I’m working through the Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications that are now on Ancestry.com. I think Seth Pryor, a Revolutionary War Soldier from South Carolina, needs a closer look.
Claude Henry Babb submitted his application to the SC Chapter in 1925. He claimed to be a descendant of Seth Pryor was born in VA in 1734, migrated to SC, and served as a volunteer in a company commanded by Darius Dalton in 1775. Babb’s research states Seth was deceased by 1811. His son Seth Thornton Pryor born 1782 was born in St. George Parish and died in the same parish in 1850. The younger Seth was the father of Joseph Pryor born 1815 in Laurens County.
I looked at the census extracts on the Tennessee Pryors website and see that there was indeed a Joseph Pryor who was a head of household in Laurens Co., SC in 1840 through 1860 censuses. However Seth T. Pryor does not appear on the census in St. George Parish, but in Colleton County, SC. He was last recorded on the 1820 Census and I found that a death notice published around 1830 in the Charleston Observer stated he had died at age 49. Doing the math, that would make Seth T. Pryor born in about 1781 or 1782 which matches with the data presented by Mr. Babb. However, it appears Seth T. Pryor was deceased about 20 years before the death date of 1850 on Babb’s application.
The names Seth and Joseph seem to have been passed down through generations. I found another Seth Thornton Pryor born 1840 in an Ancestry Family Tree (see Adam’s Family). This Seth was the son of Joseph Pryor born 1818 in SC and they were counted in the same household on the 1850 Census in Laurens County, SC.
Living in a county that differs from the census records… bad death date… I’m wondering how much is fact and how much is fiction on these applications. I know that in 1925 access to the census records was probably limited and the census wasn’t even used as a source for the application. Where did the information come from that Seth Pryor came from Virginia?
