Have you searched the web for unusual spelling variations of the Pryor surname? I bring this up every so often because there are some pretty wild errors out there than can keep you from finding your Pryor roots!
One of my favorites is spelling variations is “John C. Prisn”
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~varussel/vitals/marriages/1867.html . This is John Clark Prior or Pryor of Jefferson Co., TN.
Another “eee-gads” misspelling is “Lindanter Pasc” on Ancestry’s 1860 Census Index. For years no one could find Cinderella Pryor who was on the 1850 Census in Jackson County and then in 1870 in Franklin County, IL. Once the spelling variations were uncovered we were able to correctly place members back in line on the family tree.
So, how to find these misplaced and misspelled Pryors? I recommend using the wildcard search on Ancestry: Use as little as the first 3 letters of a name and the “*” symbol. Also searching for place of birth and birth year in a specific location will turn up a list of people to sift through for possible misspellings.
The web is a wonderful, interactive place – a far cry from when I first started doing Genealogy in the early 90’s on Prodigy. When you find a misspelled Pryor, you’ve blazed a trail, so leave a trail marker! When using Ancestry you can click on the left link “view record” and then click the left link next to the little pencil icon “View/Add Alternate Info” — when you add the corrected name others will find it in the future.
Don’t forget that on Facebook, blogs, and other websites when you see “comments” you can leave a comment with corrected info or more information– these comments are searchable and will help others with their family tree search.
Isn’t Genealogy fun! We all have a little bit of our favorite detective in us.
