The following information on Charlotte Pryor, an African American woman born in Mississippi before the Civil War was previously published online.
Charlotte Pryor b. 1816 in Mississippi. I stumbled upon an interesting Pryor connection while looking at Pryors families in New Jersey census records.
In 1880 John Benjamin Pryor, formerly of Adams Co., MS was living in NJ. Several of his children were living in his household but an older daughter, Frances, is unaccounted for. I found the household of Thomas D. Day and wife Fanny living in Bayonne, NJ. Also in the house hold was a African-American nurse, Charlotte Pryor.
Mrs. Fanny Day was born in 1845 in MS and had parents who were born in VA and MS, wile Frances daughter of John Benjamin Pryor and his African American wife Frances Bingaman, was born in 1850 in MS with parents respectively from VA and MS.
I located Thomas Day and his wife Fanny on the 1870 Census living in Brooklyn, NY. Using the 1870 and 1880 Census their children have been identified as Mary Helen, Newton H., Thomas D. Jr., James Ingersoll, Francis “Frank”, William D., and Sarah. Charlotte Pryor was born SC aged 50 was also living with the family in 1870, as was Catherine Overton from MD (black), and Jane Lane 24 from VA (black) and an additional white family member named Emma Helm 24 from MS.
The only members of the Day family I can find in 1900 and afterwards are Newton H. Day and his brother Frank H. Day. On the 1920 and 1930 Census Newton H. Day was living in Hempstead, Nassau County, NY. Included in the household was his aunt Elizabeth Gill born about 1858 in the UK and according to the census she immigrated to the US in 1883.
Looking backward in the census records I found a curious connection between the Days and the Pryors. In 1861 John Benjamin Pryor’s daughters Frances and Henrietta were recorded on the UK Census in a boarding school with a British student named Rebecca Day. I also found Emma Helm on the 1850 and 1860 Census in Adams Co., MS. Emma was the daughter of John N. Helm and the sister of Fannie Helm who married Thomas Day on December 13th, 1859 in Adams Co. On the 1860 Census John N. Helm was recorded on page 137 and the household of John Benjamin Pryor was recorded on page 138.
A search of the 1850 and 1860 census did not uncover Charolotte Pryor, so it is assumed that she was not free until after the Civil War. While researching Charlotte Pryor didn’t lead to finding Frances, daughter of John Benjamin Pryor, it has revealed another story. It’s uncertain what relationship Charlotte had to the Pryor family in Adams Co. On the 1850 and 1860 census “J.B.” Pryor didn’t own any slaves that were her age, while his neighbor John N. Helm owned several. It’s possible that Charlotte had once been owned by the Pryors before being sold to the Helms. It’s also possible that she was Frances Helm’s nurse as well as raising her children.
The connection between these families is also questioned by Jane Lane, John Benjamin Pryor’s mother was Ann Batte Lane.
The history of these families connection in Southern slavery and there migration out of the South to the North during and after the Civil War sheds light on the complicated relationships forged out of this period of American History.
RECORDS:
1850 Census Adams Co., MS
Page 44b, House 141
Jno. N. Helm, 52 Planter, VA
Helen M., 46 MS (Helen Marie Timberlake)
Laura Helen Pattison, 21 MS
J. Newton Helm, 18 MS
Helen M. Helm, 16
Frances Helm 15 (Fanny Helm married Thomas Day 13 Dec. 1859)
Alice Helm 11
Emma Helm 11
Josephine Helm 8
Ada Postlthwaite 19
Mary H. Penfield, 22, governess, NY
Page 49a
Benj. PRYOR 39 VA
John Alison 18 AL
1860 Census Adams Co., MS
Page 137 (Natchez Twp.), house 991
John N. Helm 62 VA
J. Newton 28 MS
Emma 20 MS
Mary B. 18 MS
Laura Pattison 31 MS
William 9 LA
Margaret 8 LA
Alexander 7 LA
Newton 3 LA
1870 Census Kings Co., NY
Brooklyn, Ward 6
Thomas D. Day 49 OH
Helen 35 MS
Mary H. 9 MO
Newton 8 MS
Thomas B. 6 LA
James I. 4 MO
Francis 1 NJ
William D. 5/12 NJ
Charlotte Pryor 50 mulatto SC
Catharine Overton 22 black MD
Jane Lane 24 black VA
1880 Census Hudson Co., NJ
Bayonne City, 1st ward, page 13B
Thomas D. Day, fire insurance broker, 60 OH MA CT
Fanny 35, wife, MS VA MS
Marie 19 dau, MO OH MS
Newton 18, son MS OH MS
Thomas D. Jr. 16, son, LA
Ingersoll 15, son, MO
Frank 11, son, NJ
William 10, son, NJ
Sarah, 9 dau, NY
Charlotte 64, black, SC SC SC, nurse
McDonald ____? white 40 servant Scotland, Scotland, Scotland