Louise Miller Johnson was born to Edward and Georgianna Parker (Miller) Johnson on December 4, 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts. Louise married, the future Admiral, William Veazie Pratt, when he was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, on April 10, 1902 in Boston.
“Bill Pratt also had a new interest besides teaching, and that was Louise Johnson. Edward Johnson [Louise’s father] the current head of the family, had earned a fortune in railroad financing and construction and then turned to banking in Belfast…After returning to Annapolis, [Bill] began an epistolary campaign to win her. Little did he know that he was commencing a seven-year siege.”
Louise was “…a tiny woman, she danced well, was a good conversationalist, and possessed a sense of humor. She had been well enough educated in private schools to know how to interest a wide range of men. She carried on a very proper correspondence…”
“At leave’s end, Bill Pratt returned to Annapolis with a singing heart – he would marry Louise in the spring.” They were married in April. The photographs in this collection were taken by Henry L. Rand when Louise had been married a year and was visiting her family at the “Homestead” on Primrose Hill in Belfast, Maine.
“Admiral William Veazie Pratt, U.S. Navy: A Sailor’s Life” by Gerald E. Wheeler, Published by Naval History Division, Department of the Navy, Washington, D.C., p. 28-29, 44, 56, Chapter, “Primrose Hill” p. 377-419, 1974. A lively account of what it was like to rise in the United States Navy at the beginning of the twentieth century. Louise Miller (Johnson) Pratt is mentioned many times in the book as is her family and their homes on Primrose Hill in Belfast.
William’s naval career took Louise and William Pratt all over the world. They entertained for the navy and led a cosmopolitan life, but their home base was in Belfast at one or another of the Johnson houses on Church and High Streets.
In 1910 the Pratts are listed as living at 76 Church Street in Belfast, Maine, known as the Johnson “Homestead.”
“Commander and Mrs. William V. Pratt gave a dance the same night on board the flagship “Dixie.” – Social Notes from Newport, The New York Times, June 16, 1912.
“Louise Johnson Pratt, wife of the future Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William V. Pratt, traveled on her own and with their son in Europe both before and after World War I. Described as “spirited” by historian Gerald Wheeler, Louise Pratt was independent and intelligent. Writing to her thoroughly professional husband – then commanding cruiser “Birmingham” in the Caribbean – from Paris in February 1914, she teased him with these words: “I don’t see why it is necessary for you to have anyone else on board but yourself – no crew, no first officer, no navigator is any use for as far as I can see you can do the entire work yourself – and it is only an extra expense to Uncle Sam to have all those men on the ship.” The Pratts were extraordinary…” - “Battle Line: The United States Navy 1919-1939” by Thomas C. Hone and Trent Hone, published by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, p. 64 and footnote 15 on page 205, 2006
The footnote refers to the original citation “The quotation from the letter by Louise Pratt is from Gerald Wheeler’s “Admiral William Veazie Pratt, US. Navy, A Sailor’s Life” (Washington: Naval History Division, Navy Department, 1974}, pp. 80-81.
In 1920 the Pratts are listed as living at 76 Church Street, Belfast, Maine – The Homestead.
In 1923 the Pratts are listed as living at 100 Church Street, Belfast, Maine – another family house on Primrose Hill – also known as the Pratt House.
In 1937 the Pratts are listed as living at the “Johnson House in Belfast…now occupied by Admiral William Veazie Pratt” and sometimes listed as the Pratt house. – “Historic Churches and Homes of Maine: Compiled by the Maine Writers Research Club” published by Falmouth Book House, p. 35, 1937
Louise Pratt christened a destroyer named for her husband when it was launched on March 16, 1960 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The “USS William V. Pratt” was a Farragut 1957 Destroyer in naval service until September 30, 1991.
Louise Miller (Johnson) Pratt died on November 16, 1963 in Belfast, Maine at the age of 86.
