Henrico County Family: Exploring Pryor and Woodson Connections Through DNA

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Testing 1, 2, 3I’m lukewarm over the Ancestry DNA test. At best it’s “helpful.” The test I’m moderating has returned results that include Woodson ancestors. Ancestry doesn’t pinpoint a branch to search and only identifies them as possibly 5th to 8th cousins. My experience with the Ancestry results tells me that they are likely further back than 8th cousins and their years of birth are far enough back to indicate they are more than 8th cousins.

I’m working off a fairly well researched family tree. There are no lines other than the Pryors who trace back to Goochland and Henrico Counties in Virginia. There are some “missing links” like wives surnames and families on other lines of the Tree, however the Pryor line has numerous connections with the Woodsons and it seems the most likely to match this line. Wouldn’t be nice if Ancestry’s DNA results told us exactly which generation and individual it connect’s with— Hey, I don’t  need a name just whether it’s gr-gr-gr-grandma on side of the Tree or gr-gr-gr-grandpa on the other side of the Tree.

Here’s the Pryor branch of the Tree:

10. Nicholas Pryor born abt 1665, md Susannah —–?
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9. children of Nicholas Pryor:
David Pryor born bef 1715, md Miss Childress
William Pryor born abt 1718, md Margaret —–? (possibly Lafoon)
John Pryor born abt 1689, md Mary New
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8. children of John Pryor:
Rebecca Pryor born aft 1708, md Robert Woodson
Ann Pryor born abt. 1710, md John Wright
8. children of David Pryor:
David Pryor born abt 1738, md Susannah Ballew
John Pryor born abt 1740, md —–?
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7. children of John Pryor:
William Pryor born abt. 1765, md Spicy Taylor
John Pryor born abt 1780, md Massie Taylor
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6. son of John Pryor:
Allen L Pryor b. 1816, md Elizabeth Talley
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5. grand-child of John Pryor, not married to a Woodson and spouse has no Woodson connections
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4. great grand-child of John Pryor, not married to a Woodson and spouse has no Woodson connections
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3. great-great grand-child of John Pryor, not married to a Woodson and spouse  has no Woodson connections.
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2. great-great-great grand-child of John Pryor, not married to a Woodson and spouse  has no Woodson connections.
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1. Test Subject: great-great-great-great grand-child of John Pryor

10 generations and unknown surnames in the 8th and 10th generations. Did John Pryor b. 1740 marry a Woodson? Did Nicholas Pryor at the top of the Tree marry a Woodson?

So which Woodsons are reported connections? I got 3 matches (these were all low quality without Ancestry leaf hints) to Robert Woodson born about 1630-1660 who married Rachel Watkins. I had another hit to Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Woodson. Then another match to Elizabeth Woodson b. 1703 (daughter of Benjamin Woodson). It’s hard to know if these are correct… Ancestry’s system relies on the creator of a tree to input correct information, so some research is  needed to see if these matches are for the same Elizabeth Woodson and to determine if her father was Robert or Woodson.

 

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , ,

Location of Major John Pryor’s Haymarket Gardens in Richmond, VA

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richmond-map

I’ve wondered for some time where the Haymarket Gardens amusement park was located in Richmond, VA. This was the house and park owned by Major John Pryor, retired Revolutionary War soldier and ex-husband of Anne Beverly Whiting. I stumbled upon a map of Poe’s Richmond. Yes, that’s the same guy who was the founder of modern mystery fiction, author Edgar Allen Poe. Who knew that Poe would even remotely tie into the Pryors!

Ann Beverly Whiting, the future mother of explorer John C Fremont lived there. President Jefferson’s cousin stayed there and to some accounts was treated more like a servant than a house guest. Major Pryor’s Revolutionary War Widow’s pension file has a sworn statement in it that Rev. Edmund Lacy, a methodist minister, performed Major Pryor’s second marriage to Elizabeth Quarles Graves at Haymarket Gardens.

The map states “1799 site of Pryor’s or Haymarket Gardens, was on Petersburg R. R. Station location, Byrd and 7th Sts.” I’ve added a small red dot to mark the location above. Major Pryor died in 1823, while Poe was living in Richmond. I wonder if the Haymarket was still in operation at that time or if had already closed to make way for the railroad station.

I wonder where Major Pryor was buried. Centenary Methodist is a 200 year old church in the Richmond.

 

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , ,

Captain Preston’s Pryors – Payments Made During French Indian War

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This is a list of payments made to Pryors in Virginia for service during the French Indian War.  I suspect these men were born in 1742 or earlier.

Aug. 12 1757 John Pryor. Receipt to William Preston for 6s. for six
days work at Fort George.

Aug. 29 1757 Joseph Pryor. Receipt to William Preston for 2 Is. for forty-one days service. Witnessed by Charles Lewis.

1757 John Pryor. Receipt to William Preston for 5 16s. for 116 days service as a soldier in his company between June 8 and Nov. 29, 1757.

1757 Joseph Pryor. Receipt to William Preston for 5 14x. for 114 days service as a soldier in his company

1757 Richard Pryor. Receipt to William Preston for 5 9s. for 109 days service as a soldier in his company between June 8 and Nov. 29, 1757. Witnessed by David Long.

1758 Richard Pryor Jr., Receipt to William Preston for 6 12s. for 132 days service as a soldier in his company between June 8 and Xov. 29, 1758.
The 1758 payment was witnessed by William Skillern. A 1764 Augusta County deed mentions William Skillern, deceased (George and William Skillern to Walter Crow).  A William Skillern gave deposition testamony on suit filed in 1800 against Joseph Pryor Sr . and Jr. of Augusta County and Botetout County. William Pryor of Amherst Co. mentions a Col. George Skillern in his 1832 Revolutionary War pension application– Col. Skillern commanded the Botetourt troops.

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Felix Gilbert vs Richard Pryor and Friend to Haden Pryor?

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felix 2Sometimes a name pops up and it seems to connect a family. This time the name is Felix Gilbert. I think he was part of the same group of aligned families who settled the most rural parts of colonial Virginia.

Gentry And Common Folk: Political Culture on a Virginia Frontier, 1740-1789, by Albert H. Tillson (pub. 1991) describes Felix Gilbert as “an Augusta merchant and justice of the peace.” With an association to William Preston.  There’s a nifty map online that shows the proximity of Gilbert and Preston’s property in Albemarle Co., VA  (view map)

I first spotted Felix Gilbert mentioned with a Pryor on an 1757 record for military pay in connection to the French-Indian War – AUG. 12 1757  John Pryor. Receipt to William Preston for 3 11s. being in full of his pay. Witnessed by Felix Gilbert.  Howdy, neighbor! There’s William Preston again.

About a decade later Gilbert is paired with another Pryor: Felix Gilbert vs. Richard Pryor. Elizabeth Pryor Harper in Twenty-One Sourthern Families found this suit in Chalkley’s Chronicles with an abstract reference to this case in Augusta County Court judgments for Aug. 1765, Bk. B, noting that Richard Pryor had not been found, and lived on the Roanoke (Chalkley, vol. 1, p. 333). This says writ was issued 28 March 1765.

He moved from VA to NC. In 1785 Felix Gilbert was named on the estate of Stephen Shifflett in Orange Co.  Matthew J Pryor married in Orange Co. and it should be noted that his brother Haden Pryor (of Granville Co., NC) and Elizabeth Wade – named a son Felix G Pryor in the 1770’s. Was he Fexlix Gilbert Pryor?

And then Felix Gilbert pops up again. He signed a petition in 1799 in Knox County (see signers). Another signer was William Pryor who I believe is from Bedford County, VA.

I don’t like to throw around loose theories… so I’m going to keep Felix on the back burner. I have a feeling he’ll be a clue later on.

Category: North Carolina Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , , , ,

Ancestry DNA — More Frustrating Than Useful?

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I actually got some interesting results through the test, however the whole structure of the website and how others use it is very frustrating.  How do I dislike Ancestry DNA let me count the ways.

  1. Private Players. These are the people who take the test and then put a lock on their family tree. This means they get the full view of my public tree, reap all the benefit of my research and my membership in Ancestry, but I can’t see how we are related through tree. Yes, I know I can message them and get access to their tree—do you know how few respond?!
  2. Stragglers (Just Along For the Ride). These are the people who are testing but post no tree at all. I first suspected that people were taking the test to prove paternity (al la Maury Povich Show!)—that was until I learned a paternity test kit was cheaper. Maybe these folks are helping out a relative to see if they match. Could be they got a Groupon and took the test for a hoot. More likely they are working on a family tree at home and just gleaning information from my test results and my PAID subscription to Ancestry.
  3. Extensive Review Time.  Ancestry dumps all the Private Players and Stragglers into my search results. I can’t just delete them—I have to open up each one. This took a couple weeks to get through all of the results.
  4.  Stupid Search. How stupid is the Ancestry DNA search function? So stupid… there is NONE! This means that you can’t type in a surname and bring up all the match results for that surname. Ancestry allows you to mark interesting results with a gold star or a note, but to find those interesting results again you have to scroll through pages of marked results and open the notes. Yes, it’s dumb.
  5. Hidden Markers. Ancestry doesn’t actually show you your DNA results or markers. It doesn’t even tell you for sure which ancestor is your match. On some of the matches I’ve seen there were 11 (ELEVEN!) surnames that matched and it’s anyone’s best guess which one is the DNA match or if it’s someone in my tree or the match’s tree we haven’t ID’d yet. Totally a pain in the sit-down region!

The best results have been through tenacious research. I’ve been getting feedback on the Pryor surname from others who have taken the Ancestry DNA test—one researcher who is definitely from the line of the Marion County Pryors  (Matthew Pryor back to Robert Pryor and Virginia Betty Green) has completely different than the test subject I submitted. So that line is not connected to the line of Nicholas Pryor of Henrico County. The jury is still out on Richard Pryor (and Mourning Thompson) line because of some of the issues noted above.

Has anyone else tested with Ancestry and would like to share with me which Pryors they matched to? Rather than leaving a comment on this post, contact me through the TN Pryor website http://www.tnpryors.com/contactus.htm

 

Category: Internet Genealogy | Tags:
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