This is one of my favorite topics — migration paths. When I was a kid the teacher pulled down a map (this was done over the blackboard because it was long before green boards, before white boards, and before smart boards). The map showed the US and with a swoosh of his hand he pointed out how people came into the colonies in the east and then made their migration westward through the Cumberland Gap. It was one direction– WEST. No swooshes going back.
My fifth grade teacher missed something. People did go back and that’s one of the nagging concepts as I look at the Pryors. I have to forget what my teacher said and look in unexpected places… like where they started off originally.
If you have a spare moment, take a look at the 1850 Census of Lee County, VA. There aren’t any Pryors, but an over-zealous census taker wrote down not just the state of birth but the actual county of birth when he was recording the households. It’s amazing to see all the people who were born in Hawkins County, TN and Hancock County, TN– and that they were back in VA. It’s a great demonstration of how people moved through the Cumberland Gap and then moved back again.
I recently read a terrific old newspaper clipping about Pryor Reynolds (See news article on Find A Grave website).
Pryor Reynolds was a grandson of Catherine Pryor and Henry Lansford of Pittsylvania County, VA. He went from VA to NC to Williamson Co., TN, down to Alabama, and back to Rockingham Co., NC.
So for my own Pryor line, John and his sons John and William Pryor who were in Campbell Co. (later Appomattox County, VA), I’m starting to look elsewhere. They aren’t on the 1790 Census, nor the 1800, can’t find them on the 1810 Census either. I think William Pryor in Overton County in 1820 is one of the sons, but John Pryor didn’t show up on a census until 1830 in Sumner County, TN… and there’s no trace of their father on any census.
I’m looking to the west. Not because of my teacher, but if they can’t be found in VA then I have to consider they are some of the Pryors who had already moved into Tennessee and maybe even into KY or other states/territories.
But I’m not just assuming the West was the only direction — they may have gone to another Virginia county, East to the Carolinas, North, or down into LA, MS, AL, or GA. FL has nice weather!
Wish me luck, I’m digging in!
