Tennessee Pryors

While digging about in Georgia records I became interested in Marlow Pryor who was in Baldwin County. What piqued my interest was the War of 1812 record that popped up on Ancestry; it stated that James Brooks had served as a substitute for Marlow Pryor. James Brooks applied for a pension in 1851 (see below) and the application (found on Fold3) is the source for the information on Ancestry.

There were two Marlow Pryors in Baldwin county on the 1820 census: one age 26 to 45 years old (born between 1775-1794), and another over 45 years old (born 1775 or earlier). The older Marlow is recorded as Marlow L. Pryor. The younger Marlow had no slaves in his household. Marlow L had 18 slaves.

A notice published in 1828 refers to Marlow L. Pryor dec’d and the sale of slaves. The initial and the possession of slaves points in the direction of the older Marlow.

Under an order of the Inferior court of Baldwin county, when sitting for ordinary purposes, will be sold at the court house in the town of Milledgeville, on the first Tuesday in January next, one house and lot in said town, situated West of the Government lot, being the same where on the late Marlow L. Pryor resided; also a few young negroes; all sold for the benefit of the creditors of Marlow L. Pryor, dec’d. Terms on the day.
The Executors.

The Georgia Journal. December 01, 1828

Records for Marlow L. Pryor’s estate can be found on familysearch.com in the Baldwin county probate returns for 1813-1831. The newspaper notice and the estate returns refer to a executor, however his will is not among the those on Ancestry.com. There are several enslaved people named in the estate: Tilman, Marcus, Douglas, Cicero, Jim & family, Harriet, Malinda, Rosettta & her children, Jerry, Arthur, Davey, Jack, John, and Minty.

The estate returns give more insights into Marlow’s family. An entry dated December 31, 1826 states $1782.82 was spent on the plantation and family supplies for part of 1825 and the whole of 1826. In 1827 the estate owed Mrs, Kurkley (?) for tuition and there’s another entry for money due to the Baldwin Academy. These entries hint that Marlow had a family and that his death probably occurred sometime during 1825.

A final account for the estate from January 1829 contains entries for Mrs. Pryor which would indicate he had a wife that outlived him.

I think Marlow’s wife is the Ann C Pryor who was in Muscogee county. Mrs Ann C Pryor of Baldwin county entered the 1827 land lottery for land in Muscogee county. Ann and her possible children are on the 1850 and 1860 census in Muscogee county. The census records give her year of birth as about 1790. Upon Ann’s death, her son Alexander P Pryor applied for letters of administration in 1867. Alexander lived to 1880 and stated on the census that his mother was born in NC and his father was born in England.

There’s a family tree on Ancestry that connects Ann C and Marlow (probably because they have a son named Marlow) but it’s unsourced and no comments on how this relationship was determined. So we have pieces of the puzzle that connects them.

• Marlow L. Pryor was deceased in about 1825.
• Ann C. Pryor was a widow by 1827.
• The adult children counted in Ann’s household were born between 1810 and 1826 (Was Ann pregnant with Sarah b. 1826 when Marlow died?)
• Marlow L. Pryor’s estate settlement made provisions for a wife and family.
• Marlow L. Pryor is counted on the 1820 census with a woman aged 26-45 (his wife?) and several younger household members (his children?).

There are several letters beginning in 1776 from William Ancrum to Marlow Pryor, his overseer at Redbank Plantation in Kershaw Co., SC. Was this overseer over 21, if so he would have been born in the 1750’s–making him almost twenty years older than the Marlow L. Pryor in Baldwin County.

Can we connect the Marlow L Pryor in Baldwin County to the Marlow Pryor who was on the 1790 census (the first census) in Orangeburg, SC. Argh! There was a male over age 16, 3 males under 16, and a woman over 16. He had 12 slaves. The woman is probably not Mrs. Ann C Pryor who was born in about 1790. The oldest male in the 1790 household who born in 1774 or earlier. It’s a tight squeeze to fit Marlow Pryor in 1790 fit with the Marlow L. Pryor on the 1820 census if he was born between 1775-1794, however it could be that Marlow was born around 1774 – 1775.

An interesting tid-bit on the 1790 census is there’s a John Brooks recorded a few lines before Marlow Pryor. I wonder if this Brooks is related to the man who was the War of 1812 substitute.

The SC census records offer another argument for the 1790 Marlow being an even older Pryor and not either of the ones in Baldwin county. There was a Marlow Pryor as head of household and then an Elizabeth Pryor as head of household in 1800. The household consisted of 2 young males and a woman over 45 years old. There are several Friday households on the same page of the 1800 census. A Google book family tree states that Elizabeth Friday (Fridig) first married William Arthur then Marlow Pryor and was the mother of Jesse, Ruben, and Friday Pryor. The house recorded above Elizabeth in 1800 was Jesse Arthur. Elizabeth was born in 1731 so she was either older than Marlow or her husband much older than the men in GA.

I’m not going to solve the mystery of Marlow Pryor in one post. Just poking around in the Georgia Pryors makes me wonder if there aren’t more questions that point in the direction of Marlow

• Who was the Marlow Pryor who married Mary Amour in Greene County, GA in 1816? The Marlow counted with Ann C Pryor’s family was a mere child and too young to marry in 1816. Is he the younger Marlow Pryor who is on the 1820 census in Baldwin county?
• If there’s a Marlow Pryor born between 1775-1794 on the 1820 census in Baldwin County and the man identified at Lane M Pryor (researchers state his name as Marlow Lane Pryor) counted near Ann C wasn’t born until 1815, what is the kinship?
• Are any of the other Pryors who moved between SC and GA related? Are any of the

The older Marlow in SC shows up with another Pryor on records. Marlow Pryor and Seth Pryor were the appraisers of the estate of Daniel Blake deceased, February 1781. They were counting slaves at Brewton’s Plantation. Prince Williams Parish, Greenville county and also at other plantations in SC: Board House Plantation, Waltnut Hill, and Crooked Hill, Mount Pleasant at Greenville.