Tag Archives: Arkansas

Mid 19th Century Pryors in Dallas, TX

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I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. It’s hard to believe that the new year is right around the corner.

Early this month I received an email from a researcher who was looking at the two Pryor brothers who were also both physicians in Dallas, TX during the mid-nineteenth century.  Samuel B. Pryor from Virginia was the first mayor of Dallas and his brother Charles R. Pryor was a writer and editor of the Dallas Herald (see article on the Texas State Historical Association site).  Charles was pro-South during the Civil War and served as the Secretary of State in Texas but disappears after the War.

It looks like we now have the answer to the what happened to Charles. There is  a Charles P. Pryor (sic) in Mercer County, KY. I found that he was living in a community of Shakers headed by B.B. Dunlavy.  Charles was recorded as born in VA and his occupation was “physician.”  A Google search turned up a volume of “The Shaker Manifesto” that contains a letter written by a Charles R. Pryor in 1878. Charles states “In spirit I am a Shaker.”

I haven’t found any further record of Charles. When his brother Samuel died his family migrated to Arkansas and can be found on the 1870 Census and later records in Sevier County and Little River County, AR.

Category: Texas Pryors, Virginia Pryors | Tags: , , ,

Was a Pryor at Mountain Meadows Massacre?

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I was recently contacted by a researcher who is looking for information on any Pryor family members who may have been on the ill-fated wagon train that was attacked in 1857.

In 1857 a group of settlers from Carroll, Benton and Johnson County, Arkansas were ambushed outside of Cedar City, UT in what would become known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. 17 children lived and were returned to their families in Arkansas.

I’ve searched several of the websites who mention the names of the survivors and victims, but have not been able to find any Pryors. There were several Pryor families in Arkansas at that time, but no one seems to be missing from the census records. I’ve looked at the family of Lindsey W. Pryor who was reported to have died en route to the California Gold Rush. I suspect that he died before 1850 (his widow may be the Jane McMillan with son John S. counted on the 1850 Census in Franklin Co., MO).

Is anyone award of a Pryor that may have been involved in this tragic event?

Category: African-Americans, Genealogy, Missouri Pryors, Research Help | Tags: , , , , ,

John Pryor and Rebecca Cook: Connection to Other Pryors?

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I’ve heard from a researcher who is working on the line of William Pryor who married Mahala Lewis in Montgomery Co., AR.  William is probably William Henry Pryor who was born in 1829 in TN, the same man who served in Co. H. , 1 (Colquitt’s Arkansas Infantry) during the Civil War.  It’s suspected that he’s the Henry Pryor who was working as a farm hand in Wilson Co., TN in the Ricketts household at the time of the 1850 Census.

Some researchers have included Henry William Pryor as a son of John Pryor and wife Rebecca Cook.

So which line of Pryors is this John Pryor from?  He was married in Rutherford Co., TN in 1823.  There’s an Allen Pryor on the 1820 Census in Rutherford Co. John and Rebecca were on the 1830 and 1840 Census in Wilson Co., TN. From these census entries we can surmise that John was born between 1800 and 1810. By 1850 John was probably deceased, his wife and several children were in Chistian Co., KY.

I’m now wondering if John Pryor is the connection to link up some of the “straggling” Pryors in the census records. There’s the Allen Pryor in Rutherford Co. 1820, then an Allen Pryor on the 1830 and 1840 Jackson Co. census. We know the Allen born in 1810 in SC and living Jackson Co. in 1850 is related to the Thomas Pryor born 1813/1814 in TN who was living in Wilson Co., TN in 1850. Are John, Allen (and Alfred in Jackson Co.), and Thomas related? How?

Category: Tennessee Pryors | Tags: , , , ,

Scipio Africanus Pryor, Aaron Lindsey Pryor, and Weakley County and Civil War

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A PRYOR MYSTERY… The website has had several queries in the past months from family researchers looking for the lineage of SCIPIO AFRICANUS PRYOR of Benton Co., AR. Scipio was in AR as early as 1840. He was born between 1813 – 1815 in TN and is named after a Roman general, which seems fairly urbane compared to the Biblical or traditional English names of most of our Pryor ancestors. Scipio’s wife Sarah, was born in TN (probably Warren Co.), however it appears they married in AR. Scipio’s twelve children were named Elizabeth J., Mary Angeline, Franklin H., Andrew C., Nicholas, Sarah E., Albert L., John, Nancy A., Arminta, Laura T., Margaret. Scipio died in June 1860 per his tombstone, although his daughter Margaret was born about 1864. Does anyone have ideas for helping these folks trace Scipio’s TN roots?
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New GILES COUNTY web page in the Pryor Histories section of the website. Researcher Trish Smith is looking for information on her kin and has provided photos of Pryor grave markers from Columbia, TN. Her ancestor AARON LINDSEY PRYOR was a blacksmith and may be related to the line of Richard and Mourning Pryor through their son Thompson Pryor and Dicey Tripp.
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Query from researcher Barbara McKnight. Barbara has come across an 1841 proclamation announcing a reward for two Fletcher brothers who killed their brother in law, JOHN PRYOR, in Weakley Co., TN. Any ideas who this John Pryor might be?
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FREE Access to IL Civil War Muster Records. Researcher Barbara VanHout found several TN PRYORS listed on the State of IL website (as of December 2019 link is not available). There’s a James PRIOR b. 1823 in Stewart Co., TN and living in White Co., IL in 1861; William PRIOR b. 1802 in Sumner Co., TN also living in White Co., IL; Alfred S. PRYOR b. 1833 in Knox Co., TN and living in Pike Co., IL in 1861; William PRYOR b. 1841 in Blunt (sic- possibly Blount) Co., TN and living in Union Co., IL. This last Pryor mustered in at Camp Anna so he may not have had residency in Union Co.

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