Sometimes exploring a Pryor history has nothing to do with genealogy, and everything to do with the story. And this one is a fun story!
Harry Pryor appears to have come to Arizona as a miner. It was reported on January 25, 1901 in the Graham Guardian (Safford, AZ)
Chris Gish, Enoch Wooworth, Harry Pryor and W. B. Bond started Wednesday last on a prospecting trip. They will go into Old Mexico by way of Bisbee. We wish them success.
He must have found something sometime after their prospecting trip because on April 7, 1905 the newspaper reported Harry Pryor filed for a $20,000 bond for a deed on “S mines.” Could that be silver mines? Good grief, how much was $20k worth in 1905? Boodles!
Things sometimes got a little out of control for Harry who was in his early twenties:
A shooting was narrowly averted at Safford last week. Harry Pryor, drunk and disorderly, rode through the streets in Rough Rider style against the repeated protests of the local officers: and finally ran over the little son of Marshal A. A. McKenzie. The boy was severely bruised, but not fatally injured. The father trailed the rider to a saloon and drew a sixshooter, but was prevented from discharging the weapon. He finally succeeded in knocking Pryor down with the weapon, cutting his head severely. Pryor swore out a warrant for the arrest of the marshal on a charge of assault wiht a deadly weapon.
Arizona Silver Belt (Globe, AZ). February 7, 1901
And in 1905 poor Harry was in trouble again:
The case of Harry Pryor charged with assault with intent to kill, was continued until next term of court. Pryor is the man who stabbed J. E. Carpenter with a miner’s candlestick, in September.
Arizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ). October 18, 1905
In 1913 Harry B Prior (sic) is listed in a Phoenix city directory as a lino operator (linotype), so perhaps he had given up prospecting at this point and maybe given up the whooping it up through town and given up whacking other miners. At about the same time a new school marm had come to town and her back story is right out of central casting!
Oehlese Williamson was born Hillsboro, NC (I found that on her DAR file) and attended Converse College in Spartanburg, SC.
Converse College 1905 Yearbook
By 1911 she was in Arizona. Her employment as a teacher is hardly “P.C.” by our standards a hundred years later. Can you imagine a school board hiring teachers based on their good looks?
THE OSBORN FACULTY HAS BEEN COMPLETED
The faculty of the Osborn school for next year was completed at a meeting of the board of trustees on Saturday night and is now as follows:… Miss Oehlese Williamson, English and physiology… The new teachers are Miss Williamson, Miss Ellingson, and Miss Wiberg. It was stated sometime ago by The Republican and widely published that the trustees of the district, grown wise by the embarassment which had been regularly caused them by the marriage of the lady teachers, had decided to adopt the policy of employing teachers who, though possessing all necessary qualifications as teachers would be less personally attractive and who therefore, could be retained year after year. The board weakened however and that proposed policy was discarded with the result that the standard of beauty has been raised rather than lowered.
The Arizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ). April 24, 1911
After Miss Williamson came to town there were no further reports of Harry Pryor on the rampage. They married in May 19, 1913 in Maricopa County, AZ (she didn’t last long as a single teacher!). A birth record for their son Harry Williamson Pryor identified his father as Harry Browning Pryor. Miss Oehlese was referred to as Mrs. Harry B. Pryor in news articles that stated she was a music teacher and discussed her students accomplishments.
I’ve given it my best shot to figure out which Pryor line can claim Harry B Pryor. Census records state he was born 1879-1880 in Texas. I found a Harry B. Pryor on the 1910 Census in Dallas, TX. I’m wondering if Harry was drifting back and forth between AZ and Texas in the early years.
Justice Precinct 1, Dallas, Texas. Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0020
Annie P Wiley 25 head AR TX TX married 1
Inez Wiley 4 daughter TX TX AR single
Louise Wiley 2 daughter TX TX AR single
Harry B Pryor 31 brother TX TX TX widowed
Edwin R Pryor 22 brother TX TX TX single
Edwin R Pryor 4 nephew TX TX TX single
Rodger A Pryor 19 brother TX TX TX single
Annie, Edwin R., Harry B. and Roger A. are children of E. R. Pryor a son of the Samuel Pryor who was the first mayor of Dallas.
