Item Detail
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Pratt, Ann Agatha Walker
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1829-1908
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MSS 8543
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Ann Agatha Walker was born on June 11, 1829 in Staffordshire, England. She was the oldest child of William Gibson Walker and Mary Godwin. Her father was a Methodist minister before he joined the LDS Church. Her family encountered the missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Manchester, England where Ann Agatha was baptized on July 9, 1843. She left England with a small company of other LDS saints and arrived in Winter Quarters, Nebraska in 1847. Her family joined Ann three years later, but her mother died in St. Louis before seeing Ann Agatha again. At Winter Quarters, Ann Agatha Walker married Parley P. Pratt on April 28, 1847. She was the eighth of his twelve wives. Parley P. Pratt led their company trek across the plains to Salt Lake City. The company arrived in September 1847 after a long and difficult journey. Ann Agatha was endowed and sealed to Parley P. Pratt on February 26, 1851. Agatha and Parley P. Pratt had five children together, Agatha, Malone, Marion, who died as an infant, Moroni, and Evelyn. Agatha devoted her life to the LDS church and served in the Relief Society. Agatha died on June 25, 1908 in Ogden, Utah.
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The collection is comprised of one folder that contains an account written by Ann Agatha Pratt. It is a two-page, typewritten account dated August 25, 1905. The work is titled A Milinary Marvel: Aunt Agatha's 'Young' Creation, (meaning Millinery). Ann Agatha was the first woman to drive an ox team all the way across the plains. She also helped her husband build the first road through Parley's Canyon. Having learned the millinery trade in England, Brigham Young asked Agatha to make hats for the first annual Pioneer Day celebration of the Saints' arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. The event took place on July 24, 1848. Ann Agatha describes her memories about making hats for occasion, and her interactions with Brigham Young on the occasion. The celebration included a parade of twenty-four women from the Church. Ann Agatha was on a committee to arrange the costumes for the group of women. At Brigham Youngs request Ann Agatha made hats for all the women in the celebration. Ann Agatha also repaired an old hat of Brigham Young, which Ann Agatha gifted to Brigham Youngs wife Lucy Bigelow. Among other hat receivers were Brigham Youngs other wives Emmeline F. Young, Margaret P. Young, and Zina D. Young, and Sisters Eliza R. Snow, Libbie Benson, and Rosetta Grant.