A question came up that caused me to look at the Pryors in Hempstead county, AR once again (see earlier post https://tennesseepryors.com/richard-pryor-and-virginia-boyd-pryor-relationship-to-dallas-pryors/ ) After Richard Pryor died his Arkansas property named Myrtlewood was advertised for sale in a Tennessee newspaper.
LAND AND RESIDENCE IN HEMPSTEAD COUNTY, ARK., FOR SALE
Myrtlewood, the residence of the late Major Richard Pryor of Hempstead county, Arkansas, will be offered for sale, at public auction, on the 10th day of December, 1866… For further information refer to Col. James W. Finley, Spring Hill, Hempstead county, Ark. Terms on day of sale. [1]Richard died intestate. The Administrator’s Bond lists James W. Finley (principal) and lists Jack S. B—?, Edward L Pryor, and Thomas M. Boyd as securities.[2] Edward L. was as on of Samuel Pryor of Clarksville, TN (Montgomery County). Thomas Boyd was probably a relative of Richard’s wife Virginia Boyd. When Richard’s wife died the estate was handled by Charles R. Pryor of Dallas.
Richard Pryor, James W. Finley, H. C. Boyd, and a J. Pryor were named in a list of men who were consignees of merchandise at the docks in Shreveport, LA.[3]
I ended up doing one of my relationship/event charts to work out how everyone was connected.
- Virginia Boyd Pryor died in November 1865 after her husband and after her daughter Elizabeth Pryor Stockdale (her only known child). She willed her property (engraved silver) to her executor Dr. Charles R. Pryor and Virginia Finley, formerly a Boyd.
- Virginia Finley’s husband James W. Finley was the point of contact in the 1866 ad for the sale of Richard Pryor’s estate.
- When Charles R. Pryor “of the county of Dallas” filed estate papers in 1865 for Virginia Boyd Pryor, he was represented by F. S. Stockdale, the Virginia’s son in law and the widower of Virginia’s daughter Elizabeth Pryor Stockdale.
I located an announcement of a claim against the estate of Richard Pryor by two Pryor relatives from Vicksburg, MS. Was this the Richard Pryor who died in 1864 or Agnes’ brother? –for whom we have no evidence he was Arkansas.
LEGAL
The heirs and distributees of the estate of Richard Pryor, are warned to appear in Hempstead circuit court, and answer the complaint of Agnes P Howard and William Pryor Creecy for partition and distribution of said estate.
Washington Telegraph, February 21, 1872
A marriage announcement explains Agnes’ name change from Birchett on the census to the surname Howard she was using in 1872.
MARRIED
On the 17th instant, in Richmond, Va., at the residence of Dr. T. P. Mayo, by the Rev. Thos. L. Preston, Colonel Nathaniel Howard, of Grenada, Miss., to Mrs. Agnes P. Birchett of Vickburg, Miss. We wish the Colonel and his happy bride many, many years of joy and happiness, and we know that his friends hereabouts–and that means everybody–join us in a double health to him and his.
… Grenada Sentinel, published in the Vicksburg Daily Times, September 7, 1870
I think more research needs to be done on the estate of Richard Pryor. Was Richard’s estate in probate from 1864 to 1872? Or was this another Richard Pryor? Perhaps Agnes’ brother Richard who was last recorded on a census in 1870 working as a druggist in Vicksburg.[4]
An interesting connection between several of the people was their occupation: druggist. Charles R. Pryor worked as a druggist in Dallas (see above), so did his brother Samuel B. Pryor, and Richard S. Pryor of Vicksburg worked as one, as did his nephew William Pryor Creecy.
Footnotes
[1] “Land and Residence in Hempstead County, Ark. for Sale,” advertisement, The Daily Memphis Avalanche (Tenn.), 21 November 1866, p. 4, col. 9.
[2] Hempstead Co., Ark., administrator’s bond, M:98, Richard Pryor, 28 August 1865; “Arkansas, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1818-1998,” Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8638/images/007117066_00272).
[3]”Consignees of Merchandise per Steamboats,” notice, H.C. Boyd, Richard Pryor, J. Pryor, and J. W. Finley, The South-Western (Shreveport, La.), 28 May 1856, p. 3, col. 2.
[4] “C.R. Pryor,” advertisement, The Dallas Daily Herald (Texas), 20 February 1869, p. 3, col. 7.
