PRYOR MYSTERY SOLVED!… Barbara VanHout has solved a Pryor mystery and found her place in the Pryor lines of Sumner and Overton Counties. Barbara’s great grandmother, Mary Ellen Pryor b. 1851 married William M. Kinkade and settled in White Co., IL. Mary Ellen’s father is identified as Jonathan Pryor on her death record and her birthplace was noted as Gallatin, TN on an old photograph. The 1870 Census revealed that Mary is the daughter of Jonathan Pryor (son of William and Spicy Taylor Pryor)and his first wife Ellen Lee. In 1860 Mary Ellen Pryor was living with Major and Virginia May in Sumner County while her father was serving a prison term in the Nashville State Penitentiary. The 1870 Census of White Co., IL yielded not only Mary Ellen and her husband, but Virginia Lee and several of her Taylor cousins. The census information has been added to the Illinois records of the US CENSUS section of the website.
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A PHOTO TOO… Barbara VanHout has contributed a photograph of Mary Ellen Pryor b. 1851. You may see a family resemblance. The photo was added to the PHOTO GALLERY section of the website.
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A PRYOR NAMESAKE… I received a query this month from a researcher whose ancestor bore the first name “Pryor.” In this case the family came from Grainger County, TN. While in some instances the Pryor surname has been used for naming, in this case the name had a different origin—a famous namesake. Pryor Lea born 1794 in Knox County and a resident of Grainger County, served in the US Congress and was a noted states rights advocate and supporter of the Confederacy. He lived in Alabama and later in Texas where he became active in promoting railroads. He died in 1879. A search of the 1870 Census revealed at least 250 men named Pryor and 35 of them who appear to have been named a variation of Pryor Lea.
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BOOK REVIEW…This month I read a terrific book,”The Sweeter the Juice” by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip. It’s a memoir of her family and her journey of tracing her African American and white ancestry. Haizlip recounts the division of her multi-racial family: aunts, uncles, cousins lost when they “disappeared” to live as whites. Her genealogy quest resulted int he poignant reunion of her mother and aunt… after a 75 year separtation! The book includes the story of where and how she obtained records to trace her African American ancestry.
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REQUEST… I want to start adding more African American Pryor information to the website. We all have a wealth of information from our Pryor families. Do you have a will, court document, deed, etc. that names slaves owned by a Pryor family? These names can be an important starting point for someone tracing their family tree. Please email me the names and the source information (document title, date, location, names in document) and we’ll get started on this important project!
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PRYOR GRAVE MARKER… James Chambers Pryor was born 1871 in Davidson Co., TN, a son of James J. Pryor of Nashville and a grandson of Thomas M. Pryor b. 1800 who was an Irish immigrant who settled in Franklin Co., TN. James C. Pryor was on the 1880 and 1900 Census in Davidson Co. In 1900 his occupation was recorded as Navy Physician. A photograph of his grave marker at Arlington National Cemetery can be viewed at
http://www.distantcousin.com/cemetery/va/arlington/_Photo.asp?photo=1/P1010112
