Captain Pryor, Lewis and Clark, and the Welsh Indians

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I need to change a guess I made in an earlier post [see Captain Pryor Among the Wabash Indians?] I still believe I was correct in the conclusion that Major Pryor of Richmond is the Major referred to in the document with Edward Carrington. However, I suspect that Captain Pryor is someone else.

I found a wonderful old diary entry for 14 Mar 1793. It’s the diary of Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale University, published in 1901 [see diary entry].  This is the kind of stuff I get really excited about because it captures a snippet of time and some intriguing pieces from history.

From his entry we can tell it had snowed the day before. A nifty day of the week calculator tells me that the 14th was a Thursday. So, around noon on a snowy day when lectures had been cancelled, Dr. Stiles received 8 Native American visitors who were from tribes along the Mississippi River— the distance between New Haven, CT and the Mississippi is not a day ride! The area west of the Mississippi was still Spanish territory (France gained the land in 1800). He took them on a tour of the college library and museum. They didn’t even speak English so there was an interpreter. What a unique visit. This visit sounds so diplomatic and civilized — a far cry from the feathers and war paint version of history.

The Native visitors were escorted to “Bo” (is that perhaps Boston?) by Captain Pryor. Any ideas of who this Captain Pryor might be?

It’s not Nathaniel Pryor. Nathaniel joined the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 10 years after the diary entry with the rank of sergeant, not a captain.

Could it be Nathaniel’s father? I don’t think so. In 1791 (2 years before the diary entry) Nathaniel was reported in a court document as a orphan of John Pryor, deceased.

Wouldn’t it make sense for Lewis and Clark to take a Pryor with them who knew what to expect? Could this Capt. Pryor be a relative of Nathaniel Pryor?

There is another Captain Pryor to consider. Joseph Pryor of Botetourt County, VA was known as Captain Pryor and commanded troops during the Revolutionary War. Would he be too old to be riding off to the Mississippi River and up to Boston and back to Virginia in the 1790’s? Possibly not. He seemed to have the energy to move his family from VA to KY in about 1800. And of course it could be a northern Pryor from PA or CT.

One very quirky thing I need to point out and it makes me wonder what the conversation entailed on that day in 1793. Stiles wrote, and I’ll clean it up a bit into readable sentences:

These Indian(s) knew nothing of white or Welsh Indians west of the Mississippi (River). The interpreter, a German, told me he had traveled 1200 miles up the Missouri River to where the Spaniards have Gold mines, but never saw white Indians, and knew nothing and believed nothing of the Welsh Indians. I read (to)  them from Williams &co. They believed nothing of it.

If you’ve ever seen the TV show America Unearthed, there was a belief that the Welsh had arrived in America before Columbus. The episode I recall said that when President Jefferson sent off Lewis and Clark in 1803 he wanted to know if they found any evidence of the Welsh or what were known as “White Indians”.  Apparently Gen. George Rogers Clark (uncle of Clark of the Clark in  Lewis and Clark) claimed to have met White Indians in southern Illinois in the late 1770’s (see Footprints of the Welsh Indians)

Welsh Indians sound like one big ol’ tall tale to me, but it is kind of fun to see how this stuff gets all tangled together in history.

Category: In Context of History | Tags: , , ,

Did you catch the Pryor name on Antiques Roadshow tonight?

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A woman on the Antiques Roadshow from El Paso brought in the will of Texas patriot Ben R. Milam. She said she recovered the will from a stack of papers that were about to be burned to make way for new records at the old Nacogdoches Court House. That story got my attention. Makes my stomach sick to think of what records have been destroyed.

BUT… I wouldn’t be writing about this unless there was a Pryor mentioned on the will. Milam named Richard Pryor as one of the executors of his will.

Which Richard Pryor do we think this is?????

Category: In Context of History, Texas Pryors | Tags:

Pryors in Pittsylvania County, VA

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Pryors Pittsylvania County
I’ve discussed Thomas Pryor the nephew of Major John Pryor of Richmond. Their relationship prompts the question: Who is the father of Thomas and the brother of Major Pryor? I don’t know. There are Pryors and other families that seem to be connected to the Major and Thomas and for them Pittsylvania County should be at the center of our queries.

BOX 1 – Thomas Pryor 1830
Thomas Pryor was in Pittsylvania County in 1830. I believe he is the most likely candidate to be the Thomas Pryor mentioned as a nephew in Major John Pryor’s will. He is about the same age as the other nieces and nephews mentioned in the Major’s will. He is also connected to the Archers, a tidewater family aligned with the Major’s Pryor line. Thomas was near Elizabeth Pryor Archer on the 1820 Census in Rockingham County, NC and then on the 1830 and 1840 Census in Pittsylvania County before moving to Fayette Co., IL.

BOX 2 – Catherine Pryor and Henry Lansford
The Pittsylvania County, VA connection is at the top of my research list. Thomas Pryor and Elizabeth Pryor Archer were in Pittsylvania Co. in the 1820’s. I noticed Isham Lansford is on line 4 and Thomas Pryor is on line 7 of the 1830 Census – – Isham is reported in several online family trees to be the son of Henry Lansford and Catharine Pryor. Henry and Catharine were also the parents of Susannah Lansford who married George Reynolds and moved to Williamson Co., TN. They son Henry went to Henry Co., GA.

BOX 3 – Edward Pryor 1782 & 1784
Edward Pryor was in Henrico County, VA as early as 1735. It’s recorded in the vestry register that he was a processioner of the lands of John Martin and that Nicholas Pryor was present. In 1745 Nicholas Pryor sold land on Drinking Hole Branch of Tuckahoe Creek which were originally part of John Martin’s land. On a 1754 deed to between Richard East and William Buxton their property is described as being located on Drinking Hole Branch adjoining land belonging to Edward Pryor. Edward and Nicholas Pryor appear to be connected. I suspect he’s the same Edward Pryor who was in  Wilkes County, GA in 1785 and that he was related to the John Pryor in Henry County, GA who witnessed a deed with Henry Lansford  (Jr).

BOX 4 – Mrs. Elizabeth (Perkins) Pryor and Hendley Stone
Elizabeth first married John Pryor, son of John Henry Pryor. After her husband’s death she married Hendley Stone and migrated with her sons Peter and Green Pryor to Williamson County, TN. If you look at BOX 2- Catharine Pryor Lansford’s daughter Susannah also went to Williamson County.

When I found George Reynolds 1813 Will from Williamson County, TN (see above) — it mentions his wife Susannah, his son Richard, and land near Wm. Stone and Pryor Reynold’s line. It would be a pretty wild coincidence, so it’s probably no coincidence at all that Catharine Pryor’s daughter was living near William Stone, the husband of Rhoda Pryor, a daughter of John Henry Pryor! Catharine isn’t mentioned in John Henry’s long will filed in Orange Co., NC — it’s long because it named 11 children.  I believe now that perhaps Catharine, although not a daughter of John Henry Pryor, may be related in some other way.

BOX 5 –  Perkins and William Harding
I don’t think I made this clear in the box, so hoping I can describe it better. John Henry Pryor who died in Orange Co., NC in 1771 was the father of Green Pryor who married Susannah Perkins. Susannah was a niece of William Harding of Henrico County who posted surety for the estate of Nicholas Pryor (d. 1746). Green’s son John Pryor married Elizabeth Perkins, perhaps a cousin. When John died Elizabeth married Hendley Stone. Elizabeth and her husband Hendley went to Williamson County, TN and lived near William Stone and Rhoda Pryor and Susannah Lansford Reynolds (daughter of Catharine Pryor Lansford).

BOX 6 – Montford Eilbeck
Montford Eilbeck is mentioned on NC deeds with John Henry Pryor’s family. There was a Montford S.Pryor born 1798 in Pittsylvania County (per his army records). He enlisted in the military in Louisville and was discharged in Iowa. If you go looking for  him there are several variations of his name — Montford, Montfort, Mountford, Mountford. He may have died after 1835 as I haven’t found records of him after the 1836 census in Dubuque, IA. Montford was a single man on the census, so he may have died without issue.

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Looking for the Rest of The Pryors of Buckingham County, VA

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In my last post I brought up David Pryor and his wife a Miss Cunningham. That relationship was news to me so I’m detouring to Buckingham County in this post.

I thought a letter to President Thomas Jefferson opened up a question in the family tree of the Buckingham County Pryors [see Thomas Jefferson Letter Leads to Questions in the Pryor Family Tree], but really there seems to be people missing from the Buckingham County Pryor tree.

Susannah Ballow Pryor (wife of David) died in Nashville in 1832. An obit from the National Banner and Nashville Daily Advertiser said she was 89 years old [see thenashvillecitycemetery.org (Wayback Machine link)]. That means she was born about 1743. But in that darned The Pryor Family article published in 1899 in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 7, the author states Susannah died in 1831 at age 94 (that’s a birth year of 1737). The wide-spread differences in her reported age could simply mean she was an old woman and no one knew exactly when she was born. If she was really 94 she would have been 52 when Nicholas B. Pryor, her youngest son, was born. It’s possible, but it doesn’t seem likely.

And it gets messier. The first child attributed to Susannah is Mitchie Pryor who married President Jefferson’s brother John Randolph Jefferson. Mitchie was born about 1759. I don’t know who calculated her year of birth because it would have made Mitchie 56 when her son John Randolph Jefferson was born in 1816 and about 60 when she gave birth to another son, James Monroe Johnson, born to her second marriage to Josiah Johnson. IF Susannah was Mitchie’s mother she was about 16 years at old at that time which really isn’t that unusual. However, all the other children attributed to David and Susannah were born at least 14 years after Mitchie… beginning with Langston Pryor in 1774. That’s a heck of a gap.  I don’t feel everyone’s ages and dates of birth are sitting on solid ground. There were 8 known sons attributed to David and Susannah… possibly a 9th hinted at in the letter to Thomas Jefferson. Were there daughters who were born in the 14 years before Langston? Women seem to get lost to genealogy through marriages and name changes. Was Mitchie Pryor younger than the reported 1759 year of birth. I suspect so.

The questions keep coming after Nicholas moved his family to Nashville:

  • Is Benjamin W. Pryor b. 1788 in VA and counted in Nashville in 1830 related?
  • Who is Lain B. Pryor who witnessed the will of Alexander Donelson while Nicholas Pryor was appointed the executor of Donelson’s estate.
  • Who is Charles B. Pryor buried in Nashville City Cemetery?

Do we  have missing Pryors in this line? Looks like we might… An online post speaks of Elizabeth Pryor, wife of Charles Archer of Rockingham County, NC and Pittsylvania Co., VA was a daughter of David Pryor — but her mother was a Mary Cunningham. The marriage source is reported as History of St. Charles, Montgomery and Warren Counties, Missouri, reprinted 1969 by Paul V. Cochran, St. Louis, MO) pp. 1084-1085 — the biography of Judge Creed T. Archer states his mother was Elizabeth Pryor, a daughter of David Pryor of Buckingham County.

OK, I think I’m convinced that Elizabeth Pryor Archer is related to the Buckingham County Pryors. Alas, accepting Elizabeth Pryor Archer into the family tree opens up a ONLY MORE QUESTIONS!

Who is Mary Cunningham her mother? Squeezing in another wife for David Pryor doesn’t work well with Susannah’s age and the children’s ages.

Could there have been ANOTHER David Pryor in Buckingham County?

Cunningham is interesting because David’s brother, John Pryor, witnesses a deed for Murrell Cunningham in Campbell Co., VA in 1790. There’s a Revolutionary War pension application for Murrell that states he was born in Cumberland County, VA, served in the Revolution out of Buckingham County, and in 1800 moved to Sumner County, TN (same place that John Pryor’s suspected son moved to).

Elizabeth Pryor Archer was already a widow when she was counted as a head of household on the 1820 Census. The stunner is that she was recorded one line from Thomas Pryor on the Rockingham County, NC census. Yes, the same Thomas Pryor who looks to be a nephew of Major John Pryor of Richmond [see And There’s More on the Kin of Major John Pryor of Richmond]. Thomas was born in 1792 in NC, so I don’t believe he’s a son of David Pryor and Susannah Ballow (Susannah was over 50 and maybe nearing 60 in 1792).  So we’re still missing the brother of Major Pryor.

Lots of questions and some nifty Jefferson connections — David’s daughter married Thomas Jefferson’s brother, David’s sons corresponded with the President, and Major John Pryor had the President’s “cousin” living in his Richmond, VA household [see post]. Thomas seems to carry on the Jefferson connection by naming his son “John Randolph”.

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Thomas Pryor, Nephew of Major John Pryor of Richmond

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Although Major John Pryor of Richmond never had children he’s still one of those Pryors who seems to point to other Pryor relationships, helping to solve some of the VA Pryor riddles.

The Major’s will:

PRYOR, John (of the City of Richmond). Will proved there March 1823. Names wife, Elizabeth Graves; nieces, Dorcas Bryan, Elizabeth Taylor, Rebecca Taylor, Charlotte Morrison (of Williamsburg, Va.), Elizabeth Hazelwood; nephews, Thomas Pryor and Archer, William, Romert, John, and Pryor Hankins. Friend, Lewis Burwell. Not an heir, but mentions first wife was named Ann.

I’ve identified most of the heirs in his will [see my post]. Now I think I can ID his nephew Thomas Pryor.  I suspect it’s the Thomas Pryor on the 1820 Census in Rockingham Co., NC.  When I looked at this Thomas I found an Mrs. Elizabeth Archer who is cited as formerly a Pryor in an online tree (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pryor-380).  Elizabeth Archer is on the 1820 Census in NC on the line below Thomas Pryor.

I like that she married an Archer. Major Pryor was very well connected to prominent tidewater families – he married a Whiting and later a Graves.  His nephews mentioned in his will were from the tidewater Hankins family and were named after prominent families—Pryor and Archer.

Elizabeth Pryor Archer’s son Thomas D. Archer married in 1825 in Pittsylvania Co., VA, so I looked at the Pryors in that county.  In 1834 there was a John Randolph Pryor born in that county. Hmmm… Randolph… another prominent VA family, in fact they married into the Jeffersons (The President’s brother was named Randolph Jefferson). On the 1830 and 1840 Census in Pittsylvania County is Thomas Washington Pryor who was married to Nancy Graves Haynes—There’s the Graves surname again. My bets (and other researchers are drawing this conclusion) that Thomas Washington Pryor is the same Thomas who was in Rockingham County.

Both Thomas Washington Pryor and his son John Randolph Pryor migrated to Fayette County, IL. They are on the 1860 Census. Thomas states his place of birth as NC while his wife and children were born in VA.  There is also a Graves family and lots of Hankins families in Fayette County. The places of birth seem to indicate that the family had connections to both VA and NC.

I think these tidewater surnames that are associated with Major Pryor give us clues to these families even in Tennessee. In Knox County, TN there is a David Hankins, Eli Hankins, and George Graves recorded consecutively on the 1850 Census. Don’t think there’s a connection? Well, Eli Hankins named his son Pryor Hankins.  The Major’s sister, Elizabeth, married an older Pryor Hankins in VA and an online family tree notes that Eli was married to a Nancy Graves. Just so it doesn’t get lost in the text… Knox County. That’s going to become important in later posts!

The elephant is in the room. It’s the big question. If Major John Pryor is the uncle of Thomas Pryor, then who is the Major’s brother and father of Thomas?

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