Category Archives: Tennessee Pryors

Newletter #19

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MORE ON THE JACKSON COUNTY TN PRYORS… Over the past months it was discovered that Sinderilla Pryor (wife of Allen Pryor b. 1810 in SC) was on the 1860 Census in Jackson County. The probability arose that Cinderella Prior on the 1870 Census in Franklin Co., IL was the same person. I recently obtained two death certificates from Illinois to try to confirm the identity of the Pryors in Franklin Co. And they do!

While working on the Pryors I weighed whether Alfred Pryor who was on the 1850 Census with Allen and Sinderilla was the same person who appeared on Franklin Co., IL census record through 1920. His age differs wildly on the census records. In 1850 he was 5, in 1860 he was 14, age 16 in 1870, 23 in 1880, twenty years later in 1900 his age was recorded as 51, aged 56 in 1910, and aged 70 in 1920. The death certificate of Alfred Pryor states he was about 75 years old in 1921 (born about 1846 which would be close to his birth year on the 1850 census), although his date of birth wasn’t known. The certificate also confirms that his father was Allen Pryor of Tennessee.

Summaries of the death records are now on the TN Pryor website:
https://tennesseepryors.com/pryor-website/tn-records/tennessee-counties-j/

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This month all roads seem to converge on the Jackson County Pryors… but not without detours through Illinois and Williamson County, TN! A Pryor researcher contacted the website to report a link to Transcripts of court records for the probate of Luke Pryor’s will in 1848 and his sister Sarah Pryor McPhail’s will in 1851. (As of December 2019 link is no longer available)

The transcripts are interesting because they mention Rhoda Ann Pryor and her sister Polly (Mary) Ann Pryor who were living with a William Pryor in Jackson Co., TN. Both of these women are daughters of Henry B. Pryor (great grand-daughters of Luke Pryor).

Which raises the question: Are Rhoda and Mary, their guardian William, Allen and Alfred Pryor of Jackson County, and the line of Luke Pryor of Williamson Co., TN related?

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Do all these Pryors have your head “spinning?” Well, check out the website for information on the Pryor women from Jackson Co., TN who were spinners and weavers.
(waybackmachine link)

Category: South Carolina Pryors, Tennessee Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Newsletter #17

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More Pryors added to the 1920 Census transcripts of TN. 3 households in Dist. 1 of Overton Co.

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Does anyone know how to interpret the cemetery records on Ancestry.com? The book/source information is not present in direct context with the data. I found “William T. Pryor, Revolutionary Soldier, Virginia”. I’d like to clarify where his grave was found. Is it in the Cleveland Family Cemetery in Philadelphia, TN?
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FOUND! Jackson Co., TN Pryors… Remarkably another Pryor family has been found on the 1860 Census. Sindarilla Pryor, widow of Allen Pryor from SC appears on the 1850 Census. She has now been found in District 13 of Jackson Co. with several of her children. If you try to find her in Ancestry.com… watch out! She’s indexed as Lindanter Pasc. No wonder it’s so hard to find our kin!

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Charlotte Pryor b. 1816 in Mississippi added to the African American section. Read this interesting article to discover her connection to the noted Luke Pryor and his son John Benjamin Pryor of Adams Co., MS.
https://www.tennesseepryors.com
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Did you know… the TN Pryor PDF file is searchable? If you’re using a PC press CTRL F. A pop up window will apear. Type in a word you’d like to search. Try searching by county. You may find some lost kin!
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Cornelius Pryor of Hardeman (1860), Davidson (1870) and later Warren (1880) counties in TN has been identified as Cornelius Winter Pryor. He married in Dorset, England in 1844 and appears on the 1841 UK Census of Dorset.

Category: Genealogy, Mississippi Pryors, Tennessee Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Newsletter #14

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SONGWRITER WITH PRYOR ROOTS… The noted gospel song writer Ira Stanphill is reported to be linked to the Pryors of Overton County, TN. Researcher Betty Joe Gentry has been in contact with other family members of this line. They report Ira was the son of Flora Engler and Andrew Stanphill. Flora’s parents were Mary Ellen Pryor and Jefferson Thompson Engler. Mary Ellen was the daughter of John Pryor and Candis (Candice?) Malone. Among other gospel songs, Ira Stanphill wrote “Mansion Over The Hilltop”.
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MORE ON THE MARION CO., TN PRYORS… Glen Pryor is continuing with his search for the father of Matthew Pryor of Marion Co., TN. He visited the public library to review documents. One paper that traced the Gaines family lists Matthew as the son of Green and that there is a will listed for Green that was supposed to have been probated in Caswell County, NC in 1783. Some papers written by Margaret Gott Vollheim (d. 1975) look to be the source for the claim that Green Pryor is the father of Matthew. She states that Matthew was her g-g-grandfather and that a Matthew was listed as the son of Green in a Gaines Family Bible and that the names of all of his children were listed in that Bible and the names matched those of my Matthew’s children. She also wrote that Ernest Pryor and Matthew Pryor III stated that Matthew was the son of Green.
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MYSTERIOUS MISSOURI PRYORS… In a previous issue of the TN Pryor newsletter it was noted that the Pryors in Buchanan Co., MO (possibly all from the line of trombonist Arthur Pryor) can not be found in records before the 1880 Census. A new line of Pryors in Morgan Co., MO has surfaced with similar questions. Two men who may be brothers: James/Henry Pryor b. 1857 and George Washington Pryor b. 1853. Where were they born? One census says IL, another LA, another MO. Where were they on the 1860 and 1870 Census? Both of these Pryors died after the initiation of death records in MO–Does anyone have access to their death records? Census records for these Pryor have been added to the MO Census records.

Category: Genealogy, Missouri Pryors, Tennessee Pryors | Tags: , ,

Scipio Africanus Pryor, Aaron Lindsey Pryor, and Weakley County and Civil War

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A PRYOR MYSTERY… The website has had several queries in the past months from family researchers looking for the lineage of SCIPIO AFRICANUS PRYOR of Benton Co., AR. Scipio was in AR as early as 1840. He was born between 1813 – 1815 in TN and is named after a Roman general, which seems fairly urbane compared to the Biblical or traditional English names of most of our Pryor ancestors. Scipio’s wife Sarah, was born in TN (probably Warren Co.), however it appears they married in AR. Scipio’s twelve children were named Elizabeth J., Mary Angeline, Franklin H., Andrew C., Nicholas, Sarah E., Albert L., John, Nancy A., Arminta, Laura T., Margaret. Scipio died in June 1860 per his tombstone, although his daughter Margaret was born about 1864. Does anyone have ideas for helping these folks trace Scipio’s TN roots?
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New GILES COUNTY web page in the Pryor Histories section of the website. Researcher Trish Smith is looking for information on her kin and has provided photos of Pryor grave markers from Columbia, TN. Her ancestor AARON LINDSEY PRYOR was a blacksmith and may be related to the line of Richard and Mourning Pryor through their son Thompson Pryor and Dicey Tripp.
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Query from researcher Barbara McKnight. Barbara has come across an 1841 proclamation announcing a reward for two Fletcher brothers who killed their brother in law, JOHN PRYOR, in Weakley Co., TN. Any ideas who this John Pryor might be?
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FREE Access to IL Civil War Muster Records. Researcher Barbara VanHout found several TN PRYORS listed on the State of IL website (as of December 2019 link is not available). There’s a James PRIOR b. 1823 in Stewart Co., TN and living in White Co., IL in 1861; William PRIOR b. 1802 in Sumner Co., TN also living in White Co., IL; Alfred S. PRYOR b. 1833 in Knox Co., TN and living in Pike Co., IL in 1861; William PRYOR b. 1841 in Blunt (sic- possibly Blount) Co., TN and living in Union Co., IL. This last Pryor mustered in at Camp Anna so he may not have had residency in Union Co.

Category: Tennessee Pryors | Tags: , , , , ,

Newsletter #11

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RICHARD & MOURNING PRYOR…I heard from Bill Lindsey, a decendant of Richard Pryor’s son Joseph.  Bill was able to provide much needed documentation of this line. Lots of updates have been added to the Richard and Mourning Pryor pages in the Pryor HISTORIES section of the website!

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Who was JOHN PRYOR born 1810 in MO?  John Pryor and wife Martha “Patsy” were on the 1860 Census in Gasconade Co. and in 1870 in Maries Co.  This line of Pryors married in to the Helton family: John’s daughter Charlotte married John Helton and possibly another daughter, Louisa Jane, married Crismon Helton.  In 1850 both Louisa Jane and Crismon Helton were single and living in the household of John J. Hughes. It’s possible that Louisa was some other kinship in that her daughter Mahala Helton married James S. Pryor, a son of John and Patsy Pryor.

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ANDREW JACKSON CONNECTION? A new theme appeared this month in the search for the TN Pryors…connections to President Andrew Jackson!  Andrew Jackson was involved in negotiating the sale of land from Norton Pryor to Bedford Co., TN.  Nathaniel Pryor, member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, had served with Andrew Jackson in the 44th Infantry during the War of 1812.

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STAGE COACH DRIVER’S PLAQUE… Found a website with photo of a 1931 bronze plaque dedicated to stage coach drivers. Named on the list of drivers was an Alfred L. Pryor.  Any ideas which line of Pryors this Alfred is kin to?  http://gesswhoto.com/shasta.html

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Glen Pryor is searching for the parents of MATTHEW J. PRYOR, the patriarch of the Marion County, TN Pryors. Does anyone have any source documentation of this line? The second-hand accounts are proving to be flawed.  Glen reports that the book “21 Southern Families” states that Matthew Pryor was the son of Green Pryor, but offers no source information.  Genealogies in Ancestry.com report that Green Pryor was born 1745 which would make him too young to be the father of Matthew born in 1759. Any ideas that will help solve this line?

Category: California Pryors, Genealogy, Missouri Pryors, Tennessee Pryors | Tags: , , , ,
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