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.

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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)

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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.

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Sumner County: Bill of Sale between John Pryor and James Curry (1837)

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John Pryor Sumner CountyBill of Sale between John Pryor and James Curry.  It would have been nice if we got a signature of John Pryor, but it looks like he couldn’t sign his name. Was that due to age or education? If  the census records are correct, he would have been about 60 years old or older in 1837. The transcript is as follows:

State of Tennessee
Sumner County
}
Know all men by these presents that I John Pryor of the County and State aforesaid for an in consideration of the sum of two dolls. to me in hand paid and for other considerations hearafter (sic)mentioned have this day granted, bargained, sold and conveyed unto James Curry of the same County and State the following property (viz) one sorrel horse , one one-eyed bay horse, and two cows and calves to have and to hold the above described property to the said Jas. Curry his heirs and assigns forever and I do bind my self, my heirs, and assigns to warrant and forever defend the above described property to this said James Curry his heirs viz against the lawful claims of all and every person whatsoever and do do warrant the said property to be free from any incumbrances of any description. But this deed is made for the following uses and trust  and for no other purposes. that is to say I am indebted to the said James Curry in the following sums viz. One note due? the 25th Dec. 1836 for eighteen dolls. and twenty five cents also one note due? 2nd Nov. 1836 for twenty six dolls. and fifty cents. I am desireous to secure and make certain the payments of the same now if I should pay the said debts with all interest accruing thereon on or before the 25th December next then this deed to be void but if I should not pay by the said 25th day of Dec. then the said James Curry as trustee after giving ten days notice at three or more public places may expose to sale to the highest bidder for cash or on a credit as we agreed. On all the before described property said and appropriate the proceeds  to the payment of the aforesaid debts of eighteen dollars and twenty four cents and twenty six dolls. and fifty cents and all interest and expenses and the balance if any there should be to me in testimony whereof I  have hereunto set my hand and seal this 30th day of June 1837
}
John Pryor (his mark)
witnesses:
William Curry
James Love
State of Tennessee
Sumner County
}
Deed of trust from John Pryor to James Curry for the following property to wit one sorrel horse, one eyed bay horse and two cows and calves as acknowledged by the said Pryor this 7th day of August 1837.
}
Thos. Donohy, clerk
of Sumner County Court
Reg. and examined August the 7th 1837
John L Bugg, Reg. SC.

I think this is John Pryor, husband of Massey Taylor. John’s brother in law, Pleasant Taylor, married Mrs. Margaret Curry (daughter of Hugh Elliot and Margaret Cowan) in 1838. Margaret was the widow of John Curry, and her son William Curry married Elizabeth Love in 1842. There’s a James Curry age 30 to 39 years old on the 1840 Census in Sumner County, living near the Elliots.

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Overton County: Pryor-Taylor-Garrett Land Deed (1832)

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Elizabeth Taylor of Overton CountyAs part of my on-going effort to obtain original deeds associated with my Pryor line, I’ve pulled one from Overton County, TN. This is a deed in which Elizabeth Taylor (mother of Spicy Taylor Pryor and Massey Taylor Pryor) deeded land that is referred to as “formerly owned by the heirs of Edmond Taylor (Spicy’s and Massey’s father). I asked if there was any earlier deed which either showed ownership by Edmond/Edward/Edmund Taylor or in the names of his heirs. Was there a deed that was in the name of Spicy Taylor or her husband William Pryor.

This is probably the land that the heirs of Edmond Taylor purchased when they arrived in Tennesee in 1827.

Deed Book F, page 17 Indenture 5 Feb. 1827. The consideration being $500, paid to William Chilton Jr., 150 acres on Obed River. Purchased by the heirs of the late Edward Taylor of VA.

So the Pryors and Taylors bought land on Obed’s River when they arrived in Overton County in after Edmond Taylor’s death (1824 will in Campbell Co., VA), about 1827. Then sold the same land in 1829. And in 1832 William Pryor and his wife Spicy were living on the land. BUT… there’s a William Pryor on the 1820 Census in Overton County. I suspect it’s the same William who was married to Spicy (they were living near Joel Pariss/Parish who was a witness on the 1832 Deed for a slave sale that named all the Pryors and Taylors).  So where was William living in 1820 and where did he and Spicy live after 1832?

Here’s the transcript of 1832 sale and a question that follows…

Elizabeth Taylor
Deed for an undivided moiety of
150 acres of land held by
Grant No. 300 lying on
Obed’s River waters
To Elijah Garrett
—————–
This Indenture made and entered into the …… day of …… 1832 between Elizabeth Taylor of the county of Sumner State of Tennessee of the one part; and Elijah Garrett of the county of Overton and same state of the other part, witnesseth that the said Elizabeth for and in consideration of the sum of two hundred dollars in hand paid by the said Garrett, has this day bargained and sold and by these presents doth bargain , sell, and convey unto said Garrett, her under undivided moiety of a tract of land situated lying and being in the county of Overton on Obed’s River; being the same whereon William Pryor now lives and formerly owned by the heirs of Edmond Taylor , and now owned by the said Elizabeth and Spicey Pryor, wife of William Pryor as tenants in common: containing one hundred and fifty acres more or less. To have and to hold to the said Garrett, his heirs and assigns forever, with its appurtances, free from the claim of said Elizabeth her heirs or assigns. In witness whereof she has hereunto set her hand and seal the date above.
Elizabeth Taylor {seal}
Test. Pleasant Taylor, Willy Dickerson
February Term 1833
Deed of bargain and sale from Elizabeth to Elijah Garret for an undivided moiety, of one hundred and fifty acres of land, was proved in in open court by the oath of Pleasant Taylor and Willie Dicerson (sic) the subscribing witnesses thereto which is caused to be certified for registration to Overton County where the land lies.A copy attest. A. H. Douglas Clerk of said court. The foregoing is a correct registry of a deed of conveyance and certificate thereon from Elizabeth Taylor to Elijah Garrett and the same was registered and certified on the twenty eighth day of August, one thousand, eight hundred and thirty five.
John Kennedy, register

Now for the interesting part. I was curious about the grant number 300 noted on the deed. There was another deed recorded on the same page– It’s a sale between Stephen Mayfield and Thomas Stogdon. It states a grant number 2827 and the grant number is sited again within the body of the document, stating that the land was originally granted to Rhody Collier.

Just a quick aside: Stephen Mayfield may be the same man who was involved in an assault in 1840… John Pryor was convicted of the assault.

I then wondered if the grant number could be used to locate an original TN or NC grant. I went to Ancestry.com and searched by the grant number 2827. Sure e’nuf, I found a grant by that number for Rhoda Collier in 1825 in Overton County.

I tried to do the same for grant 300. There are several grants that come up when searched, but nothing that matches land in Overton County or even Sumner County. I read through several of them and they aren’t on Obed’s River.

Maybe someone else will have better luck tracking down grant number 300.

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