All Migration was NOT to the West – Pryors who went back to the East

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Migration Direction

This is one of my favorite topics — migration paths. When I was a kid the teacher pulled down a map (this was done over the blackboard because it was long before green boards, before white boards, and before smart boards). The map showed the US and with a swoosh of his hand he pointed out how people came into the colonies in the east and then made their migration westward through the Cumberland Gap. It was one direction– WEST. No swooshes going back.

My fifth grade teacher missed something. People did go back and that’s one of the nagging concepts as I look at the Pryors. I have to forget what my teacher said and look in unexpected places… like where they started off originally.

If you have a spare moment, take a look at the 1850 Census of Lee County, VA. There aren’t any Pryors, but an over-zealous census taker wrote down not just the state of birth but the actual county of birth when he was recording the households. It’s amazing to see all the people who were born in Hawkins County, TN and Hancock County, TN– and that they were back in VA. It’s a great demonstration of how people moved through the Cumberland Gap and then moved back again.

I recently read a terrific old newspaper clipping about Pryor Reynolds (See news article on Find A Grave website).

Pryor Reynolds was a grandson of Catherine Pryor and Henry Lansford of Pittsylvania County, VA. He went from VA to NC to Williamson Co., TN, down to Alabama, and back to Rockingham Co., NC.

So for my own Pryor line, John and his sons John and William Pryor who were in Campbell Co. (later  Appomattox County, VA), I’m starting to look elsewhere. They aren’t on the 1790 Census, nor the 1800, can’t find them on the 1810 Census either. I think William Pryor in Overton County in 1820 is one of the sons, but John Pryor didn’t show up on a census until 1830 in Sumner County, TN… and there’s  no trace of their father on any census.

I’m looking to the west. Not because of my teacher, but if they can’t be found in VA then I have to consider they are some of the Pryors who had already moved into Tennessee and maybe even into KY or other states/territories.

But I’m not just assuming the West was the only direction — they may have gone to another Virginia county, East to the Carolinas, North, or down into LA, MS, AL, or GA. FL has nice weather!

Wish me luck, I’m digging in!

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

Jefferson Pryor Killed in Chicot Co., AR – 1831

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February SnowAgain another reminder of a Pryor who disappeared from the records and family memory. I’d really like to know which family Jefferson Pryor connects to. Could his full name be Thomas Jefferson Pryor?

The Newbern Spectator (New Bern, NC) republished on 15 July 1831 a report of a grizzly murder originally reported in the York, Pennsylvania Gazette. A fight broke out at a house in Old River Lake, Chicot County which was still in Arkansas Territory at the time Arkansas didn’t become a state until 1836). The fight occurred on February 19, 1831 between Jefferson Pryor and two brothers — James and Stephen Ferrel. It started out as a fist-fight, but ended with all three drawing their knives. All 3 of the men were stabbed to death and there was one surviving witness— a female.

The men were reported to be single with no children which makes me think they were in their twenties.  In 1840 there were 2 “Farrell” men on the Census of Chicot County, however there were no Pryors. This Chicot County is very close to the Mississippi border so this may have been a MS Pryor. It’s also close to Ashley County and Desha County where Pryor families were living.

Category: Arkansas Pryors | Tags: ,

Clifton O. Pryor Buried in Overton County, TN

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I recently received a link to the casualties of the Detroit Riots in the 1960’s from a family history researcher. They had stumbled upon a Tennessee Pryor and thought he may be one of our TN Pryors.  He’s listed on the Rutgers University website as Clifton Pryor, a white male from Tennessee. http://www.67riots.rutgers.edu/d_victims.htm (Wayback Machine Link).

This poor guy was working in Detroit when he was mistaken for a sniper and shot by the National Guard. I found that he’s buried in Overton County in the Stover Cemetery. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=56850519

I don’t have the families of Overton County Pryors researched into the 60’s. Does anyone know which line of the Pryors he was related to? Was he buried in Overton County or related to a family in Overton County?

If you want to read more about this event Google “Clifton pryor sniper.”

Category: About TN Lines, In Context of History | Tags: , ,

The Pryor Families of Colusa County, CA – Where Are They Now?

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Pioneer Homestead

Where have all the Colusa County, CA Pryors gone? The Pryors in this Northern California county were early settlers, arriving just after the Gold Rush. Their roots go back to some of the very same Pryors we’ve been tracing through Colonial Virginia. I’ve done some hard work to find a present-day descendent of this line but  have lost them in the records.

Looking for a Pryor related to the folks who came from Virginia to Colusa, Yolo, Tahoe, Williams area. You can contact me, the website administrator, at tnpryors@gmail.com. You probably connect to my own Pryor line, so happy to hear from you!

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags:

Major John Pryor of Richmond… And Gloucester

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OpponentsDirty, dirty, politics. If you think things are bad now, well, they were no better in the distant past. On August 27th, 1856 The Weekly Wisconsin published an article titled “The Slanders on Col. Fremont’s Mother.” Apparently this was published about the time that John C. Fremont was considering a run for the White House. His opponents were making accusations that he had been born out of wedlock.

Remember this article was written about 30 years after the death of Maj. John Pryor of Richmond… we’re now almost 200 years from his death.  Perhaps there is some accuracy in this being closer to the events. It states Fremont’s mother was from Gloucester, and Maj. Pryor, her first husband, was also from Gloucester.

I found that interesting because of the connection I’ve pondered between Major Pryor and Christopher Pryor of Gloucester.  It states that the Major was 62 years old when they married (in 1796), but I think they added about 20 years on to his age, perhaps to make him look bad and to make Fremont’s mother look less culpable for leaving the Major. The article states that a divorce was granted before Major Pryor and his wife remarried, yet there is a document that shows the divorce was rejected and no later order granting the divorce. The writer states Pryor remarried his “housekeeper”, when in fact he married the grand-daughter of a well-respected officer of the Revolutionary War who probably had ties to Pryor’s own family.

I suspect Major Pryor has been maligned in history as a slovenly, elderly husband to the young Anne Whiting (later Fremont).  But I’ll take the Gloucester County connection as an interesting lead!

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: ,
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