Mary Kennerson Pryor born around 1720

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I’ve been checking more of the families who associated with the Pryors. Going back to an older post I wrote about Harris Pryor (see post) I was able to ID Harris’ wife as Mary Kinnerson. I gotta say the handwriting is really difficult. Her surname is written at least 3 times in the Chancery Court case I used to ID her. The best 3 examples I’ve shown below:

kinnerson

You can see, sometimes it’s spelled in the document with a “C” and sometimes it’s spelled with a “K”. I looked up the name online and saw that it’s a variation of Gunnison, Gunneson, Kenneson, Kenniston, Kennison, Kennerson, Gunnerson, and Kenson.  I’m adding this to my list with Pryor and Ballew that have more variations than you can shake a stick at.

They must be out there. I just haven’t found anyone living near the Pryors in Prince Edward County, Bedford County, Henrico County, or Goochland County with similar surnames.

You’ll notice familiar names on the deed below (George David vs. Harris Pryor, filed in Prince Edward Co., VA 1773). Yes, it’s Charles and Landis Patteson/Patterson who with Harris Pryor, were witnesses to the will of John Wright in Prince Edward County in 1775 (John Wright was the son in law of John Pryor and Mary New).

harris pryor

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Who Married William Pryor and Spicy Taylor?

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William Pryor and Spicy Taylor of Overton County, TN were married 18 August 1809 in Campbell County, VA. Consent was given by the bride’s father, Edward Taylor. If ages from the census records are correct, William was between 39 – 48 years old. Spicy was 19. William’s age may indicate this was a second marriage for him. John Taylor was both a bondsman and a witness (probably Spicy’s brother John—we know she had a brother by that name because he is named with the family in an 1829 indenture in Overton County, TN – Deed Book F, page 176). The marriage was performed by Samuel Davidson. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could find Rev. Samuel Davidson and see if there were any clues to the whereabouts of William and Spicy.

Samuel Davidson was in Lynchburg, Campbell, Co., VA in 1810. Familiar surnames around him are Josiah Patteson, James Bailey, Richard Pollard, Overton Evans, William Oglesby, Alexander Davidson, James Maxey, William Taylor, John Woodson, Jacob Woodson, James Taylor, George Davidson, Wirt Taylor, Robert Wright, Robert Wright Sr., George Wright, Silvy Wright.

One researcher posted online- “Rev. Samuel Davidson married Frances Oglesby on 18 Oct 1802 in Campbell County, VA, and he died in Appomattox County, VA around 1861. He had a son named Reverend John A. Davidson.”  This is an excellent clue as it coincides with what we already suspect about the location of this Pryor line—they lived in the part of Campbell County that became Appomattox County in 1845.  It also states Davidson’s family was in Prince Edward County which we already know that through divisions part of it became Campbell County.

Frances Oglesby is important too because she was the daughter of Richard Oglesby. Her sister, Mary Polly Oglesby, had married Hezekiah Taylor a relation of Edward Taylor (not to be confused with Edward’s son who was also named Hezekiah Taylor).

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: ,

California Chrome Pedigree Part of the Pryor Racing Heritage

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Has the hype surrounding the beautiful thorough bread, California Chrome, got you counting the days to the Belmont Steaks? It should be tickling your genealogy bone too because California Chrome pedigree can be traced right back to the Virginia Pryors who were involved in breeding and training.

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Digging for Deeds Pertaining to Pryors in Campbell County, VA

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Campbell County Pryor FamiliesThis post is all about my current genealogy search for my own line of my family tree. I’ve been posting about other Pryor lines, mostly what I find as I work my way through records that may lead to my own family. The fact is, and I’ve shared this with several researchers, I’m stuck in 1812.

1812 is interesting on 3 points… and these 3 points are the last records in VA before my Pryor line started showing up in TN.

1. There is supposed to be a 1812 deed in Campbell County, VA for the sale of the property of John Pryor, deceased, which involves his sons John and William.

2. Son John, who I believe is my ancestor, married on December 23, 1812 to Massa Taylor in Campbell County, VA (a Quaker marriage).

3. Son William, who I believe to be the brother of my ancestor and married to Massa’s sister Spicy (another Quaker marriage in 1809), was serving in the War of 1812. He was in Joel Parrish’s unit, a man who was counted near him on census records in Overton Co., TN.

Why does 1812 matter? Because I haven’t been able to find John (Sr.) on the 1810 census nor his son John (Jr.) in 1820. The connection of these people is tenuous without the records to prove it.  I could make a leap out of 1812 and onward (and I think I know into which Pryor line), but there’s no solid evidence. Yet.

So, I’ve contacted the Campbell County court house to get the deed from 1812 to see what the exact language is and maybe get some more hints to the heirs of John Pryor. I’ve also requested the 1788 deed to John Pryor for what appears to be the same land in Campbell County. Wouldn’t be nice if the deed has specific wording that points to John’s parents, siblings and place of origin? I know… I’m awfully optimistic!

I’m asking this question: Do I have all the deeds for my line of Pryors? I’ll know more when I get the deeds from Campbell County. I’m also asking other researchers, “Do you have all the deeds?” Let’s not rely on those truncated, abbreviated, shorthand deed extractions in the books. Let’s get our hands on copies of the deeds and make some headway!

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: ,

Croxton Pryor of Williamsburg (d. 1777)

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I wrote about Croxton Pryor back in 2012 (see post) because he had some pretty fancy shoes in his will. There’s futher notice of his estate published on May 9, 1777 in The Virginia Gazette, a Williamsburg newspaper.croxton-pryor

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