and shoi^tly afterward an iron
foundry. At a later date he built the sash and blind
factory. With the history and the operations of all
these various buildings and manufactories, you are
all more or less familiar. My purpose in alluding
to them is to illustrate his devotion to the mechanical
art, which all w/ho have studied his glorious career
will admit was the controlling and predominant senti
ment of his great heart, as he heroically struggled
forward in carving out his own way to honor, to for
tune, and to usefulness. Without these various insti
tutions which have sprung up all around us through
the talismanic influence of Mr. Pratt's wonderful
genius, let us pause and inquire, where and what
would be our town? A bowling waste or wilder
ness — a town without thrift, without enterprise,
without life, without inhabitant! Could the last ves
tige of his works and improvements be swept away
by the besom of destruction, then how apropos would
be the apostrophe addressed by Goldsmith to "Sweet
Auburn," the "Deserted Village" :

124 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
" Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn.
Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn :
Amid thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen.
And desolation saddens all thy green.
Amid thy desert walks the lapwing flies.
And tires their echoes with unvaried cries.
Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all,
And the long grass o'ertops the mould' ring wall;
And trembling, shrinking from the spoil-er's hand.
Far, far. away, thy children leave the land."
On the other hand, let us for a moment reflect upon
what this great man has accomplished through art.
His devotion to art has built a beautiful town in this
valley, picturesquely nestled among the hilly watch-
towers which Nature constructed at the foundation
of the world ; it has caused the banks of the pellucid
stream, which majestically courses on its way through
the heart of Prattville, to resound with the busy notes
of the sweet song of a diversified industry; it has
made our town no unimportant locality in the geogra
phy of the. country, and constituted it at once the
synonym of a prosperous and happy community ; it
has done more — it has given employment and sus
tenance to hundreds, and I may say thousands, from^
first to last, who otherwise would have been idle,
destitute and wretched; it has made us all, either
-directly or indirectly, the debtors or beneficiaries of
the immortal dead ; and finally, it has made the name
and fame of Daniel Pratt and his celebrated cotton
gins as familiar as household words all over the land
of the orange and cotton bloom, or coextensive with
the broad limits of our common country !

EULOGIES. 125
The silversmiths of Ephesus, who were employed
in fashioning little shrines, altars, and other symbols,
which were used in the worship accorded by the
populace to Diana, would cry out, when approached
on the subject of their trade, "Great is Diana of the
Ephesians !" This was owing to a knowledge, on
their part, that it was to this divinity they were in
debted for their ill-gotten gains, and if the religion
of the people were destroyed, their "occupation," like
Othello's, would be "gone" ; hence they lustily
shouted, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians !" Aye,
my friends, we mourn here to-day the death of one
who was more real, who was purer, better and nobler
by far — was more of a boon, a blessing tO' the world
and a benefactor to humanity — than all the deities
that peopled the brains and figure'd in the imagina
tions of the besotted inhabitants of tlie mythological
ages 1
But not alone, respected friends, did our distin
guished deceased neig'hbor -exhibit a devotion to the
mechanical art proper ; he also manifested a natural
or native taste and fondness for the finer art of paint
ing. How many of us remerriber with admiration the
splendid gallery of paintings once attached to his late
residence ! Oh ! how often, with a boyish fancy for
beautiful pictures, would I resort to that pleasant
retreat, and gaze for hours upon the canvassed scenes
of past grandeur and greatness ! ¦ Upon its richly
adorned walls might have been seen splendid repre
sentations of the "Interior of St. Peter's Church,"
"The Last Supper," "The City of Rome," "The

126 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
Roman Forum," "The Bay of Naples," "The Annun-
Qiation," "The Landing of Columbus," "The Captives
of Judah," "Christ and Mary Magdalen in the Gar
den," "The Landing of Cleopatra," as well as full and
half-length portraits of George Washington, Henry
"Clay, John C. Calhoun, Bishop Soule, and other
celebrities. Nor is this all the evidence of this interesting fea
ture of his character. About the ye'ar 1843, when
Mr. Pratt visited New Orleans for the purpose of
securing a suitable depository for his cotton gins in
that city, he purchased there a lot, and, as soon as
practicable, had erected thereon a large four-story
building for the objects of the proposed depository.
While in the Crescent City, superintending the erec
tion of this building, he became acquainted with the
artist, George Cooke, and, at no inconsiderable outlay
of money, he appropriated and fitted up the third
and fourth stories, converting them into one vast
apartment as a studio for the artist and a gallery of
paintings, to be embellished with the finest produc
tions of artistic genius. At one time it was said to
have rivaled the most tasteful collection in the coun
try. The gallery connected with his Prattville resi
dence was erected after the establishment and com
pletion of the one in New Orleans ; and to give you
an idea of the labor and expense attendant upon the
execution of the fine specimens which were pendent
from its walls, I will state, from reliable authority,
that Mr. Cooke was sedulously engaged for three suc
cessive summers in painting the masterpiece of the

EULOGIES. 127
gallery. I, of course, allude to the magnificent view
of the "Interior of St. Peter's Church." This splen
did copy was afterward presented by the generous-
hearted patron of the artist to the University of Geor
gia, at Athens. These facts from the history of the
great man who has fallen are cited to show that he
was, in truth,- no casual admirer of the divine art in
which the old masters, Raphael and Michael Angelo,
excelled, and that beneath his practical, business-like
exterior there lurked a well-spring of genuine admira
tion of the true and the beautiful. He was em
phatically a friend to the artist, and was passionately
fond of the lovely creations of his brush and easel.
I would Hke to speak in detail of the other traits
of the character of the deceased ; but I fear that I
have too long encroached upon the time of the elo
quent gentlemen who are to follow me. The great
and good man, with years and honors "clustering
thick upon him," was certainly distinguished for
many noble and ennobling virtues and characteristics.
I will not contend that he was wholly devoid of de
fects and foibles, for these are the common inherit
ance of erring humanity. "E'en his faults leaned to
virtue's side" ; or, in other words, his imperfections
and peccadillos were of such a trivial character that
they "paled their ineffectual fires," and were com
pletely eclipsed by the many noble and shining quali
ties with which his useful life was gloriously radiant.
His philanthropy was of the broadest and most com
prehensive nature. Truly may it be said of him that
he was blessed with that "touch of sympathy which

128 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
makes the whole world kin." His patriotism was
of the purest and most fervid type; no sacrifice or
effort was considered too great when coming in the
way which its generous promptings urged him to
follow. During the late civil revolution, which
drenched our land in fraternal blood, and resulted in
the defeat and subjugation of the Southern Confed
eracy, he contributed, from first to last, about two
hundred thousand dollars in the vain endeavor of
our struggling people to achieve a separate and inde
pendent existence ! The deeds of charity and benevo
lence which he systematically performed, without
"letting his right hand know what his left hand did,"
have entitled him to a rank with Howard, Clarkson,
Fry, Wilberforce, and others. In his intercourse with
the world, nothing was more observable than his very
marked independence and individuality of character.
As a friend of education and the great cause of the
mental development and improvement of his species,
he had but few peers, and certainly no superiors, giv
ing liberally (as he frequently did) of his bounteous
means to the establishment and maintenance of the
literary institutions of the country. As a Christian
man or religious character, aye! he was like Job of
old, "He feared God and eschewed evil" — this beau
tiful temple (as before remarked by the respected
Chairman of this meeting), erected at his own ex
pense to the worship of Almighty God, testifying in
some measure to his devotion to the cause of his Lord
and Master.
But why dwell upon the beauties and excellencies

EULOGIES. 129
of character which the life of this singularly pure
and upright man so forcibly illustrates ? The thought
is truly harrowing to the heart and mind when we
reflect that the beloved Nestor and the revered pater
familias of our town and county has bade us farewell
forever ! He is to-day indifferent alike to censure
and to flattery, which the elegist has well said "cannot
soothe the dull, cold ear of death." What recks he
for our eulogiums and words of doleful panegyric ?
He is far, far above them all ; he hears, he heeds them
not. " As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm,
Tho' round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head !"
Yes, it is true, sadly true, that we will never more
behold the physical form of our lost friend and bene
factor, and we shall never again hear the accents of
truth and wisdom falling from his revered lips ; yet
I trust, if it were possible, that his disembodied spirit
may still linger in our community, hovering above
us as a minist-ering and guardian angel, to lead and
direct our little town into ways that will redound to
the welfare, happiness and prosperity of its people !
In conclusion, permit me, Mr. President and sor
row-stricken friends, to express the hope that each
and all of us may practice the great lessons which his
very exemplary life has taught us. May we inherit
his wonderful energy and indomitable perseverance.
May his course and example be, in many other re-
9

130 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
spects, our guide, our pattern and source of frequent
reference ! In this way alone can we render just
honor to his memory. He has built these noble struc
tures and this beautiful town as his own monument.
"We, and those who come after us in successive
generations, are its appointed, its privileged guard
ians." Let us preserve it from dilapidation and
decay. To use the idea and, to some extent, the
words of a great orator in reference to a monument
to Washington, let it stand before the world in all
its original strength and beauty, securing peace, order
and employment to all within its boundaries, and
shedding light and hope and joy upon the pathway
of all its inhabitants — and he needs no other monu
ment. Nor does he need even this. This town may
perish ; star by star its glories may expire ; brick
by brick this noble sanctuary and those stately manu
factories may moulder and crumble ; all Other names
which adorn its annals may be forgotten — but as
long as human hearts shall anywhere pant, or human
tongues shall anywhere plead for human sympathy
and an exhibition of true greatness of soul, those
hearts shall enshrine the memory, and those tongues
shall prolong the fame of the great and noble Daniel
Pratt !
" His name, as passing years shall roll,
Shall brighter shine on glory's scroll ;
Old age shall love to tell his fame,
And youth with reverence speak his name."

EULOGIES. 131

EULOGY BY C. S. G. DOSTER.
Mr. Chairman : I cheerfully second and fully en
dorse the resolutions introduced by Colonel Sadler.
They truthfully express, in language forcible and elo
quent, our feelings consequent upon the common loss
which now oppresses every heart in our community,
in the death of our distinguished friend. When I
look around me to-day over this large and serious
assemblage, I see, in the gloomy face of every one, a
cloud of sadness — a settled conviction, forcing itself
upon all, that the shadows of a great bereavement
have gathered about every hearthstone in our county.
We mourn the death of a good citizen, a benefactor,
a philanthropist, a patriot, and a Christian. It is meet
and highly proper that the citizens of this town and
county should gather in earnest, sad, and full con
course, in this spacious and beautiful temple, erected
by his liberality, and consecrated by his tears and
devotion, to honor and pay homage to the memory
of the noble and generous man, whom in life we have
delighted to respect and venerate, now that he has
been gathered forever from the shadowy scenes of
earth. Respect for ourselves and gratitude for all
the good works, the charities and many benefactions
of the noble dead, appeal to us and demand at our
hands that we do all in our power, and render avail
able every opportunity to pay tribute to the memory
of his great worth and merit.
Great men are regarded as among the best gifts

132 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
which Providence bestows upon a people. This, in a
great degree, is true ; but it is only true of those who
acquire their title to greatness and win their way up
the rugged steps of fame by a long series of noble
deeds and good works. True glory is based upon
benevolence and benefaction. In the history of the
human family, men have often risen in the world and
attained a wide-spread fame, whose reputations are
coextensive with the countries in which they live —
yea, whose nam-es have taken the wings of the morn
ing and gone to the utmost confines of civilization —
who had none of the elements and good qualities of
true greatness. Some have occupied high places in
fame's proud temple, and have gone down to pos
terity wrapt in the mantle of greatness, whose deeds
fill the bloodiest pages in their country's history.
Others, more deserving, justly attain to this noble
distinction through the fruitful harvest of a useful
life, abounding in good works. Our county, whose
history is dear to all of us, has, within the present
century, been visited by and become the scene of some
of the exploits of two illustrious men, representative
men of their class, -w'ho fully illustrate these diverse
characters. In- 1812, when the aborigines of our
country, the Creek Indians, owned and occupied our
territory — then their happy hunting-grounds —
gamboled in the primeval forests and sported in the
limpid waters of -our beautiful streams, there crossed
that magnificent stream, the Alabama river, just
below where now is Washington Ferry, the world-
renowned warrior, the brave but bloodthirsty Te-

EULOGIES. 133
cumseh. He came into our county on a mission
of blood — fired with .ambition and an implacable
hatred, and breathing vengeance and destruction to
our race. In the noted Indian town of Autauga, near
the junction of the beautiful creek of that name,
which flows through Prattville, with the Alabama
river, and where the town of Washington was sub
sequently built, this mighty chief addressed to a large
concourse of admiring Indians his first great speech
in his grand campaign and bloody crusade against the
whites. He came with a calvalcade from the far-off
lakes of the Northwest, to arouse and consolidate the
divided Indian tribes of the South and West in a
great war of extermination against the white inhabi
tants of the Union. His was a grand scheme of car
nage and destruction. His purpose is graphically
written in the bloody history of subsequent wars.
Read it, my hearers, in a score of gory battle-fields,
Jn the battle-scarred plains of the Northwest, in in
effable massacre and carnage, in the scalps and tor
ture of a thousand innocent victims, and in the
charred remains and burning homes of hundreds of
helpless families. His bloody and ferocious achieve
ments gave liim a mighty name ; but ¦w'hat a name !
His long list of atrocious crimes rise up against him,
to testify as bloody but truthful witnesses at the
inevitable bar of justice and history. Time passed
on ; the red man, the race of the cruel TecumsCh, dis
appeared from -our hills and valleys "like froSt-work
before the morning sun." Our race, the race of
civilization and progress — whose onward march no

134 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
barrier Can impede — came to occupy the lonely hunt
ing-grounds of the retiring Indian and to people these
fruitful valleys. In 1833 — but twenty-one years
after ithe bloody, but eloquent and valiant, chief had
first planted his feet upon our soil, and had swept
through the land in his warlike expedition — there
came into our county, then sparsely -populated and
wanting in enterprise, another, but far nobler adven
turer, a native of the granite State of New Hamp
shire, burning with the glowing fires of a laudable
and exalting ambition, a young man of indomitable
will and indefatigable energy. His was a mission
of peace, not of war; he came Ito build up, not to
destroy ; his soul was the prolific laboratory of noble
schemes, and was replete with enterprise, but it was
in the peaceful pursuits of life. In early life his
heart abounded with benevolent emotions, and bis
eye was fixed with the inspiration of lofty hopes. All
his aims and aspiration, great as they were, led alone
in the direction -of human happiness, and harmonized
with the best interests of his fellow-man. He came
and settled among this people, and shared all their
fortunes. He was willing to cast his lot with them.
His sagacious eye soon discovered the great advan
tages of our magnificent water-power, and with his
accustomed energy he made haste to utilize them.
After spending about one year at Elm-ore's Mill, then
in Autauga county, laboriously engaged in putting
together the materials for fifty cotton-gins wliicb he
had purchased from his former partner, Samuel Gris
wold — with whom he had for two vears been asso-

EULOGIES, 135
dated at Clinton, Ga., in the manufacture of cotton-
gins — and which he had hauled in wagons from
Clinton to Elmore's Mill, through a wild and danger
ous region, inhabited by an Indian tribe whose grow
ing unfriendliness threatened actual hosltilities, he
leased the water-power at McNeill's Mill, on the
Autauga creek, three miles south of Prattville. Here
he lived and toiled, with almost unparalleled as
siduity, for five years, upon the banks of this beau
tiful stream, whose perennial flow of limpid waters
now laves the base -of the lofty hill whose towering
crest contains all that is mortal of Daniel Pratt, the
illustrious founder of our town. Thrift and pros
perity were the legitimate sequences of his well-
directed and herculean efforts. He was anxious to
purchase the lands embracing McNeill's Mill — as
he said to. your humble speaker on several occasions —
because he much admired the locality, and regarded
it highly eligible as the site of a town. But Provi
dence .designed it otherwise ; and his efforts in this
direction proving unavailing, he purchased from Jo
seph May, at a price then regarded exorbitant, the
site of Pratltville, with a large body of contiguous
lands. His wonderful enterprise and genius began
at once their active and untiring work of develop
ment 'and improvement. His extraordinary energy
and wisely-directed labors at once, as if by thte touch
of a magician's wand, marked a mighty change in
the wild aspect of everything about him. By dint
of his indomitable perseverance he soo-n hewed,- out
of a dreary solitude, the foundations of a town. He

136 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
went to work to conquer, and did gloriously conquer
all obstacles. His whole history is a verification of
the truth of that old Latin maxim, "Improbis labor
omnia vincit." He discovered and opened up new
fields of enterprise. Our then swampy precincts and
marshy wilderness, the lonely habitude of the croak
ing frog, fit only for the hiding-place of the solitary
owl and bat, he converted into the happy homes of
many flourishing villagers. But for his genius, his
enterprise and laudable ambition, the prosperous town
of Prattville — now the seat of the arts, commerce and
manufactures, the comfortable home of more than
two thousand thrifty and happy people, the county
seat of Autauga, and the principal town of the county,
where ith-e hum of industry is ever heard, inspiring
activity, and -schools and churches abound and rejoice
in successful operation — would not to-day have had
a place in geography. With a generosity worthy of
his lofty nature, his beneficent genius opened up new
occupations for the industrious poor, and encouraged
a diversity of pursuits. He fostered enterprise with
a liberal hand, and advocated and promoted the
growth of different industries. With the commend
able spirit of a benefactor, he provided homes for
the homeless ahd gave employment to the needy. He
furnished a large number of persons in necessitous
circumstances with well-requited labor for the sub
sistence of their families. He fully appreciated the
rectitude of the maxim that true charity to the poor
consists, when there is ability to work, in furnishing
them an abundance of honest and well-paid employ-

EULOGIES. 137
ment. In all this he was a benefactor, and tlie blessed*
fruits of his enlarged benefactions are being grad
ually but surely gathered up, "like bread cast upon
the waters." The rich treasures of his long-continued
beneficence will never be realized and properly appre
ciated until the solemn ushering-in of that great day
inevitable in the impending future as destiny, ¦w'hen
the deeds of men and the records of earth shall all be
fully disclosed.
He early imbibed the true idea of civilization from
his hardy ancestors in his native New England. He
fully understood and harmonized with the correct
moral idea and social truth that the great civilizers
and promoters of human happiness are the church
and school-house. They are the potent instrumen
talities and auspicious harbingers of human progress
and social reform. Wherever they abound and flour
ish, there you find refinement, happiness and pros
perity. Their reign is the benign dispensation of
light, of joy, and true civilization among the tribes
of men. Mr. Praitt was the fast friend of education,
moral and intellectual. He had intense faith in the
mighty ptower and efficiency of a blended and co
operative education of head and heart. He always
eschewed an ostentatious display of his charities and
gifts. The Bible injunction of withholding from the
left hand a knowledge "of what the right hand
doeth," was fully observed by him, and never better
illustrated than in his life. He seemed to desire to
conceal from the public — yea, even from his intimate
friends — a true estimate of his many liberal dona-

138 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
• tions. But notwithstanding his marked and peculiar
reticence upon the subject, we know that he bestowed
thousands of dollars upon different educational insti
tutions throughout the country. Many a scholastic
enterprise, for years past languishing under the op
pressive incubus of a want of money, has felt the
electric touch of his vitalizing liberality. Every such
enterprise in our community has imbibed the inspira
tion of existence in his profuse and life-imputing
donations. Behold yonder beautiful academic edifice,
whose lofty spire greets the first rays of the morn
ing sun ! There, in those halls consecrated to educa
tion, our children gather from year to year, and we
hope will assemble from generation to generation, in
the tuition and cultivation of their intellects. His
munificent liberality duplicated the contributions of
its other generous builders. There it proudly stands,
and will continue to stand, a blessing to all, and a
fountain of knowledge for our children, who must
soon assume our places ! — a noble monument, ever
proclaiming, "if aught inanimate e'er speaks," the
munificent liberality and public spirit of our great
founder. The splendid school-house and church of
our colored people — so highly appreciated by them,
their pride and their glory — and the lot on which
they stand, were a free offering from bim to them.
That race should honor and revere his memory, be
cause he was their friend, and did for them many
acts of charity. Wherever the cause of education,
religion or humanity was staked, there he rallied with
a liberal hand and an open purse. He came among

EULOGIES. 139
us without any of those adventitious circumstances
that ordinarily contribute to bum-an success. He
could boast of no long line of illustrious ancestors.
No w-ealfhy kindred or powerful friends held up his
arms and opened' the way to easy triumph, in the
long and rugged course of his arduous labors and
sore trials. When he came to link his destinies with
those of our people, he was poor, a stranger, and
with very limited -educational advantages. His hard
lot in early life confined him to a scholastic training
of but a few months. Being a Northern man by
birth, he had sectional and local prejudices (which
were then Strong) operating against him. He was
independent in action, full of individuality, never tem
porized, and ignored and contemned time-serving and
mere expediency. He arose — - bravely and fearlessly
overcoming all obstacles, despite all opposition — by
the dint of perseverance and by the main strength
of his own worth and true merit. In his lofty ascent
up the rugged mountains of difficulty to the proud
heights to which be finally attained, he was aided
and sustained alone, under Providence, by his strong
and indomitable will, his unconquerable energy, and
his unwavering faith, guided by the unfailing light
-of his sagacious genius.
A few years ago, when responding to a call from
his neighbors and friends, in relating, at their request,
incidents connected with the early history of Pratt
ville, be stated that when he bought the lands em
bracing the site of our town, and began to give shape
and form to the chaos and wild scenery around him.

140 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
his greatest desire was to see schools and churches
established in the rising village which he was labor
ing indefatigably to build. This noble aspiration
evinced a philanthropic ambition. It demonstrated
that his heart was in. the right place, and that it
abounded with humanitarian sentiments. His subse
quent life, replete with commendable example and
good works, beautifully harmonized with the noble
aspirations that formed and gilded the bright dream
of his earlier years. He lived to reahze the full
fruition of the golden hopes that fired the lx)som of
the early founder. He possessed a far-seeing judg
ment, excelled in economy, 'and was decidedly a
utilitarian. Other speakers, by arrangement, have discussed
the biography, and have eloquently presented for your
admiration the devotion of Daniel Pratt to the arts
and sciences. Upon these highly entertaining sub
jects they have fully covered the field of panegyric.
On this interesting but sad occasion, the Christian
character of our departed friend, ""standing forth so
prominently in his useful life, deserves more than a
passing notice. At an early period of his history, that
potent and vital truth, which deserves and demands
constant recognition from the immortal soul, sank
deeply into his great heart, that —
" 'Tis not all of life to live.
Nor all of death to die;"
that beyond the vale of this fleeting existence there
surelv is a life of immortality. He justly regarded

EULOGIES. 141
this life as a state of probation — as a pilgrimage
from the shadows of -this transitory state to a higher,
better, purer and more enduring life beyond the
grave. He felt that man's spiritual nature and eter
nal interests demand for him a place and a name in
the church of Christ. He therefore, in 1832, united
himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church. From
that time, through the long years of his subsequent
toil — through trials, tribulations, temptations and
triumphs — he was an earnest, .zealous, living, work
ing and faithful member of this church, until spirit
wings, in glorious victory, bore him from the church
militant here to his more congenial home in the
Church triumphant in heaven. He loved the church,
because he regarded it, under Providence, as the
blessed instrumentality for the salvation of the world.
He viewed everything sublunary as subordinate and
always secondary to his religious duties. The world,
with all its honors, its pleasures and emoluments, he
held about him as a loose garment, ready at any
moment to be cast aside at the call of spiritual duty.
His life was an extraordinary' unison and harmonious
blending of the religious and temporal duties. In
his remarkable character itfhey seemed to be beau
tifully interwoven, and to affectionately intertwine
about each other. His life fully illustrates how ad
mirably the Christian virtues adorn the thorough
business man, and how greatly they improve and
elevate him in the faithful discharge of his temporal
duties. Though for uJDward of forty years he was a
member of the Alethodist Church, yet he possessed

142 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
no sectarian spirit. He was no religious zealot, no
intolerant bigot ; no, far from it. He was liberal
and tolerant in all his religious views. He was the
friend and well-wisher of all orthodox denominations,
and he contributed largely in material aid to other
churches outside of his own. He regarded them all
as tributary to the great cause of Christ, and as neces
sary subdivisions in that grand army of militant hosts,
ever marching -onward, with flying banners and
shouts of victory, to, the conquest of sin and the
evangelization of the world. There is a strong pro
priety in our meeting here to do honor to the memory
of this good man. With this place and this grand
temple, his image is indissolubly associated. How
suggestive is everything around us of his Christian
virtues I Look at this beautiful churdh edifice, that
splendid Sabbath school-room, these offices, those
commodious store-rooms and offices below, this entire
splendid brick structure — costing him over twenty
thousand dollars in gold, and the lot embracing the
same; all this, in the munificence of his liberality,
be gave to assist in the support of the pastorate of
the church of which he died a consistent member.
Evoked by the potent genius of the place, the departed
hours and the departed man com-e back again. Here
we have been accustomed to behold him, walking with
tottering steps along these aisles, and occupying his
wonted seat. Sabbath after Sabbath, as many recur
ring years coursed slowly away. But alas ! for us —
for the church and humanity — he is gone from
among us. The familiar tread of his footfalls will

EULOGIES. 143
resound along these corridors no more forever. We
shall never again here look upon his venerable form,
leaning upon his staff. He has here sung his last
song of praise, and offered his last prayer to his
adorable Creator. But, faithful to his day and gen
eration, his works follow him. "He is one of the
few, the immortal names, who were not born to die."
He so lived as to leave his footsteps impressed upon
the sands of time. Here, in this liberal donation, this
noble benefaction, he has planted upon his grave a
flower of rare beauty and rich fragrance, which will
grow, as year after year circles away, with perennial
freshness and increasing beauty. Here he has built
a monument of -his Christian devotion and piety,
which should stand long after we shall have passed
away "like dust from the summer threshing-floor. "
Here he erected and donated a sanctuary, consecrated
to the cause of our Redeemer, where humble and
devout Christians can delight to congregate for re
ligious worship and to cultivate a devotional spirit,
through the eventful scenes of long circling years
yet to come. Here, we can fondly hope, will the
faithful heralds of the cross proclaim to the listening
generations of men yet unborn the eternal truths of
the gospel of Christ, and inspire in them immortal
hopes, whose fruits shall ripen in glittering crowns
in the eternal city of God. Here is estabbsbed -X
light whose inspiring rays will enter many a darkened
soul, and will safely guide the feet of the weary wan
derers from the shadowy walks of earth, across the
river of death, to the everlasting foundations and the
wide-extended gates of the celestial city !

144 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
There is much ithat is remarkable in the life of the
noble dead ; but, in its careful consideration, we find
nothing so wonderful as its completeness. Nearly
four years ago he had rounded the full measure of
threescore years and ten. His fortune was made;
his great enterprises were completed; his ambition
and aims were all fully gratified. The grand scheme
of founding and building a town, the golden dream
of his earlier years, was a success. The church and
school-house, the goal of the longings of his )--outhful
and exuberant heart, had arisen at his magic toueh,
and their flourishing condition caused him to rejoice.
The Sabbath schools, whidi ever secured his earnest
attention, and which he delighted to foster and assist
with a helping hand, he saw prospering all around
him and full of hope. His family and kindred were
all provided for, his worldly affairs had been com
pletely arranged, and he fully and wisely administered
his own estate ; and we are perfectly assured, by his
professions and works, that his spiritual affairs had
received from bim that consideration and attention
that their transcendent importance demanded. Often,
of late years, in church social meetings, with bis
brethren in this sanctuary, has he announced his en
tire readiness for the great diange. He would state,
with earnestness and emphasis, that he knew that the
time of his departure was at hand, that the sands of
his life had nearly run out, and that he was fully
resigned to his Master's will. Even in the agonizing
hours of his last illness, to his anxious pastor he as
serted his same unfaltering trust in the promises of a

EULOGIES. 145
merciful God, and exhibited the same Christian resig
nation that beatified and mellowed the late years of
his earthly pilgrimage. But he has gone from our
midst forever. The great lig'ht and glory of our
community has departed from our sight forever. The
great record of his long and useful life was fully
made up. His days- -on earth were fraught with good
works, full of charities and benefactions. He died,
full of years and full of honors, with no task unper
formed and no duty unfulfilled. When we recall his
memory, we think of one who had done all in his
power to benefit our world and to render it lovely
and happy, without omitting that higher function of
pointing the way to another. We should regard his
death not so much the close of one day as the dawn
of another and a brig'bter ; not so much the putting
off of mortality as the putting on or immortality;
not so much a dissolution as a sort of apotheosis.
When we recall his memory, we seem to behold hiin
with upturned look and uplifted hand, turning our
minds and hearts from the engrossing thoughts and
alluring cares of this transitory life to those unfading
joys and eternal crowns that gladden the heart and
encircle the Christian's brow in the beatific realms
beyond this vale of tears. In the East there is a
touching benediction — "May you die among your
kindred!" He realized its full fruition. He died,
as the heart would yearn to die, at his own beautiful
and quiet home, with the evergreen water-oak and
magnolia casting their shadows along the avenue of
that lonely home, and gently bending to the breath of

146 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
the soft vernal zephyrs — surrounded by fond friends
and devoted kindred, and supported in the trying
hours of death by the eternal truths and gracious
promises of that blessed gospel which, in life and
health, he loved so well, and which whispers in the
ear of the dying saint that gracious promise, "He
that liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Oh !
how precious to us is -the memory of the venerateil
dead ! For some years past his fragile form and tot
tering steps sadly admonished us that our noble
friend was passing away; but we could not realize
how great a loss his death would prove to our entire
community. The emblems of mourning with which
our buildings have been draped since the sad event,
and the sorrowful faces of our people, but feebly
express the deep grief which now afflicts the public
heart. We all feel that we have lost a valued friend,
whose place can never be filled. The church now
mourns one of her brightest ornaments, and society
a great benefactor. The feeling is irrepressible
within us that, as a community, we have sustained
an irreparable loss. We feel that a good and great
man -has passed away from earth, that a far-shining
light is extinguished, that a strong column has fallen ;
and that we, who were guided by that light, and w'ho
have leaned upon that column, are left to walk by
fainter rays, to rest upon feebler supports. Were it
not for our Christian faith in that overruling Provi
dence whose dread summons has been so often
sounded in our ears, and who we know "ordereth all
things well," as he "doeth bis pleasure among the

EULOGIES. 147
inhabitants of the earth," . we might be tempted, in
this hour of our bereavement, to utter the despondin,g
lamentation which the great poet has so touchingly
expressed in verse :
" We have fallen upon evil days —
Star after star decays ;
The brightest names that shed
Light o'er the land have fled."
The lessons of the useful life and character of the
venerated dead, whom we now mourn, will be a rich
legacy for our children long after we shall have gone
to our final account. His noble example, and the
abundant reward of his great efforts, will inspire
them with new hopes, and invite them to good works
and virtuous action. He will prove the great exem
plar for the honest workingman, ithe hope of our
country in this day of gloom. The poverty-stricken
laborer, the humble mechanic, and the useful, toiling
operative — bowed down with the heavy burdens of
life, without money or powerful friends, with nothing
but the brain and muscle that God gave bim — look
ing to the noble example and great success of our
departed benefactor, will look up from his toils and
privations, and catching a new inspiration, will move
to the impulse of high aims and lofty expectations.
Who would exchange the life, the good name, and
the immortal -hope of the good man now gone for
monarchs' crowns or the victor's wreatli ? His Chris
tian life, death and immortal hopes are enough to
inspire all with determination to walk with bold and

148 Hun. DANIEL PRATT.
unfaltering steps in the noble pathway blazed out by
the light of his genius, his works and his example.
Here around you — on the hills, in the valleys, i n
these lofty structures of brick and mortar, in the
hearts of our people, and everywhere — you will find
his monuments. The world would say that a mail
so useful, so full of good deeds, should never die.
Though dead, he still hves, and will continue to live,
in his great works and in the hearts of his country
men. Let us thank God that be has lived, take cour
age, and go on in the path of duty. Let us so walk
and act in life that when we must depart hence we
may leave behind us that blessed assurance that our
spirit- feet are gone to traverse those delectable realms
where nobler struggles shall task the strength and
more precio-us crowns shall reward the victory.
And now, Mr. Onairman, let me say, in conclu
sion, that the good man, Daniel Pratt, having lived a
life of extraordinary usefulness, went away from
us, calm, submissive, self-possessed — no duty unful
filled, earth's best honors exhausted.
" No cause for sorrow then, but thankfulness;
Life's business well performed.
When weary age full willingly
Resigns itself to sleep,
In sure and certain hope.
Oh I end to be desired, whene'er, as now,
A life of service passed.
The seasonable fruit of faith,
And good report, and good
Example, have survived."

EULOGIES. 149

EULOGY BY JESSE H. BOOTH.
AIr. Ch-virman, Ladies and Gentlemen : We
are not here to tface the progress of a military hero
through scenes of blood, or to look back upon the
peaceful triumphs of some champion in the field of
political strife ; we here pay tribute to more sub
stantial and enduring worth than wreathes the his
torical brow of an Alexander, or a Napoleon, or a
Cr-omw-ell. Those were men who have written their
histories in the blood of their countrymen, while the
lamented subject of our feeble tribute has written his
in the sweat of his own brow. We stand at the clos
ing scenes of one whose long and useful life was de
voted to the amelioration and elevation of those with
whom he mingled in life. To his genius, energy,
untiring industry and Christian benevolence are we
indebted for the prosperity and thrift of our beautiful
town. His eventful life is so fraught with useful
lessons to the rising generation that he will live in
the hearts of these people, coexistent .with that of
Arkwright, Stevenson and Whitney, and the many
other illustrious mechanics who are the recognized
benefactors of the human race.
Our country has -of late been forced by the insatiate
archer. Death, to give to the cold, cold grave some
of her greatest and best men; but none have gone to
that "bourne from which no traveller returneth" so
much loved and so deeply identified with our every

I50 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
interest as the parent and founder of our town — he
whose memory we have here met to commemorate,
and around which will always cluster -the fondest and
most pleasing recollections, the freshness of ¦w'hich
will never pale beneath the finger of time.. He began
life without property, and unaided by family influ
ence, and with only a limited -education. In early
manhood he bade adieu to family, friends, and to the
granite hills of his native State, and went forth into
the world to work out by his own unaided efforts
the grand problem of his future existence. He came
as a pioneer manufacturer to the Sunny South, where
the breezes from our orange groves are wafted back
over beautiful and powerful streams of water, un
touched by the hand of -genius, energy or enterprise,
and rich and bounteous mines -of most valuable min
erals were lying quietly in the beds where nature
placed them, undiscovered and undeveloped. He
found these grounds around here an uninhabited mo
rass, giving to the traveller no more interesting music
than the fierce bowlings of the wolf and the mal
screams of the panther. Here, too, quietly reposed
in unappreciated forgetfulness -the powerful water
facilities of the beautiful stream after which our
county takes its name, until the light of his genius
fell upon them, and changed them, as it were by the
wand of the magician, into a beautiful and thrifty
village, that is now adorned with handsome church
buildings, where our people nOt only profess, but
practice, that religion which is the hope that brightens
their pathway and the staff on which they lean for

EULOGIES. 151
support across the dark valley and shadow of death,
to meet undismayed the king of terrors ; and school-
houses and academies, where the sweet voices of
many children tell us ignorance is passing away, and
education, with its benign influences, is rapidly
spreading over our land ; and here now are our thou
sands of spindles and flying shuttles, conducted by
a happy population, as virtuous, honorable and de
serving as inhabits the soil- of Alabama.
It was Daniel Pratt who illustrated and proved
here that inflexible truth of labor and energy being
superior to all other human powers which have been
given to us, inhabiting but for a short time this little
planet. It was 'he w'ho, by making the proper use
of those means which nature had given him, made
Prattville the Lowell of our State and the leading
gin manufactory of the world, and himself a name
that must and will go, shining brightly, into the
manufacturing history of our own united America — ¦
where the sweet music of enterprise and prosperity
now comes forth upon every wind, from the cold and
snowy regions of the State of Alaine to the turbid
waters of the Rio Grande. Not only was he great in
turning a forest into a most prosperous town, but he
was great as an inventor. Alost valuable and bene
ficial improvements he has made upon the original
invention of Whitney, until he has made his name
and the popularity of his gins a fireside talk through
out the cotton regions of the country. And thus he
has given himself a history that should go side by
side with our Fulton, whose inventive talent and hard

152 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
work have spotted the seas and every prominent water
with mansion-like steamers ; and -our Alorse, who has
obliterated distances, driven out communicative ob
structions of oceans, and linked together all civiliza
tions with the means of immediate interviews ; and
our no less greater Franklin, the American printer,
philosopher, statesman, author and model of common
sense — he who answered the sublime interrogatory
addressed to Job, "Canst thou send forth lightnings,
that they may go and say unto them. Here we are?"
Yes, they now come at our command and say, "Here
we are, ready to do your work." The name of Frank
lin — he who first opened the way for the subjuga
tion of the fire of heaven to the human will — de
serves no more praise and commemoration at our
hands than the name of our great founder and be
loved friend. I have been no careless observer of
men who, controlled by events or controling them,
have stood prominent among them ; but I say, and
with a deep conviction of its truth, that I have never
been brought into contact with a man who possessed
more native sagacity, higher powers of observation,
greater probity of purpose, more ardor or firmness
of resolution, than Daniel Pratt. His self-reliance
was wonderful ; no misfortune or extraordinary
event ever clothed his brow with shadows of gloom.
I have seen him, and been intimately associated with
him, when the sun of prosperity seemed to be about
foi'ever eclipsed against him, and the labors of his
life given up at the altar of mad revolution. It was
then our great government, mourning and weeping

EULOGIES. 153
over the loss of the thousands upon thousands of our
best and most gallant men, threatened severely and
sweepingly to punish the leading property-holders
of her recklessly erring sons ; but even then, when
all were wailing and quailing before the immense
clouds that were gathering around them, he would
walk onward in the fields of labor with the firmness
and daringness of one clothed alone in garments of
purity and greatness. It was then, when heaviness of
heart weighed down the bosoms of all who 'had trav
elled in the roads of luxurious ease, and fiery light
nings and gloomy forebodings surrounded the doors
of those who formerly could boast of their huge
diests of gold, that his most striking trait of self-
reliance and ever-earnest efforts was most strikingly
and plainly exhibited. It was then he became the
soul, the animating principle of our people, cheering
their drooping spirits, reinspiring their confidence i;i
the never-failing success of labor, and nerved and
cheered them onward to more vigorous efforts in the
broad and useful fields of internal improvements. It
was then that he took largely from his own pocket,
and sent it forth in favor of the enterprises of our
town and the happiness and welfare of our energetic
and Christian people. Not, like Nero, did he "fiddle
while Rome burned" ; but when his own career of
usefulness seemed to be about ended, and the belief
that the roads to prosperity were blockaded was so
prevalent, he then, by his vigorous actions, like one
of England's bravest warriors, attracted united and
enthusiastic attention to his feather of determination.

154 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
He was, indeed, an extraordinary man. When ques
tions presented obstacles, he counselled and thought
deeply ; when bis own convictions were clear, he
seldom referred to the views of others ; and never
was he influenced or controlled by the clamors of
foolish and idiotic public opinion. Shallow philoso
phers, deluded patriots, and erring statesmen had no
sway or influence over his actions ; but when once
decided upon his plan of action, he moved forward
as bravely and -thoughtfully as did Cjesar in crossing
the Rubicon. He was emphatically and truly a man
with a powerful mind, and of stern resolve and posi
tive will. He had the gallant courage, both moral
and pih\'sical, to dare and to do whatever he thought
proper and necessary to the successful issues of the
dictates of his deep mind. He was withal a good
citizen, cheerfully obedient to the laws of his country,
and ever devoted to the honor, dignity and glory of
the people — and especially to those people who earn
their living by honest toil, and who, now rising above
the embarrassments of the past, will ere long, like the
favored children of Israel, be recognized the favorite,
most powerful and highly respected part of our entire
population. He had the faculty of persuading him
self that whatever measure or course of policy he
resolved upon and strongly desired -to accomplish was
proper and necessary for the public welfare. As a
friend, he sustained and supported those who, by
honest labor and self-effort, embedded themselves
within his affections, with an ardor and zeal inclosed
and strengthened by the misfortunes, embarrassmenis

EULOGIES. 155
or dangers of the occasion. He left to others those
formal details which friendship imposes, and reserved
to himself the more trying, and therefore the more
honorable, position of sustaining his friends when
dangers and adversities gathered thickest around
them. I have seen him when he was clothed with offici'il
powers, and it was then he showed forth 'his finer
qualities of humanity and comeliness of heart. He
treated with the greaitest politeness, and acted with
feelings of compassion toward those who were
brought before him to receive at his hands an en
forcement of the laws. On the first Alonday of Sep
tember, 1866, he was unanimously elected Intendant
¦of Prattville, a position he continued to hold, being
reelected at each succeeding election, and at each
time without any opposition whatever, until the time
of his deaith. During the term of his service in the
Legislature of the State, I was not in this State ;
but, notwithstanding it was a most unpropitious timf ,
when hunger, want and starvation flapped their
alarming wings around the doors of many of .the
people, and the ship of State was being tossed amid
the darkening waves of the great cyclone of war,
he is said to have sustained the cause in whose in
terest he was then acting with great assiduity, yet an
affable demeanor distinguished his conduct with his
friends and brother legislators. High up in the list
of legislators and the prominent men of this country
would his name now stand : but the country passed
through her most stormy political seas at a time when

156 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
the people, blinded by the dust of delusive clouds,
saw not the statesmanship and truth of his policy,
expressions and views. He opposed -the rash policy
of adding another illustration and example of the
fallacy of Napoleon's ras'h march upon Moscow ; he
did not believe, as some did, that Southern chivalry
was superior to any other, and the South was going-
to meet a timid foe. But, coming himself from the
industrious regions of the mighty, freedom-loving
North, he well knew than ber sons none were braver
or more loyal to the flag of their fathers. He de
nounced and most strongly opposed the policy of
those who seemed only to deserve the reputation of a
Brutus in the assassination of Csesar, or of him who
burned down the Ephesian temple. But could all
have seen as he saw, and acted as he desired thev
should act, the thousands of hearthstones that are
now clothed in mourning would be brigfbtened by the
smiles of good, brave and daring boys, who have been
sacrificed on the fields of reckless folly. From the
early days of Troup and Quitman, 'he called upon
all to remember and follow the warning advice of
Washington, and the deep and loyal pleadings of Clay
and Webster. Now the storms have blown over
which redden our history, but stain not his record in
heaven !
It is true, when the eventful circumstances of i860
came, he, like others, went with the immediate powers
around him, and bravely entered into the simoon
winds of the Sahara-like march. When centuries
shall have passed over us, bringing with them the

EULOGIES. 157
mutations or prosperities that belong to the lapse of
ages, and our country yet be fulfilling her magnificent
destiny, then, in times now shut out from our vision
by the far-away future, those of remote generations
w'ho may inhabit diese regions will be carried back,
by associations and feeling recollections, to the early
history of our town; and, turning aside to his mod
est and unostentatious tomb, there will meditate upon
his eventful history, and recall the example, while
they bless the name of Daniel Pratt. Ever will they
be ready to go forth and search out the sequestered
spot of his -tomb ; and there, pouring forth the gush
ing tributes of their 'hearts, they will recall his rare
gifts of deep insig'ht, keep discrimination, rapid com
bination, plain, direct and convincing actions. His
was no negative or unmarked career, no meteor-like
appearance upon the theatre of affairs, to blaze and
dazzle for a moment and then pass away forever ;
but, both as a good citizen and true Christian, he has
left his impress upon the country and its prosperities,
striking and indelible. We can-not fathom that mys
terious wisdom that governs the life and death of us
all. The death of such a man, -wiho none knew but
to admire, nor named but to praise, furnish us one
of those serious and impressive lessons which come
to us in all the walks of life, and appeal to us to so
live that when our summons comes to join -the innu
merable caravan which moves to the mysterious
realm, we should be prepared to go and leave our
record here as the summons may find it. He has
passed over the troubled sea of life upon whose bil-

158 PIon. DANIEL PRATT.
lows we are now tossed ; an'd may we not all hope
that his immortal spirit, now freed from the shackles
of earth, walks with God, high in the realms of bliss ?
I would be base to the noblest feelings of the human
heart were I not to cherish, with fond remembrance,
his name. When my young thoughts first took cog
nizance of the fact that I have a country, my eye was
attracted to his rare successes and grand career. I
have been taught from childhood to study, admire
and honor Mm, even if I had no heartfelt sigh to
pour out here, if I had no tear -for the coffin's lid. I
should do injustice to the teachings of my life if I
did not willingly raise my voice to swell the accents
of the profoundest pubfic^-sorrow. Our dear old
family Bible records the birth, yea, the death of
Daniel Pratt Booth, my bright and interesting little
brother — the sad and unexpected news of whose
death came to me while I was separated from my
home b_y the fiery chasm of war. Air, Pratt, though
confined to his bed for a number of weeks, suffered
patiently, submissively and -hopefully until his death,
and then he passed away as calmly as one going into
the repose of sleep.
" Like shadows thrown softly and
Sweetly from a passing cloud.
Death fell upon him."
The entire absence of equivocation or disguise in
all his acts was his master-key to the popular heart;
for while the people will forgive the errors of a bold
and open nature, he sins past forgiveness who delib-

EULOGIES. 159
eratelv deceives them. We were never in doubt -as
to his opinions and purposes. In all the contests of
bis time, his position on great public questions was
clear as the sun in a cloudless sky. Our consolation
is, that he was not taken in the vigor of his manhood,
but sunk into the grave at the close of a long and
useful career. Every memorial of such a man will
possess a meaning and a value to the rising genera
tions. His grave will be a hallowed spot. Great
memories will cluster there ; and all, as -they visit it,
may well exclaim :
" Such graves are pilgrim shrines —
The Delphian vales, the Palestines,
The ATeccas of the mind."
Looking over this building, every object which at
tracts my eye admonishes me that a good man and
great benefactor has departed from among us. He
is gone. Daniel Pratt — the idol of his friends, the
ornament of our town — has passed forever from our
view ; but the memory of his virtues and of his ser
vices will be gratefully embalmed in the hearts of his
countrymen, and generations unborn will be taught
to lisp, with reverence and enthusiasm, his name.
While his body is buried in the dust from which it
came, we might bury by its side the records of our
country's history, bury the hearts of living millions,
bury the mountains, the rivers and the lakes, and the
spreading lands from sea to sea — even then we
would not bury Daniel Pratt ; for he is in other lands,
and speaks in other tongues and to other times than

i6o Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
ours. I wish I could do something to add to his
fame; but -he has built for himself a monument of
immortality, and left to his friends no task but that
of soothing their own sorrow for his loss. We pay
to 'him the tribute of our tears; more we have no
power to bestow. Patriotism, honor, genius, courage,
have all strewed their flowers around his name ; and
well they -may, for he was the peer of them all. There
is a lesson taught no less in the life than in the death
of every man — eminently so in the case of one who
has filled a large space and occupied a distinguished
position in the thoughts and regard of his fellow-
men. Particularly instructive at this time is the event
which we now deplore, although the circumstances
attending his decease are such as are calculated to
assuage the grief which necessarily ensues. His
time had fully come ; the threescore and ten, the ordi
nary period of human life, had for some years been
passed. " Oh ! think how, to his latest day.
When Death, just hovering, claims his prey.
Firm at labor's post he stood !
Each call for needful rest repelled —
With dying hand the rudder held."
Mr. Speaker, in a Character so illustrious and beau
tiful, it is difficult to select any point for particular
notice from those which go to make up its whole
proportions ; but we may now, around his honored
grave, call to grateful recollection that invincible
spirit which no personal sorrow could sully and no
disaster could ever overcome. Be assured, sir, that

EULOGIES. i6i
he has, in this regard, left a legacy to the young me.i
of our country of freedom almost as sacred and as
dear as that liberty of which bis life was a blessed
illustration. "Adieu, a last adieu to thee," Daniel Pratt! The
hearts of all thy people are melted because of the
thought that thou art gone ! Could we have held the
hand of the insatiate archer, thou badst not died, but
thcu wouldst have tarried with us in the full grandeur
of thy usefulness and greatness. But we thank our
Heavenly Father that thou wast given to us, and tbac
thou didst survive £0 long !

EULOGY BY WM. H. NORTHINGTON.
AIr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : I ap
pear before you on this occasion for the purpose of
performing one of the most melancholy, and yet, in
some respects, one of the most pleasant duties of my
life. Paradoxical as such a declaration may at first
appear, it is nevertheless true. It is melancholy in
this, that I am called upon to speak of an event which
has saddened the hearts of an entire community ; an
event which has produced the most profound sorrow
and regret throughout the entire State; an event
which has clothed our town in the habiliments of
mourning for weeks past ; an event which has thrown
a shade of gloom over the county of his adoption ;
an event which deprived Prattville at once of its

i62 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
founder and .benefactor. It is pleasant in this, that
it affords me an opportunity of paying a tribute to the
memory of one of the purest and best men I ever
knew, and to comment briefly upon a few of his many
virtues and shining qualities, and present tliem, not
only to excite the admiration of devoted friends and
acquaintances, but to hold them up as examples emi
nently worthy of imitation by the old, the middle-aged
and the youth of our country.
I formed the acquaintance of the distinguished de
ceased in my early manhood, about twenty-six years
ago, when he was in the meridian and prime of hfe ;
consequently, I liave no personal knowledge of his
early history, and shall, therefore, in the remarks
which I have- the honor to submit on this occasion,
confine myself chiefly to his characteristics, or the
leading and prominent features of his character, his
biography or history having been fully and ably dis
cussed b}' the gentlemen who have preceded me. Air.
Pratt was endowed by nature with extraordinary
mental powers, with a strength, depth and clearness
of mind far above mediocrity, with powers of per
ception almost unequalled, and with a judgment that
was almost unerring. But the mere possession of
these rare faculties of mind, without other faculties
or traits of character to give force and direction to
them, would .have been comparatively worthless to
the possessor and to mankind. It would not be unlike
the possession by the miser of untold treasure, or the
precious metals or minerals locked up in the bowels
of the mountains, undeveloped; but, fortunately for

EULOGIES. 163
mankind, and especially so for the State of his adop
tion. Air. Pratt was lavishly supplied by nature with
traits of character which developed and -utilized these
rich mental endowments. The most prominent and
striking of these traits were an indomitable will,
fixedness or tenacity of purpose, coupled with an un
bending energy. When any enterprise, either of <i
public or private character, presented itself to him,
or was suggested by others, be canvassed thoroughly
its practicability and utility, and if it met the approval
of his clear and almost unerring judgment, he had
only to will its accomplishment and bring to bear
bis tenacity of purpose and unyielding energy, and
its consummation became a fixed fact. Difficulties
and obstacles which to ordinary minds seemed insur
mountable, vanished in the presence of this extra
ordinary combination of powers. The inauguration
and completion by him, during a long and eventful
life, of enterprises which not only enriched and dis
tinguished him, but conferred upon his fellow-men
blessings and advantages which are incalculable, and
the fact that every important undertaking of his life
was crowned with the most triumphant success, fully
sustained the estimate which I have placed upon these
prominent traits of his character. But, in order to
illustrate it more fully, I will briefly call your atten
tion to a few of his achievements.
In the year 1833, be settled in this county, a
stranger, without capital or influential friends to aid
him; but, notwithstanding these unfavorable sur
roundings, he commenced the manufacture of cotton-

i64 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
gins on a small scale, without the aid of steam or
water, and boldly entered the field, a competitor with
old and established manufacturers. A few years
found him master of the situation, bis competitors
vanquished or left far in the distance. He amassed
a princely fortune, and estabhshed for himself a repu
tation as a financier and manufacturer as imperishable
as the granite hills of 'his native State. Having ac
quired capital and influence, he directed his attention
to other branches of manufacturing, and conceived
the idea of concentrating capital and erecting a fac
tory for manufacturing our staple into fabrics, and
at the same time lay the foundation for a town. This
he accomplished by utilizing the water-power at the
- point selected for his future operations, and inviting
others to share with him its advantages upon the
most generous and liberal terms. This was, at that
day, a bold, and was regarded by many as a hopeless,
or at least an unpromising undertaking. Difficulties
were encountered and overcome, vdiich would have
discouraged and paralyzed the energies of most men ;
but to him these difficulties were but incentives to
renewed exertions. He surveyed the field calmly,
estimated the chances of success or failure, and ar
rived at die conclusion that it was practicable. He
willed its accomplishment, and directed his mighty
energies to the accomplishment of the conceptions of
his great mind.
It is scarcely necessary that I should inform this
audience that his fondest hopes were realized abun
dantly. A town bearing his name, with a population

EULOGIES. 165
of three thousand inhabitants, as remarkable for their
intelligence and refinement as they are for industrv
and thrift, attesit its truth. Having accomplished all
that seemed attainable at present in this, the field of
his early labors, we find him directing his attention
to the undeveloped mineral wealth of the mountain
regions of our State: During the late war a company
was organized, and chartered by competent authority,
for the purpose of manufacturing iron in that locality.
This company procured the necessary machinery,
erected furnaces, and commenced operations ; but an
invading army demolished their works, and the lands
of the company became a waste, and the stock almost
valueless. Such was the condition of things seven
years after the last gun had signalized -the close of the
war of sections. Being one of the stockholders, he
examined 'the wreck, the extent of the damages, the
character and quality of the ore, and locality; and
having arrived at the conclusion that the manufacture
of iron on the lands owned" by the company could
be made a success — which would enrich the com
pany, confer incalculable benefits upon the section of
its locality, and the State at large — he caused the
stockholders to be convened, aroused their sluggish
energies, and inspired them with hopes of success.
The result was, that he was chosen president of the
company, and at once proceeded to the task assigned
him. The fact that he had undertaken the work of
reconstruction inspired confidence, and the result has
fully established the correctness of his conclusions,
the wisdom of his counsels, and the practicability of

1 66 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
his plans. Ironton to-day teems with life, and Red
Mountain is rapidly yielding up her buried treasure.
His success in life is mainly attributable to the
traits of character to which I have briefly alluded;
but were I to stop here, I should do great injustice
to the memory and reputation of the deceased — the
picture would be sadly incomplete — ^it would be as
the body bereft of the soul. The acquisition of wealth
and distinction is a common and frequent occurrence
in -the history of mankind, and is not unfrequently
found in the possession of 'heartless and unfeeling
men. It is much more important to the world to
know how a man uses his wealth, talent and influence
-than to be informed of the manner of their acqui
sition. If a man use his wealth and influence for self-
aggrandizement alone, he is neither a philanthropi.U
nor a benefactor, and is neither entitled to the respect
nor gratitude of his countrymen. If the distinguished
deceased had been a narrow-minded, selfish man, with
contracted views of benevolence and public spirit,
you would not have witnessed this outpouring of his
neighbors and countrymen, anxious to do honor to
his memory; Prattville would have been a wayside
village, without churches, academies, or other evi
dences of intelligence, refinement, or a high order of
civilization. But Mr. Pratt possessed other traits of
character, to which I have not yet alluded, which gave
direction to his vast wealth and influence, and estab
lished for him a reputation and distinction second to
no man in the South. Among the most prominent
of these traits were philanthropy, benevolence,

EULOGIES. 167
charity, public spirit, patriotism, and an unfailing
devotion to the Christian religion. His philanthropy
prompted him to invest his capital and exert his influ
ence so as to confer the greatest blessings upon the
largest number of the destitute and laboring poor of
his section. His benevolence and charity caused him
to aid, with his purse and influence, every institution
and enterprise which tended to promote education^
virtue, intelligence and religion, or to ameliorate the
condition of suffering humanity. His public spirit
induced him to engage in enterprises which tended
to develop the resources of the State. His devotion
to the Christian religion prompted bim to give lib
erally and largely of bis means to the spread of the
gospel and the building up of the Church of God on
earth. His patriotism prompted him to support every
measure of the government which, in his opinion,
tended to promote the interest of the whole country,
and to advocate, with ardor, warmth and zeal, every
principle or political measure which tended to pro
mote good government, and to oppose with equal
zeal and earnestness every principle or measure
which, in his opinion, tended to degrade or oppress
the people of any portion or section of our common
country. By way of illustration, I will briefly comment upon
each of the traits to which I have alluded, though
not in the order in which they are mentioned. And
first, as to his philanthropy and public spirit. What
induced Mr. Pratt to invest so large a portion of his
capital, and devote so much of his valuable time in

i68 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
the manufacture of cotton yarns and fabrics ? Was it
because it promised a larger yield of profits than any
Other investment he could have made ? This question
must be answered in the negative by every reflecting'
and well-informed gentleman and lady in my hearing.
The manufacture of cotton goods at that time in the
South was an experiment, and the results of the few
enterprises of a similar character in the Southern
States were neither promising nor sudh as to inspire
confidence of success, and there were many openings
for investments which would have yielded large and
certain profits, without even the hazard of loss. This
being the case, the only conceivable -motive which
could have influenced him was a desire to benefit the
laboring poor, and to develop the resources of the
State of his adoption. Who have been the principal
beneficiaries of this magnificent cotton factory, at
once the pride and ornament of our town? Mr.
Pratt — who invested in it, more than a third of a
century ago, over fifty thousand dollars, and from
which he has never realized one dollar in interest
or profits, in good money — or the 'hundreds and
thousands of feeble women, dependent and helpless
children, and old and decrepid men, who have derived
a comfortable support from it ? Those w'ho could not
have supported themselves by honest industry in any
other branch of industrial pursuits — or the intelli
gent mechanics who have been afforded not only the
means of support, but have accumulated capital and
set themselves up in profitable pursuits — or the doc
tor, lawyer, merchant and honest laborer — all of

EULOGIES. 169
whom have been the beneficiaries of such invest
ments? Bxit if there are any w'ho are skeptical as
to the correctness of my conclusions touching the mo
tives which influenced him in making this investment,
it is only necessary that I should refer to one circum
stance in order to dispel every doubt on the subject.
At the close of the terrible and cruel war between
the States (which terminated so disastrously to our
section, leaving our people depressed, destitute and
impoverished, and especially the non-producing poor,
who were left without bread or -money to purchase
it), this company had oil hand a large supply of cot
ton, which was at that time commanding fabulous
prices, the sale of which would have reimbursed the
corporators for their investments, and left them this
splendid factory, with all of its machinery and appur
tenances, together with improved real estate of great
value, a net profit, to be operated at a more favorable
period for manufacturing in the future. A portion
of the stockholders favored a sale of said cotton, and
a stoppage of the operations of the factory until 3.
more auspicious time should arrive in the future for
such operations. Mr. Pratt met the proposition with
firm and unyielding opposition, and based his objec
tions to such a course exclusively upon grounds of
humanity. Taking the position that it would be cruel
and unjust to the operatives whom they had collected
together in the days of prosperity to serve them in
manufacturing; that it would deprive them of the
means of support at that terrible and trying moment,
and leave them beggars, dependent upon the grudg-

I70 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
ing charity of a hostile and conquering power. He
advocated running or operating it, regardless of profit
or loss. His counsels prevailed, and the business of
manufacturing was carried on, at a loss of nearly
twenty-five per cent., for nearly two years.
I give this as one instance illustrative of the mo
tives influencing him in his investments. Such was
the character of all the enterprises in which he en
gaged or invested his capital. Others were benefited
as much, and frequently more than himself, by them.
The immense amount of money which he has collected
together and invested in the manufacture of iron
(heretofore alluded to), is affording profitable em
ployment to 'hundreds, and at no distant day will give
employment to thousands of the sons of toil ; and
the magnificent success achieved by him in develop
ing the resources of Red Alountain will attract mil
lions of capital to our State, to be invested in the de
velopment of the inexhaustible mineral resources of
her mountain regions, the effect of which will be to
gather within our borders artisans, mechanics and
laborers, enrich our people and make Alabama one
of the wealthiest and most desirable States in the
Union. His benevolent heart and Charitable disposition
prompted him to aid, with his influence and purse,
every enterprise or undertaking which promised relief
to suffering humanity, or whiCh tended to elevate
and refine society; hence, schools, academies, col
leges, churches and Charitable institutions of every
kind were the peculiar objects of his bounty, and

EULOGIES. 171
never appealed to bim in vain for his counsel or
money. And althoug'h it is true that institutions con
nected with Ithe branch of the churCh of his choice
drew more largely upon his liberality and Christian
benevolence than others, it is equally true that such
was his nobility of soul and liberality of sentiment
that he often disregarded sectarian lines and gave
liberally to institutions connected with other branches
of the Christian church. The name of Daniel Pratt
is enrolled upon the records of nearly every institu
tion of learning of any prominence, and every chari
table institution in our State, and was placed there
in consequence of some generous donation made by
him. Hundreds of the young men and women of
this Commonwealth are indebted to the deceased for
the advantages of education which they have enjoyed.
Hundreds of naked and starving orphans have been
relieved and made comfortable by his generous
bounty, and their little hearts have often beat faster
and their sad countenances grown brighter at the
mention of his name. But the instances of his charity
are more numerous, and the effect of his benevolence
and public spirit are more striking,' in the vicinity of
his home. The widow and the orphan, the old and
helpless, never appealed to him in vain. His house
was the seat of hospitality, open alike to the rich and
the poor. During the late war, when nearly all the
able-bodied men were in the field, battling for all that
rendered borne attractive or life desirable, their wives
flocked to his office, seeking means to buy bread and
clothing for themselves and little ones ; and when

172 Hon. DANIEL PRATT.
they left it, their bright countenances and smiling
faces proclaimed the results of their visits. The mag
nificent block of buildings, a portion of which we now
occupy ; the splendid male and female academy ; our
beautiful cemetery, in which sleep our precious dead ;
and the bridges which span the beautiful and unfail
ing stream which propels the machinery of our fac
tories and workshops — bear silent but unerring tes
timony to his benevolence and public spirit, and will
stand for ages to come as monuments to his name
and memory.
But the crowning trait or feature of the character
of the deceased, and that which shed an undying
lustre upon his mental and moral structure, and with
out which it would be shorn of much, if not most,
of its beauty and symmetry, was his unwavering
piety and devotion to the Christian religion ; without
this, all would 'have been "vanity and vexation of
spirit." The irreligious man may amass wealth and
attain distinction, and even enroll his name high in
the "niche of fame" ; and yet, it might be better for
mankind that he had never lived. I might illustrate
the correctness of this position by an array of his
torical names and facts, but one is sufficient for my
purpose. Take Byron as a type of this class. Who
has not felt the deep breathings of his mighty genius ?
and yet, who that bends the knee of reverence at the
shrine of religion but entwines a wreath of cypress
with the laurels that encircle his brow, and lament
that his harp was unattuned -to nobler themes? It
was this trait that sustained him throug'h tlie vicissi-

EULOGIES. 173
tudes of a long and eventful life, and made his dying
moments as calm as an infant's dream.
All that is mortal of this great and good man has
passed away ; but deeds like his can never sink behind
the hills of the past. The name and fame of Daniel
Pratt will live and bloom for ages to come, upon the
brightest pages of Alabama's history. The highest
tribute that neighbors and friends can pay the de
ceased is to cherish his memory and emulate his ex
ample.

MERRILL E. PRATT.
Of the many noble characters that have distin
guished Southerners as a hospitable people, Merrill
E. Pratt ranked among the first. Though dead for
nearly a decade, the memory of this lovable "man is
kept green in the hearts of our people. Mr. Pratt
was a nephew of the immortal Daniel Pratt, and at
the death of the great founder of our town fell heir
to half -of his estate. The other half went to Mrs.
Ellen DeBardelaben, who afterwards sold out to Mr.
Merrill E.. Pratt. Mr. Pratt's big heart and hand
was ever open to charity. The poor and needy of
our community miss him. He was a friend, indeed,
to all charitable institutions. His political friends
used him as bondsman, and on one occasion he hajl a
large sum to pay to the State. He was a man gen
erous to a fault, of great, good and noble impulses,
loved by all, and when he was stricken down on that
sad day, November 23, 1889, Prattville and -the whole
Commonwealth sustained an irreparable loss. He
was born February 23, 1828, in Temple, N. H.

MERRUL E. PRA'rr.