Pratt, Parley Parker.
The autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, embracing his life, ministry and travels, with extracts, in prose and verse, from his miscellaneous writings. Edited by his son, Parley P. Pratt [Jr.]. New York, Published for the editor and proprietor by Russell Brothers, 1874.
502, x p. Illus, plates, ports. 23cm.
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No writer of the early decades of Mormonism had a greater influence in print than did Apostle Parley Parker Pratt. One of Mormonism's earliest pamphleteers, Pratt was the first to emphasize in print the differences between Mormonism and traditional Christianity and thus he created a standard for all future Mormon pamphleteers by setting down a formula for describing Mormonism's basic doctrines. Born April 12, 1807, Parley was a contemporary of the Prophet Joseph Smith (just 17 months younger) and following his baptism in September of 1830, at the age of 23, his life paralleled the early history of the Church, consequently his autobiography gives first hand accounts of the important and seminal events of the infancy of Mormonism.
The autobiography, in addition to covering Pratt's life in the Church, also includes an account of his ancestry and early life as well as an appendix describing his assassination. The book was compiled from "various forms of manuscript, some in book form, some in loose leaves, whilst others were extracts from the
Millennial Star, and other publications." The task of compiling, collating, and editing was laid upon Pratt's oldest son Parley P. Pratt, Jr. who was charged "just before [Parley's] departure on his last mission to the United States" with the "responsibility of publishing his history in case anything should happen to prevent himself from doing it." Elder Pratt's untimely death on May 13, 1857 at the hands of Hector McLean, a former husband of Pratt's last plural wife, near Van Buren, Arkansas, required the younger Pratt to "[discharge the] duty solemnly imposed upon me by my lamented father."(Preface, p. [3]-6). The junior Pratt was assisted in the editing by Apostle John Taylor who in 1836 was introduced to Mormonism and baptized into the Church by Pratt in Toronto, Canada during one of his many proselytizing missions. Taylor also lived through many of the defining events of the history of the Church -including the assassination of Joseph and Hyrum in Carthage jail. Consequently with Pratt as the primary source of his story and John Taylor as an editor, the
Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt is viewed by many to be a history of high literary and historical quality for the period of Church history before 1857.
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY