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Subject: Willmer M. Pratt bio 1909
Date: 18 Oct 2004 18:50:03 -0600

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Surnames: Pratt
Classification: Query

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http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/mFB.2ACI/1154

Message Board Post:

WILMER M. PRATT , whose activity in political circles and business enterprise makes him one of the representative residents of Benton township, is living in Hagar township not far from Benton Harbor. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1858, his parents being William and Elizabeth (King) Pratt. The father was born among the Green Mountains in the state of Vermont, while the mother's birth occurred in Philadelphia, in which city they were married. He had removed to Philadelphia when nineteen years of age and there he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for a time, eventually, becoming a contractor. Failing health, however, forced him to seek a change and in 1860 he went to Omaha but returned to this section of the country in order to have the benefit of the bracing climate occasioned by the proximity of Lake Michigan. Making his way to Benton township, he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land but in order to be still closer to the lake he !
purchased twenty acres on the bluff and his summers were mostly spent on the lake shore. He continued to engage in contracting and building for some time, meeting with an accident which prevented him from engaging in farming. He, however, developed a farm of eighty acres and made a first class home, where he lived until his death, which occurred on the 21St of January, 1904 when he was eighty-two years of age. The doctors of Philadelphia said that he could not live if he remained in that city and he came to the middle west and was greatly benefited by the change of climate and lived to a ripe and useful old age. He was active in public affairs and the cause of education found in him a warm friend, who did effective service for the general public as a school official. He served as a member of the school board in his district for forty years, or until about eighty years of age. During the last five years of his life he was totally blind. He survived
his wife for only three years, her death occurring when she was about seventy-four years of age. They had traveled life's journey together as man and wife for a half century and in their family were five sons : Horace B., who is living near Riverside in Hagar township; William M., of this review; Arthur M. and Orson B., twins, the former residing in Riverside and the latter near Twelve Corners; and Adelbert G., whose home is near Hinchman, in Berrien county.
Wilmer M. Pratt was a young lad at the time of the removal of the family to the west and he remained under the parental roof until twenty-two years of age. His education was acquired in the public schools and by watching and assisting his father he gained a practical knowledge of the carpenter's trade. When twenty-two years of age he began to manufacture apple barrels, learning coopering of his brother who had previously manufactured suet barrels. They were partners in this enterprise for ten years and supplied all the barrels used in Hagar township, making twelve thousand barrels in a singe year. This proved a profitable business and with the capital thereby acquired Wilmer M. Pratt made his first purchase of land, becoming owner of twenty acres near Riverside. It was new land cov- ered with timber. He built thereon and in eight years placed the tract under cultivation and improved it with good buildings. He then sold and bought his present farm, which is the old homestead !
of Joseph Dickerson. He has made excellent improvements here and has eighty acres a half mile from Lake Michigan, lying to the north and west in Hagar township. He has continued to clear the land until it is now all under cultivation and he has here a valuable fruit farm of over seventy acres already set to fruit. He has planted peach orchards to the extent of thirty acres, while eight acres are devoted to the raising of grapes, twelve acres to pears, three acres to cherries and the remainder to apples. He has planted all but ten acres of the farm and is still setting out new trees. In one year he sold four thousand bushels of peaches and his sales amount to about five thousand dollars annually. He employs four men to aid him in the care. of his orchards and his crops and he has one of the best fruit farms in this part of the state. He keeps in touch with the State Agricultural College as to what is done in the line of horticultural development. He is also one of the office!
rs of the, State Horticultural Society and is active in all that works
for advancement and improvement in lruit culture. His results have exceeded his expectations and he "is regarded as one of the most prominent fruit-growers in Berrien "county and has firm faith in the future of this district as a fruit-producing center. He realizes that the work in becoming more and more a profession, while study and investigation have acquainted its farmers with the great scientific principles that under-lie the work, while broad experiment and labor are adding more and more largely to the practical knowledge. He makes it his plan to sell everything that he produces under his own name. He harvests his own crop, the packing being done under his personal supervision and direction and his fruit arrives upon the city markets in excellent condition and finds a ready sale for it is produced from excellent varieties of nursery stock.
Mr. Pratt was married on his present farm in the house which he now occupies, in 1881, to Miss Nellie Bartram, who was a sister of Mr. Dickerson, who formerly owned the farm. She died in 1894 leaving five children: Charles A., who is a graduate of the State Agricultural College and is now associated with his father in business ; Burr B., a student in the State Agricultural College; Joseph M., who is a student in Professor Edgecombe's College; Helen C. and Genevieve, who are with their father. In 1900 Mr. Pratt was again married, his second union being with Miss Abbie Bartram, the younger sister of his first wife and they have two thildren, Henry B. and Isadore.
Mr. Pratt is an active working Republican but does not aspire to office. He regards it the duty as well as the privilege, however, to exercise his right of franchise in support of the men and measures in which he believes and he co-operates in many progressive movements that have resulted beneficially to the county. Otherwise his undivided attention is given to his business affairs, which are bringing him success and which have already gained for him a prominent name in horticultural circles.

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