Floyd Jackson Pryor to Nathaniel West Pryor and Backward

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diggingforrootsI was recently contacted by a Pryor who wanted to know more about their family tree. They found the Find A Grave memorial for Floyd Jackson Pryor b. 1938 Sumner Co., KS, d. 2011 Wichita, Sedgwick  Co., KS (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=75755548).  I took a stab at trying to see how far I could go back with her family tree with just the Internet sources available.

The first clue came out of the Find A Grave memorial; it mentions that Floyd had a brother named Melvin and one named Lloyd and that their father was Nathaniel Pryor. There’s a family with 3 sons by that name on the 1940 Census in Sumner Co., KS.  The father was Nathaniel J Pryor born about 1902.   I didn’t have to go too far online because I found that Nathaniel Pryor also has a memorial on Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=58331038). Now if this is your line, make note that there’s a Masonic symbol on Nathaniel’s grave maker– you may find newspaper clippings of Mason events that he participated in. The marker also gives his name as “Nathaniel J. Jack Pryor.”

Both the 1940 and 1930 Census state that Nathaniel J. Pryor was born in AR, but I didn’t have any luck finding him by that name on earlier census records. I went back to his memorial on Find A Grave and clicked on the left link to “Find all Pryors in Caldwell City Cemetery.” There’s a few but I thought Winifred Leighton Pryor was of interest because he was close to Nathaniel’s age. I found Winifred on the 1940 census. He was in the military and stated he was living in Perry Co., AR in 1935. Winifred led me to look in Perry County.

1940 Census
Caldwell, Sumner Co., KS
Nathaniel J Pryor 37 AR, Mabel E 30, Charles 11, Dorothy 10, Lloyd D 8, Helen L 7, Rosetta A 5, Katharine M 3, Floyd J 1, Melvin 9/12

1930 Census
Bluff, Sumner Co., KS
Benjamin Builta 45 KS, Rosa E 45, Roy A 22, Mabel Pryor 20, Nathaniel J. 27 AR, Charles L 1, Dorothy 0

When I found the 1910 Census for Perry Co., AR I found a “Jack” Pryor who is the right age to be Nathaniel J, or as his grave marker says, “Jack.” The head of household was John H. Pryor born 1873 in AR. There’s a 1897 marriage for John H. Pryor to Alice Ramey in Conway Co., AR.

1910 Census
Casa, Perry Co., AR
John H Pryor 37 AR, Alice 34, Bertha 10, Jack 7, Mary 4, Theodore 1

1910 Census
Higgins, Conway Co., AR
Marley L Gibson 40, Sallie 35, James B 15, Mantie L 13, Lela11, Lanick  7, Okla A 3, John H Pryor 78 AL father-in-law

In 1910 a daughter Bertha was living in the household of John H. Pryor. She was also in his household of “J. H. Pryor Jr.” on the 1900 Census in Conway County, AR.  John H.’s birth date was recorded as September 1875 rather than 1873 in 1900. Also in the same county was J. H. Pryor born 1837 in AL, living with his daughter Narcissa 26.

John H. Jr. was in household of “J. H. Prior” on the 1880 Census in Conway Co., AR. Another child in the household was Nathen Prior (sic), perhaps the namesake of John H. Pryor’s son Nathaniel Jack.

1880 Census
Conway Co., AR
J H Pryor 46 AL GA AL, N Jane 38 GA SC SC, W Ann 11, M S 10, John H 7, Sallie 6, Nathen 2, Lee Collins Pryor 4mos., Mary Jennings 16 step-daughter

In 1870 John Pryor Sr. and his family can be found in Perry Co., AR.

It was a pretty easy jump to find John H. Pryor as a 14 year old on the 1850 Census. He was living in his father’s household in Lafayette Co., MS. His father was John Pryor b. 1804 in NC (the “C” is exaggerated and looks like a “J” however it matches the “C” in SC on the same page). Also in the same household is a Nathaniel W Pryor b. 1832– this is Nathaniel West Pryor who settled in Iron Co., UT.

I found in my notes, a brother of Nathaniel West Pryor was William Montifort Pryor. The name Montifort may be a family name to be explored: see my post that includes Montiforts (March 2014 post).

Other researchers have uncovered that John Pryor b. 1804 was married to Malinda Gurles and they had lived in Jefferson Co., AL before migrating to Mississippi. I’ve seen that researchers also state John was a son of John Henry Pryor and Elizabeth Stokes of Casewell County, NC. The relationships get a little cloudy that far back, however the common thought is that this John Henry Pryor is son of John Henry Pryor who named him in his 1772 will filed in Orange Co., NC.

The online  resources are great to give you a course to research, but just because someone is found in a county with another Pryor on a census record, you can’t rely that they’re related. Nothing beats good old fashioned paper research: order death records, get copies of marriage records, glean information from military pension files, get your hands on the old deeds, and court cases.

And most import… please share with us what you find!!! There are other researchers from this line who are interested in their Pryor ancestry.

Category: Arkansas Pryors, North Carolina Pryors | Tags: , , , ,

Richard and Mourning Pryor: Christian County, KY Tie-In

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Richard Pryor and Other Pryors Genealogy Chart

I’d like to thank Beverly Watson from the My Jackson Purchase Families website for starting a new conversation on Richard and Mourning Pryor (his wife). She found in the Christian County records on FamilySearch.org an estate inventory and sale for a John Prior Sr. who died in about 1806/1807.

The Christian County estate sale occurred 25 July 1807 and the list of people who purchased from the estate are as follows (the list was written phonetically and I’ve tried to sub-in some common spellings of names):

Robert Sharrard, Elizabeth PRIOR, John PRYOR, Elizabeth Henkman (or Kirkman), James PRYER, John Burdine, Obadiah Dewhit (DeWhitt), John Bayley (Bailey), Vinson Layston, Jacob Dalmaldson (possibly Donaldson?), Hoxa Boren, James Nunn, Able Crawford, Matthias House, William Dunlop, Peter Simon, John Burdine.

There was a John Pryor on the 1794 Tax list in Logan County. In 1796 John Pryor Sr. and John Pryor Jr. were chain carriers when Richard Pryor‘s land was surveyed in the same county. It’s likely that John Sr. is the John Pryor counted on the 1800 Tax list in Logan County with a James Pryor. And that John Sr. and John Jr were the men (or some of the men) who married in Logan County:

Rebecca Baily married John PRIOR on 11 Jan 1800
Polly Heathman married John PRIOR on 22 May 1800
Elizabeth Crawford married John PRIOR on 12 Mar 1803
Yes, there is a Crawford and a Bailey listed on the estate sale which may support that these families married into the Pryors.

It’s  not that Christian County and Logan County are near each other on a map, as I read through documents I began to see names from Logan County on Christian County documents. For instance, Finis Ewing (founder of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church) is in Wikipedia as a resident of Logan County (no mention of Christian County), yet I found in Christian County (see the estate of James and Ethelred Scoggins, 1809). And if you remember an older post, an Elijah Ewing was often found on records near Richard Pryor and people suspected to be from his line of Pryors.

Beverly also found that a Mrs. Elizabeth Pryor married Absolom Bert (or Best) on 6 August 1808 in Logan County. Perhaps Elizabeth is the widow of John Pryor Sr.– an Elizabeth Pryor purchased his watch from the estate sale and the 1808 marriage is near the time of John Sr.’s death.

The recent DNA testing has only pointed out again just how many John and William Pryors were running around TN and elsewhere. It’s frustrating, however by following the paper trail I think we’re getting a better idea of who is who.

The Pryor Chart

So, lets look at the chart. I think there’s certainly some fodder here, some food for thought, some fuel for more record searching.

  1. John Pryor Sr. John was referred to as Sr. on both the Logan Co. survey of Richard Pryor’s land and in his 1807 Estate in Christian Co. There’s a possibility that these Johns were one person.
  2. John Pryor. There’s a John Pryor, not differentiated with Jr. nor Sr., who was “bonded” in Sumner Co., in 1791 in a court case with Howell Tatum. Has anyone ever looked at this document? Howell Tatum. An 1802 indenture, a land record in Smith County [Deed Book B, Pages 94-95], names Mourning White, formerly Mourning Prior, and land described as formerly belonging to Howell Tatum. There’s so many John Pryors, this John and John Sr. may be one man or two, however they both may have had ties to Richard Pryor.
  3. James Pryor. Again we may have one man or two. James B. Pryor b. 1788 in VA and counted in 1850 in Pike Co., IL was the widow of Rebecca Pryor whose obit stated they had lived in Christian County, KY AND Stewart County, TN. Then isn’t it interesting that a James Pryor purchased items from the estate of John Sr. in 1807 also in Christian County? And there’s a James Pryor named on Stewart County documents with the William “of Botetourt County”.
  4. William Pryor and Richard Pryor – As discussed under John and James, William appears to be connected to both of these Pryor names. The survey of Richard’s land in Logan County was witnesses by John Sr and John Jr. William and Richard are associated with the Ewings: Elijah, Robert, James.
Category: About TN Lines, Kentucky Pryors | Tags: , , , ,

The 7 Children of John and Massey Pryor – Another Look

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Allen L Pryor

I’ve been going back and forth to the History of Tennessee From the Earliest Time to The Present, Goodspeed Publishing Co. The Sumner County book has a bio of Allen L. Pryor (photograph above), published while he was alive in 1887. He states that he was one of 7 children of John Pryor and Massey Taylor. With recent records and revelations from DNA testing, we need to revisit the list of children attributed to this union (see bio).

William Pryor b. 1820 (tester #1 in previous posts) married in Sumner County, divorced in Sumner County, and was reported as a Sumner County resident who died en route to the California Gold Rush. His family stayed in close proximity to Allen L. Pryor. When Allen L. Pryor’s daughter, Betty Pryor Gregory, died– William’s grand-daughter became the second wife of Betty’s widower, Thomas Gregory.

William has long been included in our family tree and counted as the 8th child of John and Massey– assuming that Allen had not counted himself when counting siblings for his biography. It’s  beginning to look like there was no problem in Allen’s counting and that William was not a sibling, at least by birth. The following are the 7 children who through paper evidence DO tie directly to John and Massey Pryor.

1. Allen L. Pryor born Mar 1816. Allen states in his Goodspeed “vanity” bio that he was the son of John and Massey Pryor. When Massey died in 1867 he acted as the executor of her estate. John Pryor did not leave a will and no deeds have been found. If there was a namesake for Allen, he is not yet known.

2. Elizabeth Louisa Pryor born abt. 1822. Louisa married David McCulley/McCullough in 1850. Louisa purchased items from the estate of Massey Pryor in 1867. The children of Louisa Pryor McCulley were named in a deed which was part of the estate of Samuel Pryor b. 1835 [Sumner County, TN, Deed Book Volume 88, Page 63. Dated 28 October 1907, registered 12 February 1921]**, AS WELL AS the children of Allen L Pryor. Elizabeth may have been named for Massey’s mother Elizabeth Garrett who was daughter of Louisa Bernard.

3. Edward Pryor who died 1846 in the Mexican War and memorialized on the monument in Gallatin City Cemetery. Edward was unmarried at the time of his death, no record of land ownership exists, and he was never named on a census record. The best evidence of his relationship to Allen L. is that his name and the monument inscription was recorded in a very old diary that belonged to Allen L. Pryor. Edward’s possible namesake was Edmund/Edward Taylor, the father of Massey Taylor Pryor.

4. Jonathan Pryor born 1822-1824. He was living in Massey Pryor’s household on the 1850 Census. This is NOT the Jonathan Pryor who married Eliza Beasley and was in Nashville Prison. I suspect that Johnathan and his possible wife Elizabeth were the parents of the Joseph Pryor who was living with Massey in 1860. This Joseph D. Pryor lived with Allen L. Pryor after Massey’s death and was in his household on the 1870 and 1880 Census.

5. George W. Pryor born 1826-1828. James Wesley and Monroe Pryor, sons of George were also named in the 1907 deed mentioned in #2 above.

6. Alfred Pryor b. 1828. Alfred died at age 22 of typhus. His death is recorded on the 1850 Mortality Schedule. Alfred left a small estate and Allen L. Pryor was appointed administrator of the estate.

7. Samuel D. Pryor b. Feb 1835. In 1850 and 1860 he was counted in the household of Massey Pryor. After his death, the deed for his land mentioned in #2 above names his heirs.

** It should be noted that in the estate deed for Samuel D. Pryor names of children are referenced for all his siblings (these are Samuel’s nieces and nephews): Allen L., Louisa, George W. However, the children of Jonathan were not named (were they deceased?) nor were the children of William Pryor b. 1820. All of William’s children were very much alive in 1907, and one was still living in 1921 when the deed was filed. All of William’s children lived and died in Sumner County. The exclusion of William’s children may be the best evidence that he was not one of Allen L. Pryor’s siblings.

Category: About TN Lines | Tags:

PRYOR DNA RESULTS: Part 2 William Pryor and Spicy Taylor of Overton County, TN

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from the book "The Orphan," published in Edinburgh, Scotland 1841

It’s been so hard to find testers I feel blessed that we actually had two male Pryors test for the line of William Pryor and wife Spicy Taylor at the same time. Two Pryor DNA testers and two very different results.

The first tester is who I’ve referred to in my prior post (no pun intended) as Tester #3. He is descended through the line of Overton Pryor, the first born son of William and Spicy.

The second tester is descended through Chesley Pryor, named presumably for Chesley Taylor a brother of Spicy Taylor. Chesley Pryor was the last known son of William and Spicy. Chesley was living at home at the time of the 1850 census and was counted in the household of Spicy Taylor.

It was surprising, but not stunning, when this second tester didn’t match to the other tester for William Pryor’s line. The second tester didn’t have any Pryor surnames in his results on FTDNA.com, so that casts strong doubt on whether he’s descended from a Pryor line.

Some time ago a female Pryor, descended from Chesley, did the autosomal DNA test on Ancestry.com (aka the “Ancestry DNA” test).  One of my kids took take the same test. While I  had several hits on Taylors and Garretts (the line of Spicy Taylor and her sister Massey Taylor), my test didn’t match to this female tester. Regardless of our Pryor ancestry, if we were related, we should match on our common Taylor ancestors: Spicy Taylor and Massey Taylor.

The male Y-DNA tester for William/Chesely’s line ALSO took the same autosomal test. His only Pryor match was to the female tester mentioned above.

So we  have a male Y-DNA test and a autosomal test from the line of Chesley Pryor who doesn’t match the other Y-DNA test for William and Spicy, nor does he match known autosomal testers for  John and Massey. One of the first questions we asked was where the break in the Pryor DNA line occurred — Did Spicy have a child with another man? If Spicy was Chesley’s mother then despite who his father was, Spicy’s DNA would be passed down through Chesley.  The autosomal tests indicates Spicy’s DNA is not likely passed down through this line.

So that means there are at least two intriguing scenarios of who Chesley was and who his children were. The first scenario is that William and Spicy took in a foundling or orphan. The autosomal tests would indicate that this child was not related to either adoptive parent. The child was integrated into the family and given a family name: Chesley.

It would be odd if the break came during the time of Chesley. The male Y-DNA tester is from the line of Chesley’s 1st son Parker while the female autosomal tester was from the line of Chesley’s 3rd son John. These sons were 6 years apart in ages with another son in between (Charles Lavander). John was not on the 1860 census, but was in Chesley’s household on the 1870 census. That would mean that children were adopted from the same parents over time. That can happen, but it seems to be of a lower probability than the first scenario.

If Chesley’s children were not fathered by Chesley, there are several possibilities and some work would need to be done to figure things out.

  • The female autosomal tester could find someone descended from Chesley’s son John to take a Y-DNA test. That test may show if Parker and John were fathered by the same person.
  • They could find a Y-DNA tester from the line of Chesley’s other son, Charles Lavander Pryor. This is a “wild card”. Perhaps that tester would match the tester for William and Spicey’s line. Perhaps this tester would match the Y-DNA tester for Parker Pryor.
  • The tester for Parker Pryor could upgrade his Y-DNA test to see if he matches at a higher level to a different surname on FTDNA.com. He could also post his test results on Ysearch.org to see if he matches other testers who’ve tested through other companies.

The Overton County Pryors are not alone in the tales of orphans in Pryor households. Families shrunk in size due to a cholera epidemic and a generally high mortality. Census records seem to show young Pryor males living and doing farm work in other households. The Pryors in Overton County didn’t own slaves, so perhaps taking in children helped with getting the farm work done. William and Spicy’s marriage was recorded in the Quaker Marriages in Virginia, so perhaps taking in children was part of their Quaker beliefs. The scenario of taking in orphans may also explain William Pryor b. 1820 who was recorded among the Pryors, Taylors, and Talleys in Sumner County. Were William and Chesley boys that the Pryors took in and raised as their own?

Regardless what is done with further DNA testing, Pryors  who descend from Chesley Pryor will want to dig deeper into the paper trail. Gather together your family birth records, death records, and wills to see who is named and how they are named.  It’s time to re-check court records for adoptions or guardianship agreements. There’s an explanation out there!

(Top of page: illustration from the book “The Orphan,” published in Edinburgh, Scotland 1841)

Category: DNA | Tags: , , , ,

PRYOR DNA RESULTS: Part 1 – Sumner, Overton, and Gasconade Counties

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The Taylor Chart

I’ll be talking about Pryors, but I can’t do it without a partial chart of the Taylors. It’s the only neat and tidy way to organize everyone on one page and to show the Pryors who were related to 3 of the Taylor children by marriage. One of the testers is from a KY line and I’m not yet able to chart their relationship. Click on the image if you’d like to see it larger.

The Pryor DNA test results are in for the 3 testers from the Pryor lines of Sumner County and Overton County.  All 3 tests were done on 111 markers by Family Tree DNA (ftdna.com).

The 3 Y DNA tests in our FTDNA.com family group are as follows:

Pryor DNA Results

#1 – a descendant of William Pryor of Sumner Co., TN. William was born about 1820 and died en route to the Gold Rush about 1848.

#2 – a descendant of John T. Pryor born 1788 in KY and lived in Gasconade Co., MO.

#3 – a descendant of William Pryor born 1760-1770 and Spicy Taylor of Overton County, TN, through their son Overton Pryor.

In Common

There are two things that these testers have in common.  First, all testers matched on some, but not all markers.  I think we can cautiously say they are all Pryors.  Second, none of these 3 testers matched at a high level to another surname. I also say that cautiously because all 3 matched at on several markers with Mr. Page.

DNA Defining Family Lines

I know for myself and tester #1 the results will be surprising. The relationship between William born c. 1820 and William b. 1760-1770 may be VERY distant and may have originated in the Old World a very long time ago.  FTDNA.com provides a TIP report for testers that demonstrates the probability of relationships. When I compare Tester #1 to Tester #3 there is only a 0.44% probability that these 2 testers shared a common ancestor in 4 generations. That is very low. Consider group 104 on FTDNA.com (this group includes descendants of Matthew Pryor of Marion Co., TN and Virginia Pryors related to Samuel Pryor and wife Prudence).  Group 104’s testers have more than anm 80% probability that they share a common ancestor.  The good news is that there’s a 98% probability that Tester #1 and Tester #3 shared an ancestor at 24 generations (in the 1300-1400’s — that’s very long ago indeed).

Ugh. Disappointing, but Pryor researchers from Sumner and Overton Counties needed to know this!

This information doesn’t change my relationship with tester #1 as we are still cousins though Talley family marriages in Sumner County and of course Willie Ann Pryor from his line was my grandfather’s step-mother (after the death of his mother Bettie Pryor Gregory). We need to keep looking for the father of William Pryor b. around 1820. One scenario to explain this William — he may have been a foundling or orphan raised by either William and Spicy or John and Massey. This scenario would explain the extreme distance in relationships revealed by the DNA and it’s a scenario supported by other evidence of “foundlings” in the family which I will discuss in an upcoming post.

The Stronger Although Very Distant Connection

The stronger connection is between Tester #2 and #3.  They match on markers 12, 25, 37, 67, and 111. However the genetic distance is still high. The probability that they are related is 94.5% at 16 generations — That’s in about the 1600’s when perhaps traceable common ancestors who arrived in the American colonies.

 What’s Next?

For Sumner and Overton County Pryors…. We NEED a male Pryor from the line of Allen L. Pryor to take a Y-DNA test. The ideal tester  is a male from the line of his son John Edward Pryor or another son Lycurgus Lafayette Pryor. There’s no getting around this. If this tester connects with Tester #3 who tested for William of Overton Co. then we can safely stay on our assumption that John who married Massey and William who married Spicy are related.  Who knows, the tester could match to Tester #1 (kin of William b. abt. 1820). We need tests from William’s line AND John’s line to be the cornerstone for the comparisons to other tests. They may end up being from two separate Pryor families but we need to know that!

For Gasconade County, MO Pryors… they need other MO testers. Allen L. Pryor states he was born in White County, TN in 1816. Was his family related to other Pryors in White Co.? Researchers  have long thought that the Pryors who settled in Bates County, MO were related to William Pryor of White Co. More paper research in MO and White County is needed.

Part 2 will reveal the results of another tester for the Sumner and Overton Pryor lines and an intriguing outcome.

In Part 3 I’ll be revising my list of the 5 testers needed.

Stay tuned.

Category: DNA | Tags: , ,
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