Hold onto your wigs and your tri-corn hats… it looks like we have another DNA match for the Tennessee Pryors to Colonial Virginia. The frustrating part is that it looks like we’re missing someone from the family tree.
The Match – The new cousin is Mary Pryor who married Robert Quarles. The good news is that we know exactly who this Mary is and who are her siblings. She is the sister of Major John Pryor of Richmond (read post about his time line). The Major’s name may ring a bell for you in connection with the story of his wife, Anne Beverly Whiting, running off with her French tutor and becomming the mother of explorer John C. Fremont.
This means that we need to consider his place as a descendant of Nicholas Pryor b. 1688.
I’m a bit shocked because I was hedging my bet that Major John was connected to the family of Col. Samuel Pryor and Prudence Thornton. Maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised because Major John Pryor had a Jeffersonian connection as well as other connections to other prominent Virginia families. We know that our other Pryors who were in Albemarle and Amherst Counties were also connected to Jeffersons family, one of them even marrying Jefferson’s sister. (read post about Jeffersonian connections).
Father: ___________________? Deceased by 1787
Mother:___________________? Alive in 1787, possibly remarried.
Child 1: Major John Pryor born 1750, married Anne Beverly Whiting and Elizabeth Quarles Graves.
Child 2: Mary Pryor, married Robert Quarles
Child 3: Sally Pryor, married Mr. Taylor, daughters: Elizabeth Taylor, Rebecca Taylor
Child 4: Elizabeth Pryor, married Mr. Hankins, sons: Archer, William, Romert, John, and Pryor Hankins of James City, VA.
And nieces whom I have not yet matched to their parents:
Dorcas Bryan
Charlotte Morrison (of Williamsburg, Va.) born 1790 – Probably Charlotte who married George F. Morrision who was on the 1830 Census in York Co. Charlotte was age 60 on the 1850 Census in York Co. On the same page of the 1850 Census there is a free-African-American family headed by Pryor Jackson and his wife Dorcas Jackson.
Elizabeth Hazelwood
I’ll keep digging. Let me know if you know how Major Pryor fits into the family tree!
