Orson Pratt Sr. (September 19, 1811 – October 3, 1881) was an American religious leader and mathematician who was an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints). After the succession crisis Pratt continued in the Quorum of the Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and was a leading Mormon theologian and writer until his death.
Pratt was born in Hartford, New York, the son of Jared Pratt and Charity Dickenson. He was the younger brother of Parley P. Pratt, who introduced him to the LDS Church and baptized him on Orson's nineteenth birthday, September 19, 1830, in Canaan, New York.
Pratt was ordained an Elder several months later, on December 1, 1830, by 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 Pratt visited New York, Ohio, Missouri, and the Eastern States. On February 2, 1832, he was ordained a High Priest by Sidney Rigdon, then he continued his missions, preaching in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
Pratt was a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, called in 1835 under the direction of Joseph Smith. He was ordained to this position on April 26, 1835. He served as a member of the mission of the Twelve Apostles to the British Isles between 1839 and 1841. He contributed to the mission by preaching in Scotland, and producing an early missionary tract, "An Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions and the Late Discovery of Ancient American Records." This tract contains the earliest known public printing of an account of Smith's First Vision and also contains material similar to that later published as the 1842 Articles of Faith.
On his return to America in 1841, Pratt found the church membership in contention over several issues. Rumors and gossip were rife in Nauvoo, Illinois, and Pratt found the religious principle of plural marriage difficult to accept. He rebelled against Joseph Smith when a report by disaffected Mormon John C. Bennett accused Smith of proposing marriage to Pratt's wife, Sarah Pratt, which Smith denied. Sarah also claimed that Smith had proposed, and Pratt believed his wife. After days of Smith and the other members of the Twelve remonstrating with Pratt, they decided that he would not yield, and thus Pratt was excommunicated on August 20, 1842. Bennett claimed that Joseph approached Sarah while Orson was on a mission and solicited her to be one of his "spiritual wives." To counteract these allegations, Joseph Smith compiled a pamphlet of affidavits, certificates, and letters which proved his innocence and Bennett's guilt concerning sexual misconduct. This included affidavits produced by non-Mormon Sheriff Jacob B. Backenstoes and Sarah's erstwhile landlords, Stephen Goddard and Zeruiah Goddard. Pratt reconciled with Smith a few months after their falling out and requested rebaptism. Pratt was reinstated in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on January 20, 1843.
After the death of Joseph Smith, Pratt was among the apostles that supported the leadership of Brigham Young, who determined to move his followers from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley, where the LDS Church became established. Not only did Pratt support Young’s leadership after Smith’s death, but he was also instrumental in gaining the support of the general body of the church.
As an apostle under Young's leadership, Pratt tended to disagree with him on a variety of topics but found little support from the other apostles. Young expressed an appreciation for Pratt's ability to preach but added regrettably that Pratt preached "false doctrine" more often than not. A few examples of conflicts with Young include opposition by Pratt to reestablishing a First Presidency in 1847, the legalization of slavery in Utah Territory in 1852, and Young's Adam-God teachings. Young also opposed Pratt's teachings that the One God of the Bible was a matrix of attributes shared by many individuals who had achieved exaltation to godhood.
Brigham Young attempted to minimize Pratt's influence. He did so by sending him away on numerous missions. Further, Pratt's brief period of excommunication from the church had long-term consequences. When dealing with seniority in the council after the death of Joseph Smith, 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 Pratt were moved down in seniority in June 1875. This ensured that neither would become president of the LDS Church. Even with these conflicts, Brigham Young refused to try Pratt for his fellowship in the Church, an indication of how Young was willing to tolerate differences of opinion on theological issues. After Young's death, Pratt's interpretations and opinions held more influence over the other apostles and later church leaders.
After settling in the Salt Lake Valley with the Mormon pioneers, Pratt was called to return to Europe as a mission administrator between 1848 and 1851, during which time he also served as editor of the Millennial Star. In 1850, as mission president of the British Mission, Pratt told his missionaries his strategy for spreading the gospel in an article titled, "How to Warn the Whole British Nation in One Year!" Although this goal was not achieved, by the end of the year there were twice as many LDS Church members residing in Britain as in the United States. As a mission president, Pratt was admired by the missionaries for the many logical and well-written pamphlets he wrote and published while he was there and the way he communicated with British intellectuals to discuss theology.
While presiding over this mission, Pratt received a pamphlet from Lorenzo Snow entitled "The voice of Joseph" that Snow wanted translated into French to advance his missionary efforts in northern Italy. Pratt managed to make contacts with people in Paris who were willing to do this translation.
In 1865, Pratt was one of the first Mormon missionaries to work in Austria. Traveling with William W. Ritter, he was there for nine months, but did not baptize anyone. The missionaries were eventually expelled by the Austrian government.
When news reached Pratt that the LDS Church was moving westward, he said, "We do not want one saint to be left in the United States." He helped lead the Saints "out of Babylon." Pratt was a member of Young's initial pioneer company, the "Vanguard Company", that crossed the plains to select a western site for Mormon colonization. His journals of this trip are an important Mormon history resource. As the group made their way from Illinois to Utah, Pratt acted as the company's scientific observer. He made regular readings with the company's scientific instruments, took notes on geological formations and mineral resources, and recorded information on plants and animals. He described snow on Laramie Peak on June 7, and noted that rock found on June 10, "would make excellent grindstones, being of fine grit sandstone."
As a mathematician, Pratt assisted company scribe William Clayton in the design and invention of a "roadometer", a version of the modern odometer. Intended to compute the distance traveled per day, the design consisted of a set of wooden cog wheels attached to the hub of a wagon wheel, with the mechanism counting the revolutions of the wheel. The apparatus was built by carpenter Appleton Milo Harmon, and was first used on the morning of May 12, 1847.
With Erastus Snow, Pratt entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 21, 1847, three days ahead of the main body of the Vanguard company. Several days later, he preached the first sermon in the Salt Lake Valley and formally dedicated the valley to the Lord.
Some sources agree that Pratt married seven women and was the father of forty-five children, though other sources, including his first wife Sarah, claim that he married ten women.