Charles Clarence Pratt (April 23, 1854 – January 27, 1916) was a Republican member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. Pratt was born in

New Milford, Pennsylvania New Milford is a borough in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 817 at the 2020 census. Children living in New Milford are served by the schools in the Blue Ridge School District, including Blue Ridge High Scho ...

to Ezra and Addie Pratt. He attended the rural schools in his community and the Sedgwick Institute in

Great Barrington, Massachusetts Great Barrington is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Bot ...

. He graduated from the State Normal School, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. He entered the

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

and

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

businesses at New Milford in 1879. He served as assessor, school director, and justice of the peace. He served as colonel on the respective staffs of Governors William A. Stone,

Samuel W. Pennypacker Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker (April 9, 1843 – September 2, 1916) was an American judge and politician who served as the 23rd governor of Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1907. A judge assigned to Pennsylvania's Court of Common Pleas system prior to his ...

, and John K. Tener from 1899 to 1907. In 1903, he built what is now called the

Pratt Memorial Library The Pratt Memorial Library is a historic public library located in New Milford, Pennsylvania. History The library was opened in 1893 by Mr. Ezra Pratt. It was first located in the front room of a house at 248 Main Street. The house belonged ...

, expanding on the library established by his parents. Pratt was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910. He resumed his former business pursuits, residing in

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

, during the winters and in New Milford during the summers. He died in Binghamton in 1916, aged 61, and was interred in New Milford Cemetery.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
1854 births 1916 deaths People from New Milford, Pennsylvania Politicians from Binghamton, New York Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American legislators 19th-century American businesspeople 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub