Southern Pryor Family Genealogy
The descendants of David Pryor of Buckingham County, VA have claimed him as the father of Mitchie Pryor who married Thomas Jefferson’s brother. I think I’m swayed to that idea… well maybe. His descendants have used him as their “Patriot” ancestor to gain admission to Continue reading
On 1 August 1777 an H. Pryor, Lieut advertised in Purdie’s Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg). He was seeking his friend Thomas Vaughn Nance who had enlisted with him in Col. Harrison’s artillery in York. He was entreating his friend to return to the unit before he was “deemed a deserter.” Thank goodness for Wikipedia.org, because there’s some good information there on this artillery. They formed in Williamsburg and fought in the Southern theater during the Revolutionary War, so Virginia should be the right place to start looking for this Pryor.
So Lt. H. Pryor may have been from Gloucester, Hampton, York Counties, or James City, Elizabeth City. I’ve got lots of records on the Pryors and “H” is a stand-out name in VA in the 1700’s. I have only one more Pryor that begins with “H” — Henry Pryor who was recorded in Botetourt County, VA in 1786.
Now Botetourt is interesting because this H. Pryor was looking for a Nance and there are several Nance’s later in Botetourt. Children of Joseph Pryor in Botetourt married into the Nance family: Molly Pryor married Peter Nance, and Thornton married Mary/Polly Nance.
The surname Vaughn is also connected to this line of Pryors: Joseph of Botetourt’s nephew John Alexander Pryor married a Martha Vaughn. Shadrack Vaughn married Mary Meriwether — Mary was one Joseph of Botetourt’s step nieces and nephews through his brother Samuel’s marriage to Frances Morton who had children from her first marriage to a Meriwether (I hope that had some clarity — there’s no easy way to state that relationship!)
I think we may be on our way to ID a “lost” Pryor.
I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since I last wrote about Sarah Pryor Squire McCabe Carter McPhail. Whew! All those surnames! Sarah Pryor has always been the odd one out in my research and now I realize it’s because my research wasn’t near finished. I may not be at the finish line yet, but I have a clearer idea now of where she fits with the Pryors.
Sarah McPhail left a will in Williamson County, TN dated 1 May 1851. She named her heirs Luke L. Smith, Mary Taylor wife of William Taylor, and she owed debts to Samuel Winstead (husband of Susannah Pryor) and William P. Smith. These heirs are almost carbon copies of those named in Luke Pryor’s will and Susannah Pryor Winstead’s will. The will was disputed and heirs, including Henry B. Pryor and his daughters Rhoda A Pryor Crocker, and Mary A Pryor Crocker were noticed for Chancery Court proceedings.
The first known marriage for Sarah Pryor was to David Squire in 1816 in Williamson County. If you believe her age on the 1850 Census, she was about 35 years old when she married Squire which was rather… well, old… by the standards of the time. David Squire died within three years of the marriage. His will was signed in 1818 in Williamson County, naming a married daughter, Elizabeth Lowry— which strongly suggests that David, like Sarah Pryor, was older at the time of their marriage. David died sometime before the inventory of the estate which was made on 11 Jan 1819 and signed by his wife, Sarah, the executrix.
If anyone if interested in doing more research on David Squire, I spotted a couple of records that may help. In 1809 he purchased items from the estate of John Tapley. I highly suspect John is the son of Hosea Tapley and Lucy Pryor, daughter of John Henry Pryor and wife Margaret. The account of Tapley’s estate sale was filed in April 1809 in Williamson County. People who purchased from the estate align with members of John Henry Pryor’s family who were in Williamson Co.– Peter Perkins, Robert McLemore, Nicholas T. Perkins, Thomas Hardin Perkins. David Squire was the administrator of the estate of Gurdon Squire who died around 1814.
Sarah’s second husband was Hugh McCabe. He applied for a Revolutionary War Pension in 1832 from Maury County, TN (see application). His application states he was about 75 years old in 1832 (born about 1757). He states at the time he entered service he was “a resident of Amherst County, Virginia on Pedlar River.” Now anyone who has looked at the Pryors in Amherst County, knows that they were on the Pedlar River. I’ve speculated for quite some time that the Hugh McCabe in Amherst Co. was the same one in Maury County, but FINALLY the pension application confirms it. Hugh McCabe’s Property in Amherst County was recorded near Nicholas Pryor (Was this F. Nicholas Pryor?) and he was engaged in a slander suite with William and Mary Pryor.
Documentation of the death of Sarah’s second husband, Hugh McCabe, can be found in SUNDRIES EVENTS, a log written by James J. Selby, who was born in Kent County, England on 7 June 1773 and lived in Maury Co., TN (see article in Ansearchin News (Wayback Machine link), Spring 1984). Selby first logged–
Departed this life Hugh McCabe an Old Resident of Mt. Pleasant about 10 o’Clock at night
and then on Jan 19, 1833 —
Married in this town Majr Carter to the widow McCabe 6 months & 14 days after the death of her last husband Hugh McCabe (now got 3d)
Ouch! Was Selby making a dig when he logged, “now got a 3rd”–did she marry too soon after her husband’s death, or was a third husband improper, or was the third marriage at age 52 an oddity? It reads a bit catty.
On the 1840 Census Daniel Carter, Sarah’s third husband, was counted on the line following Angus McPhail (her fourth husband) in Maury County, TN. Daniel Carter was another veteran of the American Revolutionary War (see his pension application). There’s an application for the Sons of the American Revolution on Ancestry.com that states Daniel’s first wife, Sarah Conyers, died in 1826. Carter’s will was signed 6 January 1841 in Williamson County, TN and mentions sons Benjamin Carter, Milton Carter, Anderson Carter, and daughters Harriet Roland and Eliza Smith, as well as his wife Sarah, who was likely Sarah Pryor since the will was written long after the first wife’s death and almost 10 years after their marriage in 1833.
I found that Robert Davis was a witness on Daniel Carter’s will in 1841 AND on David Squire’s will in 1818. Maybe I’ve seen too much crime TV, but I thought it a bit odd that Robert Davis witnessed two of her husband’s wills. When I Googled him I found he was a clergyman and had witnessed several Revolutionary War pension applications in the 1830’s, so perhaps he was their minister. And really, 4 marriages over the course of almost 40 years isn’t too eyebrow-raising.
At the time of her death Sarah Pryor was known as Sarah McPhail. There’s a marriage in Williamson county dated 28 Oct 1844 for Sarah Carter to Angus McPhail. Sarah McPhail was recorded on the 1850 Census in Williamson County– age 78 born in SC, so she was about 72 when she married last husband. There really aren’t many records available on husband #4 Angus McPhail. He was probably married before Sarah Pryor to another Sarah– there’s a gravemarker for Sarah McPhail (died 1840) “consort” of Angus McPhail in the cemetery in Franklin, TN (see Find A Grave). I’ve thought that Angus possibly out-lived Sarah Pryor because I found an Angus McPhail and his son Daniel on the census in Washington County, TX in 1860 and then Daniel shows up on the census in Williamson County, TN in 1870.
Well, Sarah is definitely one of the more interesting Pryors. Now, I’m wondering if she and all these Williamson County Pryors are somehow more closely connected with the Pryors in Amherst County. More digging ahead.
I need to revisit the last post. I found something that helps to ID one of the Pryors in the court records– Henry Lee vs. John Pryor, filed 1799 in Henrico Co., VA.
From Elizabeth Pryor Harper’s book:
JOHN PRYOR, Maysville & Mason County, 1780 Major John Prior Nov 14 1796 William Wood and Alexander D Orr, Article of agreement for division of land on Lawrence Creek in Mason County, Kentucky. The claim was in name of John Pryor witnessed by Henry Lee D S 2 p Endorsed William Wood, and A D Orr.
Bear with me…
1784 Land Grant in Fayette Co., KY- To John Pryor 6000 acres on Lawrence Creek in Fayette Co., KY. 24 Oct 1784
You see the Mason County deed and earlier Fayette county land grant appear to be about the same land on Lawrence Creek.
“Major John Pryor” in most cases refers to the old John Pryor in Richmond who died without issue. We know from Maj Pryor’s Revolutionary War Pension Application that he received land in Kentucky (see post) and that he sold of most of the land. It looks like his acquaintance Henry Lee was a witness to his land sale and a few years later filed suit in Richmond.
I’ve wondered for some time where the Haymarket Gardens amusement park was located in Richmond, VA. This was the house and park owned by Major John Pryor, retired Revolutionary War soldier and ex-husband of Anne Beverly Whiting. I stumbled upon a map of Poe’s Richmond. Yes, that’s the same guy who was the founder of modern mystery fiction, author Edgar Allen Poe. Who knew that Poe would even remotely tie into the Pryors!
Ann Beverly Whiting, the future mother of explorer John C Fremont lived there. President Jefferson’s cousin stayed there and to some accounts was treated more like a servant than a house guest. Major Pryor’s Revolutionary War Widow’s pension file has a sworn statement in it that Rev. Edmund Lacy, a methodist minister, performed Major Pryor’s second marriage to Elizabeth Quarles Graves at Haymarket Gardens.
The map states “1799 site of Pryor’s or Haymarket Gardens, was on Petersburg R. R. Station location, Byrd and 7th Sts.” I’ve added a small red dot to mark the location above. Major Pryor died in 1823, while Poe was living in Richmond. I wonder if the Haymarket was still in operation at that time or if had already closed to make way for the railroad station.
I wonder where Major Pryor was buried. Centenary Methodist is a 200 year old church in the Richmond.