Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism

581 Pages·2011·4.04 MB·English

by  Terryl L. Givens

Parley P. Pratt
Parley P. Pratt
The Apostle Paul
of Mormonism

TERRYL L. GIVENS
MATTHEW J. GROW
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Givens, Terryl.
Givens, Terryl.
Parley P. Pratt : The Apostle Paul of Mormonism / Terryl L. Givens, Matthew J.
Grow.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-537573-2
1. Pratt, Parley P. (Parley Parker), 1807–1857. 2. Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day
Saints—Apostles—Biography. 3. Mormon Church—Apostles—Biography. 4.
Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints—History. 5. Mormon Church—History. I. Grow, Matthew
J. author. II. Title.
BX8695.P7G58 2011 289.3092—dc22
[B]
2011005099

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Sylvia I. Givens—more the pillar than she ever realized,
and
Robert J. Grow—dad, champion, friend
Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Young Seeker
2. Dreams of Zion
3. The Archer of Paradise
4. “Strange and Novel Truths”
5. “Strong Dungeons and Gloomy Prisons”
6. Apostle to the British
7. Triumph and Tragedy in Joseph’s City
8. Many Mormonisms: The East
9. Many Mormonisms: Exodus and England
10. Pioneering Westward
11. Lamanites in the Pacific
12. Parley and Mrs. Pratt(s)
13. Prospecting for Souls in San Francisco
14. Murder and Martyrdom
Epilogue
Appendix 1: Pamphlets and Books by Parley P. Pratt
Appendix 2: Pratt Family Chart
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments

SEVERAL SCHOLARS HAVE been generous in reading drafts, sharing research,
and providing feedback and suggestions throughout the writing process. We owe
a considerable debt to R. Steven Pratt, who spent years collecting and annotating
Parley P. Pratt’s letters and materials, greatly aiding our work by his efforts and
generosity. Financial support was provided by the Charles Redd Center for
Western Studies and the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Southern
Indiana. Several excellent historians of Mormonism and American religion
reviewed early versions of this book, including David Whittaker, Steven Harper,
Patrick Mason, John Turner, and Benjamin Parks. Glenn Rowe, Christopher
Blythe, Brett Dowdle, Mauri Pratt, and Rachael Givens tracked down difficult
sources and provided other research assistance. Jayne Fife graciously shared her
own manuscript on Mary Ann Frost Pratt and responded to ours as well. LaJean
Purcell Carruth’s meticulous transcriptions of Pratt sermons from nineteenth-
century shorthand added greatly to our source material, as did typescripts
provided by Dorsey Ford. Robert and Linda Grow read the manuscript with
careful attention to detail and readability. Our wives, Fiona Givens and Alyssa
Grow, gave their usual criticisms—painfully perceptive and typically invaluable.
We are especially grateful to Cynthia Read at Oxford, friend and editor
extraordinaire.
Parley P. Pratt

FIGURE 1.1 Early undated photograph of Parley P. Pratt. Courtesy Utah State
Historical Society.
Introduction
Earth ought to be full of prophets and heaven and earth full of angels.
—PARLEY P. PRATT, sermon, 10 July 1853

ON A SPRING day in 1853, a forty-six-year-old Mormon apostle sat in his
modest home just outside Temple Square in Salt Lake City to respond to a
request from a long-lost friend from his youth for a sketch of his life. Reflecting
upon his experiences, Parley P. Pratt mused that “such a history would overload
the mail” and would appear “far more strange to you than the thousand volumes
of Modern Fiction.” Against the background of their shared boyhood in the
backwoods of New York, Pratt’s subsequent life appeared improbable, even
fantastic. Since that time, he had traveled widely throughout the United States
and Canada, led Mormon pioneer companies past the “moving masses of wild
Buffalo on the boundless, treeless plains” to Utah, preached in San Francisco
during the Gold Rush, crossed the Atlantic Ocean six times, and eaten “figs from
the tree” in Chile. His life had been one of extremes, of “poverty and riches,
peace and war,” sublime joys and devastating sorrows.
Controversy had perennially stalked him, Pratt continued, as he had “been
received almost as an Angel by thousands and counted an Imposter by tens of
thousands.” Fifteen years previously in Missouri, he had “lain months in gloomy
dungeons, and been loaded with chains,” though he had “been visited there by
visions of Angels and Spirits, and been delivered by miracles.” As a defender of
Mormonism, Pratt had publicly debated “priests, learned men and Infidels,”
“stood before senators and Governors,” and had “edited periodicals and written
and published books.” In his private life, Pratt would marry a dozen times and
father thirty children. “In short,” he wrote, “I have been a farmer, a servant, a
fisher, a digger, a beggar, a preacher, an author, an editor, a senator, a traveler, a
merchant, an elder and an Apostle of Jesus Christ.” Pratt exclaimed, “Is not truth
stranger than fiction!!!”1
Pratt’s well-honed literary instincts were correct; the narrative of his life
could have formed the basis of a page-turning novel. By 1853, he had already
become, after Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the most influential figure in
shaping early Mormon history, culture, and theology. Pratt exerted that influence
across an astounding spectrum, excelling as a missionary, explorer, hymnist,
pamphleteer, autobiographer, historian, and theologian. The final four years of