Tag Archives: Goochland County

Samuel Pryor and Frances Morton Pryor – More on The Goochland County Pryors.

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I used to have dreams about all the John Pryors. Really, they were more like nightmares! Now my brain is trying to make sense of all the Samuel Pryors who were in Goochland County, VA. If you’re working on the Goochland Pryors, I suggest viewing a Chancery Court Case; Frances Pryor vs Excutor of William Pryor. http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=075-1786-006

I believe this is Frances Morton who first married Nicholas Meriwether, and then in 1760 married Samuel Pryor at St. James Northam in Goochland County. Frances and Samuel are supposed to be the parent of Samuel Pryor who married Polly Curd.  This younger Samuel was baptized at S. James Northam in March 1762.

The chancery suit fills in some blanks, but leaves other wide-open. It states that Frances was a widow and that her  husband died in 1760-something.  It actually says 176 and a big fat blank for the year. The suit states he had a child who was still a minor, which sounds right for young Samuel.

The suit is dated 1769 on the Library of Virginia website, however the actual documents state it was filed in 1762. Poor Frances must  have been left with a very young baby and children from her previous marriage.  Part of the suit is Frances trying to get money out of the sale of slaves and 484 acres she thought her husband had owned in Dinwiddie County, VA.

William Pryor, brother of Samuel and brother-in-law of Frances Morton Pryor, took over the task of the estate’s administrator.  So, William was the William Pryor who married Elizabeth Hughes.  It all becomes a tangled mess when William died in 1777 and his son Samuel (who the suit clearly states was the nephew of the Samuel who married Frances) takes over the administration of the estate.

I admit that I got most of my information on the Goochland Pryors from other researchers years ago. Having access to records online makes it easier to fact check. Some of what I have isn’t fact checking. My notes have Col. Samuel Pryor and Prudence Thornton were the parents of William Pryor b. 1726 who died in 1777. William married Sarah Wood. I have the Samuel and Prudence were the parents of Samuel Pryor, but I have no information on that Samuel.

My other notes state Col. William Pryor and Sarah Wood were the parents of Dr. Samuel Pryor who married Frances Morton.

Something’s not right. I think from the ages of Col. Samuel and Prudence Pryor’s children– it’s more likely the Samuel who married Frances Morton was their son. He would have been born in the 1730’s or very early 1740’s. So, did William Pryor and Sarah Wood also have a son named Samuel? Which Samuel?

Any thoughts?

Category: Virginia Pryors | Tags: ,

Sorting Out Samuel Pryor – Yes, There’s More than One!

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I’ve done a lot of back-tracking through my research as I’ve worked on the Pryors. I’ve had to do a extreme turn. For years I’ve assumed there was one Samuel Thornton Pryor in Goochland Co., VA. Good grief, there’s actually a whole lot more. So, I think it’s time to share all the Samuels. As usual, open to ideas to make sure everyone is matched up to their correct family.

Col. Samuel Pryor, born about 1698-1699. Married to Prudence Thornton. Recorded in the 1735 Goochland Co. Vestry Records as a processioner. He died about or before 1763, a 1763 deed of Thornton Pryor stated that his father, Samuel, was already deceased.

Samuel Pryor, born about 1700. I see other researchers online have used “A Pryor Family Narrative,” by J. Gatewood Pryor, 1995, to show Col. Samuel Pryor had a son named Samuel. I suspect he did, but not the Samuel Pryor who married Frances Morton Meriwether as derived from this book. A 1777 Will of Samuel Pryor in Goochland County names wife Sarah, sons Samuel, William and John, daughters Sally Payne (Sarah?), Patty (Martha?), and Mary.

Samuel Pryor, born about 1740. Married Frances Morton Meriwether in 1760. He was the son of William Pryor and grandson of Col. Samuel Pryor. There’s a record of an estate of Samuel Pryor inventoried in 1766—I would like to see this record because I suspect it was Col. Samuel Pryor’s estate. A 1768 Chancery Court Case involves Samuel Pryor, executor and administrator of William Pryor’s estate. I think he’s the same Pryor counted on the 1789 Tax List and named in a 1792 Chancery Court Case, Samuel Pryor vs. Henry and Lucy Wood.

Samuel Thornton Pryor. born about 1775. He married Sally Drumright. Their children were Peggy (wife of Richard Clarke), Rebecca (wife of William A Underwood), Samuel Thornton Pryor, Martha W (wife of John M Drumright), Nancy (wife of Degrasse Drumright), and Fanny. This Samuel was named the executor of his father-in-law’s estate (Thomas Drumright) in a 1815 Chancery Court Case. Samuel died before 1835 when another Chancery Court case was filed that named all his children as heirs. I suspect this Samuel.

Is there another Samuel Pryor or is this Samuel Thornton Pryor born about 1775? I’m working with the concept that perhaps Samuel Thornton Pryor b. 1775 was the son of John Pryor and Mary Dennis. John died in Amelia County in 1785 and there is a son named Samuel in his will. John’s daughter, Mary, married Alexander Bolling. There’s a 1797 Chancery Court Case that names both a Samuel Pryor and a Bolling in Goochland County: “Samuel Pryor vs Stephen Southall.” I’m wondering if there were 2 Samuel’s because there’s a will for a Samuel Pryor proved in Amelia Co., May 27, 1790, nameing brothers Richard, Luke and Philip Pryor who were also named in John Pryor’s 1785 will.

Samuel Pryor baptized at St. James Northam in 1762 married Mary Curd and was in Kentucky by 1800. He died around 1812-1813 in Kentucky. Of course he had a son named Samuel (the father of noted judged William S. Pryor).

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DNA and Marriage Connections

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MarriageIt’s amazing how identifying the Pryors gets easier when the connections become clearer. In my last post (William Pryor of Amherst County – Do We Have A Name For His Mother?) I discussed uncovering a possible link between the Pryor and Laffoon families of Goochland County. So many wonderful connections have popped up in my research over the weekend– I hope that sharing will spur your own research.

An interesting connection came out my family member’s DNA results. We’re distant cousins (1st cousin 6x removed) of  Ann Pryor, daughter of John Pryor and Mary New. I theorized in a past post (The Patriarch: Tracing Nicholas Pryor) that John was the son of my ancestor Nicholas Pryor. John the older brother of David and William Pryor was born in about 1689, not too long after Nicholas was recorded as a Headright in Goochland County.

There have been NO DNA matches between the “other” Pryors in Goochland County… that’s the line of Col. Samuel Pryor and Prudence Thornton who go back to Robert Pryor and Virginia Betty Green.  That means that the Pryors in Amherst, Albemarle, Cumberland Counties in VA are probably not related to this other line. It also means that the Pryors in Nashville, Sumner County, and Overton County in TN are not related to the Pryos in Marion Co., TN.

Two Wrights… This weekend I looked at William Pryor of Amherst Co. He gave a statement about his service in the Revolutionary War with his brothers John and Nicholas (I know many people get tired of me mentioning this but it’s a good way to ID which William I’m talking about). William married Elizabeth Wright. Ann Pryor (daughter of John Pryor and Mary New) married John Wright. William and Ann Pryor were first cousins. I wonder if the Wrights were kin to one another?

Captain Ellis and the Pryors… In looking at Wrights I found that William’s wife Elizabeth Wright was the daughter of Isaac Wright and Susannah Ellis. I haven’t placed Isaac yet (really I haven’t worked on it), however I found that Susannah was the daughter of Capt. Charles Ellis and Susannah Harding. If you go back to my last post you’ll see that William’s father (William who was married to Margaret) sold land to a William Harding in 1751. And Captain Ellis is tied to the Pryors through their military service: William, Nicholas and a Richard Pryor all served under Ellis.

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William Pryor of Amherst County – Do We Have A Name For His Mother?

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Bride QuiltWay back in 2000 an online researcher posted the question: How is William Pryor of Albemarle related to William Lafoon who died about 1744 in Henrico/Goochland County. http://genforum.genealogy.com/prior/messages/111.html

The same researcher posted that in 1751, “WILLIAM PRIOR/PRYOR (who was then listed as a resident of Albemarle Co., VA) sold 200 acres of land in Henrico County to WILLIAM HARDING of Henrico Co. This land was noted as “part of a greater tract of land granted to WILLIAM LAFFOON by patent.”

In prior posts (no pun intended) I established that William Pryor was the son of Nicholas Pryor of Henrico/Goochland County. William and his wife Margaret were living in Albemarle County in 1750. They were the parents of William Pryor who served in the Revolution and married Elizabeth Wright, residing in Amherst County in an area that  had been  part of Albemarle County.

I don’t want to rock the authority of the Amherst County Museum and Historical Society — Their article (http://amherstcountymuseum.org/local.html) states William Pryor and wife Elizabeth had a daughter named Margaret Lafew Pryor. I wish I could find a source for the information on the museum’s website. Could it possibly be Margaret Laffoon Pryor? Was she named for William’s mother? This would certainly explain how the elder William Pryor was connected to William Laffoon… an inheritance could be explained if William Pryor was married to Margaret Lafoon.

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Documentation for John Hughes Pryor’s Family Tree

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The case filed in the Goochland County Chancery Court after the death of William Pryor, brother of John Hughes Pryor, may help researchers confirm parts of their family tree.

Samuel T Pryor  vs.
Administrator of William Pryor, etc.
Filed in Goochland County, VA
http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=075-1866-007

This listing of siblings is gleaned from the case:

1. Samuel T. Pryor, the plaintiff in this case.
2. William Pryor, deceased and died intestate in the summer of 1856.
3. Martha A. Meriwether
4. Judith N. Duke
5. Mary W. Turner
5. John H. Pryor  “who died many years ago in the state of _____ leaving eight children whose names are unknown to your orator that some  of the said eight children died some years since leaving two children as your orator has been informed whose names he does not know, that the said descendants of the said Jno. Pryor dec’d are now scattered in Western and South Western states of the Union.”
7. Nancy Woodson dec’d, mother of Eliza Woodson – now Eliza Haden
8. Sally Payne dec’d, mother of George A Payne

I wrote about John Hughes Pryor and his daughters a couple years ago (read post). It’s nice to have some documentation to help confirm relationships– An 1857 receipt included with the case papers indicates that by that time the heirs of John H. Pryor had been found:John Hughes Pryor - his children

Listed above are:
1. Judith N Duke (sister of John Hughes Pryor, living in McNairy County, TN in 1850 and 1860)
2. A. C. Sublett and wife (John Hughes Pryor’s daughter Louisa Ann married A C Sublett, living 1850 – 1880 in Rutherford County, TN)
3. Isaac H Rainey and wife (John Hughes Pryor’s daughter Elizabeth married Isaac Rainey, living in Henry County, TN)
4. A W Batt (John Hughes Pryor’s daughter Amanda, married William P. Batte, living 1850 – 1870 in Sumner County, TN)
5. E A Sangredge
6. William Hargove (John Hughes Pryor’s daughter Mary Janett, married William Hargrove, living in McNairy County, TN in 1850)

I don’t recognize #5. Do you?

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