Tennessee Pryors

A recent message posted on the Rootsweb.com Pryor surname board gave a link to a list of the victims of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. https://www.gthcenter.org The lists names an Edward Pryor “of St. Joseph, MO”, his wife and 4 children. This Pryor family is on the 1900 Census in Galveston: Edward, wife Mary, and children Mary, Frank, Edna, and Edith. Edward was born June 1863 in MO. It is likely that he is Edward son of Emsley R. Pryor of St. Joseph, Buchanan Co., MO.
________________________________________

The Free African American Pryors of King George County, VA – 100 years before the end of the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery, there was a free black community in King George County, Virginia. Free African American families date to the 1750’s. Visit the new African-American section of the website to read more about these early Pryors.

________________________________________

New Pryor photos… Just added to the photo gallery. I recently visited my mother and obtained a new photo of Willie Ann Pryor (b. 1873), daughter of Thomas Jefferson Pryor of Sumner Co., TN. Trish Smith has sent photos of grave markers of Pryors in Columbia, TN.

Reconstructing the 1890 Census.  Family tree researchers learn quickly that the 1890 Census was burned and only fragments exist. The twenty year gap between census records can be a roadblock to research.  How often have you found someone on the 1900 Census you can not easily match to a family on the 1880 Census?  Visit the 1890 Census area of the TN Census records. There are new additions of records that can fill the gap of the missing census. Just added… 1890-1891 TN City Directories and World War II Draft Registrations for Men Born Between 1877-1897.
———————————————————————–
1910 Census… Found More TN Pryors.  Ancestry.com has updated the index to the 1910 Census. Just found… in St. Francios Co., MO Byrd P. Pryor born about 1852, son of Alfred and Surena Pryor of Jackson Co., TN. Also in the same county,  Polly Pryor, widow of Bird’s brother, Mounce Pryor.
 ———————————————————————–
Line of Richard and Mourning Pryor… I found something interesting.  I spotted Valentine Van Hooser, grandfather of the Dolly Van Hooser who married William Pryor in Jackson Co., TN. Valentine was on the Greene Co., TN – Taxables of Captain McFarland’s Company 1791 and 1792.  There were no Pryor on the list, but Richard Pryor was in Greene Co (per tax list) in 1783.  I went back to the 1783 list and found a John Van Hooser.  Does anyone know if the Van Hooser/Van Hoosier lines are related to the Pryors in Jackson County, TN?

———————————————————————–
African American Pryor Line from Virginia… Recently I looked at the Pryor families in Bastrop, Lee, and Fayette Co., TX. The patriarch of this Pryor line was Nat Pryor born about 1826 in Virginia. He and his family are on the 1870 Census in Fayette Co., TX.  Nat, his wife, and 7 of his 8 children (two of his daughters were married and living nearby in 1870) were born in Virginia. His eighth child, Susan Pryor, was born in Texas in 1861. Texas was a slave state, so there’s the possibility that this family came to Texas in 1861 with a slave owner. In 1880 there is an African American man named Wyatt Rucker born in VA. He was living with Nat’s son, Thomas Pryor. Could Wyatt Rucker be a clue to the Virginia origins of this Pryor line? There’s a younger Wyatt Rucker in Campbell Co., VA.  He was also an African American. There were connections between the white Pryor and Rucker families of Amherst Co., VA:  Daughters of Peter Rucker (Mary and Edith) married sons of Col. John Pryor, a son of Nicholas Pryor.

For more information on slavery in Texas, visit the Online Handbook of Texas
https://tshaonline.org/