Tag Archives: Knox County

Knox County, TN – Mrs Pryor Kept A Tippling House (1834)

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Knox County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. State v. Elizabeth Pryor

One of the old court cases that came out of Knox County was filed in October 1834 against Elizabeth Pryor. She’s referred to as Mrs. Pryor in the documents. I don’t know who she was married to or if she was a widow at the time.  She was charged with running a “tippling without a license.”

Now I do have my suspicions. I suspect she was kin to William Pryor because Allen Perry was her security and his name shows up in the case of the State vs. William Pryor and Pryor Nance (1836).

It’s a rather short case document filed against Mrs. Pryor. Her conviction reads

…unlawfully kept a tippling house an sell and retail spiritous liquors by a less quantity than a quart to Joel Williams and divers other persons… without having first obtained  a license.

William Huson (or Huston?) was the informant.

The members of the jury were
Samuel Stirling, foreman
William McLemore
Samuel R. King
Robert Childers
Martin Kirkpatrick
Young (or James) Edmundson
Harvey Walker
DD Deust
William Hussen
John Karns (or Korns)
Samuel Catrell
William McBoth (McBooth?)
DL Dearmond

 

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: ,

Knox County TN Pryors: The Bastard Child of Harris Pryor

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I contacted the Knox County Archives and requested a copy of the bastardy case filed in 1805 against Harris Pryor. I’ve seen these cases in other counties and they can be chuck-full of great information like the child’s name, the witness names. Unfortunately this was a one page record. Perhaps it was a short-lived case because Harris not only agreed to support the child, but married the mother, Keziah Maxey in 1807.

First, the most disappointing thing: it doesn’t say who the the child was. The child was neither named in the case nor does the case hint at the child’s sex through references to “he” or “she”. Drats! However, there is information on the date the child was born– Keziah swore out her statement naming Harris on 17 September 1805 and at the time stated her child was born about 3 months prior to that date.

I think Harris may have made some moves between TN, KY and VA. In 1801 Harris (Jr.) was on the delinquent tax list in Knox County and we know he was in Knox County at the time the suit was filed in 1805 and he was in Knox County in 1807 when he married Keziah. By 1819 he was in Louisville, as he had been sued by William Dickinson in a Chancery Suit filed in Bedford Co., VA. He reported he was living in Louisville in 1820 (his sister Juggy Pryor Mays was in Breckinridge County, KY).  Keziah Maxey’s family was from the same area of VA as the Pryors: Harris Pryor (Sr) was in Prince Edward County, VA in 1784 as was Keziah’s father Shadrack Maxey.

The mother-lode of information may be in the names of the two men who stood as security for Harris Pryor: William Anderson and Benjamin Burnett. Again, these names hint that I’m on the right track when I connect Harris Pryor to the Pryors in Sumner County and Overton County, TN.

Allen L. Pryor of Sumner County, TN married Elizabeth Talley, the daughter of William Anderson Talley who was born in Cumberland County, VA and named for his maternal grandfather William Anderson.  Hmmm… I wonder if the Anderson on the suit and the Andersons in the Sumner County Pryor line are connected?

And the Anderson surname crops up over and over again in the Sumner County Pryors and their relations– Lucy H. Talley, another daughter of William Anderson Talley, married Robert Anderson Wright in Sumner County. When Allen L. Pryor’s wife died  he remarried to Margaret McWhirter, the spinster daughter of Isaac McWhirter and Emaline Anderson Tyree (daughter of Samuel C. Tyree and Elizabeth Anderson).  Anderson Woodson witnessed the will of Edmund Taylor (grandfather of Allen L. Pryor). Edward Pryor, son of William and Spicy Pryor of Overton County, TN, had a son named William Anderson Pryor.

Lots of Anderson connections.  So my next question was about the Burnetts. Are there Burnett connections to the Pryors?

John Pryor, who is our best suspect to be the father of William (married Spicy Taylor) and John (married Massie Taylor — they are the parents of Allen L Pryor), purchased land in 1788 in Campbell County, VA– the deed was witnessed by William Burnett. Later John Pryor witnessed a 1790 deed in Campbell County, VA with Martin Rector. Martin was married to Betsy Burnett.

There’s a marriage between a William Pryor and Sallie Burnett in 1826 in Roane County. I wonder if William was Harris’ son who was born in 1805.

Online I found a brief bio of Benjamin Burnett http://genforum.genealogy.com/burnett/messages/4347.html. This seems to be the man who was security for Harris Pryor (Jr) in 1805. There are several VA Chancery cases involving Burnetts in Bedford County (the same county that Harris Pryor hailed from), however the Buckingham County cases are not in the database.

So stay tuned. We’ve got more digging to do.

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

Pryors On The Knox County Court Index

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Here are some other cases involving Pryors in Knox County:

17 Jan 1801 – Harris Prior – Delinquent Tax – Bk 3, P 69

14 Oct 1802 – Jesse Pryor – Defendant Criminal – Bk 4, P 87

18 Oct 1805 – Harris Pryor – Bastardy Case – Bk 5, P 51

18 Jan 1806 – Samuel Pryor – Deliquent Taxes in 1804 – Bk 5, P 83

17 Oct 1807 – Harris Pryor – Deliquent – Bk 6, P 95

8 Apr 1820 – William Pryor vs. Robert Craig (civil) – Bk 10-21, P 254

10 Apr 1830 – William Pryor – Defendant Criminal – Bk 14, P452

7 Jul 1831 – G L Pryor – Power of Attorney from Peter and Polly Nance Estate – Bk 16, P 76

7 Jul 1831- Edward Pryor – Estate – Bk 16, P 76

6 Oct 1834 – Elizabeth Pryor – Defendant Criminal – Bk 16, P440
Prosecutor vs. William B. Cuthbutson

7 Jan 1836 – William Pryor – Defendant Criminal – Bk 11-2, P110

7 Jan 1836 – William Pryor – Defendant vs State Prosecutor Criminal – Bk 11-2, P112

7 Jan 1836 – William Pryor – Defendant vs Lucy Cuthbutson Pltf  Criminal – Bk 11-2, P112

8 Jan 1836 – William Pryor – Prosecutor vs. William B. Cuthbutson (aka Cuthbertson and Cuthbert )Pltf  Criminal – Bk 11-2, P117
[There’s a brief bio of William B Cutherbertson. It’s important to not that his wife had 2 sons when she entered the marriage].

5 Nov 1838 – John Pryor – Comr, Support of Mrs Graves and Family Aptd – Bk 11-2, P295

7 Oct 1839 – Charles Pryor – Comr, Support of Margaret Watt and Family – Bk 11-2, P383

2 Oct 1840 – John Pryor – Commissioner, Support of Mrs Elisha Joiner and family appointed – BK 11-2, P407

5 Apr 1842 – James M Pryor  – Bastardy – BK 17, P 123-132

5 Jul 1842 – James M Pryor – Bastardy – BK 17, P 145

7 Nov 1842 – James M Pryor  – Bastardy – BK 17, P 162

6 Nov 1843 – William Pryor – 1 poll, insolvent tax – BK 17, P 225

1 Dec 1845 – James Pryor – 1 poll tax – BK 17, P 375

6 Apr 1857 – James Pryor – 1 poll, insolvent tax – BK 21, P 47

Category: About TN Lines | Tags: ,

Thomas Pryor, Nephew of Major John Pryor of Richmond

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Although Major John Pryor of Richmond never had children he’s still one of those Pryors who seems to point to other Pryor relationships, helping to solve some of the VA Pryor riddles.

The Major’s will:

PRYOR, John (of the City of Richmond). Will proved there March 1823. Names wife, Elizabeth Graves; nieces, Dorcas Bryan, Elizabeth Taylor, Rebecca Taylor, Charlotte Morrison (of Williamsburg, Va.), Elizabeth Hazelwood; nephews, Thomas Pryor and Archer, William, Romert, John, and Pryor Hankins. Friend, Lewis Burwell. Not an heir, but mentions first wife was named Ann.

I’ve identified most of the heirs in his will [see my post]. Now I think I can ID his nephew Thomas Pryor.  I suspect it’s the Thomas Pryor on the 1820 Census in Rockingham Co., NC.  When I looked at this Thomas I found an Mrs. Elizabeth Archer who is cited as formerly a Pryor in an online tree (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pryor-380).  Elizabeth Archer is on the 1820 Census in NC on the line below Thomas Pryor.

I like that she married an Archer. Major Pryor was very well connected to prominent tidewater families – he married a Whiting and later a Graves.  His nephews mentioned in his will were from the tidewater Hankins family and were named after prominent families—Pryor and Archer.

Elizabeth Pryor Archer’s son Thomas D. Archer married in 1825 in Pittsylvania Co., VA, so I looked at the Pryors in that county.  In 1834 there was a John Randolph Pryor born in that county. Hmmm… Randolph… another prominent VA family, in fact they married into the Jeffersons (The President’s brother was named Randolph Jefferson). On the 1830 and 1840 Census in Pittsylvania County is Thomas Washington Pryor who was married to Nancy Graves Haynes—There’s the Graves surname again. My bets (and other researchers are drawing this conclusion) that Thomas Washington Pryor is the same Thomas who was in Rockingham County.

Both Thomas Washington Pryor and his son John Randolph Pryor migrated to Fayette County, IL. They are on the 1860 Census. Thomas states his place of birth as NC while his wife and children were born in VA.  There is also a Graves family and lots of Hankins families in Fayette County. The places of birth seem to indicate that the family had connections to both VA and NC.

I think these tidewater surnames that are associated with Major Pryor give us clues to these families even in Tennessee. In Knox County, TN there is a David Hankins, Eli Hankins, and George Graves recorded consecutively on the 1850 Census. Don’t think there’s a connection? Well, Eli Hankins named his son Pryor Hankins.  The Major’s sister, Elizabeth, married an older Pryor Hankins in VA and an online family tree notes that Eli was married to a Nancy Graves. Just so it doesn’t get lost in the text… Knox County. That’s going to become important in later posts!

The elephant is in the room. It’s the big question. If Major John Pryor is the uncle of Thomas Pryor, then who is the Major’s brother and father of Thomas?

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

Big Clue to Ancestry of Harris Pryor of Bedford Co. and Prince Edward Co.

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Goochland, Virginia

I think we can join Harris Pryor born about 1740 to his correct line of Pryor ancestors. If you need to refresh your memory go to my last post about Harris Pryor. I believe Harris is connected to Jesse Pryor of Overton Co., TN and Samuel Pryor who died in Anderson Co., TN in 1815 and other Pryors who were in Knox and Roane County. Now I think I know from which line Harris Pryor descends. I found online the 1775 will of John Wright the husband of Ann Pryor (daughter of John Pryor and Mary New).  I got interested in Ann Pryor and John Wright when they showed up as a DNA match on the Ancestry DNA test I’ve been moderating. What really lit up my day of research? Harris Pryor witnessed John Wright’s will. Ooops, I forgot to end that sentence with a big fat exclamation point!

There’s an article in The Virginia Historical Magazine  that includes a very brief synopsis of the 1755 will of John Pryor (husband of Mary New) stating legatees were his daughters Rebecca Woodson and Ann Wright. No mention of his wife nor any other children. If Harris Pryor wasn’t a son of John Pryor and Mary New who was he?

I’ve taken my pencil and I’ve drawn a tenative, yet optomistic line between Harris and my line of Pryors that begins with Nicholas. Now, I just need to figure out how he fits in.
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