Who was James Pryor in Cumberland County, VA Circa 1802?

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james-pryor-cumberland-1It’s kind of fun with a “new” Pryor surfaces, but it also drives me absolutely C-R-A-Z-Y!

There’s a Virginia Chancery Court case “William Gay vs executors of Richard Eggleston deceased” — there actual pleadings are missing, so I can’t tell exactly what date it was filed.  I gleaned the gist of the case from two depositions which were noticed:

1st Deposition: James Pryor taken 22 Sept 1802 at the home of William Pryor in Cumberland County. He states that the case surrounds the trade of tabacco, iron, etc. for a Peacock Gelding (a horse) in 1782 or 1792. Names included are Richard Eggleston, John Eggleston, and Clough Eggleston.

2nd Deposition: In November 1804: Clough Eggleston in Amelia County, Clough was an overseer from 1780 to 1781, signed Thomas Randolph JP, James P Coke JP – noticed on 15 Oct 1804 by William Meriwether and Joseph Eggleston.

james-pryor-cumberland-2

Banister L. Pryor married Rebecca Eggleston in Cumberland County in 1808 (6 years after James Pryor’s deposition in Cumberland County).  Banister was a son of David Pryor and Susannah Ballow of Buckingham Co., VA and later Nashville, TN.  Even with this information that connects the Pryors and the Egglestons I have no idea which James Pryor this may be!

I guess if James testified in a deposition in 1802 that he was 21 years old or older. So, he was born about 1781 or earlier. I have a pretty short list of possibilities…

James Pryor, brother of Nathaniel Pryor (the Lewis and Clark guy). James may have been an adult when his father died in about 1791 in KY. James ran a dry goods store with his brother in law, John B. Gilly and was likely in KY with the rest of his family in 1802.

James Paxton Pryor born around 1785 in Kanawha County was the son of Nicholas and Sally Paxton. He was named in a 1806 Chancery Court suit in Augusta County, VA, so he could have been in the area in 1802, but he would have been a young child when he witnessed the horse transaction which was the subject of the suit.

James Pryor b. 1776 – 1794  who was in Stewart County, TN with William Pryor married to Betsy Trammell. William was born in Botetourt County, VA and is first recorded in Stewart County in 1804. Cold this be the William and James in Cumberland County?

Well, I also suspect that the James in Stewart County was also the one who was in Pike County, IL: https://tennesseepryors.com/pryor-website/state-records/illinois-counties-m-s/#Pike  This James Pryor obtained land grants in Pike Co. in 1840. The oldest male in household for the 1840 Census was 50 to 59 years. A death notice from THE NASHVILLE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE for REBECCA PRYOR wife of James Pryor, died Pike Co., Ill., Jan. 7, 1849; states they moved from Christian Co., Ky. to Stewart Co., Tenn., to Pike Co., Illinois.

This made me laugh. The James in Pike County was counted on the 1850 Census and his occupation was recorded as POSTMASTER. Good grief, could he be related to Banister Pryor and his kin who were postmasters and other public servants? (See John C. Pryor’s Letter to President Thomas Jefferson)

 

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

Final Verdict on Major John Pryor and KY Land Grant

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I’d like to put to rest the identity of the John Pryor who was deeded thousands of acres of bounty land in KY. I didn’t like that I left a window open in my earlier post:
https://tennesseepryors.com/virginia-pryors/identity-of-john-pryor-revolutionary-war-bounty-land-in-kentucky/

The open window was the error I suspected in the bounty warrant number. The latest method I’m using to identify Pryors by their signature should slam the window shut for good.

Here’s John Pryor’s signature on the 1783 land grant.

major-pryor-warrant

 

I recently posted his signature on several Revolutionary War Pension applications https://tennesseepryors.com/virginia-pryors/major-john-pryors-handwriting/

maj-john-pryor-5

Oh, it’s a match.

Final verdict: Major John Pryor of Richmond was also a Lt. Capt. and received land in Kentucky.

 

Category: Kentucky Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: , ,

A Thomas Jefferson Letter Leads to Questions in the Pryor Family Tree

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letter 1
It’s sad that letter writing has become a lost art. Two Hundred years from now will historians be searching the web for our Tweets and posts to figure out our history….our lineage?

Here’s a little letter from Randolph Jefferson (the president’s brother) asking for a ride to Charlottesville so his wife Mitchie B. Pryor could see her dying brother. That was in 1809.

That’s a sweet story in itself, but I have questions.

http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0037

I get concerned when I read things like this. Is there a Pryor who’s missing? Which brother was on his death bed? My notes reflect that of Mitchie’s known brothers all were alive into the 1830’s and beyond:

Langston d. 1849
William Smith d. 1840
Leonard d. 1830-ish
Zane d. 1854
Nicholas d. 1833
John C. d. after 1850
Banister S. d. after 1840
Zachariah B. d. 1837

If I had to pick another son for David Pryor, I’d pick Benjamin W. Pryor b. 1788 in VA. Benjamin was in Nashville as early as 1807. He went to Louisiana as did John C. Pryor. There’s a Benjamin Pryor on the 1830 Census in Iberville, LA and in Nashville. But alas, Benjamin lived to a ripe old age, dying after the 1850 Census.

So are we missing a son of David Pryor and his wife Susan Ballow? Or was the man in the letter one of the known sons and he just got better and lived on another 20 years or so?

 

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

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.

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , ,

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/

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , , ,
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