B. J. SPRATT, Caldwell County, is a native of Garrard County, Ky., and is a son of John and Sophia Spratt. He was born September 3, 1824, and is the sixth of a family of seven children, as follows: H. D., deceased; John T., deceased; Margaret; William S.; Elizabeth, deceased; Martha L., deceased, and subject. The paternal grandfather of subject was a native of Virginia and an early pioneer of Lincoln County, Ky., where he died. John Spratt was born in Virginia, was a farmer, and died in September, 1880. Mrs. Spratt, subject's mother, was a daughter of A. J. Brown, a pioneer of Garrard County, who died in 1833 at an advanced age. Mrs. Spratt died in 1853. The subject of this sketch, at the age of twenty years, left the paternal roof and commenced learning the cabinet trade in Princeton with Coon & Anderson, with whom he remained about three years. At the end of that time he enlisted in Company G, Fourth Kentucky Regiment, for the Mexican war, and served throughout that struggle. He then returned to Princeton, where he worked at his trade until 1852, when he joined R. B. Snelling's company of gold seekers, and made the overland trip to California, where he remained until 1855, mining and prospecting in the meantime. In 1855 he located near the mouth of Rogue River, Ore., where he remained until the breaking out of the Indian war, which broke up the settlement. With 105 other citizens he fled to a hastily constructed fort for safety. This fort stood on the present site of Ellensburgh, and afforded the settlers protection from the foe twenty-three days, during which eight of the defenders fell. At the close of the trouble Mr. Spratt joined the command of Capt. Rynerson, and assisted in removing the tribe of Rogue River Indians to their reservation on Silette River. There he found employment as carpenter and builder on the fort in King's Valley under Lieut. Philip Sheridan, now lieutenant-general of the United States army, and remained with the command until the spring of 1857, when he returned, via the Isthmus of Panama, to Caldwell County, and purchased the farm on which he now resides. Mr. Spratt was married in 1848 to Mary Jane Chambers, daughter of W. P. Chambers, by whom he had two children: John F., and Jeannette, wife of J. K. McGoodwin, of Princeton. Mrs. Spratt died in 1860, aged thirty years. Mr. Spratt's second marriage took place, in 1862, to Mrs. Macy M. Bond, daughter of Thomas Kevil. To this marriage five children have been born, whose names are as follows: Neecy, Norah, Belle, Ocy and Sydney. Mr. Spratt belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and votes with the Democratic party.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Page 714.