Rey L. Pratt: A New Member, First Council of Seventy

REY L. PRATT A NEW MEMBER, FIRST COUNCIL OF SEVENTY Elder Rey L. Pratt, president of the Mexican mission, was chosen one of the presidents of the First Council of Seventy, at a meeting of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve, January 29, 1925. He was sustained in that position at the general conference

A NEW MEMBER, COUNCIL OF SEVENTY 763 of the Church, on April 6, 1925, and was set apart at the office of the First Presidency under the hands of Presidents Heber J. Grant. Anthony W. Ivins; and Presidents B. H. Roberts, J. Golden Kimball, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin and Charles H. Hart of the First Council of Seventy. President Anthony W. Ivins officiated. Elder Rey L. Pratt was born in Salt Lake City, October 11, 1878, and is the son of Helaman Pratt and Emmeline Victoria Billingsley Pratt. He was baptized by Richard Morris, November 2, 1886, and confirmed, November 4, 1886, by Parley P. Pratt. With the family he moved to the Mexican colonies at the age of nine, in which place he spent his boyhood and young manhood in settling and pioneering that country. He served several years as a member of the board of the stake Sunday schools of Juarez and as one of the presidency of the elders' quorum of the same stake. He was married, in the Salt Lake Temple, August 8, 1900, by President John R. Winder, to Mary Stark. Thirteen children were born to them, eight boys and five girls; six boys and five girls are still living. All but four of these children were born while the parents were laboring in the Mexican mission. On October 4, 1906, Elder Pratt was set apart for missionary work in Mexico, arriving there November 1, 1906. He labored eleven months in the mission as traveling elder, presiding over the Toluca conference seven months of this time. He succeeded President Hyrum S. Harris as president of the Mexican mission, on September 29, 1907, and has continued his labors in that capacity up to the present time. Sister Pratt has faithfully sustained and assisted him during all the long years of their missionary labors. Owing to revolutionary -conditions in Mexico, Elder Pratt with his family and the missionaries had to leave that country on the 5 th of September, 1913. He then made his headquarters, as president of the Mexican mission, in Salt Lake City, and continued to conduct the work by correspondence, through native brethren holding the Priesthood and who were left in the mission. This labor he continued until the 28th of June, 1915, when, upon instructions from the First Presidency, he went to Manassa, Colorado, and established missionary work among the many Mexicans living in the United States. He was joined by his wife and family on the 17th of October, 1915. On November 1, 1918, the mission headquarters were changed to El Paso, Texas. President Pratt with a company of missionaries went to Mexico City on March 1, 1921, and again formally opened up missionary work in that country, which has since been successfully carried on with won- derful results in the matter of conversions. Elder Pratt was ordained a Seventy on the 23d of September, 1911, by President Rulon S. Wells, and at the same time was set apart as one of the presidents of the 99 th quorum of Seventy. Elder Pratt is a faithful worker, full of the spirit of the gospel, and an enthusiast as a missionary among the Lamanites and Mexicans. —A.