Category Archives: About TN Lines

Spotted A Pryor Near Isham Jefferson in Todd County, KY

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Isham Jefferson in Todd County KY

1860 Census, Todd Co., KY
Elkton PO, Page 698, house 185 I. R. Jefferson 69 farmer 20,000 real estate/ 30,000 personal estate VA, S. A. (f) 52 VA, Wm A 24 lawyer KY, W. B. 19 student KY, S. E. (f) 17 KY, Nanie 13 KY, West 8 KY.

I. R. was Isham Randolph Jefferson, son of John Randolph Jefferson (the brother of President Thomas Jefferson). Isham was a son from Randolph’s first marriage, Randolph’s second marriage was to Mitchie Pryor of Buckingham County, VA. Isham Jefferson died in 1862, an obit was published in the Memphis Daily Appeal, 19 Aug 1862:

John Randolph Jefferson (sic), a nephew and adopted son of the immortal Thomas Jefferson, died on the 6th of July last, at his residence in Todd County, Kentucky, in the seventy-first year of his age. The personal resemblance which he bore to the great author of the Declaration of Independence is said to have been astonishingly striking.

So who was the Pryor counted just 4 lines from Isham on the 1860 Census?

Elkton PO., Page 698, house 189 William Pryor 47 TN, Frances 21 KY, M. J. (f) 2 KY, J. L. 1w? (m) KY, J. N. Harris 21 male farmer KY.

 

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Alexander Donelson Estate and the Pryor Family in Nashville

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President Alexander Hamilton

I had figured out Alexander Donelson a while ago, however I’m just getting around to correcting his ID on the TNPryors.com website. Donelson was the elder brother of Rachel Donelson, wife of President Andrew Jackson.

I had gone on a dig for Alexander Donelson’s will. It was signed 9 September 1826. He appointed Nicholas B. Pryor as his executor. It’s important to look at documents – a transcript provided by another Pryor family researcher identified a witness as “Lain B. Pryor.”  There is no record of a Lain B. Pryor. I think the signature is Zach B. Pryor– Zachariah B. Pryor was counted on the line above Alexander Donelson on the 1820 Census in Davidson County, TN.

Alexander Donelson will Nicholas B Pryor executorAn obit for Alexander Donelson (see Find A Grave) indicates he died 23 May 1834. I looked for an inventory of his estate to see if Nicholas B. Pryor signed it as executor. Probably not because his family recorded his death as January 1833. I’m guessing Donelson’s estate may have gone into Chancery Court for an administrator to be appointed due to the death of the executor.

obit for Alexander Donelson

Nicholas B. Pryor moved in some pretty elite crowds. His sister married Thomas Jefferson’s brother and he was associated with the in-laws of another president.

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L. M. Pryor of the Mexican War

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mexican american warI’m wondering if we can I.D. the Pryor mentioned in this post-Mexican war report (the war ended 2 February 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo).

Unclaimed Corpses. — If it is a joke, it is a melancholy one, that a number of boxes, with dead bodies in them–the remains of gallant men–American soldiers who fell in Mexico–have been stored at New Orleans for a long time past with nobody to claim them. One of them, marked “L. M. Pryor,” contains it seems, the body of Dr. Phaill of Tennessee, and was broght (sic) to N. Orleans two years ago! (pub. St. Louis Organ)
–printed in The Greensboro Patriot, Greensboro, NC
22 Sept. 1849

I wonder if L. M. Pryor is one of the Williamson County Pryors. Luke Pryor’s sister married Angus McPhail. The Boston Liberator carried the same report and stated the doctor’s name as McPhail (it helps to have 2 sources!). There’s no indications that Angus was a doctor and it appears he was alive after the Mexican War in 1850. Perhaps this is a relative?

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More on The Murder of Beverly Pryor

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I obtained a copy of the article on the racetrack death of Beverly Pryor which was published 17 May 1836 in The Democrat (Huntsville). It doesn’t add anything to ID this Pryor (see earlier post), however there is an extra paragraph of commentary– Almost 180 years ago “gun control” had entered the dialog in the US.

Comment upon this melancholy rencoutre is not, we presume, called for from us. One remark, however, we cannot refrain from making. The practice which is becoming so common, of carrying pistols and knives, cannot be too much condemned. If public sentiment does not restrain the strong arm of the law ought to be brought in to put it down.

History is interesting. It’s interesting that the commentary was run in the Alabama paper and by the time the story had made it’s way to the Gettysburg, PA newspaper, the commentary was discarded. I don’t know the history of the time so I don’t know if there was a difference of sentiment in the North vs the South (it was 25 years before the Civil War). Or did the PA paper have limited space and they cut the only paragraph that didn’t give details of the murder?

While this may be something for historians to ponder, genealogy researchers should always look for the difference in news articles… one paper may print a more complete article while another many carry an edited version.  Read each article…. you never know what you may be missing.

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Lincoln County, NC Marriages – Looking For Patterns Among the Pryors

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wedding bouquet on a ChairI noticed a pattern among the Pryor marriages in Lincoln Co., NC: V McBee was a witness on several of them (I think there’s  problem with the marriage transcript because McVee was the Clerk of the Court who probably would have signed the marriages). A more interesting patter are the multiple marriages into the Tucker and Kincaid families.

Thomas J. Pryor married Polly Tucker 20 Oct 1817. Daniel Tucker bondsman. V. McBee witness.

Wiley Pryor married Martha Tucker married 21 September 1821. Wilson Tucker, bondsman. V. McBee, witnesss.

Burton Pryor married Catherine Kincaid 8 Jul 1827. John M. Jacobs, bondsman. V. McBee, witness.

David Kincaid married Golsey Pryor 14 Nov 1827. Isaac Lowe, bondsman. V. McBee, witness. (and by the way, David and his wife are on the 1850 census and she’s a head of household in 1860. Her name is recorded as “Gadsey/Gadsy” not Golsey).

David J. Pryor married Jinsey Janet Shelton on 23 May 1832. George W. Kincaid, bondsman. L. McBee, witness

I’ve seen another marriage listed on Ancestry family trees yet I can’t find a source. It looks like folks have gleaned a marriage from the death record of Robert Pinkney Pryor (see his Find A Grave Memorial): John Pryor to Liza Hord.  Robert was born in 1845 so his parents may have been married about that time although I’m unsure where researchers are finding a 1827 marriage date or a record from Lincoln County, NC. Have you seen it?

**There’s a very nice article available online that mentions Vardy McBee (V. McBee) in context of developing Greenville: Hampton-Pinkney Historical District: Celebrating Two Centuries of Greenville’s History (Wayback Machine link), by Robert Benedict.

 

 

Category: About TN Lines, North Carolina Pryors | Tags: , ,
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