My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES S. PRATT, a retired architect and builder, living at Northampton, was born in that town, February 16, 1822, son of Thomas and Eunice (Parsons) Pratt. Thomas Pratt was born in East Boston, Mass., in 1784, and was one of the most competent architects and builders of his time. He had excellent taste, great skill, and was a workman of superior merit. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. In that year he settled in Northampton; and his third wife, now a widow eighty-seven years of age still resides there. In 1813 he married for his first wife Eunice Parsons, a native of this place. They had seven sons and one daughter, all of whom except one son grew to adult life, and reared families. Three of them are still living, namely: William F., an architect in Northampton; Levi L., an editor in Watertown, N.Y., aged eighty-one years; and Charles S., of this notice. The father followed his profession during his years of activity. Many of the present dwellings and public buildings of this and other cities were planned and built by him. Mount Holyoke College, Easthampton church, and a magnificent mansion just outside of the city of Baltimore, Md., which he was two years in completing, are fair samples of his work. He was proficient in every branch of his business, from the turning of the grindstone to the most exacting demands of architecture. With his fine mental qualities he possessed great physical strength and endurance, and was blessed with robust health, retaining all his teeth in a sound condition throughout his life. He was very prominent in public affairs, and twice represented his district in the legislature. His second wife was before marriage Pamelia Parsons, no relative of his first wife. No children were born of this or of his last marriage.

Charles S. Pratt received but a limited common-school education, having begun, when only fifteen years old, to learn the carpenter’s trade. He followed this occupation continuously for some forty-five years, erecting many of the fine buildings and residences of his native city and winning the reputation of a first-class workman. He has inherited the physical constitution as well as the mental characteristics of his father. Now, at the age of seventy-three years, he is a finely preserved man. He is held in high consideration by his neighbors and friends.

In 1847 Mr. Pratt was united in wedlock with Rachel M. Stickney, a native of South Hadley and daughter of Walter Stickney. After a happy wedded life of more than two-score years she died in 1890, in the sixty-ninth year of her age. She bore her husband four children, as follows: Mary Ann, who died in infancy; Charles S., Jr., unmarried, an architect of this city and the superintendent of the fire alarm; George S., who went West, supposed to be deceased, as he has never been heard from since; and Hattie Howard, living at home, who has been a successful teacher in the grammar school for the past ten or more years. Mr. Pratt has devoted much of his time to Free Masonry, being one of the oldest Knights Templars of Northampton and a member of the Chapter. Politically, he has been a lifelong Democrat. He has served the city in the capacities of Assistant and Chief Engineer for twenty years, during which period he proved himself an efficient and trustworthy officer in every respect. His residence, which is one of the most substantial in the city, was built by his father about eighty-three years ago.