In looking at the Jefferson County, KY Pryor families I’m back to David Crawford’s 1801 Will:
1801 – Jefferson Co., KY Will
David Crawford, 14 Dec 1801 — 20 Sept 1802; 4 Mar 1805.
To sons David and Reuben, land on Harrods Creek; to Nathan land in Shelby County where he now lives; to daughter Salley Cocke 80 pounds money, money also to daughters Elizabeth Davis and Nancy Jones; to son Charles land bought of Richard Talliaferro adjoining Elias Wells [or Wills]; to sons Nelson and William land in Amherst County, adjoining Buffalo Ridge, granted testator in 1789; to my wife part of land wer “I now live,” bought of Robert Johnston and William Haynes; special gift to Nathan “for him not receiving assistance in setting out in life in a remote and distant country”; to son John one half of all lands in Kentucky seruveyed by him.
Exec. Sons John, William S., Nelson and Charles [Crawford]
Bondsman: Charles Taliaferro, Nathaniel Warwick
Witnesses: William Pryor, John Pryor, Stella Sullivan.
Codical dated 14 Mar 1802. Land to son William to be sold and “divided among my legatees”; son John to manage estate. Sons David and Reuben to be “gven equally as much as my other children.”
Witnesses: William Pryor and John Pryor, Stella Sullivan.
(Today Harrod’s Creek is a neighborhood of Louisville, it’s near the Ohio RIver. It’s a waterway used for recreational boating, so it’s possible to assume that boats were used on the waterway by early settlers.) (Early Kentucky Settlers: The Records of Jefferson County, Kentucky, Excerpted and reprinted from The Filson Club History Quarterly by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1988)
Heirs named. Children: David Crawford, Reuben Crawford, Nathan Crawford, Sally Crawford Cocke, Elizabeth Crawford Davis, Nancy Crawford Jones, Nelson Crawford, William S Crawford, John Crawford , Charles Crawford
One of David’s heirs was John Crawford. Another a record has surfaced that names a John Crawford and William Pryor in Amherst County, VA. In 1818 William Pryor struck a land deal that went bad resulting in a lawsuit that wasn’t resolved until 1853! It’s rather long, so here’s a truncated version:
Elliott v. Carter & als. January Term 1853, Richmond. John Crawford of the county of Amherst, died in April 1818. He gave estate to Elizabeth Carter, wife of John Crawford, and her son John Elliott. “It appears that on the 12th of November 1818, the executors of John Crawford deceased, by virtue of the power given them by the will, made sale of the the real estate of their testator at public auction, at which a tract of 320 acres was knocked off to one William Pryor upon a credit; that on the same evening, and before the sale to Pryor was further effectuated, by agreement of the parties, one Richard Eubank was accepted and received as the purchaser of 199 1/2 acres of the tract cried off to Pryor, * and it was agreed that when that portion of the land should be laid off by a survey, the said Eubank was to give his bonds, with security for the amount of the purchase money… in October 1822, a bill in chancery was filed, seeking to assert a lien upon the land for the unpaid purchase money.” It goes on to say that litigation continued to 1836. (Virginia Reports: Jefferson–33 Grattan, 1730-1880, Michie Company, 1902, pg. 253. Google Books. Richard Eubank was the son in law of Capt. William Pryor.)
Richard Eubank named in this suit was married to Margaret Pryor, daughter of Capt. William Pryor. Was it Capt. Pryor and his son John C. Pryor who witnessed the Crawford will in 1801? I don’t think so, as John C. Pryor would have been 14 years old in 1801. I think we’re looking for an older John Pryor and confirmation as to which William Pryor was in Jefferson County in 1801.