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Questioning the Identity of William Pryor of Albemarle and Amherst Counties

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Vanessa Wood

Don’t you just hate it that there are so many Pryors with the same name? This week I have a William Pryor who is causing me to question some of my calculations.

Last week I was leaning toward William born 1730 to be the son of Nicholas and Susanna Pryor of Goochland Co., VA. William was of the right age to be their son and he is named on records as a resident Albemarle County in the early 1750’s. I’m still sure that he was the father of William, Nicholas, and John who served in the militia and pioneered into Kanawha County, and also the father of Susannah Pryor who married Shadrack Harriman while also settling in Kanawha.

Looking through my notes I see that one researcher had ID’d William years ago as the son of Philip Pryor and Ann Haden. I had to raise an eyebrow and wonder. Perhaps William had named is daughter Susannah, not after his mother, but his sister (Philip and Ann are known to have a daughter named involved William Pryor and William Laffoon. A William Wade gave evidence on the suit—the Wade surname was of interest because Haden Pryor, another son of Philip and Ann Pryor) married Elizabeth Wade in Granvellie Co., NC in 1769.

I still have to side with William being the son of Nicholas and Susannah. Here’s why:

Philip Pryor and Ann Haden were married in 1742 in Amelia County. That means the 1746/47 Goochland County court case would have involved a child named William Pryor . That doesn’t make sense as the language of the case doesn’t reflect the involvement of a child. Also, if a child of Philip and Ann was involved, then why weren’t any of their other children named in the suit?
A 1751 deed filed in Henrico County mentions William Pryor of Albemarle County. We know at that time he had children because his son William (Jr.) stated in his Revolutionary War pension statement that he was born in Albemarle County at about that time. The deed also states the land in Henrico county was from William Laffoon’s patent and it was located on the Chickahominy river. Nicholas Pryor had been “transported” as an immigrant, or for a headright, to land on the Chickahominy in Henrico Co. in 1688 and that the family remained close by for many years.

And these additional points (added after publishing this post)

“James Cocke comes into Court and makes oath that WILLIAM LAFOON deceased died without any will so far as he knows or believes and on his motion, certificate is granted him for obtaining Letters of Administration in due form. George Carrington, Gent. enters himself Security for the same.” Nicholas Pryor was brought to Henrico County by Thomas Cock– is that the same as Cocke? George Carrington was also entangled in land deeds with Nicholas’ grandsons in Cumberland Co., VA.

I have to say that placing William in Philip and Ann Pryor’s family tree is an error. Anyone want to take a DNA test to solve this one?

Have I Solved My Pryor Genealogy Brick Wall?

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Vanessa Wood

I’m pretty excited this morning because through all the Virginia records research I have finally discovered the opening in my Pryor “brick wall.”

A Recap. I’m descended through Allen L. Pryor of Sumner County, TN. Through his Goodspeed biography I know his parents were Massa Taylor and John Pryor. I found their marriage record in Campbell County, VA and have traced them on census records in Sumner County. The Goodspeed biography says that Allen was born in White Co., TN although I’ve never found a record of his family in that county. I know too from an 1830’s lawsuit that mentions both families, that my Pryors are connected to William Pryor of Overton Co., TN who was married to Massa Taylor’s sister, Spicy Taylor.

The Starting Point. The first and most obvious link that ties John Pryor to William Pryor are their wives who were sisters. The couples were both married in Campbell Co, VA: John and Massa in 1812, and William and Spicy in 1809. Both men and their respective wives were mentioned in the 1824 will of Edmund Taylor which was also filed in Campbell County.

Ty, a distant Pryor cousin, long ago found a deed in Campbell County that mentions both John and William Pryor as the sons of a deceased John Pryor. So, as of yesterday I was certain that John and William were brothers and that one of the many John Pryors from Virginia was their father, but which one?

The Missing Link. As I went through the records I’ve added to the TNPRYORS.com website, I saw numerous connections to Abraham Childers/Childres/Childress.

• 1747 – In the inventory of David Pryor filed in Goochland Co. Court, guardianship of his son also a David Pryor, given to Abraham Childres. Samuel Taylor was the security (an April 1759 deed to from Samuel Taylor to Jame Gillam states Samuel was the son of Richard Taylor)
• 1747 – Deed dated 15 Sep 1747, George Carrington deeds for 17.10 to John & David Pryor, sons of David Pryor deceased, 250 acres, land falling in Goochland and Albemarle. bounded by Phineas Glover, Isaac Bates, Abraham Childres & Richard Taylor
• 1759 – A deed in Albemarle County states that land owned by John Cannon was bounded by property owned by Abraham Childers and John Pryor.
• 1759 – Deed dated 22 Jan 1759 From Samuel Taylor of the county of Cumberland to John Meadors of the same county for 50 lbs., about 305 A. on the branches of Mill Branch in the county aforesaid, and part of a tract of land granted to Richard Taylor by patent dated August 20, 1745 containing 1200 A., and the said 305 A. of land is bounded southerly by the said Samuel Taylor, westerly by James GILLIAM, northerly by James Daniel and easterly by land belonging to the estate of James Nevel, deceased, and Philip Mayo.
• 1763/64 – Also in Albemarle County, Abraham Childers named his grandson David Pryor in his will. The will was probated in 1764.
• 1782 Will in Cumberland Co., VA for George Carrington Jr. mentions land he purchased from John Pryor and Samuel Taylor (Samuel was married to Sophia Childers, Abraham’s daughter)

The links from Abraham Childers to John and David Pryor, sons of David Pryor are pretty clear, and even their connection to Samuel Taylor, son of a Richard Taylor but what connects them to the John Pryor and Edmund Taylor who appear later in Campbell County records?

The Bow Who Ties Them All Together. My conclusion is that the John Pryor in Cumberland and Albemarle counties is the same John Pryor who was in Campbell County in the 1780’s. I think Sarah Woodson is the person who ties these families together. Sarah was married to Judge Creed Taylor, a son of Samuel Taylor of Albemarle County. Sarah was the niece of John Woodson and the cousin of Anderson Woodson. Samuel Taylor left a paper trail—Edmund Taylor didn’t leave a lot of records, but my “ah-ha” moment was when I realized that Anderson Woodson Jr. was the executor of Edmund Taylor’s estate in Campbell County.

Estimating Ages and Births. I played the age game from records trying to figure out relationships.

John Pryor and David Pryor. The wills and land records indicate that John and David Pryor were the sons of a David Pryor who married one of Abraham Childres’ daughters (her name is lost to history so far). The younger David Pryor must have still been in his minority in 1747 when Abraham Childers was appointed his guardian, making David born somewhere around 1740, plus or minus a few years. I think it’s safe to assume that John was the oldest of the sons and that he was born around 1725 as he was probably an adult in 1747. That would mean David Pryor Sr. was born about 1700 or at the end of the 1600’s. Wow! I don’t have a David Pryor in my database that originates that far back!

Samuel Taylor and Edmund Taylor. I don’t believe they were brothers. Samuel married Sofia Childers in 1744. If Samuel was 20 when he married he may have been born around 1725. Edmund Taylor was on the 1820 Census in Campbell County. The census reflects that he born before 1775, yet from subsequent census and other records we know his first child, Hezekiah, was born about 1793, so it’s likely that Edmund wasn’t born too long before 1775. If Edmund was born about 1770, it’s likely that Samuel who was about 40 to 45 years old was his father or perhaps an uncle.

Associated Lines? I don’t believe our ancestors dropped out of the sky. I know that skillful sleuthing and measured calculations can help to link people to the correct branches of a family line. My gut tells me that Nicholas Pryor of Amherst County is closely connected to David Pryor and his sons David and John.

• Nicholas Pryor served in the militia and his brother William stated on his Revolutionary War affidavit that he was born in Albemarle County. Nicholas received payment for time served in the Militia in Abemarle County in 1756 while John Pryor (son of David Pryor) was recorded on a deed in the same county in 1759.
• Nicholas Pryor was counted in Amherst County in 1784. John Pryor and David Pryor were also in Amherst County in 1784.
• The Granite Monthly, Vol 42 stated that Capt. Daniel Pryor built a palatial residence in Amherst Co. in 1798 yet I can find no other records of a Daniel Pryor in that county. Yet, there is a David Pryor on the 1800 Tax list for Amherst County. Was ancient handwriting misread, substituting Daniel for David?

Did John Pryor Move On? I’m intrigued by the will filed by George Carrington in Fayette County , KY in 1782 mentioning land he purchased from John Pryor and Samuel Taylor in Cumberland County, VA. In 1783 there was a John Pryor in Fayette Co. who owned 6000 acres. Was this the same man who was Amherst County, Cumberland County, and was in Campbell Co., VA from 1785 to at least 1790?

Where did David Sr. and Nicholas Pryor Come From? I’ve seen many unsourced Ancestry.com trees that state Nicholas Pryor immigrated from Scotland or was the son of a Scottish immigrant. I’m not ready to commit to that yet. The guardianship papers for David Pryor Jr. were filed in Goochland County, which makes me lean to Goochland County as a place that David Sr. lived and perhaps David Jr and his brother John were born. I haven’t been able to find any stray David Pryors in Goochland records, however there is a Daniel Pryor born 1703 (son of Robert Pryor and Betty Virginia Green). Again I’m wondering if there’s a transcription issue with the names David and Daniel.

While this may feel like a beautiful ending, I sense this is the beginning of a lot more research!

Category: Brick Walls, Tennessee Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: Albemarle County, Amherst County, Campbell County, Carrington, Childress, Taylor, Woodson

The Pryors and Their Jeffersonian Connections

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Vanessa Wood

You’d think a Jeffersonian connection, especially when it to an American President, a founding father, would be documented and easy to trace. It’s not so easy when it comes to the Pryors and their connection to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was born in 1743 in Albemarle County. Jefferson is probably a good reflection of how the affluent Pryors lived in colonial and early-American times. He saw himself as a yeoman farmer, an educated gentleman. These are three Pryors who had a connection to our third president.

Mitchie Pryor born about 1759 her Jeffersonian connection was through marriage to John Randolph Jefferson born 1755. John was the brother of the third US President, Thomas Jefferson. John and Thomas were sons of Jane Randolph, from a prominent Virginia family. The Jeffersons owned land in Albemarle County (President Jefferson’s home Monticello is located near Charlottesville in the same county). Mitchie is reportedly a daughter of David Pryor and Susannah Ballow of Buckingham Co., VA. Upon David Pryor’s death in 1804, Susannah moved to Nashville, TN with her son Nicholas Ballow Pryor, her daughter Mitchie (who remarried to Josiah Johnson in 1819 in Nashville), her son John C. Pryor who settled in Franklin, TN, another son Leonard Pryor who died in Sumner Co. in 1830, and her son Zachariah B. who also settled in Nashville.

Sgt. Nathaniel Pryor is connected to President Jefferson by his participation in the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1803. Pryor was living the pioneer life in “wild west” which was Louisville, KY before he set off on the trek across the continent. His father John Pryor was on the 1789 tax list for Jefferson County, KY and probably died before 1791 when orphans Nathaniel and Robert Pryor were bound out to Obadiah Newman. If the boys were minors in 1791, they were likely born in the late 1770’s or early 1780’s. So how was Nathaniel Pryor living in a fairly remote area tapped for the expedition? While I haven’t made a connection, it should be noted that Meriwether Lewis was selected by President Jefferson to lead the expedition. Prominent Pryors from Virginia were connected to the Meriwethers and Lewis families: for example Martha “Patsy” Pryor daughter of William Pryor and Elizabeth Hughes married Robert Meriwether and were on the 1850 Census in Goochland County; and Frances Morton who married Dr. Samuel Pryor in 1760 in Goochland County, later married Nicholas Meriwether. One has to wonder if Nathaniel Pryor knew Lewis as a kinsman, neighbor, or comrade on the frontier… or as all of these.

Major John Pryor who married Anne Beverly Whiting (see post Major John Pryor of Richmond, VA & John C Fremont Connection) also had a connection to Jefferson. The book “Scandal at Bizarre: Rumor and Reputation in Jefferson’s American” tells of Nancy Randolph (remember the President’s mother was a Randolph). When Nancy was a teen it was alleged that she became pregnant out of wedlock, gave birth, and her brother in law had assisted in the murder of the baby. Nancy, a tarnished woman, lived off the generosity of relatives. President Jefferson provided her living accommodations at Monticello in 1799 and again in 1804. By 1807 she was living in Richmond with John Pryor and his wife Anne, described as the proprietors of the pleasure park Haymarket Gardens. Apparently this was no Disneyland and was an area known for drinking, gambling and cockfights. So were the Maj. and Mrs. Pryor kin of Nancy Randolph? Was Major Pryor an uncle to Mitchie Pryor who married into the Jeffersons?

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: Albemarle County, President Jefferson, Richmond, thomas jefferson