I was recently asked about John Hughes Pryor‘s children. I’ve written about them before but thought the question was good and worth revisiting this Pryor line. A post I wrote a couple years ago Documentation for John Hughes Pryor’s Family Tree only documented some of his children. So I’m posting a transcript of the Chancery complaint Continue reading
Tag Archives: Meriwether
Eee gads, I know I created this chart, but really, every time I look at it I think it looks fractured and glued haphazzardly back together again. There are connections EVERYWHERE. There are lines of Pryors I don’t know if they really belong together, but they all seem to merge through William Harding.
Hello, William Harding!
I know it was a “small world” back in Colonial Virginia, but I think the number of connections between William Harding and the Pryors is astounding.
1. William Harding posted surety for the estate of Nicholas Pryor in 1746 (Goochland County, VA)
2. In 1751 William Pryor sold Albemarle County land to William Harding. This is the William Pryor who was engaged in a Henrico County suit with Grace Lafoon (Lafon). I suspect William was a son of Nicholas Pryor. He was also the father of Capt. William Pryor of Amherst Co., Nicholas, John of Fort Donnally, and Susannah.
3. When William Harding‘s daughter Sally married Thomas Pollard at St. James Northam in Goochland County, William Meriwether was surety. William Meriwether was also surety in 1760 for the marriage of Samuel Pryor (son of Samuel and Prudence) when he married Frances Morton Meriwether.
4. William Harding‘s sister Bethenia married Nicholas Perkins. Bethenia’s children married Pryors: Susannah Perkins married Green Pryor and Nicholas Perkins married Leah Pryor. Green and Leah were children of John Henry Pryor who died 1771 in Orange County, NC.
5. William Harding‘s sister Susannah married Capt. Charles Ellis. Their grand-daughter, Elizabeth Wright, married Capt. William Pryor of Amherst County, VA.
I’ve written about Capt. Ellis in the past [see The Last of the Virginia Chancery Court Records] and his association with Peter Jefferson (father of President Thomas Jefferson) and military service in the 1750’s with a Richard, Nicholas, and William Pryor.
Is Nicholas Pryor who died in 1746 the man some researchers ID as F. Nicholas Pryor? I’ve thought he was Nicholas the headright who arrived in Henrico County in 1688.
Is the F for Frank or Francis Pryor? Could he be Francis Pryor the son of Samuel and Prudence Thornton?
I feel like I’m getting to know everyone in town.
It’s kind of fun with a “new” Pryor surfaces, but it also drives me absolutely C-R-A-Z-Y!
There’s a Virginia Chancery Court case “William Gay vs executors of Richard Eggleston deceased” — there actual pleadings are missing, so I can’t tell exactly what date it was filed. I gleaned the gist of the case from two depositions which were noticed:
1st Deposition: James Pryor taken 22 Sept 1802 at the home of William Pryor in Cumberland County. He states that the case surrounds the trade of tabacco, iron, etc. for a Peacock Gelding (a horse) in 1782 or 1792. Names included are Richard Eggleston, John Eggleston, and Clough Eggleston.
2nd Deposition: In November 1804: Clough Eggleston in Amelia County, Clough was an overseer from 1780 to 1781, signed Thomas Randolph JP, James P Coke JP – noticed on 15 Oct 1804 by William Meriwether and Joseph Eggleston.
Banister L. Pryor married Rebecca Eggleston in Cumberland County in 1808 (6 years after James Pryor’s deposition in Cumberland County). Banister was a son of David Pryor and Susannah Ballow of Buckingham Co., VA and later Nashville, TN. Even with this information that connects the Pryors and the Egglestons I have no idea which James Pryor this may be!
I guess if James testified in a deposition in 1802 that he was 21 years old or older. So, he was born about 1781 or earlier. I have a pretty short list of possibilities…
James Pryor, brother of Nathaniel Pryor (the Lewis and Clark guy). James may have been an adult when his father died in about 1791 in KY. James ran a dry goods store with his brother in law, John B. Gilly and was likely in KY with the rest of his family in 1802.
James Paxton Pryor born around 1785 in Kanawha County was the son of Nicholas and Sally Paxton. He was named in a 1806 Chancery Court suit in Augusta County, VA, so he could have been in the area in 1802, but he would have been a young child when he witnessed the horse transaction which was the subject of the suit.
James Pryor b. 1776 – 1794 who was in Stewart County, TN with William Pryor married to Betsy Trammell. William was born in Botetourt County, VA and is first recorded in Stewart County in 1804. Cold this be the William and James in Cumberland County?
Well, I also suspect that the James in Stewart County was also the one who was in Pike County, IL: https://tennesseepryors.com/pryor-website/state-records/illinois-counties-m-s/#Pike This James Pryor obtained land grants in Pike Co. in 1840. The oldest male in household for the 1840 Census was 50 to 59 years. A death notice from THE NASHVILLE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE for REBECCA PRYOR wife of James Pryor, died Pike Co., Ill., Jan. 7, 1849; states they moved from Christian Co., Ky. to Stewart Co., Tenn., to Pike Co., Illinois.
This made me laugh. The James in Pike County was counted on the 1850 Census and his occupation was recorded as POSTMASTER. Good grief, could he be related to Banister Pryor and his kin who were postmasters and other public servants? (See John C. Pryor’s Letter to President Thomas Jefferson)
Meriwether vs Pryor
I’m still in the Chancery Court records. I found a case filed in 1768 that names William Pryor, executor for Samuel Pryor deceased, John Bolling and George Payne. Reuben Meriwether, George Meriwether, Nicholas Meriwether and Mary Meriwether, infants by George Meriwether. This case went on for some time because it was ammended in 1779 with defendants: William Pryor had died and now his executor was party to the case and young Mary Meriwether had married (1770) and her husband Shadrack Vaughn was now a party.
March Court 1779
Goochland County
Reuben Meriwether, Geoge Meriwether, Nicholas Meriwether and Shadrack Vaughn and Mary his wife, the said Reuben and Nicholas being infants, appear and sue by George Meriwether, their guardian, and next friend, plaintiffs.
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Samuel Pryor executor of William Pryor dec’d who was administrator of Samuel Pryor dec’d, John Bolling, and George Payne, defendants.This day came the parties by their counsels and by mutual consent agree that George Payne (the younger) and John Shelton shall be added to the other persons appointed at former court for settling the account of the parties and return the balance that shall appear to be due to the court.
Hope this helps the researchers working on this line.
Signed by Valentine Wood
Revisiting the Pryors on the Kentucky frontier. Back to the Meriwethers again! I found this extraction of a document filed in Shelby County, KY. It names some Samuel Pryor, Daniel Farley
Shelby County, Book A, 1795-1804. Daniel, Robert, August 8, 1792. August 1797. Legatees Thomas, Coleman and Martin Daniel (bros.), John Daniel (father), Sukey Morris, Besty Merriweather, Martin, Reuben (last 3 children of sis. Clark). Ex. Martin Daniel, Nicholas Merriweather. Wit. Daniel Farley, Sam’l Pryor.
“The Encyclopedia of Louisville” by John E. Kleber states that Nicholas Meriwether was born 1749 in VA and died 1828 in Shelby Co., KY. He is purported to be the son of Frances Morton Merriwether (who later married Dr. Samuel Pryor of Goochland Co., VA). The same article purports Nicholas was the cousin of Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Betsy Meriwether in this extract is probably Elizabeth Daniel, Nicholas’ wife. So the Daniels in this extract were his wife’s family.
Samuel Pryor in this extract is likely the son of Samuel and Frances, and the half brother of Nicholas Meriwether.
Daniel Farley married Marietta Pryor on 28 Sept. 1786 in Amelia Co., VA. It’s believed that she migrated to KY with her husband and was living in Henry Co., KY at the time of the 1810 Census. I haven’t seen any documentation, but Marrietta is often included in family trees as the daughter of Samuel and Frances Pryor.
So, is there a connection between Samuel Pryor who married Frances Morton Meriwether and John Pryor the father of Nathaniel Pryor who was part of Lewis and Clark’s expedition and also resided in the Kentucky frontier?