Knox County, TN – Mrs Pryor Kept A Tippling House (1834)

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Knox County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. State v. Elizabeth Pryor

One of the old court cases that came out of Knox County was filed in October 1834 against Elizabeth Pryor. She’s referred to as Mrs. Pryor in the documents. I don’t know who she was married to or if she was a widow at the time.  She was charged with running a “tippling without a license.”

Now I do have my suspicions. I suspect she was kin to William Pryor because Allen Perry was her security and his name shows up in the case of the State vs. William Pryor and Pryor Nance (1836).

It’s a rather short case document filed against Mrs. Pryor. Her conviction reads

…unlawfully kept a tippling house an sell and retail spiritous liquors by a less quantity than a quart to Joel Williams and divers other persons… without having first obtained  a license.

William Huson (or Huston?) was the informant.

The members of the jury were
Samuel Stirling, foreman
William McLemore
Samuel R. King
Robert Childers
Martin Kirkpatrick
Young (or James) Edmundson
Harvey Walker
DD Deust
William Hussen
John Karns (or Korns)
Samuel Catrell
William McBoth (McBooth?)
DL Dearmond

 

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: ,

Knox County TN Pryors: The Bastard Child of Harris Pryor

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I contacted the Knox County Archives and requested a copy of the bastardy case filed in 1805 against Harris Pryor. I’ve seen these cases in other counties and they can be chuck-full of great information like the child’s name, the witness names. Unfortunately this was a one page record. Perhaps it was a short-lived case because Harris not only agreed to support the child, but married the mother, Keziah Maxey in 1807.

First, the most disappointing thing: it doesn’t say who the the child was. The child was neither named in the case nor does the case hint at the child’s sex through references to “he” or “she”. Drats! However, there is information on the date the child was born– Keziah swore out her statement naming Harris on 17 September 1805 and at the time stated her child was born about 3 months prior to that date.

I think Harris may have made some moves between TN, KY and VA. In 1801 Harris (Jr.) was on the delinquent tax list in Knox County and we know he was in Knox County at the time the suit was filed in 1805 and he was in Knox County in 1807 when he married Keziah. By 1819 he was in Louisville, as he had been sued by William Dickinson in a Chancery Suit filed in Bedford Co., VA. He reported he was living in Louisville in 1820 (his sister Juggy Pryor Mays was in Breckinridge County, KY).  Keziah Maxey’s family was from the same area of VA as the Pryors: Harris Pryor (Sr) was in Prince Edward County, VA in 1784 as was Keziah’s father Shadrack Maxey.

The mother-lode of information may be in the names of the two men who stood as security for Harris Pryor: William Anderson and Benjamin Burnett. Again, these names hint that I’m on the right track when I connect Harris Pryor to the Pryors in Sumner County and Overton County, TN.

Allen L. Pryor of Sumner County, TN married Elizabeth Talley, the daughter of William Anderson Talley who was born in Cumberland County, VA and named for his maternal grandfather William Anderson.  Hmmm… I wonder if the Anderson on the suit and the Andersons in the Sumner County Pryor line are connected?

And the Anderson surname crops up over and over again in the Sumner County Pryors and their relations– Lucy H. Talley, another daughter of William Anderson Talley, married Robert Anderson Wright in Sumner County. When Allen L. Pryor’s wife died  he remarried to Margaret McWhirter, the spinster daughter of Isaac McWhirter and Emaline Anderson Tyree (daughter of Samuel C. Tyree and Elizabeth Anderson).  Anderson Woodson witnessed the will of Edmund Taylor (grandfather of Allen L. Pryor). Edward Pryor, son of William and Spicy Pryor of Overton County, TN, had a son named William Anderson Pryor.

Lots of Anderson connections.  So my next question was about the Burnetts. Are there Burnett connections to the Pryors?

John Pryor, who is our best suspect to be the father of William (married Spicy Taylor) and John (married Massie Taylor — they are the parents of Allen L Pryor), purchased land in 1788 in Campbell County, VA– the deed was witnessed by William Burnett. Later John Pryor witnessed a 1790 deed in Campbell County, VA with Martin Rector. Martin was married to Betsy Burnett.

There’s a marriage between a William Pryor and Sallie Burnett in 1826 in Roane County. I wonder if William was Harris’ son who was born in 1805.

Online I found a brief bio of Benjamin Burnett http://genforum.genealogy.com/burnett/messages/4347.html. This seems to be the man who was security for Harris Pryor (Jr) in 1805. There are several VA Chancery cases involving Burnetts in Bedford County (the same county that Harris Pryor hailed from), however the Buckingham County cases are not in the database.

So stay tuned. We’ve got more digging to do.

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

Explaining Botetourt County, VA Pryors

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Chart - Botetourt

Here goes… Botetourt County.

It’s another of my charts that attempt to make sense out of what we’ve found this year. I’ve used numbers in identifying the Pryors who link to the line of Samuel and Prudence Thornton. I’ve used letters for the Pryors who I can’t yet identify a line. Even then I think there are a few questionable matches… they just may not be from the lines they appear to be from!

  • I’m pretty sure that Joseph, Luke, and John were brothers. They are named as brothers in Luke’s (#2) will. Joseph owned land on Looney’s Creek.
  • I’m certain that Samuel Pryor (#8) was NOT the brother of Joseph, Luke, and John because their brother Samuel died in 1766 (see Chancery Court suits in prior posts). Samuel seems likely to be the Samuel Thornton Pryor who was the executor of his father William Pryor and his mother Sarah (Wood) estates. I’ve gone through the other grandchildren of Samuel and Prudence who were named Samuel and they were either dead or living in other counties, or too not yet adults in 1800 to be called as a witness on the suit involving Norvell. There’s always the possibility that he’s not that Samuel, but the Samuel who eventually married Fannie Ferguson and died in 1815 in Anderson County, TN.
  • John Pryor (#9) who sold land on Looney’s Creek is possibly, though not probable yet, Luke and Joseph’s brother. John was married to Mary Dennis. He died in 1785, so perhaps he was cleaning up his estate when he sold the land.  He may also be the John Pryor who was in Albemarle and Campbell County, however not enough information is available and we don’t have the name of his wife.
  • I’m not convinced that John (#9) who was married to Mary on Looney’s Creek is the same man who fought in Captain Preston’s Rangers. I think the one who fought with the Rangers is more likely to be an older John Pryor.
  • The Mitchell Bible said Samuel and Prudence had a son Frank Pryor. So where is Frank or Francis in records????

This was a good exercise to see who was in Botetourt and when. All ideas welcomed.

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Connecting Richard Pryor to Dick Pryor’s Racetrack in Nashville

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A runaway slave offers our next clue in the identity of Richard Pryor who had a horse track in Nashville.

In 1832 a $100 reward was offered for the return of a runaway slave, a mulatto young man by the name of Warren, aka John. He was 17 or 18 years old and about 4ft. 6in (dang, that’s small by today’s standards!).  He spoke English, French, and Spanish which makes me wonder if he was from the Caribbean or had traveled. The ad placed for his return stated,  “He was in Clarksville, on Cumberland river, Montgomery county, Tenn., and was when a boy owned by Richard Pryor, who employed him as a race-rider in Lexington, Bowling Green, Nashville and other places. He was afterwards sold to Livingston Lewis Leavell of Trenton Christian Co., KY. who brought him to new Orleans, about 4 years and a half ago.”
Wayback Machine link

Yes there’s a Livingston Levell living in Christian County on the 1830 Census, but more importantly it gives us more insight into Richard “Dick” Pryor and his racing activities. One glaring thing is that he was using child slaves as jockeys. The ad also indicates he was traveling between the Kentucky towns named, Nashville and perhaps also in Clarksville.

There was William Pryor, the young naval mid-shipman from Clarksville, who had been gambling in Nashville when killed (read post). I’ve speculated that he was the son of Samuel counted on the census records in Montgomery Co., TN. I’ve also speculated that Samuel was the brother of Thornton Pryor and one of the Bourbon County, KY Pryors who were horse-trading in Nashville. We also know from the truncated will of Joseph Pryor of Bourbon county that he had sons named Samuel, Thornton, and Richard. This is looking like a solid lead toward identifying Richard Pryor and  his racetrack.

 

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

Ancestry.com Cuts 2 DNA Tests – How to Transfer DNA Data

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On 6/5/2014 Ancestry.com sent out an email to users to announce that they are discontinuing the male Y-DNA tests and female mtDNA tests. They will not longer be selling these tests. They will no longer be offering support for these tests and the way I understand it — in September if you’ve paid for a test you will no longer be able to see your matches.  It will all be gone.

ancestry-060414

Please note this email said their AncestryDNA product WILL continue to be sold and supported.

People who’ve tested through Ancestry have the option of downloading their male Y-DNA tests or their mtDNA tests and moving them to another company.  Apparently in response to the Ancestry announcement, Family Tree DNA (FTDNA.com posted special discounted pricing for  people who want to move their DNA data to FTDNA.

ftdna-offer

If you decide to continue your Pryor DNA research by moving your data to FTDNA, it’s recommended that your join the Pryor surname project where you can compare your test results with other Pryors in the project.  Here’s the link to join the surname project and order a transfers (33 marker and 46 marker test transfers are at the bottom of the page).

https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?&group=Pryor&vGroup=pryor

I’m the administrator of the FTDNA Pryor project. I am not a DNA expert, however if you have questions on which FTDNA product to select or how the transfer process works, please feel free to contact me.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD YOUR TEST ON ANCESTRY

1. Login to your Ancestry.com account (Do not use the Google Chrome browser as AncestryDNA web pages have problems working on that browser)

2. In the top menu select DNA and click the Y-DNA and mtDNA link

3. There’s an orange button in the center of the screen that says “Learn about the new test” scroll past that. On the right side of the screen you’ll see “Download all Y results” and “Download all MtDNA results”. Select the link for the test you would like to download.

4. When you click the proper link a file will download onto your computer. Save it to a folder where you can find it again on your computer. This is the file you will UPLOAD to FTDNA.com.

WHAT TO EXPECT WITH A DNA DATA TRANSFER

It may take a few weeks for your transfer to complete at FTDNA.com. While waiting, be sure you have done your basic genealogy research: order your birth certificate, father’s birth record and grandfather’s birth record (go as far back as the records are available). Order death records for your male Pryor line and marriage records.

So, now you’re waiting for FTDNA and perhaps for some records– take the time to be sure your profile is complete on your FTDNA account. Look on the left side of your profile — does it confirm you’re in the Pryor project? (it’s an orange link)

When FTDNA has completed processing your transfer, your test results will be compared with other tests in the project and placed in a family sub-group. It’s likely that if your test matches to someone in the group, you will be contacted by other testers to welcome you into the group and to facilitate the exchange of family tree information. 

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