Charles Pratt was an American oil merchant and philanthropist.
Background
He was born on October 2, 1830 in Watertown, Massachussets, United States. He came of New England ancestry and was the son of Asa and Elizabeth (Stone) Pratt. His father, a cabinet maker by trade, was a descendant of Richard Pratt, said to have been a son of John Pratt of Malden, Essex County, England, who settled in Malden, Massachussets, about 1630.
Charles was one of eleven children, his mother was in poor health, and the care of his younger brothers devolved upon him. The sense of responsibility for others was thus early impressed upon him, while the straitened circumstances of the family taught him to be frugal and economical.
Education
He attended a country school in Massachussets.
As soon as he had saved a little money he entered Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Massachussets, where he was a student for three winters living for a time, it is said, on a dollar a week.
Career
At thirteen he obtained the position of clerk in a grocery store in Boston, which he held for one year. He then became an apprentice to a machinist at Newton, Massachussets. In 1849 he became a clerk with a Boston firm dealing in paints and oils.
At the age of twenty-one he moved to New York City and worked for the firm of Schenck & Downing, a firm specializing in paints and oils. In 1854 he became a partner in the firm of Raynolds, Devoe & Pratt, which engaged in the same line of business. Foreseeing the great growth of the petroleum industry, which came into existence with the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania, Pratt withdrew from this concern in 1867, and in conjunction with Henry H. Rogers established the firm of Charles Pratt & Company. It began the refining of crude oil on a large scale at Greenpoint, Long Island, as well as the manufacture of many valuable byproducts, which had theretofore been unknown. Under the trade mark "Pratt's Astral Oil" the firm produced a high quality of illuminating oil, the fame of which spread all over the world.
On October 15, 1874, the Pratt works, which had then a capacity of 1500 barrels a day and were regarded as the most successful of all refineries, were acquired by John D. Rockefeller. Pratt joined the Standard Oil combination with considerable reluctance, since he was afraid that the product of his refinery, for which he felt a personal responsibility, might suffer in quality once it was swallowed up in a larger organization.
He was the president of the board of trustees of Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn. He also gave large sums to Amherst College and the University of Rochester. Manual training, however, appealed to him most of all. In search of needed information he visited England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria gathering data on technical schools, and at length founded Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for the training of skilled artisans, foremen, designers, and draftsmen. It opened on October 17, 1887. Through his interest in the New York Mercantile Library he was led to establish the Pratt Institute Free Library open to all citizens. A firm believer in inculcating habits of saving, he organized in 1888 "The Thrift, " a Savings and Loan Association patterned after the Birkbeck Building Society in London.
Achievements
Religion
He was very religious, a devout Baptist, and strict in his church attendance.
Views
In the belief that the best way to help others was to teach them how to help themselves, he determined to endow an institution where the pupils could learn trades that would enable them to be self-supporting through the skillful use of their hands.
Personality
Below the medium height and inclined to stoutness, Pratt had a sharp, pointed face, keen searching eyes, a firm mouth, and wore a goatee. He was modest and reserved in manner, but his jovial disposition, unselfishness, and generous spirit made him deeply beloved. By temperament he was irresolute and slow in making up his mind, although possessed of great nervous energy. In business he was shrewd and far-seeing and his success as a merchant was in no small measure due to careful attention to details and an avoidance of waste.
He was wrapped up in his family and cared little for clubs or places of amusement. In order to keep his descendants together he purchased as a summer residence Dosoris, an 800-acre tract at Glen Cove, Long Island, where he built a manor house for himself and homes for his children as they married.
Connections
He was twice married: in December 1854, to Lydia Ann, daughter of Thomas Richardson of Belmont, Massachussets, by whom he had a son and a daughter; she died in August 1861, and in September 1863 he married her sister, Mary Helen Richardson, by whom he had five sons and a daughter. He sent his children to Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn.