Page:One of a thousand.djvu/503

PRATT. PRATT. 489 Soon after settling in Boston Mr. Powers also became an active Free Mason ; was elected master of a lodge, and was for sev- eral years the eminent commander of the Boston Commandery of Knights Templar, and for three years was grand master of the grand council of Massachusetts. He has never been an aspirant for political office, but for three years, after the great fire, he was unanimously elected by both parties to the city council of Boston. After- wards he was elected to the Boston water board, where he served until the water- works were put into the hands of commis- sioners. Mr. Powers is regarded as an ener- getic, sagacious man, quick to apprehend, fertile in resource, and one who does thor- oughly that to which he turns his attention. Mr. Powers has two daughters : Marion (Mrs. Lamar S. Lowry) and Florence Agnes (Mrs. Henry McLellan Harding), both residing in New York City. PRATT, Harvey Hunter, son of Henry Jones and Maria J. (Hunter) Pratt, HARVEY H. PRATT. was born in Philadelphia, Pa., February 24, i860. He was educated in the common schools of Abington, Mass. He chose the profession of law, and studied in the Harvard University law school, graduating therefrom in 1883. In 1SS7 he was the editor of the " Brock- ton Advance." In 1879 he was editor and publisher of the "Abington News." In the preparation for his profession, he read law in the office of Keith & Simmons, Abington, 1880. In September, 1S83, he formed a partnership with John F. Simmons of Hanover. He is now attorney-at-law in Abington, under the firm name of Sim- mons & Pratt. Mr. Pratt has been assistant district attorney, southeastern Massachusetts dis- trict ; assistant secretary of the Demo- . cratic state central committee ; chairman of the Abington board of health ; secre- tary of the Abington Business Club ; chair- man of the Abington Democratic town committee, and the 1st Plymouth senato- rial district Democratic committee. He was the Democratic candidate for register of deeds for Plymouth county in 1881, and candidate for the state Senate, 1S86. He was elected to the House of Representatives from the 6th Plymouth dis- trict in 1888 and '89, and served each year upon the committee of the judiciary. Mr. Pratt is unmarried. PRATT, Joseph Lawrence, son of Benjamin Pratt, Jr., and Hannah (Weston) Pratt, was born in Reading, Middlesex county, January 18, 1814. He received his early educational train- ing in the common schools and at Read- ing Academy. In 1834 he first engaged in business as a shoe manufacturer. In 1857 he changed his business to that of dealer in lamps and glassware. He has been for eleven years a member of the board of selectmen of Reading. Mr. Pratt was first married in Reading, February 25, 1841, to Martha, daughter of Captain Timothy and Elizabeth Wakefield. His second marriage, July 4, 1861, was with Mary W., daughter of Joseph and Martha (Crooker) Hopkins. He has had two children : Ruth L. and Alice H. Pratt. He is now retired from active business. PRATT, STILLMAN BAXTER, son of Rev. Stillman Pratt of Reading and Eleanor Morton (Dickinson) Pratt of Amherst, was born in Orleans, Barnstable county, Novem- ber 24, 1836. He is a lineal descendant of John Pratt, who came from county Kent, England, in 1630, and settled in Dorchester, the suc- cession being John of Medfield, John of Reading, Samuel, Ephraim, Benjamin Still- man, and Stillman Baxter Pratt.