Tag Archives: richard pryor

Explaining Richard Pryor (b. 1838) Living in Pike County, GA

Everyone has a Richard Pryor in their family tree? Not everyone, well then most people. There’s a boy named Richard Pryor on the 1850 Census in Pike County, GA that can be explained (up to a point).

Richard appears on the 1850 Census in Pike County in the household of James Shipp and wife Rhoda. Richard was 12 years old and born in KY. I ended up looking at James Shipp in order to figure out a bit more about Richard.

James Shipp married Rhoda Parker in 1819 in Columbia county, GA. Richard was born about 20 years after their marriage.

In 1851 James Shipp made his will and explains that Richard was adopted.

Georgia Pike County

November 15th 1851

In the name of God Amen.

I James Shipp being affected in body but sound in mind have though? purpose to dispose of my worldly affairs in the following manner to wit– 1. My just debts shall all be paid

2 There shall be three hundred dollars of many given out of my estate by my administrator unto the church at Flat Rock to the trustees so long as the church remains an established church.

3. My negro man Isaac to be sold unto the highest bidder and the money given unto my brother William Shipp’s son James Shipp.

4. My land and farming implements and my negros: Mariah, Hannah, Manda, Gabriel, Lee and a boy Hampton, Milas boy shall be kept together on any farm belong unto my wife during her lifetime or widowhood.

5. And my adopted son Richard Prior shall remain with my wife Rody and be supported out of the proceeds of my estate until he arrives at the age of twenty one and if my wife Rody hereto marry someone, he the said R. Prior shall be and I here by make him my heir of my whole estate but not until her death or intermarriage with some other man and should Richard Prior depart this life before my wife Rhoda Shipp without lawful heir then and in that event after the death of him and my wife there without heirs my whole estate shall —-? unto my two brothers William M. Shipp and Lemuel G. Shipp or their heirs with an equal devise.

6. I hereby ordain and appoint Josiah Pyron of the county of Pike and Lewis Pyron [sic] of Meriweather my executors of this my last will and testament Signed and delivered in presence of W. P. Irvin, John Foxworth, Abraham D. Woods.

Will proved 1st December 1851

The progression of Shipp’s estate went from his death in 1851 to his wife who died in 1853 to his young adopted son, Richard Prior, who died in 1856. An administration bond was taken out in Pike county for Richard Prior, deceased with William Pryor and Matthew Coggin (the son in law of John Pryor who had died in 1848 in Pike County). Was Richard connected to the line of John Pryor? If Richard was really born in KY, who were his parents?

As always, more questions.

Positive ID on Richard Pryor and Son Beverly Pryor

I found a newspaper article that will help to turn up the ID to “positive” for Richard Pryor and son Beverly Pryor in this recent post.

https://2018/04/richard-pryor-richmond-madison-co-al/

When the tale of their Virginia adventure made it’s way into an Alabama newspaper, the editor chose to ID the Pryor men.

From The Selma Daily Reporter, September 19, 1835

I can’t let go of Richard Pryor of Madison County without some more pondering of his possible connections.

Richard was born in 1798, but I’ve seen the surnames involved in the Richmond “ruckus” that took place in the 1830’s connected to a Pryor line. In 1774 a notice was published in Rind’s Virginia Gazette; it mentioned business conducted by Matthew Anderson of King and Queen County and Christopher Pryor of Gloucester Courthouse. There’s the Anderson surname again.

Hmmm… Christopher Pryor? His Son married Betty Armistead Tyler and his daughter was named Elizabeth Whiting Pryor. Both Armistead and Whiting are names that come up with Richard Pryor of Madison County.

I’m putting Richard and his line again on the the back burner, but considering he may be connected to the Pryors in Gloucester County.

Richard Pryor of Richmond and Madison Co, AL

Back in 2014 I posted about Pryor men from Alabama who returned to their home state of Virginia and were accused of causing a ruckus in their relatives’ household. The complaint was lodged by Brown and it sounds like sexual advances were made against the elder Pryor’s wife’s female Anderson kin.

https://2014/04/two-gamblin-alabama-pryors-in-trouble-in-the-old-virginia-1835/

Then in 2016 I wrote about Richard Pryor of Madison County and wife Dolly who were named in a notice regarding a Richmond, VA suit. Named in the same notice were John Brown, —-Anderson and Octavia his wife. The notice was regarding a Chancery Court case the estate of John D Brown. Perhaps that was the case of John Brown, etc vs. Nancy Brown, widow filed in the Richmond Chancery Court in 1849 (see LVA index).

https://2016/07/richard-pryor-in-richmond-va-and-in-madison-county-al/

After doing some searches I found that there’s a William Armistead Anderson who married a Catherine Octavia Ruela Brown. The 1850 notice was addressed to Richard Pryor and his wife and also Mr. Anderson and his wife, stating that they were not residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

So if the Anderson and Brown relations are the same families named in both sources, then the father and son team who were accused of causing havoc in Richmond are probably Richard Pryor and his son Beverly Pryor.

When I was searching out the names in the 1850 notice I found an Ursula Ragland age 82 who was born in VA– she was counted in the household of Samuel Ragland age 44 in Franklin County, AL. Researchers have her as the mother of the Ragland males in the household: Samuel 44 (head of household), John 57, William A 52 and Nathaniel 47. I have to include a TN connection– Ursula D Ragland was on the 1820 Census in Smith County, TN. What really piqued my interest was that Samuel had a son living in the household named Beverly Ragland– a nice tie-in perhaps to Richard and Dolly Pryor’s son named Beverly.Ra

In December of 1850 Dolly Pryor died at the home of S J (Samuel) Ragland. Was Dolly a Ragland?

Mrs. Dolly Pryor of Huntsville on the 15, age 62 years. She died at the residence of S J Ragland. (Tuskegee Republican 5 Dec 1850)

Who was Richard Pryor in Catahoula Parish Feud?

diggingforroots


Nothing about the Liddell-Jones feud ended well (see post). After Charles Jones killed St. John R Liddell on the river boat Welcome, mob justice was unleashed on Jones– the mob killed Charles Jones, his son William Jones, and possibly his son Cuthbert Jones. The Ouachita Telegraph describes this a “tragedy”, however I suspect in our time we’d call this a lynching.

Who was the Richard Pryor involved in the feud? What was his fate? I think the Richard who became involved in the Catahoula Parish feud was the son of William Bland Pryor (born 1793 in VA). This is the Richard Pryor who brashly demanded the head of Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Civil War (see post). The feud was fought near Trinity, LA (#1 on the map below). In 1850 Richard was living with his parents in Madison Parish, LA (#2) and was counted in 1860 in nearby Vicksburg, MS (#3).

Richard Pryor In Richmond, VA and In Madison County, AL

va-pryors

Why on earth are there so many men named Richard Pryor in the 1820-1830’s? While looking at Richard Pryor of Hempstead County, AR I also noted a Richard H. Pryor in Samuel Pryor’s estate in Hardeman County, TN, then there was Richard Pryor the gamble and hothead in Catahoula Parish, LA. So why not look at one more!

Then there was Richard Pryor who was in Madison County AL. Richard was in this county as early as 1822 when he first started appearing as a named party on lawsuits. The first US census of the county wasn’t taken until 1830– his age was recorded between 30-39 years old. His presumed wife, Dolly, was 52 in 1850 so Richard may have been born close to 1798. Richard wasn’t on the 1809 Census of Madison County, so, he must have arrived in the county sometime between 1809 and 1822.

I’ve written a few times about the death of Beverly Pryor (see posts). He was killed on a Mississippi racetrack in 1836 and his father traveled from Alabama to collect his body. In 1837 Richard Pryor (about age 36-45) was appointed the administrator of Beverly’s estate (Madison Co., AL). Was Beverly 21 or older when he was killed in MS? — that would make Richard about 17-27-ish at the time of Beverly’s birth. They could be father and son.

I can’t mention Beverly without mentioning the demise of the man who killed him — he was later beheaded and it was assumed he was killed by one of the Pryors. Involved in horseracing — a revenge killing —  that would possibly describe this Richard Pryor as a “blackleg” or in our contemporary terms, a “bad ass.” I wonder if he was the Richard Pryor who was in Catahoula Parish, LA (see post).

In 1836 an Alabama Legislative act changed the name of Dolly Beverly B Harrel to Dolly Beverly B Pryor and recognized her as the legitimate child of Beverly Pryor. And she was recognized as the rightful heir of Richard Pryor. Dolly B (born 1835) was living in the older Dolly Pryor’s household in 1850. I’ve long suspected that Richard and the older Dolly were kin. An old newspaper clipping helps to ID as husband and wife.

TO RICHARD PRYOR AND DOLLY HIS wife, George W. Turner and Catharine G. his wife, Ursula D. Ragland, John Brown, —-Anderson and Octavia his wife, and A. Cook and Judith his wife.
As you are not residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and have no agent therein known to us, you will hereby take notice that we shall proceed on Thursday, the 28th of February, 1850, and between the hours of 9 o’clock, AM and sunset of that day, at the office of Messrs. Meredith and Young. Attorneys at Law in the City of Richmond, to take the depositions of John Sheppard, Wellington Godin* and others, to be read as evidence on behalf of the defendants in a certain suit now pending in the Superior Court of Chancery for the Richmond Circuit, in which you and others are plaintiffs, and ourselves and William Davis, Hardin Davis, Spotswood G. Waldrop, Alfred Winston, John Clash, and others, are defendants, and which suit is now on the rules docket of said court; and if from any cause the said depositions be not commenced, or being commenced shall not be completed on that day, the taking thereof will be continued from day-to-day at the same place, and between the same hours, until the taking thereof shall be completed.
JAMES S RYALL
SAMUEL DAVIS
Executors of John D Brown, deceased.
(Richmond Enquirer, February 08, 1850)

* Wellington Godin was recorded in Richmond in 1850, occupation constable.

In older posts I mused over the first name Beverly as a possibly Beverly surname connection to Major John Pryor of Richmond. Isn’t it interesting that we now know this Richard Pryor had some kind of tie to Richmond?

I’m thinking through all the possibilities. What if Richard was still alive in 1850 and still alive in 1852 to be involved in the feud in Catahoula Parish? Could the Richard in Catahoula Parish and in Madison County, AL be the same Dick Pryor who was racing horses up in Nashville? I don’t think so and will explain in my next post.