Tag Archives: David Ross

Iron Ore In Jackson County, TN

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Do you ever read records and then interpret them completely differently when read again months or even years later?

My interest was piqued by an old Jackson County, TN deed:

John Swain and Armistead Stubblefield, 2560 acres, on the headwaters of Brimstone Creek… to include the salt lick and two banks of iron ore. 2 April 1803.

There was a guy, who seems to be recorded as John Swan, who no one can ever find. He married Nancy Pryor in 1825 in Sumner County, TN. I wonder if it’s the same guy as John Swain.

Then “banks of iron ore” caught my eye. I wonder if he has anything to do with David Ross and the Pryors who were close to his foundry businesses in VA. Or is he a relation of the NC Pryors who were running the Troublesome Creek Foundry during Colonial times.

Still looking for clues to see if the iron industry follows some of the Pryor lines.

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: , ,

Scipio Africanus Pryor of Benton Co., AR — Back to TN?

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scipio-africanusBack to the TN Pryor named for the Roman General who defeated Hanibal. Is anyone looking for Scipio Africanus Pryor of Benton County, AR?  Scipio is one of the Pryors on my “mystery” list. He seemed to have come out of no-where when he shows up in Arkansas records. No kin living in the same county nor any living near by. (Photo above of the Roman named Scipio by Shakko at http://commons.wikimedia.otrg/wiki/User:Shakko)

Scipio Pryor, his wife and several of his children were buried in the small Goad Springs Cemetery in Benton Co.  The death records of several of his children state their mother was Sallie Colville (born 1820) in TN.

Ann Colville b. 1802 is buried in the same cemetery. Her grave marker states she was the wife of Joseph Colville.  Ann was already widowed by 1850—she was a head of household in Osage Twp., Benton County (page 69) and Ann was born in TN.

There’s a Joseph Colville in TN records.  I’m not sure if this is Ann’s husband. He seems more than a bit older than her.  TN land grant No. 6591 recorded that Joseph Colville assigned his land on Hickory Creek near the line of Thomas Wilcher to Elisha Pepper on 10 Jan 1815. I wonder if this was the same Thomas Wilcher of Warren Co. who was on the 1812 Tax List near Joseph Pryor and later on a suit in White County, TN with William Pryor. This is the same Joseph and William Pryor I mentioned in a post back in February (read Old Joseph of White Co., TN – Here’s the Monkey Wrench)

In 1844 S. A. Pryor (Scipio Africanus) is named on a Benton Co., AR deed with James Hubbard in deed book A, page 359. I haven’t had reason to believe this is my line, so I haven’t obtained the actual deed. There may be some good reading there a Pryor researcher from this line.

James Hubbard on the deed intrigued me, so I took a look at him too. I found some information online — http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/h/e/Dena-J-Chester/GENE14-0002.html. He also lived near Goad Springs and had lived in Warren County, TN! James Hubbard was on the 1850 Census in Osage Twp., age 77 born in NC.

It’s enough to give a girl an ulcer. I found grant No. 430 in Warren Co. filed 13 June 1809 for James Hubbard. Across the screen was deed No. 424 filed the same date for…. Here goes… DAVID ROSS whose property it states bordered “Hubbard’s Corner”. Just search David Ross on this site— I can’t keep tract of how many times he shows up among the Pryors!

This doesn’t tie up the family tree in a nice bundle, more work needs to be done. I can’t tell you if Joseph and William of Warren County were related or if there were 2 Pryor families in Warren County at that time. I can’t tell you if David Ross was associated with just Joseph, just William or BOTH. I also can’t tell you if Scipio Africanus Pryor was associated with just Joseph, just William or BOTH.

There are male Pryors of Joseph’s line who went to Illinois and probably some males from Scipio’s line that went to AR and later TX. Wouldn’t it be interesting if one male from each line did Y-DNA testing?

If you’re related to these lines — I’m interested if you’d pulled the deeds for the sale of the Warren County property and the AR land deed for Scipio and James Hubbard.

I think this line will get interesting!

Category: About TN Lines, Arkansas Pryors | Tags: , , , ,

Digging Deep for Campbell County, VA Pryor Roots – The Pattersons!

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Campbell County Pryor FamiliesHow could I have missed this? I’m going to blame the handwriting!

I picked up that Harris Pryor born about 1740 was a witness on the will of John Wright, the husband of Ann. Ann was the daughter of John Pryor and Mary New of Henrico County, VA. I missed another witness: Landis Pattison (or Patterson). I think I’ve passed over Landis several times when I’ve looked at census records because it looked like Candis (a common variation of Candice). However, I was excited to spot Landis Pattison on the 1820 Census in Campbell County, VA!

And I love where Landis Pattison/Patterson is on the census. He’s wedged in nicely on the two pages that contain my own line of Taylors (they married into my Pryor line), suspected Taylor kin, grandchildren of John Pryor and Mary New. If Harris Pryor and John Pryor & Mary New aren’t part of the Pryor line I’m tracing — I’m not making any bets, just saying I’ll be stunned.

1820 Census Extracts, Campbell County, VA

page 138, John Garrett, 010101
page 138, line 28 Landis Pattison 0000001
(Landis Pattison witnessed will of John Wright, son in law of John Pryor and Mary New, in Prince Edward County, VA in 1775, with Harris Pryor also a witness. Landis Pattison’s mother was Elizabeth New.)
page 138, line 32 Archibald Bolling Sr.
(Archibald Bolling married 4 times – Sarah Cary, Jane Randolph, Sarah (Woodson) Clarke, and Mary Taylor (Page) Bird)
page 138, line 33 David Pattison
page 138, line 34 Littleberry Pattison
(brother of Landis Pattison)
page 138, line 39 Jacob Woodson
page 138, line 40 David Alvis
page 139, line 42 Charles Wright, 120001201
(witnessed Edmund Taylor’s Will)
page 139, line 43 Anderson Woodson Sr.
(Oldest male over 45 y.o, 11 whites, 28 slaves. Son of Robert L Woodson and Rebecca Pryor, a grandson of John Pryor and Mary New.)
page 140, line 2 Isaac Crews
(Isaac married Mary/Polly Oglesby the widow of Hezekiah Taylor who was killed in the War of 1812 in Canada. It’s believed that Mary was the sister-in-law of Edward Taylor on the same page of the 1820 Census)
page 140, line 32 Edward Taylor
(Oldest male over 45 y.o, 7 whites, 4 slaves. Edward/Edmund Taylor father of Spicy Taylor who married William Pryor & Massa Taylor who married John Pryor. Edmund Taylor was married to Elizabeth Garrett)
page 140, line 33 Hezekiah Taylor
(oldest male over 16 to 25 yo, 5 whites, no slaves. Son of Edward/Edmund & Elizabeth Garrett Taylor) 

The Pattersons or Pattisons were all over the same counties where I’m searching out John Pryor, David Pryor, Harris Pryor (Campbell, Amherst, Bedford, Pittsylvania). I see Landis’ brother Littleberry Patterson was recorded on the tax list for Pittsylvania County. Littleberry is on the tax list with… David Ross (the iron foundry guy– he pops up so many times I’m making him his own TAG link!).  There’s an extensive foot note that discusses Ross’ holdings in Pittsylvania County in The History of Pittsylvania County, Virginia  By Maud Carter Clement.

Pattersons have several connections to David Pryor and Susannah Ballow in Buckingham County — After David died his heirs sold part of the estate in 1813 to David Patteson.  David’s son Zane Pryor is supposed to have married a Miss Patterson.

So, you know that habit people had of naming their children after kin. I had to turn over that rock… I looked to see if there were any men named Patterson. Sometimes you turn over a rock and you find something. .

I found another interesting name: Patterson Childress (Patterson Childers). I know there are Pryors who are hunting Childress because of the David Pryor from Henrico County who married a daughter of Abraham Childress. Patterson Childress served with the VA line out of Buckingham County during the Revolutionary War per his wife’s application for a widow’s pension in 1831 (see the transcript). This Childress served under Capt. Leonard Balew, spelled a hundred different ways but the same surname as Susannah Ballow also of Buckingham County, VA who married David Pryor (grandson of Abraham Childress).

And where was widow Childress in 1844? She says she was living in Jefferson County, TN. I found her daughter Nancy (Childress) Hamilton in a well documented family tree on Ancestry (see the tree), which shows she was in Sevier County, TN in 1850 and 1860. Patterson Childress is on the 1784-1787 Census for Surry Co., NC with some names that deserved a review… they sound like they’re from VA. I even spotted an Edward Taylor and Richard Taylor which will need to be searched. Patterson’s military file on Ancestry.com contains a letter that says he had a son named Abraham Childress.

I smell a connection! My research list is getting rather long and I have a stash of 40 posts I’ve written that I can’t get published because I keep digging out this newer stuff.

Patience…

 

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: , , , , , , ,

John Pryor in Campbell, Bedford, Appomattox, and Albemarle

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ross-pryor-mapI have been revisiting my own Pryor line (John Pryor of Sumner Co., TN and William Pryor of Overton Co., TN). I can speculate on relationships all I want, but I’m still looking for the meat and potatoes, the paper proof of who is related whom.

DNA NOTE: We have one Y DNA test on this line– working on interpreting the results. If you’re a Pryor male from either of these lines. I’m interested in working with you on Y-DNA testing. Identities are kept confidential.

I found a nifty source called cLocations.com. You can look up waterways and it will pinpoint them on a map. That’s awesome! Because they didn’t have piped in city water in the 1700’s so waterways were important for people and their livestock AND without GPS, waterways were markers on deeds as to where property was located.

We have a deed for John Pryor (likely the father of John and William and the grandfather of Allen L. Pryor of Sumner County, TN, b. 1816):

On 25 November 1788, John Pryer of Campbell County purchases “from John Kitchen of Henry County . . . for 75 [pounds], one certain tract of land of 135 acres in C[ampbell] on the west branches of Stonewall Cr, 7 bounded by Stoval, Kitchen’s corner on Cattail Branch, McBride. Signed – John Kitchen. Wit – Thomas Dunn, William Page, William Bernett (B (Burnett), Henry Truman, William Chenalt (Chenault), Charles Rork. Recorded Apr 2, 1789.” (Campbell County Virginia Deeds, 1784 – 1790 published by T.L.C. Genealogy (Miami), p. 55, referencing deed book page 360)

The pink star on the above map shows where Stonewall Creek is located in what is today’s Appomattox County. While the original deed was in Campbell County, it’s consistent with the history of the Taylors (John’s sons both married Taylor women) that they lived in the part of Campbell County that was sacrificed for the formation of Appomattox County.

I know Tennessee researchers bemoan all the county divisions– Virginia is just as frustrating.  I found a sensible explanation of the county divisions in Campbell Chronicles by Ruth Hairston Early (pub. 1927).

“In 1754 the part of Albemarle lying upon the south side of the river, from the mouth of Stonewall Creek to the head of Falling river, was added to Bedford: then Albemarle was divided in 1761 to form Amherst; the portion north of the James was marked by a line up the Rockfish River to the mouth of Green creek, thence to the Blue Mountains; east of this line remained Albemarle…”,

Ms. Early also added that the James River was also known as the Fluvanna, derived from fluvius (water) and Queen Anne of England. So the Pryors in Appomattox can be in Campbell County records (we already knew that), and also in Bedford and Almemarle records.  Whew!

We’ve probably got John Pryor in a Bedford record

John Pryer with Gideon Martin, Jane Preston, Thomas Stovall witnessed the will of Jacob Rector in Bedford County VA on 26 Oct. 1779. John Pryer along with Gideon Martin proved the will by oaths on 22 Nov. 1779. John Pryer along with David Martin and Thomas Stovall inventoried the estate of Jacob Rector on 3 Dec. 1779, returned 22 January 1781. “Prier” also used at one place in the record. (Abstracts of Bedford County Virginia Wills, Inventories and Accounts by Joida Whitten, Taylor Publishing Company (Dallas), pp. 101 and 113, referencing will book pp. 359-60 and 387.)

I suspect that the Pryor on Stonewall Creek and the Pryor who witnessed Jacob Rector’s will and inventoried the estate is the same John Pryor who was in Campbell County (late area in Appomattox County). Pryor’s 1788 deed states his land was near Stovall’s and 1779 a Thomas Stovall witnessed the will with Pryor.  There’s a remnant of the Pryors in Appomattox County on the 1850 census– Pryor Wright and Pryor D. Martin. I suspect Pryor D. Martin is related to the David Martin who inventoried Rector’s estate with John Pryor.

Now, there’s another line of Pryors we have to consider connecting with the John Pryor in Albemarle. Yes, it’s likely he’s the brother of David Pryor in Buckingham County since there was a David and John mentioned in the Henrico County courts and Cumberland County deeds as heirs of a deceased David Pryor. I suspect they are also kin to Harris Pryor of Bedford County. When Harris’ family left VA for TN they lived near Rectors in Anderson County and Roane County.

So, we have John Pryor pinned down from 1779 when he witnessed a will to 1788 when he bought property in Campbell County (now Appomattox). County divisions tell us to look for earlier records of John Pryor in Bedford and Albemarle Counties. Yes, there is a John Pryor who in 1759 was on the south side of the Fluvanna (remember that’s the James River!) in Albemarle County near Abraham Childers/Childress. John Pryor’s property in 1788 is also on the south side of the river.

That leaves us with a pretty big gap in the time on the paper records for John Pryor — 1759-1788. Where was he and what was he doing?

Is there a David Ross connection? I was thinking of the old John Pryor b. 1757 who was in Sullivan Co., TN next to the entrepreneur David Ross (read part 4 of Ross Posts). I know that my John Pryor was probably deceased by 1812 and the one in Sullivan County lived past the 1850 Census, so they are not the same man. However there’s an interesting little fact to share: Oxford Iron Works, the foundry Ross ran during the Revolutionary War; it was located on Beaver Creek in Campbell County, VA. The red “pin” on the above map shows that it was just 12 miles from where John Pryor lived on Stonewall Creek.

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

John C Pryor — Not to be confused with John C Pryor

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Genealogy is always looking at the past, however sometimes we have to revisit the not so distant past. Back in 2009 I wrote Is David C. Kin to David Pryor Who Married Susan Ballou/Ballow? which dances around John C. Pryor. This week I’ve looked at John C. Pryor to see if we can weed out duplicates and confirm his correct lineage.

John C. Pryor of Hampton (VA)

The first John C Pryor  is the one who is the easiest to pin-down. “Genealogies of Virginia Families” states he died in 1846 at age 67,
placing his date of birth in 1779. His parents were Christopher Pryor of Ware Parish and Anne Clayton– How do I know this? In 1855. John C.’s son Skaife Whiting Pryor was involved in a lawsuit (Taliaferro & als. v. Pryor filed in Richmond) It clearly states that John C. Pryor was the only of Christopher Pryor and Skaife was the son John C. Pryor. All of this John C’s activities were in the tidewater counties: a graduate of William and Mary College, he was the director of Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, he represented Williamsburg in the House of Delegates. He died in 1846 and is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Hampton, VA. I can’t prove it, but I suspect this John’s middle name was Clayton.

John C. Pryor of Franklin, TN

His age on the 1850 Census leads to a year of birth of 1776 in VA. This John C. Pryor is often referred to as John Cannon Pryor by researchers. I’ve tried to find the source of the middle name, but I’m unable to find a document within his lifetime that refers to him by that name. The oldest reference to the middle name Cannon is an inquiry in The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), 9 January 1898– an unidentified party queried the genealogy column for information on the ancestors of John Cannon Pryor of Virginia and his wife Ann Bullard. This is the John C. Pryor mentioned in my 2009 post (see link above).

It’s likely he’s the John Pryor on the 1812 Tax list in Franklin Co., TN. He married Ann Bullard in Franklin in 1818, acted as a witness on the divorce of Capt. Hardy Doyle in 1819, and was recorded as John C. Pryor on the 1820 Census. franklin-1820

The book Trail Drivers of Texas states that John’s son, David C. Pryor, was born 1847 on a plantation in Alexandria, located in Rapides Co., LA. John C. Pryor is on the 1830 Census in Rapides County and in 1840 he was in De Soto County, MS. If John C. was in LA as late as 1847, he may have had family or land ties in LA even while living in MS. If this is your line, you may find some interesting information in the LA land records.

rapides-1830

While in Franklin County, John C. Pryor may have become friends with General Isaac Thomas. Researchers report Gen. Thomas married an Ann Pryor and later a Jane Bullard (as this a relative of the Ann Bullard who married John C. Pryor? Gen. Thomas also went from Franklin County to Rapides Co., LA and is on the 1840 Census in that county.

A 1927 Pryor application to the Sons of the American Revolution, states this John C. was John Cannon Pryor, son of David Pryor and Susannah Ballow of Buckingham County, VA. It doesn’t state the source of this information, however there may some peripheral information that supports this relationship. Nicholas B. Pryor of Nashville, a known son of David Pryor and Susannah Ballow was named in a 1829 suit in Franklin County.

A funny little coincidence or a clue? Isaac Thomas land grant in Franklin was from land awarded to David Ross after the American Revolution. Throughout 1808-1809 David Ross disposed of his land in Franklin County and Rutherford County. And of course David Ross has connections to the Pryor and Ballew/Ballow lines. (read older post)

In 1813, after he appears in records in TN, John C. Pryor wrote to ex President Thomas Jefferson requesting appointment to the Office of Collector of the Direct Tax. His return address was Hermitage, Prince Edward County, VA. Was this Pryor keeping a foot in two states? He would have been 37 years old in 1813– was there a marriage before Ann Bullard? Were there other children before those he had with Ann?

John C. Pryor of Amherst County

This John C Pryor is the toughest one to figure out.  He shows up on the 1810 Census Amherst County near Hugh McCabe. It’s the same Hugh McCabe who married Sarah Pryor in Williamson County, TN around 1819. When Sarah Pryor  Squire McCabe Carter McPhail (Whew!) died in 1851 she referred to her deceased brother, John Pryor. My contention is that this is a THIRD John C. Pryor. I don’t think it was a coincidence that McCabe and this Pryor were close to each other in Amherst County and then show up among the Williamson County Pryors.

We know from the land records that Hugh McCabe was on the Peddlar River with Nicholas Pryor (was that F. Nicholas Pryor?) and was sued by William Pryor and wife over some form of slander. So, it’s likely that John C. was also living near relatives on the Peddlar River.  John C’s Williamson County siblings (Sarah and Susannah) stated their place of birth South Carolina, and Luke Pryor married Nellie Rogers in NC, and John C’s son Henry B. Pryor stated his place of birth as SC in 1790 and his own children born after 1820 stated their place of birth and SC,  so we may need to contend with the concept that this John C. Pryor was MOBILE and there were Carolina Pryors in Amherst County after the Revolutionary War.

Category: About TN Lines, North Carolina Pryors, South Carolina Pryors | Tags: , , , ,
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