Genealogy is always looking at the past, however sometimes we have to revisit the not so distant past. Back in 2009 I wrote Is David C. Kin to David Pryor Who Married Susan Ballou/Ballow? which dances around John C. Pryor. This week I’ve looked at John C. Pryor to see if we can weed out duplicates and confirm his correct lineage.
John C. Pryor of Hampton (VA)
The first John C Pryor is the one who is the easiest to pin-down. “Genealogies of Virginia Families” states he died in 1846 at age 67,
placing his date of birth in 1779. His parents were Christopher Pryor of Ware Parish and Anne Clayton– How do I know this? In 1855. John C.’s son Skaife Whiting Pryor was involved in a lawsuit (Taliaferro & als. v. Pryor filed in Richmond) It clearly states that John C. Pryor was the only of Christopher Pryor and Skaife was the son John C. Pryor. All of this John C’s activities were in the tidewater counties: a graduate of William and Mary College, he was the director of Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, he represented Williamsburg in the House of Delegates. He died in 1846 and is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Hampton, VA. I can’t prove it, but I suspect this John’s middle name was Clayton.
John C. Pryor of Franklin, TN
His age on the 1850 Census leads to a year of birth of 1776 in VA. This John C. Pryor is often referred to as John Cannon Pryor by researchers. I’ve tried to find the source of the middle name, but I’m unable to find a document within his lifetime that refers to him by that name. The oldest reference to the middle name Cannon is an inquiry in The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), 9 January 1898– an unidentified party queried the genealogy column for information on the ancestors of John Cannon Pryor of Virginia and his wife Ann Bullard. This is the John C. Pryor mentioned in my 2009 post (see link above).
It’s likely he’s the John Pryor on the 1812 Tax list in Franklin Co., TN. He married Ann Bullard in Franklin in 1818, acted as a witness on the divorce of Capt. Hardy Doyle in 1819, and was recorded as John C. Pryor on the 1820 Census. 
The book Trail Drivers of Texas states that John’s son, David C. Pryor, was born 1847 on a plantation in Alexandria, located in Rapides Co., LA. John C. Pryor is on the 1830 Census in Rapides County and in 1840 he was in De Soto County, MS. If John C. was in LA as late as 1847, he may have had family or land ties in LA even while living in MS. If this is your line, you may find some interesting information in the LA land records.
While in Franklin County, John C. Pryor may have become friends with General Isaac Thomas. Researchers report Gen. Thomas married an Ann Pryor and later a Jane Bullard (as this a relative of the Ann Bullard who married John C. Pryor? Gen. Thomas also went from Franklin County to Rapides Co., LA and is on the 1840 Census in that county.
A 1927 Pryor application to the Sons of the American Revolution, states this John C. was John Cannon Pryor, son of David Pryor and Susannah Ballow of Buckingham County, VA. It doesn’t state the source of this information, however there may some peripheral information that supports this relationship. Nicholas B. Pryor of Nashville, a known son of David Pryor and Susannah Ballow was named in a 1829 suit in Franklin County.
A funny little coincidence or a clue? Isaac Thomas land grant in Franklin was from land awarded to David Ross after the American Revolution. Throughout 1808-1809 David Ross disposed of his land in Franklin County and Rutherford County. And of course David Ross has connections to the Pryor and Ballew/Ballow lines. (read older post)
In 1813, after he appears in records in TN, John C. Pryor wrote to ex President Thomas Jefferson requesting appointment to the Office of Collector of the Direct Tax. His return address was Hermitage, Prince Edward County, VA. Was this Pryor keeping a foot in two states? He would have been 37 years old in 1813– was there a marriage before Ann Bullard? Were there other children before those he had with Ann?
John C. Pryor of Amherst County
This John C Pryor is the toughest one to figure out. He shows up on the 1810 Census Amherst County near Hugh McCabe. It’s the same Hugh McCabe who married Sarah Pryor in Williamson County, TN around 1819. When Sarah Pryor Squire McCabe Carter McPhail (Whew!) died in 1851 she referred to her deceased brother, John Pryor. My contention is that this is a THIRD John C. Pryor. I don’t think it was a coincidence that McCabe and this Pryor were close to each other in Amherst County and then show up among the Williamson County Pryors.
We know from the land records that Hugh McCabe was on the Peddlar River with Nicholas Pryor (was that F. Nicholas Pryor?) and was sued by William Pryor and wife over some form of slander. So, it’s likely that John C. was also living near relatives on the Peddlar River. John C’s Williamson County siblings (Sarah and Susannah) stated their place of birth South Carolina, and Luke Pryor married Nellie Rogers in NC, and John C’s son Henry B. Pryor stated his place of birth as SC in 1790 and his own children born after 1820 stated their place of birth and SC, so we may need to contend with the concept that this John C. Pryor was MOBILE and there were Carolina Pryors in Amherst County after the Revolutionary War.