Frederick W. Chapman.
"Now, my dear brother Parley, when I received the foregoing letter I wept like a little child; I was so overjoyed that I could not refrain from weeping.
"There are none among all the descendants of our ancestor, Lieutenant William Pratt, who have so deep an interest in searching out his descendants as ourselves. We know that the God of our fathers has had a hand in all this. He it was who brought our ancestor William from England, and established him in this choice land of promise, given to us by virtue of the covenant made with our ancient father, Joseph, the son of Jacob.
"The Lord God of our fathers has multiplied them in this land, and made them almost a nation within a nation. Blessed be the name of our God, for He remembereth his covenants forevermore.
"He has wrought upon the hearts of his servants, our relations, though unknown to them, to inquire out the genealogy and history of our fathers upon the promised land. Yea, blessed be the name of the Lord God of Joseph and of Israel, for he hath given into our hands the keys of the priesthood and the doctrines of salvation, that we might stand as saviors upon Mount Zion, in behalf of our ancestors and their lineal descendants. Let us, my dear brother Parley, take hold of this matter in earnest and assist our kindred in the laudable enterprise which they have undertaken.
"I have no records with me and my memory is weak. Therefore, I hope you will search up all the family records, and all the verbal information within your reach—-with names, dates, births, places, marriages and deaths, and forward without delay.
"Does our father's sister, aunt Lovina Van Cott, or yourself know anything about the descendants of Stephen, Sarah and others, the brothers and sisters to our grandfather, Obadiah? How shall we get a clue to them? Is It possible to find out any descendant of either of the brothers or sisters of Christopher Pratt, of Saybrook, our great-grandfather? Who and when did our grandfather, Obadiah, marry? How many children had Obadiah? Whom did they marry, and when? How many children had each of our uncles and aunts, the brothers and sisters of our father? And how many children and grandchildren has each of these cousins? In short, all the descendants of our great-grandfather, Christopher, are wanting.
* * * Send all the information you can gather to Mr. Chapman. It might not be amiss to send him your 'History of the Persecution,' your 'Voice of Warning,' and such other works as you may be the author of; and also, if you see proper, a biographical sketch of your life I have forwarded to him all of my works. * * * I have also sent him all the information in my power concerning our kindred. * *
"I sent a letter last evening proposing to take some fifty or a hundred dollars worth of the records as soon as published. These will supply myself and brothers and our rising families. I also proposed to search out, if possible, the ancestors of William Pratt, in England. I expect to visit England in April or May, and shall probably be absent two or three months.
"This from your younger brother,