John C. Pryor’s Letter to President Thomas Jefferson

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Old Clerk’s Office, Prince Edward County

Nicholas B. Pryor wasn’t the only Pryor who wanted help from President Jefferson to get a job. Just a year later Nicholas’ brother John C. Pryor also wrote to Jefferson http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-0018. John wanted to be appointed to position as a tax collector.  The little touch on this letter that really is a boon to the genealogist is that John added his location: “Hermitage, Prince Edward.”

In 1809 John C’s and Nicholas’ brothers Zachariah B. and Banister S. were summoned from Buckingham County (their home county) to testify in a Chancery Court case in Prince Edward County. Banister was recorded as the Post Master in Hermitage, Prince Edward County in 1817.

I love this line of Pryors — they were all so intent upon getting government positions that they left trails all over the place! Banister was not only the Post Master in 1817, but also recorded as the Post Master in Hermitage in 1831 AND in 1840 he was the Post Master in Red House, Charlotte County.  Nicholas B. wanted a military appointment and after moving to Nashville served as a county commissioner.  When Nicholas’ children moved on to Arkansas his son by the same name served as Post Master and as did another son, Cornelius David Pryor.

John C. Pryor didn’t get the job as a tax collector. An article in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography states that John C. Pryor was a judge by the time he settled in Desoto County, MS. Even better evidence is a will I located online which he signed in 1846 as a judge in the probate court. http://msgw.org/desoto/court/campamiel.html. So it appears that eventually he too served in a public position.

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Nicholas B. Pryor’s Letter to President Thomas Jefferson

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Monticello

OK, I admit sometimes I drool over Thomas Jefferson like he was a rock star. But isn’t it fun when you can tie family research with one of the Founding Fathers? The National Archives has been putting Founding Fathers documents online. Hazzah! Double Hazzah!… the website is cross referenced so when you find one thing you easily find more. Oh yea, this is a history junkie’s dream!

On August 7, 1812 Nicholas B. Pryor of Nashville (one of our Sumner County and Overton County, TN cousins! He’s my 1st cousin x6) wrote to Jefferson asking for help with a military appointment http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-05-02-0238. The letter made it’s way from Nashville to Jefferson’s desk at Monticello (he was retired by 1809). Perhaps because Nicholas’ sister Mitchie Pryor was married to Jefferson’s brother, the letter didn’t sit at the bottom of a slush pile– On August 24 Jefferson wrote to William Eustis, the Secretary of War, recommending Pryor and he also responded to Pryor. I wonder if Jefferson used that wild letter copying device they have at Monticello! http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/polygraph

Jefferson mentioned in the letter that he knew Pryor from a neighboring county. Hmmm, he failed to mention their relationship by marriage–they were brother-in-laws. Now that’s an interesting little insight into Thomas Jefferson. Guess he had been involved in the political system long enough to  know how to move along a political appointment. https://tennesseepryors.com/virginia-pryors/the-pryors-and-their-jeffersonian-connections/

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Major John Pryor’s Handwriting

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maj-john-pryor-5Major John Pryor of Richmond was a Revolutionary War soldier and signed several documents to attest to other soldiers service in the War (see http://revwarapps.org/). Here’s some samples which may come in handy if you’re trying to figure out if which John Pryor signed a document.

Pension Application for William Gentry:

maj-john-pryor-4

Pension Application for John Fenn:

maj-john-pryor-3

Pension Application for Thomas Ward and Isaac Kimmy (Kinney?):maj-john-pryor-2

Pension Application for Benjamin Lawson:

maj-john-pryor

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French Indian War Militia Men Connected to the Pryors

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Revolutionary War

Sept 1758, Albemarle Co. – Men who fought with the Militia in the French Indian War.
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/albemarle/military/frenchindian/fiw_albemarle.txt
There are 3 Pryor men on this list (well, maybe 2 Pryors and 1 Prior).

Rich. Prior
Nicholas Pryor
William Pryor

I notices as I’ve searched out Pryor connections I kept stumbling upon this list. When I poked around a bit I found that several of the men had some pretty interesting connections to the Pryors, mostly to the line of Nicholas Pryor. Here goes…

Jas. Nevil, Capt.  – Captain James Neville was married to Lucy Thomas. After his death his widow, Lucy, married Abraham Childress. Yes, the same Abraham Childress who was the grandfather of young John and David Pryor who were orphaned in 1747. Abraham Childress, and the younger John and David Pryor all appear on records in Albemarle County.

Chas. Ellis , Capt. – Captain Charles Ellis was the father of Susannah Ellis who married Isaac Wright, and the Captain was also the grandfather of Elizabeth Wright who married the Capt. William Pryor who served in the American Revolution and settled in Amherst Co. Capt. William Pryor was born shortly before 1758 to the elder William Pryor living in Albemarle County. Ellis was deeded land in Albemarle County on Horsely Branch in 1759 (around the time of his service in the Militia).

John Hunter , Capt. – This may be the same man as Jno. Hunter who was recorded as a property owner living in Amherst County in 1769, surrounded by properties owned by neighbors of the Pryors in the same county. (Amherst Deed Book C, p. 18, 15 Jun 1769  JNO. DENNEE & wife ELIZ, Roann)

Cornelius Thomas , Lieut. – Cornelius is recorded as the son of Lucy Thomas (see James Neville above).

Ashcroft Roach – Ashcroft was the son of Henry Roach of St. Peter’s Parish, New Kent County. Henry was in that parish about the time Nicholas Pryor baptized his son William Pryor at the same parish in 1725.

Isham Davis – Brother of Abadiah Davis who married William Floyd. Researchers have stated Abadiah and William were the parents of Charles Floyd who went on the Lewis and Clark Expedition and also the parents of Nancy Floyd who married John Pryor — the parents of Nathaniel Pryor another Lewis and Clark explorer. Isham Davis owned property on Wilderness Swamp in Albemarle County in 1756.

Thos. Cotrell , Corp. – Thomas Cottrell owned property on the Buffalo River in Albemarle in 1750. He was born in Henrico County. His brother Gilbert Cottrell married an Elizabeth Pryor in 1760.

Solo. Carter  – Solomon Carter was a property owner on Puppy’s Creek in Albemarle County in 1767. He married Mary Ann Childress, daughter of Abraham Childress (again, the grandfather of John and David Pryor of Albemarle County).

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Solving a Samuel Pryor

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Charlotte County Court Grounds
Charlotte County Court Grounds

I think we may be able to figure out a stray Samuel Pryor that was floating around Virginia in the early years after the American Revolution.

There’s a Pryor will in Charlotte County, VA.

Will of Robert PRYOR written in Dec 1779, proved Apr 1780. Names wife Mildred Pryor, son Samuel PRYOR (a minor), Martha PRYOR, Prudent PRYOR, Mary PRYOR, and Elizabeth PRYOR daughters of Samuel PRYOR deceased.

Robert Pryor has been referred to as a son of Samuel Pryor and Prudence Thornton by other researchers and I seem to remember J. Gatewood Pryor in his book also states Robert was Samuel’s son.  While I can’t find any documents that name Robert as a son I may be willing to take that leap. Samuel Pryor is supposed to be the son of Robert Pryor and Virginia Betty Green, so it’s not unlikely that he would name a son after his father.

Robert Pryor in his will left his estate to his minor son named Samuel (again, this possibly follows the tradition of naming a child after one’s father).

Robert also included four Pryor women who were the daughters of another Samuel. Could this “other” Samuel in Robert’s will be his brother and the son of Samuel and Prudence? I’ve seen family trees that indicate that Samuel Pryor and Prudence Thornton had a son named Samuel, although I’ve found nothing about him. And again in the book by J. Gatewood Pryor he stated Samuel and Prudence had a son also named Samuel, although he mistakenly stated that it was the Samuel who married Frances Morton.  If this “other” Samuel only had female heirs (Martha, Prudent [sic], Mary, and Elizabeth) and was deceased by 1779, it’s not out of the question that researchers have not focused on his line, nor found out more about him.

And it is intriguing that this “other” Samuel named a daughter Prudent (or Prudence?), possibly after his mother Prudence Thornton Pryor.

I guess as we move forward to solve the Pryor lines in Virginia, we have to ask if other Samuel Pryors in the records are “this” Samuel Pryor.

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