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Laron Pratt Compiled & Written by Jodi B. Kinner

2012

Laron (pronounced LARE-on) Pratt was born hearing on April 14, 1847, in Florence,

Douglas County, Nebraska. He was a son of the late LDS Apostle Orson Pratt and his first wife

(of ten), Sarah Marinda Bates. Plural marriage was a common practice at the time.

Around the age of three, Laron contracted a high fever and became deaf. As an adult, he

had some spoken language (English). He knew

sign languagewell. He also had good speech and

lip reading abilities (The Utah Eagle, March

1917).

At the age of four, Laron arrived in the

Salt Lake Valley with his father’s Pioneer

Company from Winter Quarters on October 4,

1851 (Anne Leahy, June 3, 2011). Apostle Pratt

was a member of President Brigham Young's

pioneer company called the “Vanguard

Company.”

Tenyears later, in October 1861, Laron

moved with his family to settle in St. George. In

August 1864, he returned to Salt Lake City,

where he eventually became the earliest leader of a deaf community that was starting to form

there (Doug Stringham, personal communication, June 2, 2011; Anne Leahy, personal

communication, June 3, 2011).

Likely, as with most deaf persons in Utah between 1850 and1880, they were educated or

tutored at home by their parents (Doug Stringham, personal communication, June 2, 2011).

Laron Pratt as a young man. God Made Me Deaf Accounts from Deaf Latter-day Saint, 1836-1916.

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Laron was one of them. As an educated man, he wrote and published a few articles for the

Deseret News.

In 1862, he began his employment at the Deseret News and continued his career for

nearly 50 years (Deseret News, Aug. 24, 1908). There, be became a highly regarded compositor

(typesetter) (Anne Leahy, personal communication, June 3, 2011).

While employed at the Deseret News, Laron’s essay entitled “The English of Deaf

Mutes” was re-printed in the Deseret News from an unknown newspaper exchange source on

June 7, 1876 (Anne Leahy, personal communication,

June 3, 2011).

In 1880, the census shows Laron's household

consisted of a hearing wife, Ethelwynne Clarissa Brown,

and six children. He employed a young Swiss woman for

housekeeping work. He and Ethelwynne married on June

27, 1869 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their children were:

LaronJr, Maude Eudora, Ethelwynne Clarissa, Sarah

Marinda, Hermie Estelle, and Pemelia Pearl. Laron’s

eldest son, LaronJr died at the age of 15 in 1885 (Deseret

News, Nov. 18, 1885).

At the age of 37, Laron published two essays in

the Deseret Evening News. He submitted his first essay,

the passionate “Deaf Mutes: A Good Word in Behalf of

the Unfortunates” on April 16, 1884. Seven days later, it

was printed on page 211. In the essay, he applauded the

legislature’s provision for education of Deaf children in

Utah Territory and gave an insider’s view of deaf culture for a hearing audience (Pratt, Deseret

Evening News, April 16, 1884; Anne Leahy, personal communication, June 3, 2011.

Loran Pratt. Unknown date. God Made Me Deaf Accounts from Deaf Latter-day Saints,

1836-1916.

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He wrote his second essay entitled, “A Kind Word in Behalf of Deaf Mutes,” which was

submitted and published in the Deseret Evening News p. 379 on June 22, 1884. In his essay, he

quoted Marquis L. Brock from a paper at the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf

and Dumb: “The whole world of sound is a sealed book [to deaf people].” Laron advocated for

religious and moral instruction as well. This hints that he subscribed to the American Annals of

the Deaf, where the paper was published (Pratt, Deseret News, June 22, 1884; Anne Leahy,

personal communication, June 3, 2011).

On January 24, 1881, Laron personally called on the LDS Prophet Wilford W. Woodruff

to express a desire to teach the Deaf (Anne Leahy, personal communication, June 3, 2011).

Eleven years later on January 10,

1892, Laron founded the Deaf Mute

Sunday School in the 19th Ward of

Salt Lake City, and was installed as

assistant superintendent. He became

a stake Sunday School missionary,

traveling to local and general church

meetings to give talks and sign

hymns with his daughter as vocalist

(The Daily Enquirer, February 11,

1892; Anne Leahy, personal

communication, June 3, 2011).

In 1896, the Deaf Mute Sunday School moved to the Ogden 4th Ward, following the

relocation of the Utah School for the Deaf. He began his weekly train trips to continue serving as

teacher and assistant superintendent until he was set apart as an honorary member of the

superintendancy on October 7, 1907 “as a reward for his faithful service”(Deseret News,

November 21, 1896; Anne Leahy, personal communication, June 3, 2011).

Laron Pratt (central) with Deaf-Mute Sunday School, 1902-1917. God Made Me Deaf Accounts from Deaf Latter-day

Saints, 1836-1916.

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In 1904, Laron was mentioned among the list of seventeen most prominent of Orson

Pratt’s forty-five children in Orson F. Whitney’s History of Utah, p. 29 (Anne Leahy, personal

communication, June 3, 2011).

Laron passed away on August 22, 1908 in Salt Lake City, Utah. His funeral was hosted

by his devoted friends in the Seventeenth Ward chapel where the large number of relatives and

friends attended. The students of the Utah School for the Deaf came to the funeral to pay their

respects. Many of his associates from the various departments of the Deseret News, where he

had worked as a printer, were also present. Many floral were displays in evidence and bore

eloquent testimony to the esteem and respect in which Elder Laron Pratt was held in the

community (Deseret News, Aug. 24, 1908).

Three speakers were at Laron’s memorial

service. The first speaker was Elder J.M. Sjodahl, an

editor the Deseret News. He praised of the noble, honest

life of Laron and offered words of sympathy to Loran’s

family (Deseret News, Aug. 24, 1908).

Elder John Henry Smith, who knew Laron from

his youth, spoke about his heroic life and how he faced

“almost insurmountable obstacles made a success of the

great battle of life.” John also complimented Laron for

rearing his honored family, keeping his faith and

winning his esteem of all who knew him. John stated Laron’s

life was “truly an exemplary one and he was a worthy son of his distinguished father, Orson

Pratt, one of the earliest standard bearers of Mormonism, and a Utah pioneer” (Deseret News,

Aug. 24, 1908).

Lastly, Elder Fred W. Chambers, superintendent of the Deaf Mute Sunday school,

Ogden, spoke feelingly of the devotion of Elder Pratt [who lived in Salt Lake City], who went to

Ogden every Sabbath for nearly nine years, to teach deaf children the gospel (Deseret News,

Aug. 24, 1908).

Laron Pratt, Assistant Superintendent. God Made Me Deaf

Accounts from Deaf Latter-day Saints, 1836-1916.

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Notes

Anne Leahy, e-mail message to Jodi B. Kinner, June 3, 2011. Doug Stringham, e-mail message to Jodi B. Kinner, June 2, 2011.

Bibliography

"A Brief History of the Sunday School for the Deaf." The Utah Eagle, Vol. 28, No. 6, March 1917.

"A Sunday School Organized for the Deaf Mutes." The Daily Enquirer, February 11, 1892.

Transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Aug. 2006. http://jared.pratt-family.org/orson_family_histories/laron_pratt_organization.html

"Bereaved." Deseret News, November 18, 1885. http://jared.pratt-

family.org/orson_family_histories/laron_pratt_son_dies.html “For Blind, Deaf, and Dumb.” Deseret News, November 21, 1896. Transcribed and proofread by

David Grow, Aug. 2006. http://jared.pratt-family.org/orson_family_histories/laron_pratt_organization.html

“Funeral of Laron Pratt: Veteran Printer Laid to Rest After Impressive Service

Attended by Host of Devoted Friends.” Deseret News, August 24, 1908. Transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Aug. 2006. http://jared.pratt-family.org/orson_family_histories/laron_pratt_obituary.html

Pratt, Laron. "Deaf Mutes: A good word in behalf of the unfortunates." Deseret News, April 16,

1884. Transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Apr. 2006 http://jared.pratt-family.org/orson_family_histories/laron_pratt_good_word.html

Pratt, Larson. “A Kind Word in Behalf of Deaf Mutes.” Deseret News, June 22, 1884.

Transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Apr. 2006. (Online). Available HTTP: http://jared.pratt-family.org/orson_family_histories/laron_pratt_kind_word.html