I’ve wondered if the Ross Co., OH Pryors were related to established Pryor families in Virginia. James Pryor was on the census in Ross Co. in 1830 and 1840. His children: Hiram, Wesley, Silas, and Bennett were all born in VA; his son Silas was born near Harpers Ferry, VA (now WV).
The US government purchased 125 acres at Harpers Ferry, building the Armory and Arsenal in 1796. The town became an industrial center after 1800, producing small guns for the US Army up to the time of the Civil War in 1861. And yes, it’s the same arsenal raided by abolitionist John Brown.
James Pryor was on the 1810 and 1820 Census in Jefferson Co., VA. The census record for 1820 is unique in that actually states the town: Harpers Ferry. It’s even more unique in that an extra column has been added with the occupation of the head of household. James was recorded as a “musket stocker.”
Unfortunately James died before the 1850 Census when birth places were recorded. Only his son Bennett B. Pryor lived long enough to state his father’s birthplace on the 1900 census and 1910 census: Virginia.
Researchers state that James was the son of Silas Pryor who also was recorded in Ross Co., OH. Like his son, Silas died before the 1850 Census. A research has posted in their Ancestry Family Tree that Silas is the same person named as an heir, and probably a son, of James Pryor in a 1761 Chester, PA.
So it’s likely that these Pryors immigrated in through Boston or Philadelphia and are not related to Pryors who were early immigrants to the tidewater counties of Virginia.