Missouri Pryor Families in Gasconade, Bates, Vernon and Other Counties

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A researcher  sent me the transcription of the probate record of Robert Pryor. He was on the 1828 Tax List in Gasconade Co., MO and the 1830 US Census.

“I do Solemnly Swear that Robert Pryor died with out a will as far as I do Know and believe and that I will make a true and perfect Inventory of and faithfuly administer all the Estate of the deceased and pay his debts as far as the assets will esctind and the law directs and pay —- all assets which Shall come to my hands possession or knowledge and also the following is a true list of the Heirs of Said Estate and places of their residence and age Agness P Huffman age 22 Gasconade Co., Sarah Simpson age 20 Gasconade Co., Elizabeth Simpson age 18 Gasconade Co., Rosann Pryor age 13 Gasconade Co., Rebecca Pryor age 11 Gasconade Co., Wm W Pryor age 7 Gasconade Co., Polly Caroline Pryor age 3 Gasconade Co. John G. Huffman Sworn to and Subscribed before me this 20th day of February 1837 Eli M Litton Clk'”

Most of Robert’s children can be traced through Gasconade Co. marriage records and later on the 1850 Census in Bates Co., MO.

Agness Pryor, born c. 1815, married to John G. Huffman, 23 June 1831, Gasconade. They were on the 1840 Census in Gasconade Co.
 
Sarah Pryor, born c. 1817, married to Samuel Simpson 6 July 1834, Gasconade. They are on the 1850 Census in Bates Co., MO with Samuel recorded as “Benjamin.” In 1860 they were in Vernon Co., MO with Samuel as head of household.
 
Elizabeth Pryor, born c. 1819, married to Daniel Simpson 23 May 1836, Gasconade. They are on the 1850 Census in Bates Co., MO.
 
Rosannah Pryor, born about 1824, married to Philip Gooch, 6 Jan 1839 Gasconade. They are on the Philip and wife “Anna” are on the 1840 and 1850 Census in Gasconade Co.  Anna appears to have remarried and is recorded as Anna James with her Gooch children on the 1860 Census in Vernon Co. and had apparently remarried again by 1870 when she was recorded in Jasper County as Anna Abbott.
 
William W. Pryor, born c. 1830 was living with his sister Elizabeth Pryor Simpson in Bates Co. in 1850.
 
Polly Caroline Pryor, born c. 1834. I haven’t yet matched “Caroline” to a census record, She may have died at a young age in that her siblings named children “Caroline”.

 

Seems odd that Robert was in Gasconade Co. that was also the home Pleasant Pryor who is supposedly a son of William Pryor of  White Co., TN (a son of Richard and Mourning Pryor). Then Robert’s heirs and Daniel end up in Bates and Vernon County with more kin of William of White Co.! We know that Richard and Mourning were in Graves Co., KY – in fact there are other MO Pryors from their line who were born in KY (sons of Jeremiah Pryor were born in KY in 1811-1819. Jeremiah was either a son or grandson of Richard and Mourning).

October is Oklahoma Pryor month here on the TnPryor website!

Watch for posts that tackle the questions of Oklahoma Pryor genealogy…

Category: Genealogy

Samuel N. Pryor of Marion Co. and McNairy Co., TN

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In The Land Laws of Tennessee published in 1891  states the following act in 1824.

“An act to legalize the official acts of the surveyor of Marion County.  Whereas in the appointment of the surveyor of Marion County, at the last session of the General Assembly, a mistake was made in the name of said surveyor, by calling him Samuel C. Pryor, instead of Samuel N. Pryor.”

Samuel N. Pryor is recorded on the 1830 Census in McNairy Co., TN. This entry in the annals of Tennessee is a further link to tie Samuel N. Pryor to Marion Co., TN.

Category: Genealogy

Is Benjamin W. Pryor AKA B.W. of Elizabeth City, VA?

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Benjamin Pryor appears only on the 1850 Census. By that time he was living with William O. Pryor in Ellis Co., TX. Benjamin was born about 1788 in Virginia. I’m alway curious when I find an “older” Pryor on the records and then can’t find them in earlier census, so I set out to try to fill in the “blanks”… where was Ben Pryor living, who was he related to?

I found in 1807 that Benjamin W. Pryor had a letter waiting for him at the Nashville Post Office. Not only did this provide a middle initial for this Pryor, but it again helped to establish ties to Tennessee.

Google Books has been a terrific resource. I found that a B. W. Pryor in 1813 was subscribing to a publication called the “Mountain Muse” apparently book of the adventures of Daniel Boone.  While the book recounts frontier stories, it was published in Rockingham, VA. The copy of the book in Google bears the personal inscription of the owner, Matthias Coats 1830 and later a Collin Coats. The book is poetry in the elevated language of the English poets (it would be a while before America had a Mark Twain!).

“His word a lively echo found.
O yes! companions in the joys of bliss!
We will refine, exalt, and humanize
Th’ uncivilized Barbarians of the West.

The point? The persons who subscribed to this book either had to know the author or were somewhat scholarly, educated readers.

B. W. Pryor is noted in “The Letters and Times of the Tylers” by Lyon G. Tyler, published in 1884. The book contains an account of a ballot cast in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1815-1816 session states Pryor was from Elizabeth City, an intimate friend of John Tyler, and a vetern of the Battle of Hampton (1813 battle during the War of 1812). John Tyler was a graduate of William and Mary College and became the 10th President of the US in 1840. In another account of Pryor’s heroics in the Battle of Hampton (Calendar of Virginia State Papers, published 1892) he is referred to as “Captain”.

In the 1820’s B. W. Pryor was still affluent and still in Virginia. “An Account of General LaFayette’s Visit to Virginia, in the Years 1824-1825” (pub. 1881), he is listed as a member of a committee to make arrangements for the Revolutionary War hero’s visit and is recorded as General B. W. Pryor.

So now knowing Pryor’s place of residence I went back to find him on the census. I found him in the Ancestry index to the 1820 Census listed as B. W. Tryon (Ooos!). His age in 1820 was between 26 and 45 (born 1775-1794), which puts him in the right age range to be Benjamin W. Pryor born in 1788.

bw-pryor-va

I found “B. W.”  Pryor on the 1810 Census in Elizabeth City, VA (left image), however the name on the census record doesn’t look like Benjamin or an abbreviation thereof. So, I went back to look at the Benjamin Pryor in Ellis Co., TX. Is he the same man who was in Elizabeth City, VA?

The Pryor in Ellis Co. arrived there around 1846. In 1850 he was living with William Oscar Pryor who was born 1827 in Louisiana (LA on the 1850 Census and TN on the 1860 & 1870 Census).  William O. was either a late-comer to Texas or had ties to Tennessee in that he married Laura E. Barnard in 6 January 1850 in Tipton Co., TN.  I’ve suspected that William was Benjamin’s son since William named a son “Benjamin.” Land records ID the elder Pryor as Benjamin W.

Where was Benjamin and William in 1830 and 1840? I uncovered another indexing error on Ancestry: Benjamin Pzzer (double Ooops!) in Nashville, Davidson Co., TN on the 1830 Census. This Benjamin was 60 to 69 years old, born 1760 to 1770.  This Benjamin Pryor is recorded on the same page as Nicholas B. Pryor, however any connection is questioned since the census was recorded in alpha order.

Some researchers state there was one John C. Pryor: the brother of Nicholas B. Pryor b. 1771-1780 of Nashville and the same John C. Pryor b. 1794 in VA who married Ann Bullard and lived in Franklin Co., TN, Rapides Co., LA, and Desoto Co., MS. Yet another John C. born 1761-1770, the one who had married the mother of explorer John C. Fremont, was living in Elizabeth City, VA .  The John C. born in 1794 was from VA and lived in LA and TN like Benjamin W.

Without a conclusion to this query, it should be noted that the Pryors in Elizabeth City were well-educated. B. W. appears to have supported poetry and attended grammer school at William and Mary College. John C. Pryor of Elizabeth City witnessed a will of for a John Tyler (not the President) and sat on the board of Govenors of William and Mary College, leading speculation that he was connected to B. W. Pryor.

Whew! Work is needed to tie all the loose ends together

Category: Genealogy, Tennessee Pryors, Virginia Pryors

Debunking a Daughter of Explorer Nathaniel Pryor

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Recently I found the book “Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 48” by James Shannon Buchannan, et. al., published 1936 in Google Books.  It tries to make a connection between an Osage woman named Mary Jane Pryor and the Lewis and Clark explorer, Nathaniel Pryor.

“The Osage Rolls contain clues for tracing the decendants of Pryor and Osinga… alottee No. 251 He-he-kin-to-op-pe, Jan. 1, 1894 Full (Mary Jane Pryor); 450 (Mary Pryor) Jan 1, (dead).”  The book further states that this is probably the Mary Jane Pryor who married Charles Alderman on 17 March 1849 in Franklin Co., MO.

The Internet is such a wonderful place for genealogists and family history researchers.  With digitized records it’s now easy to search and compare informaton in books.  I found Charles Alderman on the 1860 Census in Jackson Co., MO. He appears to be the same man who married Mary Jane Pryor in 1849.  The pieces add up that Mary Jane was the daughter of Lindsey Pryor and Jane Renfro, not Nathaniel Pryor.

  • Lindsey W. Pryor was living in Franklin Co. in 1840. He was married to Jane Renfro.
  • There was a young girl in the household on the 1840 Census.
  • Lindsey’s son John S. Pryor was living in Jackson Co., MO in 1860 in the same town as Charles Alderman.
  • The oldest child in the Alderman household, William, was born in about 1853, after the 1849 marriage.
  • Living with the Aldermans  —  Jane Pryor who is the right name and age to be Lindsey’s widow Jane Renfro.

Mary Jane is not on the 1860 Census. It appears she was deceased. Therefore she wasn’t the daughter of Nathaniel Pryor,  nor was she the Mary Jane on the 1894 Osage Rolls.

Category: Genealogy | Tags: , , , ,

Is David C. Kin to David Pryor Who Married Susan Ballou/Ballow?

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Hot on the trail of David C. Pryor born 1826 in TN. The book Trail Drivers of Texas states that his son David C. was born 1847 on a plantation in Alexandria, located in Rapides Co., LA.

 In 1830 there was a John C. Pryor counted on the census in Rapides Co. In a 1843 lawsuit, John C.Pryor was doing business in that county in 1830 and was involved in a litigated land deal in Alexandria, LA.

 On the 1840 Census there was an Isaac Thomas recorded in Rapides Co. This is of interest because David C. Pryor b. 1826 gave his a son born in 1847 the same name.  One researcher notes General Isaac Thomas was born 4 Nov. 1784 in Sevier Co., TN. He died in Rapides Co., LA in 1859 and had married Ann Pryor, Jane Bullard, and Emerline Flint.  The Wells Family of Louisiana and Allied Families by George Mason Graham Stafford states Ann Pryor was “General” Thomas’ first wife and that she was from Winchester, TN (Franklin Co.). A Genealogical Register of the Inhabitants and History of the Towns … by Abner Morse recounts a story of General Isaac Thomas riding from Natchez to Alexandria with Judge Bullard and seems to suggest that Thomas was also a judge or attorney (“remains at the bar”).

 By 1850 both David C. Pryors were living in Desoto Co., MS. It’s probable that the head of household Archibald McKissack was David Sr’s father in law. In the same county, only one page away from the McKissack household, was John C. Pryor b. 1794 in VA. John C. was also on the 1840 Census in Desoto Co. It’s likely that he was the same John C. who was in Rapides Co., LA in 1830. On the 1850 Census there was a child named John Pryor in David’s  household, possibly an earlier son named for his own father? His second son, Archibald, appears to have been named for his father in law. The second son for his grandfather, David. And his last son born after the census, Isaac Thomas Pryor, may have been named for the affluenent “General” and probable family friend.

 In a biographical sketch of David C. Pryor’s son Isaac “Ike” T., he states that his brother Archibald went to live with relatives in Tennessee after his mother’s death. Ike was sent to live with his aunt in Alabama and then eventually to relatives in Spring Hill, TN (Williamson Co.). The elder Pryor, John C. also had ties in Tennessee. He married Ann C. Bullard in “Winchester”in 1818 and was counted on the 1820 Census in Franklin Co., TN.

 Minute Man, Volumes 20-21 contains a genealogy stating that John C. Pryor who married Ann Bullard was John Cannon Pryor, son of David Pryor of VA, “Private in Third, Fifth, and Seventh Regts., VA Cont’l Line. This was published by the Sons of the American Revolution in 1927.

Oysterville: Roads to Grandpa’s Village by Willard R. Espy, 1977 edition states John Cannon Pryor married Ann Bullard. John was the son of Davis (sic) Pryor and Susan Ballow. John C. had a daughter named Rachel Medora who married Richard Harrison Taylor (aka Dick Taylor), son of  William Henry Harrison Taylor.

IF… that’s a very big “if ” in that more research must be done… if John C. Pryor was the father of David C. Pryor it would make sense that the son, David C. born in 1826, could have been named for a grandfther aslo named David.

Another Pryor also resideded in Rapides Co., LA. William b. 1810 was living in Rapides Co. in 1846 when his son William T. was born there. The 1860 census in Jackson Co., TX states the counties of birth for this Pryor family. William was born in Nashville, TN (Davidson Co.)

Are we getting close to figuring out this line?

Category: Tennessee Pryors, Texas Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , ,
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