I’ve been helping out a friend who discovered she is related to Dr. James McCune Smith (www.jamesmccunesmith.com). Smith was the first African American to receive a degree in Medicine and was as prominent in the anti-slavery movement as his contemporary Frederick Douglass. The relationship to this historic leader was just about lost for all time… after Smith’s death in 1865 his family chose to “pass” as white and until recently were completely unaware of their heritage or connection to a truly fascinating figure. Check out the video below of actor Danny Glover portraying Dr. Smith. Click the red triangle at the bottom of the video box to start. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVR1sVIQzFI]
Great, we now have the world’s biggest Pryor website. NOW WHAT? The website got started to deal with all the misinformation on the genealogy websites. The really bad information persists although there’s been a lot of work to untangle the Pryor lines. I read all the time of people who’ve hit a brick wall in their genealogy. Walls are like the old camp song… you can go over them, around them, build a door to go through them. Spending our resources searching to prove a family tie or find more information on an undocumented line is more like digging a hole. Once you get in (and get convinced that the bad information is true) it’s really hard to get out of it and change course. The Tennessee Pryor website has been move like the spring and autum gardening practice of moving plants… we’re digging up the answers and rearranging our roots into correct lineages. Come along… read about the research and weigh the facts, help put together the answers on our Pryor lines!
Do you WIKI? Have you visited WIKIPEDIA the online encyclopedia? In December I submitted an article on John Benjamin Pryor, son of Luke Pryor and Ann Batte Lane. I recently updated the Wikipedia article on his brother Senator Luke Pryor of Limestone Co., AL. If you are interested in what Luke looked like, his portrait is on the website of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/bibdisplay.pl?index=P000557
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More information on NORTON PRYOR – Norton owned land in Middle TN in the early 1800’s. The Internet sleuthing of researcher Barbara VanHout has uncovered information that confirms Norton Pryor was a Philadelphia land speculator. Although he held large amounts of land in Tennessee, he probably never even visited Tennessee.
(Wayback Machine link)
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Added another Pryor to the TN Pryor list. SARAH PRYOR born about 1810 in Tennessee, married Stephen Paxson. They lived in Scott Co., IL, Pike Co., IL (houses away from Isaac Pryor on the 1850 Census), and in St. Louis, MO.
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Found Ann E. Pryor Simmons (daughter of Allen L. Pryor of Sumner Co.) on the 1900 Census in Collin Co., TX. Apparently she and her family accompanied her brother Lycurgus Pryor to Texas and lived near their other brother, William Thomas Pryor.
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New PHOTO added to the TN PRYOR GALLERY! Family Portrait of Allen L. Pryor of Sumner County with daughter Bettie Pryor Gregory’s family (about 1895).
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List of Killed and Wounded in the action of morning of January 27, 1814. Captain Owen’s Company: Allen Pryor, wounded slightly. — Memoir of Gen. David Blackshear. (During War of 1812?)
May 29th, 1794?
Allen Pryor to James Wood, Lieutenant-Governor– Enclosed I submit to the Board the contract entered into by me with Mr. Cavendish, to supply the Troops raised for the defence of Kanawha with provisions.
— Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Manuscripts
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New on Ancestry.com…PHOTOS!
http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1093
Search by name and keywords (like county or town name). I saw photos of Pleasant Pryor of Johnson County, TX (born Overton County TN!) and Nannie B. Pryor Lorance of Cannon County. Not just photos… there are copies of death records, wills, marriages and more.
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)
3 MORE PRYORS…added to the TN PRYOR Project: John, Manerva, and Sarah Pryor possibly children of Elizabeth Pryor on the 1850 Census in Jackson Co., TN. This family was living with Thomas Porter and family in 1850. There is a message dated 11/15/1998 on the Genealogy.com message board: searching for a John Franklin Pryor born in 1846 in Jackson Co., TN. Does anyone know if the John in Jackson Co., TN in 1850 is the John Pryor in Weakley Co., TN in 1860? Is he the John Pryor in Meramec, St. Louis Co., MO in 1880?
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CINDERELLA FOUND! I keep researching the census and other records, however I’m convinced at this point that Cinderella PRIOR who is on the 1870 of Franklin County, IL is the same person who was the wife of Allen Pryor or Jackson Co., TN. I believe that Alfred Pryor who was also recorded in Franklin. Alfred is of interest because he was living with Josephine PRYOR Purcell in 1920 as was described as her “uncle”. Josephine is the daughter of Thomas and Tabitha Pryor of Wilson Co., TN, so this census record appears to connect the lines of Allen Pryor of Jackson Co., TN to Thomas Pryor of Wilson Co., TN.
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ADDED new photo… Rockbridge School House near Gallatin, Sumner Co., TN. Photo of Pryor classmates about 1910.
(waybackmachine link)
ADDED new photos… Aaron Lindsey Pryor born 1864 in Giles Co., TN.
(as of Dec. 2019 link not available)
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FAMOUS PRYORS…Did you know that Civil War General Roger Atkinson Pryor (1828-1919) is buried in the North? General Pryor is buried at Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, NJ. Also buried in this cemetery are Aaron Burr, President Grover Cleveland, Jose and Kitty Menendez (parents of the infamous California Menendez brothers), and John Witherspoon a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
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I have heard from some new researchers who have shed light on the TN PRYORS…
A decendant of John Clark Pryor born 1841 in Kingsport, TN. John was the son of Thomas D. Pryor and wife Margaret Clark. He lived in TN and later Iowa and California. This researcher has been told that John Clark Pryor was the grandson of John Sackett Pryor and Mary Jockey. Is anyone aware of this family line? Read Bio in Pryor Histories
Another researcher is looking for ancestry of William Pryor of Rhea County. Searching the census records, we found the Rhea County Pryors are related to Harmon Pryor of Marion County and Sequatchie County, TN. Read Bio in Pryor Histories.