Benjamin Catching : A Man Amongst the Pryors

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Now, isn’t this an interesting coincidence. I spotted Benjamin Catching on this deed filed in Georgia:

1785 Deed (Wilkes Co., GA)
May 21, 1785 Willis Whatley deeded land to Peter Tatum 250 acres on Little River. The land was adjoining John White, Benj. Catching and Chas. Burks. Witneses Samuel Thornton, Edward PRYOR.
(Early Records of Georgia: Wilkes County By Grace Gillam Davidson, pub 1932)

And then later in Amherst County, VA where he was the Clerk of the Superior Court

1794 Deed (Amherst Co., VA)
14 Feb 1794 JNO. FLOYED, Ga. Power of Attny to PHILLIP THURMOND, AC – DANL. BURFETT  of Va. By will of 1787 bequeathed to VA. TAYLOR 250 acres in AC on headwaters of Stoval – for life or until she leaves; remainder to me. JF of Wilks Co, Ga. – PT to dispose of my interest upon removal or death of VA. TAYLOR. Acknowledged before BENJ. CATCHING, Clk. Of Superior Ct., W. STITH JR. one of the judges. Rec. in AC, 21 Jul 1794.
(NOTE: John Floyd uncle of Nathaniel Pryor was deceased by 1783, he had first married a daughter of Daniel Burford, the sheriff of Amherst Co. )

So, we have record of settlers from Amherst County moving into Wilkes County, GA.  This may help some folks with connecting their lines.

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: ,

From Talley to Taliaferro to Tolliver

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talley1The Talleys are a strong family connection to the Pryors in Sumner Co., TN. Allen L. Pryor married Elizabeth Talley, daughter of William Talley and Polly Dowdy of Cumberland County, VA. Elizabeth’s sister married Thomas Jefferson Pryor, a son of the mysterious William Pryor of Sumner County. Another sister, Lucy, studied at a girls’ school in Nashville and married Robert Anderson Wright in Sumner County in 1868.

The Talley name is found in VA records where it melds from Talley, to Tally, and other variations, like Taliaferro and Tolliver.

A good example of the Taliaferro name being used as Tolliver is Baldwin Taliaferro. He’s on the 1850 Census in Pike Co., MO as Tolliver and in 1860 as Taliaferro. I think he’s related to the KY Pryors.  In 1850 he was living with the Spottswood and Hall families and in 1870 with John P (Pryor?) Lain. Baldwin was married to a Spottswood because he’s also in the Williamson Co., TN records.

I’ve picked out some of the more interesting Talley’s from the records:

1784 Census Amherst Co., VA. Page 85: Nicholas PRYOR 10 whites, no non-whites (Note: On same page with Nicholas: Charles Ellis, Roderick McCullough, David Crawford, Philip Thurmond, Charles Taliafero)

1801 – Jefferson Co., KY Will, David Crawford. Bondsman: Charles Taliaferro, Nathaniel Warwick. Witnesses: William Pryor, John Pryor, Stella Sullivan. Willed land to his sons: land in Amherst County, adjoining Buffalo Ridge.

1810 Census Cumberland Co., VA – William Talley Sr
1810 Census Amherst Co., VA – Benjamin Taliaferro, Charles Taliaferro
1810 Census Albemarle County, VA – Francis Taleafero
1810 Census Campbell Co.  – Roderick Taliafero – near Mourning Christian

1820 Census Cumberland Co., VA (alpha order census) – Daniel Taliaferro with John Sandridge, Jackey Talley, Phineas Thomas, William Talley
1820 Census Goochland Co., VA – Elkanah Talley

1834 Land Deed Overton Co., TN – Elizabeth Taylor, of Sumner Co.., of Tenn…for $200.00 sells and convey to Elijah Garrett the undivided interest of a tract of land >in Overton Co.,on Obed’s R. where William PRYOR now lives and formerly owned by the heirs of Edmond Taylor & now owned by the , said Elizabeth (Taylor) and Spicy Taylor, wife of William Pryor, as trust in common. The tract was 150 acres. Witness: Pleasant Taylor and Willy Dickerson. Reg. Aug. 8, 1834  (Note: William Dickerson married Maggie Belle Talley in Overton County, TN. He may be the same Wiley Dickerson who was in Sumner Co., TN in 1850 (age 65, born in VA)

I’ll be watching out for more Talley connections to the Pryros.

Category: About TN Lines, Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , , , ,

Iron Ore In Jackson County, TN

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Do you ever read records and then interpret them completely differently when read again months or even years later?

My interest was piqued by an old Jackson County, TN deed:

John Swain and Armistead Stubblefield, 2560 acres, on the headwaters of Brimstone Creek… to include the salt lick and two banks of iron ore. 2 April 1803.

There was a guy, who seems to be recorded as John Swan, who no one can ever find. He married Nancy Pryor in 1825 in Sumner County, TN. I wonder if it’s the same guy as John Swain.

Then “banks of iron ore” caught my eye. I wonder if he has anything to do with David Ross and the Pryors who were close to his foundry businesses in VA. Or is he a relation of the NC Pryors who were running the Troublesome Creek Foundry during Colonial times.

Still looking for clues to see if the iron industry follows some of the Pryor lines.

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: , ,

Murder of Sally Pryor in Rusk County, TX (1902)

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The death of the widow Sallie Pryor was reported in The Liberty Vindicator. The story states Mrs. Pryor was aged 50 when she was shot by a stray bullet when her brother in law Robert Pryor Jr. was out bird hunting. She was in her garden about 200 yards from where the shot was fired. The report contained no information of a police investigation, inquest or any other criminal proceedings.

There was a Prior family on the 1880 Census in nearby Cherokee County, TX. Perhaps this is Robert Sr.

Dist. 11, page 286, house 64/64 Robt. PRYOR 50 farmer SC SC SC, M. P. wife 43 AL TN SC, J. J. son 26 AL SC AL, J. T. son 21 AL SC AL, M. J. daughter 16 TX SC AL, R. son 18 TX SC AL, B. F. son 11 TX SC AL, C. A. son 8 TX SC AL, E. A. Delaney 14 step daughter TX AL AL, R. M. Wier boarder 43 school teacher MS VA KY.

Does anyone have more information on this family or what happened?

Category: Texas Pryors | Tags: ,

Next Change On The TN Pryors Website

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I wanted to let folks know that it’s time for some changes on TNPryors.com.  

When the site was first started it seemed relevant to put up family histories. They have become difficult to update as the story of all the Pryor families evolves through newly found documents and new DNA results. If I don’t get to an update, there’s outdated (and sometimes bad) information left online. This can mislead researchers, which is far from the purpose of the website.

The History section will be removed from the website and I’ll continue to post on families here on the blog (TennesseePryors.com), which is better suited for the ever-changing information on the Pryors. I’ll also repost to the blog some of the information previously displayed in the History section.

What we know about the Pryors keeps evolving and so will the website.

Category: About TN Lines, News
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