The Winter issue of the Tennessee Genealogical Society’s Ansearchin’ News is ready for readers. It includes my article “The J. Prior in Nashville Penitentiary in 1860 Was Jonathan Pryor (born 1820-1830).” See the TNGS website. Jonathan’s life was troubled, but through his troubles evidence exists to connect him from just …
Pryor Wives: Stories of Family, Fortune, and Fiasco Pryor Wives is unlike most genealogy books. It does not focus on one family—instead the author looks at women who married into several Pryor families who shared a common surname, but probably did not share blood or share a family tree. The …
I took a field trip to White Plains, New York to access probate files from the Westchester County Surrogate’s Court. On the return trip I saw a historical marker at Armonk, New York. The marker at Smith Tavern commemorates the thousands of French troops who marched past that location during …
An error in a court house record could be a bit of spilled ink or a misspelled name. What happens to research when the clerk of the county court gets confused and says the wrong person is dead? How far down the research rabbit hole does that misinformation send a …
Darn it, why is everyone named John Pryor? It’s common to run into a family where they lacked creativity when naming children. Haven’t you found in your family tree a grandma, mother, and child who all share the same name? I was looking at a man named John Pryor in …
