Jesse Pryor of Knox County– Is He the Jesse Pryor in Overton County?

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juda-pryorWow, the TN Tax Lists are INTERESTING! In 1804 there was a Jesse Pryor on the Knox County Tax list. I can’t tell much about him — he had one pole and no acres recorded. There was also a Samuel Pryor in Knox County with the same status. They were both in Captain Steel’s Company that consisted of 66 taxpayers.

I wondered in print (Harris Pryor of Knox Co., TN and Bedford Co., VA) if Jesse Pryor of Knox County was the same Jesse Pryor who went to Overton County, TN.  Myself and other researchers have long speculated that Jesse was the father of Juda Pryor who married William Huston Hummel (Juda is on the 1850 Census with an older Anna Pryor who may be her mother). When Juda’s son John McDonald Hummel died in 1915 his mother was reported as “Julie Pryor” born in “East Tenn.” How about that… Knox County is in East Tennessee.

If Jesse is the of Harris Pryor of Bedford County, then I suspect Samuel is related to this line. They seem to stick with each other through the records. This is the point to pour your second cup of coffee before we jump into the puzzle.

Yes, the pieces of the puzzle start to stack up to complete the picture that Jesse and Samuel were related.

  • Samuel and Jesse were on the 1804 Tax List in Knox County – Both living in Captain Steel’s Company.
  • The administratrix of Samuel Pryor’s estate was Fanny Ferguson Pryor and a later Roane County court case ID’s Samuel Pryor as the grandfather of P. Miller Freels. There was a John Foggueson (sic) also in Captain Steel’s Company on the 1804 Knox County Tax List.  John Ferguson may have been Fanny’s brother as there is a John Ferguson, deceased, named on a 1839 Cumberland County Chancery Court suit that also names Fanny Pryor and her children.
  • Jesse Pryor is spectulated to be the father of Juda Pryor Hummel of Overton County whose son’s death record states she was born in East Tennessee.
  •  Samuel Pryor died in Anderson County, TN in about 1815 (that’s when Fanny was appointed administratrix). There’s a Jesse Pryor on the 1805 Tax List for Anderson County. Jesse was recorded as #119. I found #85 Isaac Freels, #96 Burrell Hudson, #157 and #158 were Edward and Thomas Freels, #191 John Rector–a daughter of Samuel and Fanny Pryor married Edward Freels around 1813 or earlier. Another daughter, Mary, married Barry Hudson. John Rector was recorded near Fanny Pryor and her son Harris Pryor on the 1830 census in Roane County.
  • Jesse Pryor, son of Harris Pryor and Mary Kinnerson was from Bedford Co., VA. Juda Pryor Hummel stated her parent’s place of birth as VA on the 1880 Census.
  • The Jesse Pryor on the 1830 Census in Overton Co., TN was born between 1771-1780. Samuel’s wife is on the 1830 Census in Roane Co., TN and was also born between 1771-17780, so perhaps Samuel was also born about the same time, which would make Samuel and Jesse contemporaries.
  • I believe sons of Harris Pryor of Bedford County, VA came to Knox County at the end of the 1790’s. In 1799 William Pryor (Harris’ oldest son) signed a petition for tax relief for an impaired neighbor (Richard Shields). In 1801 Harris Jr. (he didn’t use Jr on documents – I’m just using it to distinguish him from his father) was on the deliquent tax list for Knox County. In 1801 Jesse Pryor was a defendant in a crime.
  • Samuel is not mentioned in any Bedford County, VA records so, I don’t yet see how he’s related, though he lived around Harris’ family in TN and named his son Harris.

Happy to hear from anyone who wants to contribute to this theory with a pro or con!

Category: Tennessee Pryors | Tags: , , ,

John and William Pryor on Sumner County Tax List

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tax-listI’m not ready to scrap my question of the ID early Pryors in Sumner County. I see that William is connected to Richard Pryor, but still wondering if he was a son or other relative.

  • I read through the early Tax Lists of Sumner County and found that Philip Trammel Sr. and Jr were in the county by 1789 and were recorded near William Pryor in 1793. The Trammells are kin to William Pryor of Stewart County (William of Stewart County was married to Betsy Trammell).
  • Richard and Mourning Pryor were in Logan County, KY where Richard bought land in 1796. Philip Trammel went to Logan Co.
  • I see that the land transactions in Sumner Co. are for land that was later in Smith County, TN. John Pryor was bonded to (borrowed money from?) Howell Tatum in 1791 and William Pryor bought land from Tatum in 1794, William’s tract was recorded as bordered by land owned by John Pryor and John Hannah (a Mary Pryor had married John Hannah). In 1802 Richard’s widow sold land “formerly the property of Howel Tatum.” to James Ewing and the deed was recorded in Smith County.
  • Researchers have speculated that the Jonathan Pryor born 1788 living in Logan County was the son of Richard and Mourning Pryor. I think he’s too young to have been the John who was bonded to Howell Tatum in Sumner County in 1791. Do they let 3 year-olds enter into legal arrangements? Yet because of the proximity of John’s Sumner County land to William Pryor and William’s land mentioned in the 1802 deed, it’s likely that John was kin to William who was kin to Richard and Mourning Pryor
  • Going through the TN Tax Lists is vexing.  There are obviously years missing and the images show frayed edges and missing portions of sheets.  John Pryor was recorded in Sumner County in 1791, yet he doesn’t appear on a tax list until 1793. I know I ask this all the time… Where’s John Pryor?! He could be the John Pryor recorded with Richard Pryor on the 1783 Tax List in Greene County, TN. Could be.
Category: Tennessee Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Pryors on the Tennessee Tax Lists

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TaxesApril 15th has passed and now we can look at taxes for fun (hopefully). The Tennessee Tax Lists are up on Ancestry.com and I’ve had some fun going through them. There are a couple of connections that I’d like to share – just in case they will help out another Pryor researcher.

First I found on the 1794 Sumner County Tax List William Pryor. I’ve had several researchers tell me that this William was a son of Richard Pryor and Mourning Thompson. I looked at his neighbors on the list and found Elijah Ewing and Benjamin Downs are close by. In the early 1800’s Benjamin Downs is on several records in Stewart County with the William Pryor who later migrated to Austin’s Colony in Texas. So is William in Sumner County the same man?

I love these kind of questions because it’s like a domino effect… ask one question and how we look at other data comes into question.  Was he the same William who was surety for the Sumner Co. marriages of Mary Pryor to John Hannah, and Jenny Pryor to George Fairly (or Farely). Was he the William Pryor who in 1796 signed a bond for Richard Pryor for 200 pounds VA money for a tract of 2565 acres on the Cainey Fork of the Cumberland? Wouldn’t it make more sense in that kind of transaction that William might be Richard’s brother and not his son?

I mentioned Elijah Ewing. He is on the 1805 Tax List for Blount County—on the same page as a Thomas Pryor.  Let’s throw another name into the mix for Blount County — There’s a Joseph Pryor in that county on the 1805 Census.  I suspect that he was the same Joseph Pryor who was on the 1803 Tax List for Jackson County because both men were recorded near John Whitson.  The Whitsons were connected to the Pryors of White County. Researchers report Jeremiah Whitson married Susannah Pryor in about 1804, and Elizabeth Pryor married James Whitson.

It’s been speculated that Thomas is Thompson Pryor, who was a son of Richard and Mourning Pryor, and that Joseph, Susannah, and Elizabeth are additional children of Richard and Mourning Pryor.

Puzzle solvers welcome!

Category: Tennessee Pryors | Tags: , , , , ,

Looking at Louisville Pryors

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Ohio River near Louisville

Ohio River near Louisville, KY

Over the weekend I was searching out some new links to the Pryors in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky. I’m still looking for solid connections to the correct John Pryor who was the father of explorer Nathaniel Pryor. I thought I’d share some of my finds in case they help to spur your insights into the family line.

19th Century Louisville Silversmiths

I’ve been intrigued with the story of Nathaniel “Miguel” Pryor, the Kentuckian who settled in California. His trade was recorded as “platero” or silversmith. That’s something that was usually learned by an apprenticeship back in those days. I had never heard of Louisville as a place reknowned for silverwork– I guess Paul Revere and Boston take the forefront in American silversmithing. Apparently there were a few smiths in Louisville. I found the names and working dates for silversmiths in Louisville: Richard E Smith (1827), Smith & Grant (until 1831), William Kendrick (1840), and John Kitts (1838).  A mint julep silver cup made by Kendrick even made it’s way on to the Antiques Road Show.  Pryor could have even learned the trade when he moved west as there were numerous fine silversmiths in St. Louis. (See Missouri’s Silver Age: Silversmiths Of The 1800s By Norman Mack)

Amherst County and Louisville Connection

I still keep coming back to David Crawford’s 1801 Will (See transcript of the will). It was filed in Louisville, mentions land owned Amherst County, VA, and it was witnessed by John and William Pryor. Nelson Crawford who was mentioned in the will witnessed a deed in Amherst County with Jonathan Pryor in 1817, as well as Charles Taliaferro who was also on the will. If you go back a few decades to 1774 when William Pryor and wife Margaret of Amherst County deeded land to Philip Thurmond, David Crawford was a witness.

So the Crawfords lived near William and Margaret Pryor. We know for sure that William and Margaret had sons Nicholas, William and John — William filed for a pension in 1832 and John saved Fort Donnally with Philip Hammon. Was it this William and John Pryor who were witnesses to David Crawford’s will in Louisville?

Pryor Land In Kentucky

In a recent post (Identity of John Pryor – Revolutionary War Bounty Land in Kentucky) I dug in to Revolutionary War land warrants to ID which John Pryor received land in KY.  Wait! There are more KY land grants to solve. Elizabeth Pryor Harper in her book Twenty-One Southern Families: Notes and Genealogies mentions 3 military land grants in 1791. These are a bit of a mystery to me because I didn’t find them on the State of Kentucky website with the other grants.  These grants on Beaver Creek and Skaggs Creek, these locations are in Pulaksi County and Rockcastle County respectively (see State of KY Gazetteer). The grants may have been filed in Jefferson County, but the land wasn’t in that county!

Musing over where these grants were recorded and where the land was at and which John Pryor was the recipient may all be for nothing because Ms. Harper noted next to each grant that they were “withdrawn”. There are no known Pryors in the records near the time in Pulaski or Rockcastle County. Does withdrawn mean that a claim was made without follow through?

 

Category: Kentucky Pryors | Tags: , , , ,

Another DNA Match – Major John Pryor of Richmond

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Hold onto your wigs and your tri-corn hats… it looks like we have another DNA match for the Tennessee Pryors to Colonial Virginia.  The frustrating part is that it looks like we’re missing someone from the family tree.

The Match – The new cousin is Mary Pryor who married Robert Quarles.  The good news is that we know exactly who this Mary is and who are her siblings. She is the sister of Major John Pryor of Richmond (read post about his time line).  The Major’s name may ring a bell for you in connection with the story of his wife, Anne Beverly Whiting, running off with her French tutor and becomming the mother of explorer John C. Fremont.

This means that we need to consider his place as a descendant of Nicholas Pryor b. 1688.

I’m a bit shocked because I was hedging my bet that Major John was connected to the family of Col. Samuel Pryor and Prudence Thornton.  Maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised because Major John Pryor had a Jeffersonian connection as well as other connections to other prominent Virginia families. We know that our other Pryors who were in Albemarle and Amherst Counties were also connected to Jeffersons family, one of them even marrying Jefferson’s sister. (read post about Jeffersonian connections).

Father: ___________________? Deceased by 1787
Mother:___________________? Alive in 1787, possibly remarried.
Child 1: Major John Pryor born 1750, married Anne Beverly Whiting and Elizabeth Quarles Graves.
Child 2: Mary Pryor, married Robert Quarles
Child 3: Sally Pryor, married Mr. Taylor, daughters: Elizabeth Taylor, Rebecca Taylor
Child 4: Elizabeth Pryor, married Mr. Hankins, sons: Archer, William, Romert, John, and Pryor Hankins of James City, VA.
And nieces whom I have not yet matched to their parents:
Dorcas Bryan
Charlotte Morrison (of Williamsburg, Va.) born 1790 – Probably Charlotte who married George F. Morrision who was on the 1830 Census in York Co. Charlotte was age 60 on the 1850 Census in York Co. On the same page of the 1850 Census there is a free-African-American family headed by Pryor Jackson and his wife Dorcas Jackson.
Elizabeth Hazelwood

I’ll keep digging. Let me know if you know how Major Pryor fits into the family tree!

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , , ,
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