Tennessee Pryors

Can you believe it… another question about the legacy of Nathaniel Pryor! I got to while away a lazy weekend pondering a question about the parentage of Nathaniel “Miguel” Pryor born 1805 and lived in Los Angeles, CA. I was asked if this Nathaniel Pryor was born in Louisiana instead of KY and that his father was Daniel Pryor, perhaps a brother of the Nathaniel Pryor of Lewis and Clark fame.

Nathaniel Miguel Pryor’s death was listed by Mrs. Joseph M. Northrop and published by The Historical Society of Southern California in 1961. These death records are those enumerated on the 1850 Death Schedule as part of the 1850 Census. It states Miguel was age 45, a silversmith, born in Louisiana, and had suffered epileptic fits for a year prior to his death. The thing that caught my attention was the parenthesis in the listing; they separate comments from the actual death information enumerated on the schedule: “(According to the marriage record he was called Nathaniel Prior, married last to Maria Paula Romero, born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Daniel Pryor and Mary Davis. Buried May 11, 1850, at the age of 50 years)”. These comments were added by Mrs. Northrop. 

The comments on the extraction of the Death Schedule are partially correct. They refer to the Catholic church record of Nathaniel’s marriage. I was able to see digital records of the old Los Angeles church and San Gabriel Mission which are available through the Huntington Library website. I’m pretty sure these are what Thomas Fiske accessed too when he wrote his article about Nathaniel Miguel Pryor (Last Man Standing). You too can login to view the old California records at http://missions.huntington.org — it’s free.

I also searched for Nathaniel’s death or burial record, but I didn’t see any for the church in Los Angeles nor the mission in San Gabriel for that year– maybe I’m missing something in my search or the records for that year did not survive in the those churches. Mrs. Northrop references Nathaniel Miguel Pryor marriage record, however (and this is kind of obvious) the burial date is not on the marriage record, so I have to question her source for the burial date.

I’ve added excerpts of these records to the TN Pryors website. https://tennesseepryors.com/pryor-website/state-records/california-counties-e-l/#Los_Angeles

While obits are great resources they are usually written by someone other than the deceased and can be a couple generations further out from the source. The obit for Ellen Pryor Rojas 1919-2006 states she was the great-great granddaughter of “Nathaniel Pryor, (nephew of Nathaniel Pryor, one of four sergeants for the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804.” I know I’m a skeptic and am a stickler for proof, but that’s the best way of advancing the search for our Pryor connections. There’s no indication in the obituary where the information comes from that Nathaniel was a “nephew” of the famed Pryor. I believe the researcher who contacted me was speculating that Nathaniel Miguel was the son of a Daniel Pryor because Nathaniel Miguel Pryor’s marriage record has been read “Dataniel Praya” for his father’s name.

My interpretation of the records?

I suspect the 1836 baptism is correct. I believe Nathaniel Miguel Pryor was born in Louisville, not Louisiana as stated on the Death Schedule.  The Spanish-speaking priest had to really sweat over how to spell the name of the town on the marriage record! I think Thomas Fiske also points out that issue in his article on Nathaniel Pryor. The Louisiana Territory existed from 1805-1812; perhaps Nathaniel Miguel Pryor lived in the Louisiana Territory during his youth which was remembered when someone told the census enumerator he was born in Louisana.

I also think that Nathaniel was born in 1805 or very close to that year. It’s the year of birth he gave on his baptism in 1836. When he died in 1850 someone must have been pretty sure of his age because they gave an age to the enumerator that jives with the birth year derrived from the 1836 record. I wish more of my kin had ages that were that close from record to record!

I’m still siding with Thomas Fiske and believe still that Nathaniel was the son of the Lewis and Clark Explorer.