Sometimes the places are as interesting as the people. I’ve been updating the Pryors on the Kentucky pages of the TNPRYORs website. I was reading the truncated will of James Offand of Jefferson County and became interested in Shippingport, KY (near Louisville). While I haven’t solved any great mysteries, I thought it was worth mentioning this river port — perhaps someone will find an connection to the Pryors who passed through Jefferson County.
1818 Will, Jefferson Co., KY – Will of John M. Offand [of France]. 23 Nov 1818– 11 Mar 1822. Of Shippingport, KY. Estate to James PRYOR , William McKever, and Fortunatus Cosby in trust for wife Henrietta for life and then to children including what he shall receive from his father Thomas Offand of France, where testator was shortly going. Executors: wife Henrietta, James PRYOR*, Fortunatus Cosby, and William McKeever. Witnesses: Thomas Phillips, David Jewell, J. W. Harrison, Samuel Tyler.
According to Wikipedia.org Shippingport, KY was part of Jefferson County as early as 1785. It got its name in 1803 (the same year as the Lewis and Clark Expedition) when a warehouse and mill were established. Lewisandclarkinkentucky.org states “Boats going down the Ohio regularly put into Louisville to hire a pilot to go through the Falls. Their cargoes were often off-loaded and portaged around the Falls to the lower landing – soon to become the town of Shippingport.” The same site discusses how fur traders and trappers went through Shipping port as a supply point. It sounds like the area was the hub of frontiersmen entering and exiting the Louisville area. For Pryor researchers it’s a site to keep in mind when researching pioneer ancestors who came to Kentucky from Virginia, Ohio, and what would later become West Virginia.
I spent some time trying to find a trail of the people who were mentioned in the will.
Fortunatus Cosby was christened at St. James Northam in Goochland Co., VA. This was a church where numerous Pryor marriages and christenings were performed.
John M. Offond (sp.) is on the 1820 Census in Shippingport, KY and Henrietta Offand is on the 1830 Census in Shippingport, KY near William McKeever. I believe I found traces of the Offand’s children (Henrietta had no children recorded in her household in 1830) or grandchildren: William H. Offand age 12 and Sofia Offand age 16 (Ofand) were on the 1850 Census in Jefferson Co., KY. They were living with a family whose head of household was a boat builder. William was in Gunnison Co., Colorado in 1880, age 36, miner, born in KY, parents born in France and KY. William Henry Offand was registered to vote in San Diego, California in 1869 and his reported occupation was carpenter. It looks like William had the frontier spirit and continued West.
David Jewell is on the 1820 Census in Portland, Jefferson Co., KY. On the same page Charles Floyd and a Henry Lewis were also recorded.
I didn’t find Harrison or Tyler.
* James Pryor, possibly the brother of Lewis and Clark explorer Nathaniel Pryor. James signed a will in 1814 during the War of 1812, however he died around 1822.