Tag Archives: Brazure W Pryor

Samuel Pryor of Charles City

I have to refer back to Croxton Pryor who in 1776 had 4 pairs of Callimanco Shoes listed in his estate. I think I’ve found another Pryor who can top that.

https://2012/08/croxton-pryor-of-williamsburg-and-his-fascinating-shoes/

Samuel Pryor of Charles City died around 1801. In his estate are a veritable treasure trove of early-American dry goods, which included 30 pairs of Callimanco Shoes.

21 3/4 yds Gingham
11 1/4 yds Tambord? Muslin
10 1/2 yds Tambord? Muslin
29 yds Dark Callico
28 yds of Purple Muslin
5 1/2 yds cotton cambrie
23 yds cark callico
10 yds gimp trimming
16 yds India cotton
25 yds red & black callico, 22 yds green ditto
40 yds checks
(see estate on Ancestry.com)

This is just a sample of what was listed. I wonder if he was a tailor or ran a store. It seems like a of fabric for personal use, at least until you account for all the slaves named in the will.

Armistead, Henry, Arney, Babary, George, Nancy, Lucy, Nancy, Moses, James, Billy, Oliver, Cate, Mourning, Ned, Will, Priscilla, Julius, Biley, Fanney, Betty Norfolk, Booker, Goliah,

I have in my notes that the Samuel who was on the 1790 Tax List for Charles City was the father of Brazure Williams Pryor, but that may not be so. There’s an account in the Charles City records that names Samuel as Brazure’s guardian. Would his father be called a “guardian”? Accounts were made in 1794 through 1799.

Cincinnatus Pryor of Elizabeth City, VA

88Cincinnatus Pryor signature
It looks like there’s a new Pryor or Prior (it’s spelled both ways on documents) for the family tree. Ancestry.com has added records of applications to the Military Academy at West Point, NY. They include an 1825 application for a cadet named Cincinnatus Prior who is described as the son of General Prior of “the late war”. I think that would make him a son of Brazure Williams Pryor who fought in the War of 1812.

One glowing letter of recommendation in the file states Cincinnatus was a scholar at the Hampton Academy and was accomplished in English, Latin, Mathematics, Geometry (including Euclid’s Elements), trigonometry, and his courses included elementary chemistry and geography.

A letter of application signed by Cincinnatus Pryor states his age and place of birth which fits with Brazure’s marriage to Elizabeth Antoinette DeNeuville in 1807.

January 12, 1827. Addressed to the Secretary of War…  was born in the State of Virginia and now reside in the Borough of Norfolk and State of virginia. My age is Eighteen and my character and qualifications will appear from the recommendations of Wm Thos. Newton, Capt. E. P. Kenedy, Mr. John Tyler, Genl John Floyd, and certificates of my teacher Mr. Wm Ewing which were enclosed to you last year.
{signed}

Cincinnatus Pryor

Brazure Williams Pryor died in April 1827, so it’s possible that Cincinnatus didn’t make it to West Point. However if you do a search of Google books there’s a government publication that states he was dismissed from the Navy in about 1832. Wait a minute… Navy? I though he was applying to West Point!

Pryor Slave in Richmond Tobacco Factory Fight

ye-olde-pryor

A slave named Aleck Bagby, owned by Dr. Sam’l Fauntleroy, of King and Queen, on yesterday evening bit off the entire lower lip of Fleming Pryer, a slave, owned by W. R. Robinson, Esq., in a fight, at the factory of the latter, on Franklin, below 20th street — Dr. James Dove was summoned in haste, and stitched on the dissevered part.
— Richmond Dispatch, Richmond VA 4 March 1861

Samuel G Fauntleroy is on the 1850 census in King and Queen County and states his profession as physician, but do the slaves or their owners lead back to a Pryor?

W. R. Robinson is on the 1860 Non-Population Schedule, recorded as a manufacturer of tobacco.

It should be noted that Dr. James Dove was also summoned to a Richmond scene

I may have found Bagby– an Alexander Bagby worked in a tobacco factory in Richmond:

1870 Census, Henrico county, Richmond Clay Ward
Alexander Bagby 44 male B works in tobacco fac. Virginia.
Elizabeth 44 female B keeping house Virginia
Jeremiah 18 male B works in tobacco fac. Virginia.
George 17 male B ? Virginia.

Fleming Pryor was also on the 1870 Census and the 1880 Census:

1870 Census, Goochland County, VA
Lickenhole, page 120b, house Fleming PRYOR 67 black male born VA

1880 Census Richmond, Henrico County, VA
Richmond, page 487c, Fleming PRYOR 71 black make born VA, parents both born in VA, sick with old age. Edith wife 59 washer woman born VA, parents both born in VA. Edith Pryor 27. Martha 14.

Fleming Pryor died in 1886 in Richmond. He was recorded as a “factory hand” and he was born in 1824 in Hanover County, VA.

Bagby’s owner Samuel G. Fauntleroy connects to a Pryor. Samuel Fauntleroy with Elizabeth Antoinette DeNeuville Pryor (the widow of Brazure Williams Pryor) witnessed the will of Robert B. Boyd in 1838.

1838 Will – Will of Robert B Boyd 1838. Records of King and Queen Co. King and Queen C.H. Virginia. Will Book 1, page 102. Will of Robert B Boyd. Dated 30 May 1838. Prob. 11 June 1838. Friend Christopher John D PRYOR Esqr to be guardian “of my two children Mary Francis and Roberta Byrd Boyd. Two uncles Beverly D. Roy and Augustus G. D. Roy to have blooded horses. Wife Mary A Boyd. Exor: “my friend George K Carlton. Wit: E.A. PRYOR, Samuel G Fauntleroy, Junius x PRYOR. This will recorded 2nd Nov 1869

There are so many pieces connected to this simple 1861 news piece. Slaves such as Alexander Bagby were hired out to factory owners like W. R. Robinson. Maybe Fleming Pryor was another rented slave or perhaps Robinson acquired him from a Pryor or Fleming family. Does his name shed light on a Virginia Pryor family?

More Letters on General Brazure Williams Pryor Land Grant

Working through some older items I’ve meant to post. Two more letters regarding the War of 1812 land warrant for Brazure W. Pryor– the Hero of Hampton.

Richmond, VA
June 17th 1854

Dear Madam
In making an investigation I find further sum for your deceased husband Brazure W Pryor in the War of 1812 which in my opinion will give you an additional land warrant.

With your permission I will endevor to get you another warrant. In that evente you will please say that the 80 acre warrant No 36.536 which issued to you has long since been sold out of your possession in the acknowledgment of this letter.

Oblige, yours respectfully,
J K M

Elizabeth A Pryor
Care of Carter B Fogg
Newtown, VA

Memo
Brazure W Pryor was pay master to 115th Regt VA Mi (Militia?) from 28 Jul 1814 to 26 Feb 1815.

——————————————- Next Letter ————————————

X Mrs Pryor was paid by certificate of deposit No 902 for $56.70 for her land warrant No. 36.556 16 August 1852

Poplar Grove, July 2nd 1854

Mr. Martin
I  have just received your communication of the 17th June. I should like to get the additional claim which you think I am entitled to and as soon as obtained please to send a check for the amount of it and

oblige, yours most respectfully
E A Pryor

X Received of Mr. John K. Martin, 56 dollars clear of all expenses for the services of my deceased husband B. W. Pryor, during the War of 1812.

Please direct to Carlton’s Store
King and Queen Co.
Virginia

PS should the money be applied for, do not pay in ??? a written order from me.
E A Pryor
——————————————- Next Letter ————————————

 

A New Look At Old Virginia Pryors and New VA Additions to the Website

2011 may be the Chinese year of the rabbit, but for Pryor research it’s turning out to be the year of the microscope!  No Pryor left unexamined. No family tree assumed correct! Why this fervor?  We’re at the point where we have a boodle (is that a genealogy term?) of  records available online and we have filled in enough information of what happened to the Pryors as they moved Westward to unravel which families they connected to before they left VA and the Carolinas. So get ready for lots of mini-mysteries and some big solutions. This is going to be a fun year!

In September 2009 I wrote Is Benjamin W. Pryor AKA B. W. Pryor of Elizabeth City? I’m now ready to make my final decision— Absolutely NOT.  B. W. Pryor is Brazure Williams Pryor who was on the 1810 and 1820 Census in Elizabeth City, VA. His name was recorded as “Braz” on the 1810 Census.  He was a hero of the War of 1812 where he defended Hampton (Elizabeth City), politically active as a member of the VA House of Representatives and member of the Electorial College that elected James Monroe in 1817. He was part of the reception committee that planned the visit of General Lafayette (the French general of the American Revolution in 1824). And his death in April 1827 was notable enough to be reported in the Washington Intelligencer.

I recently found an excerpt of a will for a Brazure Williams who died in Charles City in about 1793. He left his plantation where he lived to his grandson Brazure William Pryor! Also mentioned in the will is his wife Frances Williams, so we now know that B W Pryor’s grandparents were Brazure and Frances Williams. The excerpt also mentions the executor was Williams’ son in law Samuel Pryor, so there’s the possibility that Brazure was the son of a Samuel Pryor.

It would be easy to suspect that when Brazure W. Pryor died in 1827 John C. Pryor, who appears on the census in Elizabeth County in 1830, was his heir. Yes, too easy—after all, we’re looking at Pryors and nothing is that simple! A suit between Philip Taliafero and Skaife Pryor resolved that John C. Pryor (who had died about 4 years before) was the son of Christopher Pryor (who had died in 1803), and that Skaife (born 1832) was John’s only son.   The judgment entered on the case in 1855 further shows that in 1846 Skaife being a minor had Christopher Pryor appointed as his guardian.

This gets pretty convoluted but it’s an excellent example of why not to take genealogies at face value.  A  1910 account of the Pryors in The Armistead Family: 1635-1910, by Virginia Armistead Garber purports to give an account of family relationships as described by a relative who had first hand-knowledge.  In that account the recollection was that Skaife Pryor and his sister Harriet Pryor were children of Christopher J D Pryor and were sent to live with the Armistead family when CJD Pryor moved to Alabama with his new wife.  There appears to be a morsel of accuracy in this story in that Harriet was indeed living with Robert A. Armistead in 1850 and Skaife W. Pryor was living with Alfred B. Davies in Gloucester County, but it appears that Christopher J D was their guardian, and not their father.

The 1860 Census in James City, VA was unique. It states not just the state of birth but the county of birth for Christopher J D Pryor.  He was born in Charles City in 1800, which means he could related to Brazure W.  Pryor who inherited his grandfather’s land in Charles City in 1793. Christopher was a noted educator who attended William and Mary College, which is another connection. John C. Pryor  was on the college’s Board of Visitors (the board that elected the rector) from 1816-1837. It was during his time on the board that Christopher J D Pryor graduated from the college (1823)

So if John Clayton Pryor is the son of Christopher Pryor born about 1745 and Brazure Williams Pryor is possibly the son of a Samuel Pryor who would have been a contemporary of Christopher, how are these men related? I’ve looked through all the Samuel’s I have in my database and there’s only one who fits this timeframe:  Samuel  who was the son of Philip Pryor and Ann Haden.  As far as I can tell there is no information available on this Samuel.  I like him for a match because he would be a brother of Matthew J. Pryor who migrated to Marion Co., TN.  Matthew’s son Matthew Jr. married Williams sisters.  I know there are a lot of Williams families, but I’m interested to find if Brazure Williams and Matthew’s in-laws were from the same line.

One last piece of information for connecting these lines.  Theodorick Pryor, father of General Roger A. Pryor provided genealogy information during his lifetime and  it was stated that “Dr. (Theodorick) Pryor had a kinsman, Captain Pryor, at Hampton who distinguished himself in the war of 1812. General Pryor, the collector of the port of Norfolk, long ago, was also a kinsman; as was Luke Pryor of Alabama, United States Senator.” Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, Vol. 11-15. So taking this with a grain of salt for accuracy, Theodorick Pryor was alledgedly related to both Captain John C. Pryor and General Brazure Pryor who was the collector at the port.

NEW TO THE WEBSITE

I’m trying out a new format on what in the past were the Virginia census pages.  These pages are still in their location with census extracts, however I’m now including other records to try to complete the chronological order of events and establish connections.

http://www.tnpryors.com/states_census/va.htm