Tag Archives: Adams County

Charlotte Pryor Born 1816 in Mississippi

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The following information on Charlotte Pryor, an African American woman born in Mississippi before the Civil War was previously published online.

Charlotte Pryor b. 1816 in Mississippi. I stumbled upon an interesting Pryor connection while looking at Pryors families in New Jersey census records.

In 1880 John Benjamin Pryor, formerly of Adams Co., MS was living in NJ. Several of his children were living in his household but an older daughter, Frances, is unaccounted for. I found the household of Thomas D. Day and wife Fanny living in Bayonne, NJ. Also in the house hold was a African-American nurse, Charlotte Pryor.

Mrs. Fanny Day was born in 1845 in MS and had parents who were born in VA and MS, wile Frances daughter of John Benjamin Pryor and his African American wife Frances Bingaman, was born in 1850 in MS with parents respectively from VA and MS.

I located Thomas Day and his wife Fanny on the 1870 Census living in Brooklyn, NY. Using the 1870 and 1880 Census their children have been identified as Mary Helen, Newton H., Thomas D. Jr., James Ingersoll, Francis “Frank”, William D., and Sarah. Charlotte Pryor was born SC aged 50 was also living with the family in 1870, as was Catherine Overton from MD (black), and Jane Lane 24 from VA (black) and an additional white family member named Emma Helm 24 from MS.

The only members of the Day family I can find in 1900 and afterwards are Newton H. Day and his brother Frank H. Day. On the 1920 and 1930 Census Newton H. Day was living in Hempstead, Nassau County, NY. Included in the household was his aunt Elizabeth Gill born about 1858 in the UK and according to the census she immigrated to the US in 1883.

Looking backward in the census records I found a curious connection between the Days and the Pryors. In 1861 John Benjamin Pryor’s daughters Frances and Henrietta were recorded on the UK Census in a boarding school with a British student named Rebecca Day. I also found Emma Helm on the 1850 and 1860 Census in Adams Co., MS. Emma was the daughter of John N. Helm and the sister of Fannie Helm who married Thomas Day on December 13th, 1859 in Adams Co. On the 1860 Census John N. Helm was recorded on page 137 and the household of John Benjamin Pryor was recorded on page 138.

A search of the 1850 and 1860 census did not uncover Charolotte Pryor, so it is assumed that she was not free until after the Civil War. While researching Charlotte Pryor didn’t lead to finding Frances, daughter of John Benjamin Pryor, it has revealed another story. It’s uncertain what relationship Charlotte had to the Pryor family in Adams Co. On the 1850 and 1860 census “J.B.” Pryor didn’t own any slaves that were her age, while his neighbor John N. Helm owned several. It’s possible that Charlotte had once been owned by the Pryors before being sold to the Helms. It’s also possible that she was Frances Helm’s nurse as well as raising her children.

The connection between these families is also questioned by Jane Lane, John Benjamin Pryor’s mother was Ann Batte Lane.

The history of these families connection in Southern slavery and there migration out of the South to the North during and after the Civil War sheds light on the complicated relationships forged out of this period of American History.

RECORDS:

1850 Census Adams Co., MS
Page 44b, House 141
Jno. N. Helm, 52 Planter, VA
Helen M., 46 MS (Helen Marie Timberlake)
Laura Helen Pattison, 21 MS
J. Newton Helm, 18 MS
Helen M. Helm, 16
Frances Helm 15 (Fanny Helm married Thomas Day 13 Dec. 1859)
Alice Helm 11
Emma Helm 11
Josephine Helm 8
Ada Postlthwaite 19
Mary H. Penfield, 22, governess, NY

Page 49a
Benj. PRYOR 39 VA
John Alison 18 AL

1860 Census Adams Co., MS
Page 137 (Natchez Twp.), house 991
John N. Helm 62 VA
J. Newton 28 MS
Emma 20 MS
Mary B. 18 MS
Laura Pattison 31 MS
William 9 LA
Margaret 8 LA
Alexander 7 LA
Newton 3 LA

1870 Census Kings Co., NY
Brooklyn, Ward 6
Thomas D. Day 49 OH
Helen 35 MS
Mary H. 9 MO
Newton 8 MS
Thomas B. 6 LA
James I. 4 MO
Francis 1 NJ
William D. 5/12 NJ
Charlotte Pryor 50 mulatto SC
Catharine Overton 22 black MD
Jane Lane 24 black VA

1880 Census Hudson Co., NJ
Bayonne City, 1st ward, page 13B
Thomas D. Day, fire insurance broker, 60 OH MA CT
Fanny 35, wife, MS VA MS
Marie 19 dau, MO OH MS
Newton 18, son MS OH MS
Thomas D. Jr. 16, son, LA
Ingersoll 15, son, MO
Frank 11, son, NJ
William 10, son, NJ
Sarah, 9 dau, NY
Charlotte 64, black, SC SC SC, nurse
McDonald ____? white 40 servant Scotland, Scotland, Scotland

Category: Mississippi Pryors | Tags: , , ,

John Benjamin Pryor – American Horse Trained and British Ex-Pat

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Recently I found an American Pryor on the 1871 Census in Cambridgeshire, England.  John Benjamin Pryor born in about 1810 in Virginia.  He was living with his wife Frances and six children born in Mississippi, the youngest child born in England.  Also living with the family was Cordelia Bingmom, Frances’ sister.  Mr. Pryor listed his occupation as horse trainer.  My curiosity was peaked and I started searching the US Census records to see if this Pryor could be placed with his American ancestry.  

The oldest of the Pryor children was William who was 22 in 1871.  I searched the 1850 Census records hoping to find a John Pryor, wife Frances and a young son named William.  I found none.  I tried searching for initials and misspellings, abbreviations, and all variations of the Pryor surname.  I finally had a turn of luck when I found a Benjamin Pryor aged 39, born in VA and living in Adams County, MS.  I was surprised to find Benjamin counted alone; no wife or child.  Without a wife and child I wasn’t sure that this was the even the correct John Benjamin Pryor. 

A J. B. Prior was recorded on the 1860 Census living near Natchez in Adams Co., MS.  His age was 48 and his place of birth was recorded as Tennessee.  Again he was counted as a single man.   I searched the Ancestry.com Family trees and found that there was a John Benjamin Pryor born after 1808 listed as a son of Luke Pryor and Ann Batte. I wondered if this was the same person and was optimistic since the youngest son on the 1871 UK Census was named Luke.  Where was John’s wife and children in 1850 and in 1860?   

Believing that the family was probably in England in 1870 I wasn’t surprised to find the family missing from the US census of that year.  I proceeded to search the 1880 US Census and found John B. Pryor, occupation horse trainer, born in VA.  He and his children who were counted on the earlier UK Census were living in Monmouth County, NJ.  The US Census yielded a clue that was absent from the 1850 and the 1871 records. In 1880 John Benjamin Pryor was recorded as “white” and his children were “mulatto.” 

I searched the 1900 US census to find the birth month and year or Luke Pryor, hoping to get a better idea of how long the Pryor family was in England.  In 1900 Luke was still living in Monmouth County and stated his birth as November 1861, shortly after the US Civil War began  

From these records it’s reasonable to surmise that John Benjamin Pryor was a white man and that his wife Frances was an African American.  The 1860 Slave Schedules revealed that J. B. Prior in Adams Co., MS had 27 individuals counted as slaves.  Four of the children were recorded as Mulatto, however their ages do not correctly correspond with the ages of Pryor’s known children, nor do the records correspond with the ages of Frances Pryor or her sister Cordelia Bingmom [sic].  It can not be determined if Pryor’s wife, sister in law and children were counted as slaves in his household in 1860, although it is the most likely explanation for their absence from the census schedule. 

Addendum: John Benjamin Pryor returned to the US in 1872. Pryor, He settled in New Jersey where his sons followed him into the world of horse training. He and his children are recorded on the 1880 U.S. census in Monmouth County, N.J. His wife and sister-in-law were possibly daughters of the Adam Louis Bingaman and an enslaved woman. [See 1869, Casanave vs. Bingaman in Louisana that involved two children named James Adam and Elenora Bingaman father with a woman of color. They were making a claim against Bingaman’s estate.]

Category: England, Mississippi Pryors | Tags: , , , ,