Steamboat Captain Pryor

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The children of Moses Tandy Pryor (probably born in Henry County, KY) and Barbara Giltner were on the 1850 and 1860 Census in Carroll County, KY. Noble Pryor died a few months of his brother in June 1909.

Two Captains Die.

Two steamboatmen, well known in the Paducah port, have answered the last call. Captain N. Parker Pryor of Louisville, and Captain William Baxter, of St. Louis. There is an old saying among river men and it has often proved true, that when two river men die about the same time there will be a third river man in a short time to die.

Captain N. Parker Pryor was one of the best known steamboatmen on the Ohio river. He died at the Pope Sanitorium, Louisville, after an illness of nine weeks with apoplexy. Captain Pryor was 42 years of age and had been running on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers since he was a boy. During his experience he had been captain on the government boat Cherokee and the tug Hanover, also pilot on the Falls City, the Park City and Major Slack. It was while taking a trip up the Kentucky river in December on the Major Slack that he was stricken while at the wheel. Although he fell over in great pain, Captain Pryor managed to bring the boat to landing and then an investigation by the engineer resulted in his being found unconscious at the wheel.

Captain Pryor was a member of a family of well known river men and has two surviving brothers, both of whom are steamboat men.

Captain Noble Pryor, of the Falls City, The Kentucky river packet, is seriously ill at an infirmary in Philadelphia, while Michael Pryor, captain of a towboat, is suffereing with yellow jaundice at Frankfort, Ky.

— Paducah Evening Sun, 6 February 1909

Steamboat

Wikipedia

Category: Kentucky Pryors | Tags: , , , ,

Francis Prior of Hertfordshire, England

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uk-flagI’m diverting from our US Pryors to UK Pryors for this post… If you’re interested in the Pryor/Prior name from Herfordshire, England I stumbled across an interesting tidbit of information. I’m passing it also because I suspect someone will find it useful.

From The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, Volume 82, Part 1, Published 1812.

pryor-flamstead-hertfordshire

Over one of the arches a framed board, with arms, and the following inscription: “At the upper ende of this midle ile lyeth intered body of GEORGE CORDELL, esquire, who served QUEEN ELIZABETH, and was sergeant of the Ewry to KING JAMES and the late KING CHARLES, in all sixty yeeres, who married DOROTHY, the only daughter and heyre of FRANCIS PRIOR, of this parish, with whom she lived 52 yeares, and deceased the 26th May, 1653, being aged 84 yeeres.”

One ANN PRIOR lived in this parish to the age of 120.

Such a short inscription but such remarkable lives. Cordell served 3 monarchs in such turbulent times — Elizabeth I was the daughter of Henry VIII and she beheaded her cousin Mary Queen of Scots, James was Mary’s son, and Charles I (James’ son) ascended the throne only to be beheaded in 1649. From 1649 to 1660 England was without a king and functioned as a Republic. I found a definition of his court position:

The ewry was responsible for the provision and storage of linen for the royal tables `and serve up water in the silver ewers after dinner, whence the office has its name.
— from British History Online

Oh, what Mr. Cordell and his Prior wife must have lived through. What he must have heard at queen’s tables and the successive kings. The historical characters he may have seen. It’s remarkable that he kept his position through such turmoil.

Perhaps this inscription may help to take a Prior line into the 16th century.

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Joseph Pryor Born 1805 in SC, Resided in Tallapoosa County AL

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We may be able to match Joseph Pryor b. 1805 in SC to his ancestors. He’s on the 1850 Census in Tallapoosa County, AL

1850 Census Tallapoosa Co., AL
Page 125A House 1845 Joseph PRYOR 45 SC, Sarah 30 SC, William 19 SC, Ann 17 GA, Robert 16 GA, Elizabeth 14 GA, Eliza 12 GA, Francis 7, GA, Louisa 6 GA, Jasper 4 AL, Christopher 2 AL.

This record has lingered — no clear record of this family on the 1840 Census or the 1860 Census. An 1857 marriage in Tallapoosa County helped to provide a lead.

David Z Clark married Elizabeth B PRIOR on 30 Dec 1857. This marriage is in the Tallapoosa County records AND filed under another dated (4 Dec 1857) in Edgefield Co., SC.

There was a David Clark living in household of Charlotte PRIOR on 1850 Census in Edgefield county. David was born 1811 and was working as a wheelwright. The household above is Richard PRIOR born 1805 who was also working as a wheelwright. In 1860 and 1870 David Clark (also counted as D. Z. Clark) was still living near Richard Prior and his household included his wife Elizabeth born 1836. Elizabeth’s year of birth is a close match to the Elizabeth Pryor who was in Joseph’s household in Tallapoosa in 1850.

Category: South Carolina Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Samuel Pryor and Hamlin Surname

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va-pryorsSamuel Pryor married Mary Ann Hamlin on 16 Oct 1821 in Amelia County, VA.

In 1841 James Boisseau Hamlin, a minor, sued his father’s estate. This case filed in the Amelia County, VA Chancery Court names James’ father William B. Hamlin, his widow Ann P Hamlin, and James’ siblings William B. Hamlin, Edward Y Hamlin, and Mary Ann Hamlin, wife of Samuel Pryor. The dispute seems to have been over advances in the estate given to James’ siblings before his father’s death. Edward was given slaves and land in Dinwiddie County. Mary Ann Pryor had received 8 slaves. The case also revealed the deceased Hamlin had 65 slaves in Virginia and 10 slaves in Tennessee.

Then in another Chancery Court Case filed in 1848 Samuel and Mary Ann Hamlin’s children are named. Samuel Pryor was the guardian of his infant children Samuel Edward, William, Anna, Virginia Frances, Lucy Osborne, and Agnes Epes Pryor. The suit also mentions a married daughter Mary Elizabeth Pryor, wife of James R. Craig. The suit was filed to gain interest in the estate of Anna Hamlin, widow of W B Hamlin.

Samuel Pryor and his children on the 1850 Census.

Samuel’s daughters were living near him in Dinwiddie County, VA: Southern Div., Page 478b, house 136 Lucy O. Field 40 VA, Susan E. J. Field 9 VA, Mary A. J. Field 7 VA, Sally J. J. Field 5 VA, Wellington E. Webb 33 Episcopal Clergyman 33 London, Eng., Sarah C. Webb 24 VA, Fanny V. PRIOR 13 VA, Lucy O. PRIOR 11 VA., Agnes E. PRIOR 8 VA.

Southern Div., Page 479a, house 142 Samuel PRIOR 50 farmer VA, Ann E. 53 VA, Anna J. 16 VA, Martha P. Broadnax 24 VA. (Samuel and wife Ann were on the 1860 Census in Campbell Co., VA. See Chancery Court case filed in Amelia County for names of other Pryor children.)

His sons were living apart from their father and sisters: William H Pryor was living in the household of a blacksmith in Hanover County and Samuel E. Pryor was a student residing in the Pike Powers Academy in Augusta County, VA.

The Hamlins were still in Amelia County in 1850 and onward. Anna P Hamblin age 55 and James B Hamblin age 24 were recorded in the same household on the 1850 Census (and together in 1860).

Now that I’ve jumped to the 1850 Census I need to look backward a quarter century and into Tennessee. On 19 April 1824 the following notice was published in the Nashville Whig (Davidson County, TN):

In Equity: Calvin Morgan, Gideon Morgan and Rufus Morgan, Com’s vs. Samuel Elam, and Elizabeth his wife, William B. Hamlin, Thomas Crutcher, and Nicholas B. Pryor, defts. William B. Hamlin not a resident of the state.

There was only one William B Hamlin on the 1820 Census and he wasn’t a resident of Tennessee… it’s the William B. Hamblin in Amelia County, Virginia who was counted with 60 slaves. This sounds like the same William B who was the father in law of Samuel Pryor. The 1820 census was recorded in alpha-order so it’s difficult to piece together who was living near who.

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , , ,

Who was Richard Pryor in Catahoula Parish Feud?

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diggingforroots


Nothing about the Liddell-Jones feud ended well (see post). After Charles Jones killed St. John R Liddell on the river boat Welcome, mob justice was unleashed on Jones– the mob killed Charles Jones, his son William Jones, and possibly his son Cuthbert Jones. The Ouachita Telegraph describes this a “tragedy”, however I suspect in our time we’d call this a lynching.

Who was the Richard Pryor involved in the feud? What was his fate? I think the Richard who became involved in the Catahoula Parish feud was the son of William Bland Pryor (born 1793 in VA). This is the Richard Pryor who brashly demanded the head of Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Civil War (see post). The feud was fought near Trinity, LA (#1 on the map below). In 1850 Richard was living with his parents in Madison Parish, LA (#2) and was counted in 1860 in nearby Vicksburg, MS (#3).

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