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President John Tyler and the Tidewater Pryors

Posted on February 20, 2012 by tnpryors

Happy President’s Day! I posted a link on the Pryor Surname Facebook page this morning. It’s a link to a CBS Sunday Morning segment that aired yesterday. It’s a small story about President John Tyler.

What I loved about this story was the interview with President Tyler’s grandson. Yes, President Tyler who was born in 1790 has a grandson living today. That remarkable feat is chalked up to the President and his son fathering children long after most people qualify for Medicare. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have that short of leap in our family trees? My ancestors born about 1790 are great-great-great grandparents.

I also thought back on the link President John Tyler has to the Pryors in early America. Mo Rocca points out in his interview that the Tylers had connections with everyone who was anybody in the Tidewater area of Virginia—Pocahantas, Jamestown residents, Thomas Jefferson. Last year I failed to mention the connection of Tyler to the Pryors in Affluent Pryor Families in Virginia. Tyler’s sister Betty Armistead Tyler married John Clayton Pryor (b. 1771-1780) sometime before 1820.

John Clayton Pryor was a prominent citizen in Virginia as shown through his involvement in both the political and intellectual life of the area. He represented Williamsburg in the Virginia House of Delegates and served on the Board of Visitors for William and Mary College. I haven’t gotten access to the document in the archives, but I found he wrote a letter to President Thomas Jefferson in 1813 (after he was out of office).

John Clayton Pryor is likely the son of Christopher Pryor and Catherine Clayton. The family home was the “Ware-House in Gloucester County, VA. His father was also a prominent citizen as a trustee of Ware Parish Church. He must have been a gentleman farmer in that he supplied 800 pounds of beef to the troops during the American Revolution and I found that his son, John, was a subscriber to the Farmers’ Register. Both John and his father lived to see America thrive as an independent county, living to see Washington, Adams, and Jefferson serve as Presidents.

I haven’t been able to reliably go back any further that Christopher Pryor, however the children of John Clayton are known: Christiana, Maria Emily, Skaife Whiting, Anne Contesse, and Elizabeth Armistead. I know the Whitings were also a prominent Virginia family. I’ve wondered if John’s father, Christopher Pryor, was perhaps a brother of Maj. John Pryor who married Anne Beverly Whiting (later the mother of explorer and politician John C. Fremont– see Major John Pryor of Richmond, VA & John C Fremont Connection). Christopher and Major Pryor would have been of the same generation, perhaps 5 year apart in age. John Clayton Pryor and Major Pryor held similar political and education positions.

Enjoy the holiday and your search for Pryors.

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Williamson County Pryors Connected to Other TN Pryor Lines

Posted on December 1, 2011 by tnpryors

I received an email from a Pryor researcher who was looking at the Pryor families in Williamson County, TN. It caused me to take another look at these Pryors. Which Colonial (VA, NC, SC) Pryor lines are they connected to? Who are their relatives who were in other TN counties at the same time?

I’m inclined to believe the Pryors in Williamson County are connected to other Pryor lines in Tennessee. The patriarch of the Williamson County line was Luke Pryor.  Researchers have often speculated that Luke was born in South Carolina in about 1740. Sarah Pryor born about 1784 in SC has long been claimed as his daughter. Sarah married David Squire, Hugh McCabe, Daniel Carter, and Angus McPhail. Sarah McPhail age 78 is on the 1850 Census in Williamson County. She stated her place of birth was SC, which would put Luke Pryor in South Carolina in about 1772.

I’ve found a connection that may confirm Luke Pryor living in SC. In 1786 a Luke Pryor deeded land to John Waller Pryor in Marlboro County, SC. The land was surveyed by Alex. Craig. Mr. Craig piqued my interest because I found that an Alexander Craig was on the 1812 Tax List in Maury Co., TN (a county bordering Williamson Co.). In later years a younger Alexander Craig was living Williamson Co. In 1830 Hugh McCabe, and probably wife Sara Pryor, were counted in Maury County. This isn’t solid proof, but it’s a strong lead.

If you’re interested in the ancestry of Luke Pryor, I have another juicy lead– I’ve found John Waller Pryor (named in the Marlboro Ccounty deed above). I found an online family tree that included the marriage of a John Pryor to Mary Waller. This John Pryor left a will (I haven’t seen it) in Halifax County, NC. Could John Waller Pryor be the son of this Pryor union?

Through Williamson County Guardian Records it’s been determined that Luke Pryor was the father of John Pryor. John Pryor was born between 1760 and 1770, possibly in South Carolina and these records state he was the father of Henry B. Pryor born 1790. The odd twist is that we find that Henry B. was living in Pike County, AL in 1850, however Rhoda Pryor and Mary Ann Pryor were living in Jackson Co. with a William Pryor b. 1814 in TN.

The Jackson County connection leads one to wonder if William, Rhoda, and Mary Ann Pryor were related to any of the other Pryors in Jackson Co.  Jackson Co. residents Allen and Alfred Pryor were both born in SC and are of the right ages to be grandsons of Luke Pryor. Both Rhoda and Mary Ann married Crockers, and in 1850 there was a Sarah Pryor b. 1764 in NC living in the household of John Y. Crocker.

Allen Pryor died in Jackson Co., TN sometime between 1852 and 1860 Census. His wife Cinderella moved the family to Franklin County, IL.  Tabitha Pryor of Wilson County, TN (the widow of Thomas Pryor) was also in the same county by the 1870 Census. Cinderella’s son, Alfred, was counted as an “uncle” in Tabitha’s daughter’s household in 1920. While the relationship is a bit murky—he was probably a cousin not an uncle—this later census record connects the Wilson County Pryors to the lines that can be traced back to Luke Pryor in Williamson Co., TN.

Back to the Crockers. By the time of the 1870 Census John Y Crocker and wife Dorcas/Tabitha were living in Iron County, MO.  By 1880 Bird and Montz/Mounce Pryor, children of Alfred Pryor of Jackson Co., TN, were also living in Iron Co.  Jane A. Pryor Nelson, the mother of Matthew, John, and Solomon Nelson, also left Jackson County to settle in Iron County by 1880.  And it should be noted that Bird Pryor married Surena Crocker, a daughter of John Y. Crocker.

I’ve yet to identify a connection for William S. Pryor of Williamson Co., TN. He was appears on the 1820 Census and a few records between 1820 and 1820. He was born in 1775 or earlier. I have an inkling that he’s connected to the other Pryors in Williamson County, but as we all know, an inkling isn’t proof of anything in genealogy.

So if we do a head count on the 1850 Census of this branch of the Pryor family tree… here’s who I believe are connected:

  • Henry B. Pryor of Pike Co., AL
  • Allen and Alfred Pryor of Jackson Co., TN
  • Jane A. Pryor Nelson of Jackson Co., TN
  • Dorcas/Tabitha who married John Y. Crocker of Jackson Co., TN
  • Rhoda and Mary Ann Pryor who lived with William Pryor and wife Alsey in Jackson Co., TN
  • Thomas Pryor in Wilson Co., TN. His widow and children moved to Franklin Co., IL and interacted with the widow and children of Allen Pryor (see above)

Is there anyone else on the 1850 Census that I forgot?

 

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Seth Pryor, Revolutionary War Soldier

Posted on November 18, 2011 by tnpryors

I’m working through the Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications that are now on Ancestry.com. I think Seth Pryor, a Revolutionary War Soldier from South Carolina, needs a closer look.

Claude Henry Babb submitted his application to the SC Chapter in 1925. He claimed to be a descendant of Seth Pryor was born in VA in 1734, migrated to SC, and served as a volunteer in a company commanded by Darius Dalton in 1775. Babb’s research states Seth was deceased by 1811. His son Seth Thornton Pryor born 1782 was born in St. George Parish and died in the same parish in 1850. The younger Seth was the father of Joseph Pryor born 1815 in Laurens County.

I looked at the census extracts on the Tennessee Pryors website and see that there was indeed a Joseph Pryor who was a head of household in Laurens Co., SC in 1840 through 1860 censuses. However Seth T. Pryor does not appear on the census in St. George Parish, but in Colleton County, SC. He was last recorded on the 1820 Census and I found that a death notice published around 1830 in the Charleston Observer stated he had died at age 49. Doing the math, that would make Seth T. Pryor born in about 1781 or 1782 which matches with the data presented by Mr. Babb. However, it appears Seth T. Pryor was deceased about 20 years before the death date of 1850 on Babb’s application.

The names Seth and Joseph seem to have been passed down through generations. I found another Seth Thornton Pryor born 1840 in an Ancestry Family Tree (see Adam’s Family). This Seth was the son of Joseph Pryor born 1818 in SC and they were counted in the same household on the 1850 Census in Laurens County, SC.

Living in a county that differs from the census records… bad death date… I’m wondering how much is fact and how much is fiction on these applications. I know that in 1925 access to the census records was probably limited and the census wasn’t even used as a source for the application. Where did the information come from that Seth Pryor came from Virginia?

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