Tennessee Pryors

I stumbled upon Benjamin Pryor and wife Fanny on the 1850 Census in Henrico Co., VA.  His birth was recorded as Tennessee. I’ve wondered which line of Tennessee Pryors he descends from. Was that a census taker’s mistake? (No, his children also stated their father was born in TN on the 1880 Census and later). Who was his family in Tennessee? Which line of Tennessee Pryors does he connect with?

Finally an answer!  I found the will of William S. Pryor of Hanover County, VA. William was one of the more urbane Pryors. He left a piano forte to his daughter Ellen and stressed that he wanted his children to receive training in music and “languages”– a traditional “English” education. William wrote his will in about 1835 and added codicils that give insight to his family’s status and identity. His son Benjamin and wife F. B. are named in one of the codicils.

“King and Queen County, Virginia” By Alfred Bagby indicates that Doctor William S. (Smith) Pryor was the son of David Pryor and Susan Ballow. Several of David Pryor’s children migrated from Virginia to Tennessee: Judge John C. Pryor who married Anne Bullard (or Bullock) in Nashville in 1818 and settled in DeSoto Co., MS; Leonard Pryor who died 1830 in Sumner Co., TN; Zachariah Pryor counted on the 1820 and 1830 Census in Davidson Co., TN; and Nicholas Ballow Pryor who married 1813 in Sumner Co. and was in Davidson Co. in 1820-1830.

The birth of his son in Tennessee is the only tie to that state I am able to find for William Pryor.

Sources:
1. “Hanover County Chancery Wills and Notes: a compendium of genealogical, biographical, and … ” By William Ronald Cocke
2. “King and Queen County, Virginia” By Alfred Bagby
3. “National calendar, and annals of the United States, for … 1822-1824; National calendar, for … 1828-1831; National calendar, and annals of the United States 1832-1835” by Peter Force
4. “The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography” By Virginia Historical Society