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Show Page 14 York and a candidate for president - Samuel J. Tilden. Other noted Columbia County families included the Rockefellers, the van Rensselaers, and the artist Frederic Church; possibly some of these names were known to Orson, and he may even have been a schoolmate of Tilden, the young 23 governor-to-be. Poorer and more obscure than these established families, the Pratts nevertheless took the opportunity to send Orson to school in New Lebanon several months each year. He apparently studied quite regularly from the time of the family's arrival until he was boarded out in 1822. No one can be sure of the name or the whereabouts of Orson's first school, but records tell of "several select schools" held in an "academy" built in Lebanon Springs. Operated by one of the nation's first free public education systems, it was one of several such academies in Columbia County and most likely gave him his first taste of scholarship. Orson's education was supplemented by his parents, who "instructed" him to read the Bible when he was very young. Though full of religious questions drawn from his reading, he attended church very seldom. The Pratt tradition of independence in religious matters was carefully carried on by Jared Pratt, but in an attitude of openness rather than hostility. Parley P. Pratt, once confronting his father with questions about the seeming departures from Biblical patterns practiced by the sectarian churches, found his father disinclined to judge them, reasoning quite properly that time and circumstances change religious ideas. Nevertheless, Orson's parents were, in his words, "never so unfortunate as to unite 24 themselves with any of the religious sects." The Pratts did not stand totally aloof. Parley indicates that his family "frequently attended public worship," alternating among the various denominations, "having equal respect" for them all. Until 1820, |