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Category Archives: Alabama Pryors

Identifying Joseph Pryor by Signature?

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Vanessa Wood

You may have seen a question I posted 4 months ago on the Pryor Lastname Genealogy Facebook page. I asked who was the man identified as “Little” Joseph Pryor in Botetourt County, VA records. Oct 1784, “Little” Joseph Pryor cited for cohabitating with William Fulton’s wife. There was Joseph Pryor who married Mary Fleming and his son who was born after 1766. The Facebook conversation included speculation of who an elderly Joseph Pryor was who turned up in White County records around 1813. Then there’s the Joseph Pryor who lived in Jackson County, TN. I wish the Pryors had been a bit more creative with the names… it would make piecing together the genealogy puzzle so much easier! Who were all of these Josephs?

I started looking at signatures. I was curious to see if there were any documents on the web that were signed by Joseph Pryors with similar signatures.

The first two signatures are the Joseph Pryor Sr and Joseph Pryor Jr who were from Botetourt County records. In 1800 a Chancery Court suit was filed in Augusta County naming Joseph Pryor as a resident of Botetourt County. Joseph Pryor “the elder” was a plaintiff and there’s a deposition (although very short) given by Joseph Jr who states that the older Joseph was his father. This is the signature of Joseph Jr. in 1802.

Isn’t it interesting how different the same signature looks? I guess it depended on how you held the quill on a given day! The “J” though is very similar and the final “r” in Pryor is also very similar.

This is the signature of of Joseph Pryor Sr. Wow, very different than his son’s writing. Different J. Different P. Different curve on the Y.

The next Joseph Pryor I looked at was the Joseph in Greene County, TN who signed the marriage bond in 1799 for Catharine Pryor and Enoch Odle.

Enoch Odle left his “mark” in 1799 (see above Joseph’s signature) as he did in 1855 when he applied for his 1812 land bounty warrant, but Joseph Pryor signed the bond. Was Joseph Pryor one of the educated men from among the Virginia Pryors? I don’t think this Joseph Pryor’s signature looks a thing like Jr or Sr Pryor from Botetourt County, so can we rule out that they are the same man?

The Joseph Pryor who was in Tuscaloosa, AL left a family Bible and will. I don’t know who wrote the names into the Bible or even if they are contemporary inscriptions. The writing doesn’t compare with any of the Josephs noted above– there are green dots next to “J” and “P” that differ from the above samples.

Joseph in Alabama left a will but it’s signed with a “mark” rather than a signature. Was he unable to sign his name due to old age or infirmity? Or was he a different man than the one who was in Green County, TN?

I’d love to compare another signature. In 1801 Joseph Pryor signed a petition in Smith County to prevent consolidating part of Smith County with White County. Enoch Odle also signed or left his mark. Does anyone have a copy of this document?

Another Virginia Pryor Tree Comes Together

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Vanessa Wood

Thank you, Roger! We now know how Brazure W. Pryor and Christopher J D Pryor together were related.

Generation 1
Chistopher Pryor b. 1745, married to Catherine Clayton. He died 1803 in Gloucester Co.
children:
John Clayton Pryor b. 1779
Julianna Pryor b. 1772, married William Robbins
Samuel Pryor b. 1767-1772
Elizabeth Whiting Pryor

Generation 2
— John Clayton Pryor b. 1779
married 1: Betsy Armistead Tyler (sister of President John Tyler)
children :
John A Pryor b. and d. 1800
Mary Ann Catharine Pryor b. and d. 1802
Ann Contesse Pryor b. 1803
Elizabeth Armistead Pryor b. 1808, married John Tyler Semple
Martha Christiana Pryor b. 1817, married George W Semple
William Clayton Pryor b. 1820, d. 1833
John C Pryor b. 1823, d. 1824
married 2: Maria Smith Crawford in 1827
children: Skaife Whiting Pryor b. 1830

–Samuel Pryor b. 1767-1772
married 1: Miss Williams, daughter of Brazure Williams and Frances Hopkins
children:
Brazure Williams Pryor b. 1778-1794, d. 1827
married 2: Mary Finch
Children:
Christopher J D Pryor b. 1800
Samuel Wyatt Pryor b. 1795

Generation 3
— Brazure W Pryor b . 1778
married: Elizabeth Antoinette DeNeuville in Williamsburg, 1807
Children:
Mary A. Pryor b. 1811, married 1 Robert Bird Boyd, 2 Walker Hawes

— Christopher J D Pryor b. 1800
married 1: Maria Armistead
Children: Harriet Ann Pryor b. 1830
married 2: America B Wilkerson in York Co., VA, 1845
Children:
Christopher J D Pryor b. 1850
Mary E. Pryor b. 1853
Sarah P Pryor b. 1855
William A Pryor b. 1857
George Pryor b. 1859
E S Pryor b. 1862

— Samuel Wyatt Pryor b. 1795
married: Sarah Dudley Graves in Charles County, VA in 1824
Children:
Samuel W. Pryor b. 1830, died early in Civil War 1861
Mary E Pryor b. 1828, living with Graves relatives in 1850 & 1860.

Category: Alabama Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: Charles City, christopher pryor, Clayton, Gloucester County, Virginia, Whiting

Christopher J D Pryor of Hampton’s Syms-Eaton Academy

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Vanessa Wood

It’s always funny how little parts of the Pryor mysteries get solved. A while ago I was researching Christopher J D Pryor born 1800 in Charles City, VA. He was an educator– a graduate of William and Mary College, he enjoyed a long teaching career, even serving as the president of Greensboro Female Academy after migrating to Alabama. In my research I found he was appointed the guardian of an orphan named Thomas Allen in 1839 and later was made the guardian of Mary Eliza Allen in 1842. Who were these Allen children and what was their relationshipt to the Pryors?

I found an article¹ posted online that explained C J D Pryor was a teacher at the distinguished Syms-Eaton Acadamy in Hampton, VA. This school was established in 1634 and is noted as the first free public school in America. The article describes how in the mid 1800’s the school was embroiled in a controvery:

… And by 1830, residents of the county were complaining that their children living too far outside Hampton to attend the Academy. This was a complete turn-about from the sentiments expressed in 1803 and petitions were again presented asking that “two or more schools be established in the county.

The article goes on to explain C J D Pryor, while a school master, became involved in the controversy, resulting in the murder of one of his supporters, a Thomas Allen:

Hampton Academy, however, enjoyed full use of the Syms and Eaton funds and the Academy trustees were reluctant to endorse new schools which might demand a share of the money. Many meeetings were called and feelings ran high for several years. Indeed, tempers were so frayed that Christopher Pryor, the Academy schoolmaaster, attacked a supporter of the county schools, Dr. Richard Banks “with horse whip and pistol”. Pryor was dismissed from his post but ill-feeling lingered over his dismissal and on July 4, 1837 the expected explosion occured with Major Cooper, who had replaced Pryor, shot and killed one Thomas Allen, a supporter of the ousted schoolmaster.

Another facinating Pryor story!
¹ Article published by Syms – Eaton Museum, 416 W Mercury Blvd, Hampton VA 23669

Category: Alabama Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: A Pryor Story, Charles City, Virginia

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

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Vanessa Wood

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

Category: Alabama Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: Brazure W Pryor, Christopher J D Pryor, John C Pryor

#3 Bible Entry: On His Father Green Pryor

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Vanessa Wood

Entry 3 Form the Bible of John Polk Pryor

Family Memoranda, Script 1867, continued…

It follows from the facts stated in the first part of the foregoing paragraph, that, beyond my immediate family, I have no near relatives of my own name. My half-brother, Sam, and my children, are the only Pryors (living in 1867) whose “kinship” I can trace. Roger Pryor of Virginia sojourning in New York (1867), sent me word once by my old partner, Dr. Georgelya) that he and I were certainly kin, for that his father, The Pryor (a Presbyterian clergyman) possessed a “Family Tree” upon the branches of which he had found the names of my father and myself.

Uncle Peter Pryor died in my native Lauderdale Co., Alabama, near Florence. He was a gay, extravagant, fast living, impulsive young man, very fond of pleasure — in all which respects he was the very reverse of his only brother, my father, who was gentle, grave, prudent, and of a religious turn from his earliest youth. And yet these two brothers loved each other with a more than brotherly affection, the younger being generally taken for the elder, and indeed, watching over his welfare with the interest and affection, joined to the prudence and fondness of a father. A year or two after Uncle Peter’s death, my aunt (his then still young and beautiful widow) married Col. Wm W. Crawford, (a nephew of Gen. Andrew Jackson) by whom she had some 9 or 10 children. Col. C. becoming dissipated, the family reduced to comparative poverty, and was only rescued from absolute want by the friendly intervention of my father and cousin G. W. Perkins. Indeed, my father did more for his poor kinfolk, generally, than any man of moderate fortune I ever knew. For example, he mainly supported for twenty years his half-brother, Alfred Stone, with his large family, his foster-brother William Stone with his large family, his brother-in-law and half sister Walter and Agnes Jenkins with their 8 or 9 children — educating several of the latter; — besides contributing largely to the support of his half-brother Nicholas P. Stone after the latter lost his property and many others whose names escaped me. Economical and self-denying to a degree seldom surpassed, he was nevertheless always liberal and bountiful to the loved ones at home, and to every unfortunate neighbor; indeed, he came as near living up to the “two great commandments” on which “bring all the — and the prophets,” as perhaps any Christian in this country ever did. Assuredly, if ever man did, he loved God with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself. A devoted communicant of the Presbyterian Church for 25 or 30 years, he assuredly contributed largely of his means to church purposes, and to every educational or charitable object that —— his assistance. Born in 1796 in Pittsylvania Co., VA: reared in Williamson County, Tenn; married in Maury County, where we resided a few years; thence recurring to Lauderdale County, Ala., where he remained about four years; thence to Hardeman County in Tennessee where he sojourned seventeen years (til 1842) and thence to Marshall County, Miss. 18 miles S. W. of Holly Springs, where he resided to the day of his death in 1852; — in all these places, after he attained to man’s estate, he left behind him a reputation as a perfectly good and true man, of which his children may be justly proud, and by which one of them, I am sure, has been a thousand times and in a thousand ways incalculably benefited. He was, beyond questions, “A righteous man.” I never met one of his contemporaries, who had known him well, who was not ever enthusiastic in praise of his integrity, his piety, his benevolence, and the rare gentleness and goodness of his character generally; some of the sweetest enjoyment of my life has occurred from listening to these eulogies of my father by his old friends. A warmer heart than his, I think, never beat in a human bosom, and it seemed that he loved his children with a love passing that of women. And the great regret of my life since his death has been, that, although, I did indeed love him deeply and truly, yet I fear I did not show him my heart as much or as often as I ought while living

[signed]

J. P. P.

TN Pryor Notes:

Green and Peter Pryor are on the 1820 Census in Maury Co., TN
https://tennesseepryors.com/pryor-website/tn-records/tennessee-counties-m/#Maury

Green Pryor was in Marshall County, MS for the 1850 Census. Also in the same county were his step-sister Angnes Stone Jenkins, son James Polk Pryor, his daughter Martha Elizabeth Pryor Alexander.
https://tennesseepryors.com/pryor-website/state-records/mississippi/#Marshall

Are you a direct descendant of John Polk Pryor? Want the family Bible?

The genealogist who supplied the scanned Bible records would like to reconnect the book with the rightful family. If you are interested, please contact me through this website and I will forward him the contact information of all interested parties.

Category: Alabama Pryors, Mississippi Pryors, Tennessee Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: Alabama, Maury County, Virginia, Williamson County