Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt - Missions

David Whittaker talks about the missions of Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt.

David Whittaker, PhD, is curator of Western and Mormon manuscripts for Brigham Young University.

This video comes from extra interview footage that was unused in the production of the DVD, Five Pratt Brothers: Builders of Zion. For more information about the DVD or to purchase a copy, visit http://www.pratt-family.org

The five Pratt brothers were major players in some of the most significant events of the Nineteenth Century in America. They played a major role in the greatest religious movement in American history. They were close friends of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, of whom there has probably been more written than of any other American religious leader.

They were driven from their homes several times in the greatest religious persecution ever known in this country.

They crossed the Great Plains as part of one of the greatest migrations of our time. They made a significant contribution by building the Western part of this country from nothing but sagebrush to large, successful cities. They founded several communities from Ohio to California.

They were philosophers, explorers, missionaries, Apostles, astronomers, mathematicians, travelers, writers, soldiers, pioneers and martyrs.

Generations before these brothers were born, their Pratt ancestors were making history with their religious beliefs. They were among the first Puritans in England. Driven by persecution, they traveled to America seeking freedom to think and believe as their conscience dictated.

With more than one thousand pictures, their fascinating stories are told by scholars and others who are familiar with their lives. The brothers also tell their story in their own words, through journals, autobiographies and letters.

The production team filmed in the places where the brothers lived, such as Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois. They followed them across Iowa, to Winter Quarters and from Winter Quarters to the salt Lake Valley. They also filmed in Arkansas, where one of the brothers was martyred.

No thorough study of American religious history, or of the development of the American West would be complete without a knowledge of the lives and contributions of the Pratt brothers. Their story will inspire all who learn about their lives.

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