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Hilpy Chapin Pryor of Overton County: A Remarkable Record

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Vanessa Wood

This is news article is of interest to Overton County, TN Pryors.

Springfield Republican (Springfield, MO)
10 Dec 1898
REMARKABLE RECORD
Greenfield Viedette: Paul Chapin, a soldier of 1776 from New Jersey, has four surviving daughters, viz: Elizabeth Carmack of Dadeville, MO, aged 90; Elcy Carmack of Livingston, Tenn. aged 88; Hilpy Pryor of Osage, Ark., aged 81; Matilda McMasters of Dadeville, MO., aged 77; Hiram Chapin, a son and soldier of the war of 1812 resides in Indiana, aged 108 years.

Hilpha was born about 1823 in Tennessee. She married Jesse Pryor in about 1848-1849. Jesse is thought to be a son of James and Nancy Pryor of Overton County, TN. Jesse and Hilpy are on the 1850 Census in Newton County, AR and from 1860 onward in Carroll County, AR.

Looking at the Chapins is interesting because it illustrates just how mixed up recollections can be. It’s nice to know that it’s this confusing in other families, not just the Pryors!

The Revolutionary War pension file for Paul Chapin is on Ancestry. Rather than NJ as stated in the news article, he served through MA. He swore to his service in 1818 while still living in MA.

Hilphy’s sister, Elizabeth Chapin Carmack, states her year of birth as 1810 in TN per the 1850 Census in Overton County, TN and in 1880 while living in Dade County, MO. I’m wondering how her father was living in MA in 1818 and she was born in TN in 1810. Did they move back and forth? Was she just plain wrong about where she was born? The first document signed in Overton County in Chapin’s pension file is dated 1820.

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: James and Nancy Pryor, osage, overton

Matthew Pryor of Marion County, TN One Line From a Looney

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Vanessa Wood

I mentioned Peter Looney from Botetourt County in a post earlier this week (see post). Now for something to chew on this weekend. There’s a man named Peter Looney counted one line from Matthew Pryor on the 1830 Census in Marion County, TN.

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: Botetourt County, Looney, marion county, matthew pryor

Sumner County Pryors in Robertson County, TN

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Vanessa Wood

Here’s another morsel for our search for Tennessee Pryors. I had to differ back to the Botetourt County chart I made last year (above).

Mary Pryor married John Hannah on 20th January 1791 in Sumner county, TN. I have in my notes that William Pryor was surety for this marriage.

I see there’s an 1802 deed in Robertson county between James and Thomas Haynes on the Red River bordering Kentucky. This was near Logan County, KY. This deed also mentions that the land bordered property owned by “Hannah and Pryor” and adjoined William Pryor‘s corner. (see truncated deed). The deed is in Deed Book F, p. 318. Dated 6 Oct 1802.

Hmmm… Haynes? At times it feels like a game of Concentration with a never-ending deck of cards! Haynes was a name that I mentioned in a recent post: William Haynes May Connect Jefferson County KY Pryors in Tennessee and Missouri. Last year I wrote about William Pryor of Stewart County, TN as the likely candidate for the surety for Mary Pryor and John Hannah: William Pryor of VA, TN, AL, and Texas – Kin to Richard Pryor. You know where I”m going with this… I think he’s the same William who was in Sumner County, and perhaps the same one who was in Stewart County.

Remember William Pryor was supposed to have been from Botetourt County? Well, how about this transaction in Sumner County that involved Hannah and Looneys who hailed from Botetourt County, VA?

14 August 1790
Isaac Bledsoe paid for a slave named Sall. Signed John D. Hannah, Sumner County, NC
Peter Looney, Robert Looney

And well if you Google Haynes’ from Botetourt and Robertson Counites… well, a Haynes family went from Botetourt to Robertson County.

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: Botetourt County, Hannah, Logan County, Looney, Richard and Mourning Pryor, robertson county, stewart county, Sumner County

John Pryor Ford of Nashville and Cumberland County, VA

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Vanessa Wood

John Pryor Ford of Nashville

I’ve located a biography of a Nashville physician that mentions Dr. John Pryor Ford who migrated to Nashville from Cumberland County, VA (same place as Miss Jane H. Thomas of Nashville (see post). The portrait of Dr. Ford (above) is from the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA).

Jefferson Family Connection

I think he looks a bit like a Jefferson. It’s funny that it’s his wife who was a Jefferson…

Dr. Callender married at Nashville, Tennessee, February 24, 1858, Miss Della Jefferson Ford, daughter of Dr. John Pryor Ford, of that city. Dr. Ford was born in Cumberland county, Virginia, in 1810 and removed to Nashville from Huntsville, Alabama, in 1842, and was a leading practioner and teacher of medicine until his death in 1865—being professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children from 1858 to 1862. His wife, Ann Smith Jefferson, was born also in Cumberland county, Virginia and was collaterally related to Thomas Jefferson of Monticello. Mrs. Callender is a great grand niece of President Jefferson and a niece of Gen. John R. Jefferson of Seguin, Texas. Her religious connection is Protestant Episcopal.
Sketches of Prominent Tennesseeans, compiled by Hon. William S. Speer, pub. 1888, Albert B. Tavel (Sketches of Prominent TennesseeansNashville). https://archive.org/stream/sketchesofpromin01spee#page/60/mode/2up

I did some homework to see if I could identify Dr. Ford in the census records and work my way back to Virginia. I found he married in Davidson Co., TN in 1832. He was recorded as “J. P. Ford” on the 1840 Census in Clarke County, MS. Dr. Ford was counted in Nashville in 1850. By 1860 he was recorded as a wealthy household in Nashville. His property holdings were $44,000 and his personal property was $9500. The artist Thomas Waterman Wood (see Wikipedia) was counted in his household. I don’t see any connection between Wood and Ford, so I believe Wood was in the Ford household either as a guest, a tenant or to create a portrait for the family (the Wikipedia article states he was in Nashville to paint portraits).

1810 Census in Cumberland County, VA

If Ford was born 1810 as stated on the census records, then it’s likely that one of the Ford men who were heads of households in Cumberland County may be his father. I made note of these Ford families:

Screen 3, Ancestry.com: Kesiah Ford, Ts. Charmer Woodson,

Screen 4, Ancestry.com: William Randolph, Martha Randolph, Landis P. Stovall, John Ford Jr., Newton Ford, Pascal Ford, William Ford, William Taylor, Patrick Shinott

Screen 6, Ancestry.com: John Dowdy, Betty Liggon, Frances Dowdy, John Ford Sr.

Screen 7, Ancestry.com: Henry Martin, William Burton, John Ford Sr., Francis Clark, Henry Woodson.

While I can’t ID Dr. Ford’s father, some of these names are exciting. I really like Landis P. Stovall. There’s Landis Patterson who witnessed documents with Harris Pryor. I also like the Randolph’s because they were connected to the Jeffersons. Woodson is also connected to Harris Pryor and they were Jefferson cousins, so it may also be a lead.

James Pryor and Mary Cox

Another possibility is John Ford Jr. who married Frankey PRYOR on 25 June 1773 in Cumberland County, VA. Francis Pryor was possibly the daughter of James Pryor and Mary Cox. I think these are the same people mentioned in the will of William Cox filed in 1754 in Essex Co., VA

I Lend unto my Daughter Pryor and my son In law James PRYOR one Negro Girl Named Murear & her Increase during their Natural Lives and after their decease the said Negro Girl Murear and her Increase to be Equally Devided between the four Children of the said James Pryor and Mary his wife Vizt. Mildred Caty Croxton & Frankey To them and their heirs Lawfully Begotten of their bodys.

I wonder if James Pryor and his wife Mary Cox had any male children after 1754. There’s almost 20 years between the time of the will and Frankey’s marriage in Cumberland County. There may be a son or more. And could Dr. John Pryor Ford born in 1810 be the son of John Ford and Frankey Pryor? Is John Ford Jr. on the 1810 Census?

Dr. Ford is going on the back burner for now. We may have to bring him to the foreground again to ID some of the Virginia Pryors.

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: Cumberland County, Nashville, stovall, Woodson

John Pryor Rutherford County TN to KY Fact or Fiction?

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Vanessa Wood

Since I just finished looking at the Pryor family and their neighbors who were in early Logan and Christian County, KY, I thought it would be a good idea to look at later Pryors.

Years ago I exchanged emails with a Pryor researcher who was interested in the line of John Pryor who married Rebecca Cook in 1823 in Rutherford County, TN. It was their theory that John and Rebecca were then counted on the 1830 and 1840 Census in Wilson County, TN and that John Pryor had died, Rebecca remarried and was later found in Christian County, KY.

The information on this couple is sketchy beyond their marriage date in 1823. If John on the 1830 census is the man who married in 1823, then what were the ages of the children on the census– do they match the marriage year? It’s hard to tell. There were 2 males ages 5 through 9 which fits with the marriage date. There was also a male 10 through 14. The oldest male (John?) was 20 through 29, a bit too young to be the father of a 14 year old. There were 2 adult women in the household so perhaps one was the mother of sister of this young male.

Researchers seem to be on the right track identifying a Rebecca Pryor in Christian County. She is on the 1860 Census as Rebecca Pryer age 51 in the home of Sarah Pryor Wilson. Sarah died at age 90, unfortunately her death record didn’t name her parents. It just says “D.K.”– don’t know? Sarah was recorded as Sarah Ann C. Pryor when she married, so we know she was a Pryor and Rebecca lived with her, so it’s possible they were mother and daughter.

Also in the Wilson household in 1860 was Zack A. Pryor age 13. Zack is an interesting clue because he leads back to the 1850 Census when a Rebecca age 40 and a Zack age 4 were living in the household of Ab Nixon. I haven’t found a marriage for Ab Nixon–perhaps this was another arrangement. Not only was Rebecca identified as a Pryor on the 1860 census, but also the 1870 Mortality Schedule. Zack may be the Zachariah Pryor buried in Chattanooga, killed during the Civil War.

And I now have the full name of Ab Nixon for folks interested in this line: Absolom Nixon. There’s an estate sale filed in Christian County (Book N, page 692, sale page 693).

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: Christian county, john pryor, kentucky, Rutherford County, Wilson County