Zadock Pratt Jr. (October 30, 1790 – April 5, 1871) was a tanner, banker, soldier, and member of the United States House of Representatives for two non-consecutive terms in the mid-19th century.

[1] Pratt financed multiple smaller tanneries in the Catskills, and also one in Pennsylvania as a joint venture with Jay Gould.

[3] In 1802, at age 12, Pratt moved with his parents to Windham, New York (which soon became Lexington, and is current day Jewett).

[4] In his father's yard there were "two limes" and eight vats, and the bark was ground with a circular millstone by horse power.

[8] On October 18, 1818, Pratt married Beda Dickerman of Hamden, Connecticut, who died of tuberculosis six months later on April 19, 1819.

Pratt and his brother Ezra then bought out Bennett's share of the tanning business for $2200.

[12] Pratt had been planning a tanning business much larger than what he was currently engaged in, and Esther's death put him into action.

He dissolved his partnership with his brother, and, with $14000 in capital, began seeking a location for his new tannery.

[12] He spent the summer of 1824 exploring the surrounding counties with his dog for the best place for his planned operations.

[13] He decided on a region in the very western part of Windham, in what is current day Prattsville, for its large forests of hemlock, which was necessary for tanning at the time, as well as its proximity to the Schoharie Creek.

[14] The Prattsville Commercial Building, built about 1824, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

The following day he broke ground on the tannery, and with the help of laborers, dammed the creek in the following weeks.

[18] On April 25, 1820, Pratt was chosen as Captain of the Fifth regiment of New York State Artillery, which consisted of 130 men.

[25] On March 19, 1838, Pratt introduced a bill to drastically lower postage rates, and argued that high postage costs disproportionately affected the poor, and that it was effectively a tax on intelligence, as it hindered the free passage of information.

On February 25, 1839, Pratt suggested that public buildings no longer be built out of sandstone, but instead granite of marble, because they absorb very little water compared to sandstone, and therefore required less maintenance He also noted that marble was cheaper than granite, when including building costs.

[27] On July 4, 1838, he announced that he declined re-election, although his constituents strongly wanted him to serve another term.

Two years later his second daughter, Abigail Watson Pratt, was born on January 26, 1834.

One year later Pratt married his fifth wife, Susie A. Grimms of Brooklyn, October 16, 1869.

In 1856, Zadock Pratt, at 66 years old, met a teenage Jay Gould, and hired him to survey a tanning site in Pennsylvania.

[33] By another account, Gould decided that he wanted to build a tannery, found a site, and then sought out Pratt's assistance.

[35] He left the tannery to Gould, which expanded rapidly, and the surrounding settlement was called Gouldsboro[35] (also spelled Gouldsborough).