I mentioned Peter Looney from Botetourt County in a post earlier this week (see post). Now for something to chew on this weekend. There’s a man named Peter Looney counted one line from Matthew Pryor on the 1830 Census in Marion County, TN.
It was reported in the October 11, 1875 in The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) that a Mr. Pryor indicted Mr. Green in a magistrates court for obtaining money under false pretenses. Afterwards Mr. Green and his witness, a Mr. Evans tried to assault Pryor but were stopped by the police. Later that same evening they found Pryor again and this time he pulled out a gun and shot Evans dead. Pryor turned himself in to the police in the morning.
When I first started reading news stories about the Pryors I noticed that some reports were in papers far from the actual event. I wondered if that was because the parties involved were from the area originally. Possibly. However I see that newspaper editors were subscribing to and reading other news reports– eventually re-printing them much in the same way (but not exactly) the AP syndicates news stories.
The most interesting part of the report was that Pryor, Green, and Evans were brothers-in-law. Sad to know this may have been a family dispute.
A report in The Waco Examiner stated that Evans was shot and killed and that J. S. Pryor escaped.
Here’s another morsel for our search for Tennessee Pryors. I had to differ back to the Botetourt County chart I made last year (above).
Mary Pryor married John Hannah on 20th January 1791 in Sumner county, TN. I have in my notes that William Pryor was surety for this marriage.
I see there’s an 1802 deed in Robertson county between James and Thomas Haynes on the Red River bordering Kentucky. This was near Logan County, KY. This deed also mentions that the land bordered property owned by “Hannah and Pryor” and adjoined William Pryor‘s corner. (see truncated deed). The deed is in Deed Book F, p. 318. Dated 6 Oct 1802.
Hmmm… Haynes? At times it feels like a game of Concentration with a never-ending deck of cards! Haynes was a name that I mentioned in a recent post: William Haynes May Connect Jefferson County KY Pryors in Tennessee and Missouri. Last year I wrote about William Pryor of Stewart County, TN as the likely candidate for the surety for Mary Pryor and John Hannah: William Pryor of VA, TN, AL, and Texas – Kin to Richard Pryor. You know where I”m going with this… I think he’s the same William who was in Sumner County, and perhaps the same one who was in Stewart County.
Remember William Pryor was supposed to have been from Botetourt County? Well, how about this transaction in Sumner County that involved Hannah and Looneys who hailed from Botetourt County, VA?
14 August 1790
Isaac Bledsoe paid for a slave named Sall. Signed John D. Hannah, Sumner County, NC
Peter Looney, Robert Looney
And well if you Google Haynes’ from Botetourt and Robertson Counites… well, a Haynes family went from Botetourt to Robertson County.
I’m having one of those mini-meltdowns that genealogy researchers may have. This one was spurred by David Crawford‘s Louisville will– the one I’ve referenced because it was witnessed by John Pryor and William Pryor, and because Crawford had ties to Amherst County, VA and perhaps to the Pryors there.
I try not to moan too much about the quality of documents especially when they’re 210 years old. However, I was surprised to see that the copy looks like someone in the past had enhanced the fading writing by writing over the original. Ugh.
The purpose of ordering the will was to gain a handwriting sample of John and William Pryor. No such luck. First, it’s a copy of the will written within the court transcript of 1805 . Even if it was an original, John Pryor signed his name with a “X”. William signed his name Wm Pryor, or at least it was transcribed as such.
One interesting piece, though, is that the will and the codicil was proved in Amherst County:
At a court held for Amherst County the 20th day of Sept. 1802 this will with the codicil was proven by the oaths of Wm. Pryor and John Pryor two subscribing witnesses there to & ordered to be recorded & certified for obtaining __________ in due form is granted to John Crawford, Wm Crawford, Nelson Crawford, & Charles Crawford the executors in said will named, they having made oath & given bond with Charles Taliaferro, Danl. Wanwich, Nelson Anderson, & Wm Pryor the security in the penalty of forty thousand Dollars amount money conditioned as the law directs. — Testr. L. Garland D. C.
The will was later recorded in Jefferson Co., KY:
At a County court held for Jefferson County on Monday 4th March 1805.
The transcript of David Crawford will on the motion of Nathan was produced in open court & ordered to be recorded. — Warden Pope
This seems to indicate that John and William Pryor were in Amherst County in 1802, not Jefferson County. There’s another perk of getting the original and not relying on truncated versions from books; the will opens with the statement “I David Crawford of Amherst County and State of Virginia being of sound mind…” which seems to indicate that Crawford was residing there when the will was executed. It’s then more likely that John Pryor and William Pryor were witnesses in Amherst County rather than Jefferson County, KY.
Here’s a website that’s fun to explore for Pryors. Check out this Netherland genealogy site at https://www.genealogieonline.nl. Don’t worry, you don’t need to know too much Dutch to navigate the site. The search field is at the top of the page labeled “zoeken”. The results are pretty sparse, mostly birth (“geboren”) and death (“overleden”) dates, however these may be helpful for your research out of the US or American colonies. Feeling unadventurous? Then click the little American/British flag at the top of the site and it will display the results in English. I found several of my non-Pryor kin in the site, giving me some new tips to explore.