Tag Archives: Williamson County

#2 Bible Entry: Early Family History

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Entry 2 Form the Bible of of John Polk Pryor

Family Memoranda, Script 1867

I have heard (from my father, Edward, I believe) that while my great-great grandfather, John Pryor, had 12 children of whom 4 were sons, my great-grandfather, Green Pryor (born in 1745) died before he was 25, leaving but a child, one son (John) .  This son lived to be only 27, dying of the small pox at Norfolk, VA., leaving only 2 children, Peter and Green. My uncle Peter, who was two years older than my father, married my mother’s half sister, Angelina Harris, and dying at the age of 27, left but one child, a daughter named Eliza, who married her cousin George Washington Perkins. Washington and Eliza, both always seemed so near and dear to me almost as brother and sister.  Eliza lived a happy wife for many years with a home-full of the fairest children ever seen, and then became partially insane for a year or two — recovered entirely — added considerably (2 or 3 children) to her bright home circle, and then after living nearly through the war and until she was about 43 years old, died beloved and lamented by all who knew her. (She was a noble and beautiful woman — gentle and true).

TN Pryor Notes:

George Washington Pryor and wife Eliza are found on the 1850 and 1860 Census in Desoto County, MS.
https://tennesseepryors.com/pryor-website/state-records/mississippi/

Break out the champagne! We’ve added another Pryor to the TN Pryors Project. Eliza Pryor, daughter of Peter Pryor was probably born in Williamson County, TN.

View TN Pryor Project.
(short link)

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From Trolley to the Web: Peter and Green Pryor of Williamson County, TN

Sometimes new information comes to the Tennessee Pryor website from the most unusual sources.   It began with an email last month from a genealogist who was working with a widow in Frankfort, KY who was in possession of a Pryor family Bible. She wasn’t a Pryor… the book had been found on a trolley decades ago.  I know it sounds like the opening line to one of those email scams… just substitute Kentucky for Nigeria and the story runs off from there.  It looks to be the real deal!

From a trolley to the web, it’s been a long strange journey for this this treasured heirloom.

Although the information in the Bible is quite old, the book itself was published in 1856, it appears that it may have been transcribed  in the past as the data appears in many of the Ancestry Family Trees on this line.  A note initial “JPP”, presumably written by John Polk Pryor, a son of Green Pryor (brother of Peter Pryor of Williamson Co., TN) states that his father’s siblings births had been transcribed earlier: “The above are the names of the children of John Pryor and Margaret his wife drawn from the family Bible by Green Pryor, May 25 th AD 1844.” This is a reference to John Henry Pryor born about 1694 in VA and his wife Margaret Gaines.

I’m going to post transcriptions from the Bible on this blog in a series of postings. Like a great soap opera, you won’t want to miss a single one! Please let your family and researching friends know that about this blog. Subscribe in your favorite reader or get updates via email!

Newletter #19

MORE ON THE JACKSON COUNTY TN PRYORS… Over the past months it was discovered that Sinderilla Pryor (wife of Allen Pryor b. 1810 in SC) was on the 1860 Census in Jackson County. The probability arose that Cinderella Prior on the 1870 Census in Franklin Co., IL was the same person. I recently obtained two death certificates from Illinois to try to confirm the identity of the Pryors in Franklin Co. And they do!

While working on the Pryors I weighed whether Alfred Pryor who was on the 1850 Census with Allen and Sinderilla was the same person who appeared on Franklin Co., IL census record through 1920. His age differs wildly on the census records. In 1850 he was 5, in 1860 he was 14, age 16 in 1870, 23 in 1880, twenty years later in 1900 his age was recorded as 51, aged 56 in 1910, and aged 70 in 1920. The death certificate of Alfred Pryor states he was about 75 years old in 1921 (born about 1846 which would be close to his birth year on the 1850 census), although his date of birth wasn’t known. The certificate also confirms that his father was Allen Pryor of Tennessee.

Summaries of the death records are now on the TN Pryor website:
https://tennesseepryors.com/pryor-website/tn-records/tennessee-counties-j/

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This month all roads seem to converge on the Jackson County Pryors… but not without detours through Illinois and Williamson County, TN! A Pryor researcher contacted the website to report a link to Transcripts of court records for the probate of Luke Pryor’s will in 1848 and his sister Sarah Pryor McPhail’s will in 1851. (As of December 2019 link is no longer available)

The transcripts are interesting because they mention Rhoda Ann Pryor and her sister Polly (Mary) Ann Pryor who were living with a William Pryor in Jackson Co., TN. Both of these women are daughters of Henry B. Pryor (great grand-daughters of Luke Pryor).

Which raises the question: Are Rhoda and Mary, their guardian William, Allen and Alfred Pryor of Jackson County, and the line of Luke Pryor of Williamson Co., TN related?

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Do all these Pryors have your head “spinning?” Well, check out the website for information on the Pryor women from Jackson Co., TN who were spinners and weavers.
(waybackmachine link)

Tennessee Pryor Newsletter 3

Census Mistake in Jackson County, TN

BIG UPDATE for Jackson County Pryors. It’s been discovered that several Pryors were recorded as “Price” on the 1860 Census in Jackson County, that includes Alfred Pryor born 1805 in SC. Follow the link from TN CENSUS to the 1860 Census. I heard from researchers who are trying to confirm that Surena Elizabeth Pryor and Margaret Pryor who married Anderson men are daughters of Alfred Pryor. Both women and their families are on the Dent Co., MO census by 1900.

Nancy Pryor and Robert Nelson

Located NANCY PRYOR wife of ROBERT NELSON on the 1870 Census in Webster Co., KY. Nancy and her husband were on the 1850 Census in Overton Co., TN and Nancy and her children were in Iron Co., MO by 1880. Her whereabouts in 1860 is not yet known.

Elijah Pryor From TN to MO to CA

TN PRYOR PROJECT — * Updated ELIJAH W. PRYOR who was counted on the 1850 Census in Bates Co., MO. Possilby related to other Pryors in the area who came from White Co., TN. Elijah is probably the same man who was counted on the 1860 Census in Mendocino Co., CA. He is on the 1880-1900 Census in Vernon Co., MO again living near kin of White Co. Pryors.

Peter and Green Pryor of Williamson County, TN

* Added PETER and GREEN PRYOR from Williamson Co., TN. A history of these brothers has been added to HISTORIES section of TN Pryors. Melody Pryor turned up a Congressional Bill that mentions these men. Green Pryor was seeking relief from a bad 1818 land deal in Claiborne Co., MS. The Bill can be viewed on the Libary of Congress website. I also heard from Dee Dee Rypka who had uncovered a 1818 Deed in St. Louis, MO for the purchase of land by Peter and Green Pryor.

* More Williamson County Pryors… LUKE PRYOR and his siblings SARAH and SUSANNAH. These Pryors were probably born in SC and do not appear related to Peter and Green Pryor who came from VA.

* Also added… SIR PRYOR, an African American born 1808 in TN. He was counted in 1850 living in Anderson Co., TN.

Marion County Tennessee Pryor Family

MARION COUNTY, TN LINES… Glen Alan Pryor has submitted information on the line of McKindrick “Mack R.” Pryor, descended from the line of Revolutionary War soldier Matthew J. Pryor of Marion Co., TN. McKindrick lived in Douglas Co., MO and later in Brown and Mason Counties in Texas. To review this data, go to HISTORIES and click on MO Histories.
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NEW LINK… link to Nova Lemmons’ website for McNairy Co. Pryors has been added in the HISTORIES section of the website.