I’ve been trying to fill in some of the blanks that I have on the Matthew Pryor of Marion County family tree. I noticed I didn’t have the census information on Keziah Pryor, who is reported to be Matthew’s daughter.
The first place I found her was in the Ancestry One World Tree. Folks who know me from my Pryor Newsletter and research emails, know how much I loathe this product. Garbage in — garbage out! I looked at user submitted family trees and found that Keziah married John Condra (widow of Mary Griffith– perhaps from the same Griffith family that Keziah’s cousin William “Buck” Pryor married into).
Keziah is on the 1850 Census in Marion County, living with her brother William Henry Pryor b. 1828 and his wife Mary Cowan b. 1836. She was about 20 years old and not yet married.
What surprised me is where I found Keziah in 1860. She was married by then to John Condra and living in Madison County, TN. When I looked at a map I saw that these counties are miles apart. Doing a quick search for directions on MapQuest I found that the counties are about 240 miles apart! John Condra’s mother (Joyce) and brothers were living in Madison County and they were living there in 1850.
Living in the Condra household in 1860 was William Condra b. 1848-9. Since Keziah was single in 1850, it appears that William was a child from John Condra’s first marriage. In 1850 there is a George Condra b. 1825 in KY living in Madison Co. next to Joyce. His wife was Mary A. 18 born in TN and they have a son named William b. 1849 in TN. William Cowan b. 1801 in TN is in house #57/57, Joyce Condra b. 1798 in NC is in house #61/61 which included her older sons Howell 23 and Wyatt 21, and George Condra is in house #62/62. The only Condra family in Marion Co. in 1850 were James and Rhoda living near Robert Griffith. It’s likely that George in Madison County is actually John Condra who married Keziah Pryor.
In addition to William– Sarah 9, Mary 6, and Benjamin 1– were also counted in John and Keziah’s household in 1860. It should be noted that there is a Sarah Ander/Anders b. 1816 living near them. She is perhaps a relative of John’s or his wife because in 1870 she was counted next to them in Marion Co.
So, in 1870 John and Keziah were in Marion Co., TN. They were counted in District 3, on the same page with Hardon and Delilah Griffith, parents of Delilah Griffith who was counted with Howell Condra, Sarah Anders. Additional children born to Keziah were Luraney 8, John 2. Luraney appears to have been a popular name amongst the Condras: Sarah Anders had a daughter named Luraney on the 1860 Census, and on the 1870 John Condra and William Condra both have daughters with this name. Also, John Condra, William Condra, and James Condra had sons named after their father Benjamin Condra.
User submitted trees give Keziah Pryor’s date of birth as 30-Dec-1829 in sometimes NC and other times TN. The census records all state she was born in TN. Her place of death is Whitewell, TN (Marion Co.) in 4-Apr-1900. I have not been able to find her on the 1880 Census.
). He was born in Smithfield, RI in 1823. In 1854 he arrived in Memphis and married on 11-9-1853 (so did he marry in Nashville and move to Memphis?). In 1872 he moved to Louisville, KY to further his medical studies. On Ancestry.com I found a passport application from 1867 for a Christopher S. Fenner, but no information to further the search. He died in 1879.