Orson Pratt

Orson Pratt (September 19, 1811 – October 3, 1881) was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. He was born in Hartford, New York, the son of Jared and Charity Dickenson Pratt.

Church membership and service

Orson Pratt was the younger brother of Parley P. Pratt, who introduced him to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and baptized him on his nineteenth birthday, September 19, 1830 in Canaan, New York.

Pratt was ordained an Elder several months later, on April 26, 1831, by the Prophet Joseph Smith and immediately set out for Colesville, New York, his first mission. This was the first of a number of short missions in which Orson visited New York, Ohio, Missouri, and the Eastern States. On February 2, 1832, he was ordained a High Priest by Sidney Rigdon and as a High Priest he continued his missions, preaching in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Orson Pratt was a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles under Joseph Smith. He was ordained to this position on April 6, 1835. However, he was later disciplined and excommunicated August 20, 1842 for failing to accept the religious principle of plural marriage and rebelling against the leadership of Joseph Smith. Some months later, he apologized and requested baptism. Pratt was reinstated in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on January 20, 1843. When dealing with seniority in the council after the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young ruled that, if a council member had been disciplined and removed from the council, his seniority was based on the date of readmission. By this ruling, both Apostle Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt were moved down in seniority in June of 1875.

With Erastus Snow, Pratt entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 21, 1847, three days ahead of the main body of saints travelling west. He edited many church periodicals and helped divide editions of the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants into verse format and provided appropriate cross references. He wrote the controversial pamphlet The Seer. Pratt was known as an accomplished mathemetician, and served as Church Historian and General Church Recorder from 1874 until his death. Orson Pratt died on October 3, 1881, the last surviving member of the Original Council of the Twelve.