Category Archives: Virginia Pryors

Final Verdict on Major John Pryor and KY Land Grant

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I’d like to put to rest the identity of the John Pryor who was deeded thousands of acres of bounty land in KY. I didn’t like that I left a window open in my earlier post:
https://tennesseepryors.com/virginia-pryors/identity-of-john-pryor-revolutionary-war-bounty-land-in-kentucky/

The open window was the error I suspected in the bounty warrant number. The latest method I’m using to identify Pryors by their signature should slam the window shut for good.

Here’s John Pryor’s signature on the 1783 land grant.

major-pryor-warrant

 

I recently posted his signature on several Revolutionary War Pension applications https://tennesseepryors.com/virginia-pryors/major-john-pryors-handwriting/

maj-john-pryor-5

Oh, it’s a match.

Final verdict: Major John Pryor of Richmond was also a Lt. Capt. and received land in Kentucky.

 

Category: Kentucky Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: , ,

A Thomas Jefferson Letter Leads to Questions in the Pryor Family Tree

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letter 1
It’s sad that letter writing has become a lost art. Two Hundred years from now will historians be searching the web for our Tweets and posts to figure out our history….our lineage?

Here’s a little letter from Randolph Jefferson (the president’s brother) asking for a ride to Charlottesville so his wife Mitchie B. Pryor could see her dying brother. That was in 1809.

That’s a sweet story in itself, but I have questions.

http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0037

I get concerned when I read things like this. Is there a Pryor who’s missing? Which brother was on his death bed? My notes reflect that of Mitchie’s known brothers all were alive into the 1830’s and beyond:

Langston d. 1849
William Smith d. 1840
Leonard d. 1830-ish
Zane d. 1854
Nicholas d. 1833
John C. d. after 1850
Banister S. d. after 1840
Zachariah B. d. 1837

If I had to pick another son for David Pryor, I’d pick Benjamin W. Pryor b. 1788 in VA. Benjamin was in Nashville as early as 1807. He went to Louisiana as did John C. Pryor. There’s a Benjamin Pryor on the 1830 Census in Iberville, LA and in Nashville. But alas, Benjamin lived to a ripe old age, dying after the 1850 Census.

So are we missing a son of David Pryor and his wife Susan Ballow? Or was the man in the letter one of the known sons and he just got better and lived on another 20 years or so?

 

Category: About TN Lines, Virginia Pryors | Tags: , ,

John C. Pryor’s Letter to President Thomas Jefferson

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Old Clerk’s Office, Prince Edward County

Nicholas B. Pryor wasn’t the only Pryor who wanted help from President Jefferson to get a job. Just a year later Nicholas’ brother John C. Pryor also wrote to Jefferson http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-0018. John wanted to be appointed to position as a tax collector.  The little touch on this letter that really is a boon to the genealogist is that John added his location: “Hermitage, Prince Edward.”

In 1809 John C’s and Nicholas’ brothers Zachariah B. and Banister S. were summoned from Buckingham County (their home county) to testify in a Chancery Court case in Prince Edward County. Banister was recorded as the Post Master in Hermitage, Prince Edward County in 1817.

I love this line of Pryors — they were all so intent upon getting government positions that they left trails all over the place! Banister was not only the Post Master in 1817, but also recorded as the Post Master in Hermitage in 1831 AND in 1840 he was the Post Master in Red House, Charlotte County.  Nicholas B. wanted a military appointment and after moving to Nashville served as a county commissioner.  When Nicholas’ children moved on to Arkansas his son by the same name served as Post Master and as did another son, Cornelius David Pryor.

John C. Pryor didn’t get the job as a tax collector. An article in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography states that John C. Pryor was a judge by the time he settled in Desoto County, MS. Even better evidence is a will I located online which he signed in 1846 as a judge in the probate court. http://msgw.org/desoto/court/campamiel.html. So it appears that eventually he too served in a public position.

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Nicholas B. Pryor’s Letter to President Thomas Jefferson

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Monticello

OK, I admit sometimes I drool over Thomas Jefferson like he was a rock star. But isn’t it fun when you can tie family research with one of the Founding Fathers? The National Archives has been putting Founding Fathers documents online. Hazzah! Double Hazzah!… the website is cross referenced so when you find one thing you easily find more. Oh yea, this is a history junkie’s dream!

On August 7, 1812 Nicholas B. Pryor of Nashville (one of our Sumner County and Overton County, TN cousins! He’s my 1st cousin x6) wrote to Jefferson asking for help with a military appointment http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-05-02-0238. The letter made it’s way from Nashville to Jefferson’s desk at Monticello (he was retired by 1809). Perhaps because Nicholas’ sister Mitchie Pryor was married to Jefferson’s brother, the letter didn’t sit at the bottom of a slush pile– On August 24 Jefferson wrote to William Eustis, the Secretary of War, recommending Pryor and he also responded to Pryor. I wonder if Jefferson used that wild letter copying device they have at Monticello! http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/polygraph

Jefferson mentioned in the letter that he knew Pryor from a neighboring county. Hmmm, he failed to mention their relationship by marriage–they were brother-in-laws. Now that’s an interesting little insight into Thomas Jefferson. Guess he had been involved in the political system long enough to  know how to move along a political appointment. https://tennesseepryors.com/virginia-pryors/the-pryors-and-their-jeffersonian-connections/

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , , ,

Major John Pryor’s Handwriting

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maj-john-pryor-5Major John Pryor of Richmond was a Revolutionary War soldier and signed several documents to attest to other soldiers service in the War (see http://revwarapps.org/). Here’s some samples which may come in handy if you’re trying to figure out if which John Pryor signed a document.

Pension Application for William Gentry:

maj-john-pryor-4

Pension Application for John Fenn:

maj-john-pryor-3

Pension Application for Thomas Ward and Isaac Kimmy (Kinney?):maj-john-pryor-2

Pension Application for Benjamin Lawson:

maj-john-pryor

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , ,
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