Reunion of Co. D, 2nd Kentucky

  Richard Pryor, son of
 Jonathan Pryor,Jr.

Richard T. Pryor was the son of Jonathan Pryor, Jr. and Frances Rozzell of Pryorsburg, Graves County, Kentucky. At the age of 21 on the 28th of July, 1861, Richard was enlisted by Capt. Lewis S. Slayden in the Second Kentucky Infantry, CSA, at Camp Boone, Tennessee. The 2nd Kentucky was part of the First Kentucky Brigade which in time came to be known as the "Orphan Brigade".

On December 2, 1862 he was taken prisoner at Hartsville, Tennessee. It is unclear how long he was a Union prisoner, but on the 30th of June, 1863, in Jackson, Mississippi, he received a medical discharge because of a gunshot through his right elbow which occurred during the battle in Hartsville. CSA records at the time of his discharge state that he was 5 feet 8 inches tall, with fair complexion, blue eyes and light hair.

Twenty-seven years later a reunion was held at the home of Richard Pryor. On October 1, 1890 the Mayfield Monitor published the following article:

Reunion of Company D, Second Kentucky

A reunion of the above company at the residence of Mr. Richard Pryor, four miles southwest of here, on last Wednesday, notwithstanding the disagreeableness of the weather, was largely attended and proved a great success.

The following members of the company for which the meeting was arranged were present and took part in the exercises. Their ages, post office addresses and Christian names are also given:

Henry T. Wilkerson, age 49, Mayfield; T. F. (Dock) Mason, age 51, Pritchard, Graves County; Jas. D. Watson, age 46, Mayfield; Amos West, age 53, Mayfield; R. L. Usrey, age 57, Mayfield; W. W. (Wint) Potts, age 53, Pottsville; H. L. (Los) Jones, age 49, West Plains; J. V. (Jake) Canaday, age 59, Mayfield; Thos. F. Boaz, age 53, Kansas, Ky.; A. B. (Arch) Pullen, age 47, Lynnville; R. T. (Dick) Pryor, age 50, Mayfield; D. P. (De) Coulter, age 51, Mayfield.

As far as is known the following are the names of surviving members who were not present:

Newt. Anderson, Bushnell, Fla.; Wit. Boaz, Martin, Tenn.; Jack Pryor, East Prairie, Mo.; Bill Burton, Wingo; John Bourne, Pryorsburg; Charlie Haskell, Moscow; F. M. Handley, Melbourne, Ark.; Thos. Hopkins; New Mexico; A. T. Pullen, Pryorsburg; Wm. Bridges, Arkansas; Tup. Ryburn, Viola; Marshall Sullivan, Boaz; John Williams, West Plains; Tip. Myers, Wingo; Jim Touhey, Pryorsburg; Thomas Floyd, Wingo.

The company was organized with 110 men at Camp Boone, near Clarksville, Tenn., July 13, 1861. L. S. Slayden was chosen captain; H. B. Rodgers, first lieutenant; A. J. Pryor, second lieutenant; R. L. Usrey, third lieutenant. At the end of the war 36 of the company were paroled at Washington, Ga. The officers of the company at the time of the surrender were A. J. Pryor, captain; R. L. Usrey, first lieutenant; Amos West, second lieutenant; C. A. Haskell, third lieutenant.

Capt. T. M. Curtis, Company K, 50th Tenn.; Capt. R. T. Albritton, Company C, 8th Ky.; J. L. Rickman, Company K, 47th Tenn.; L. W. Bostic, Company A, 12th Ky., were also present, together with a number of Mr. Pryor’s friends.

A magnificent dinner was spread, to which it is needless to say all did justice; in fact it is said that one gentleman not only filled his stomach, but also his pockets, with the good things that were spread so lavishly before him. For any information on this point inquire of Bob Albritton, Amos West, Bill Bostic or Dock Mason.

All who went enjoyed themselves and returned home with nothing but good words for the hospitable manner in which they were treated by Mr. & Mrs. Pryor and their popular daughter, Miss Fannie Pryor.


(Photo courtesy of West Kentucky Genealogy from the Pryor-Hogue Album)

The Children of William T. Wingo

William Thomas Wingo, the youngest child of Thomas Wingo and Mary Holt Wingo, was born on April 14th 1818 in Virginia, probably in Nottaway County. By the time he was ten years old, he was an orphan for Mary died in 1827 and Thomas in 1828. William was then cared for my his much older brother Jerman and appears to have joined him on the migration to Kentucky.

On January 10th, 1840 in Hickman County, Kentucky, William married Harriet Lochridge, daughter of James Lochridge and Rachel Hicklin. In the Hickman County census of 1850, the family was living in the Baltimore community just north of the Tennessee state line and included James T. Wingo age 6, Rachel age 5 and one year old California. By the 1860 census, the family was absent from all census listings in the area. According to Jerman Wingo's bible, W. T. Wingo died on 17 October 1857 and Harriett died on February 12th, 1860. William's cause of death was recorded as "fever" on his Hickman County death record but no record could be found for Harriet's death.

I discovered the births of two more children after the 1850 census was taken. A birth record for a "no name" Wingo was recorded on the 27th of June 1853 and Mary Ellen Wingo on 19 April 1856. The child listed as "no name" later was found to be George Newton Wingo

As I attempted to locate the children, I even began to research Harriet's Lochridge family. When the 1860 census was taken, a J. T. "Bingo" was listed in the Graves County household of William Pryor, husband of Caroline Lochridge Pryor, Harriet's sister. In the Baltimore community of Hickman County, California was living in the household of John & Sarah Coates and a few residences from the Coates, 4 year old Mary Ellen was living with the family of G. W. Sellars, a constable. Newton was also living in Hickman County in the home of Harriet's brother Marshall Lochridge. Only Rachel couldn't be found in that 1860 census. Then, by the 1870 census, none of the children could be found other than a possible John T. Wingo living in a boarding house in Mayfield who might have been James and his name listed incorrectly.

Periodically I would think about these lost children and make another attempt to find them but always unsuccessfully. I did find that the John T. Wingo living in Mayfield in 1870 really was James. At that time he held the position of the Graves County Clerk. He had served in John Hunt Morgan's Cavalry during the Civil War and was seriously injured before being captured. He died before November of 1870 possibly as a result of those injuries. From the History of the First Kentucky Brigade By Edwin Porter Thompson, pub 1868:

THOMAS WINGO, Graves County, Ky., was sick when the regiment marched to Donelson, but recovered and joined Morgan’s cavalry, with which he fought until he lost a leg in battle. He was wounded at Lebanon in one of his eyes.

Finally, I happened upon the 1952 death record of James Rudy Blalock which named his father as Levi Blalock, Jr. and his mother as Mary Ellen Wingo. From that point, I continued to find them one after the other, Rachel, then George Newton who had married Ellieander Blalock, Levi's sister, but not Callie. I used all my most successful methods, even searching by first names but could never find her. Then one day when reviewing some Graves County census pages for the Pryorsburg area, I saw the name of the wife of James Knox Polk Pryor was Callie and she was exactly the right age. On that same page Levi and Mary Ellen Blalock were listed. I had finally found Callie and once I found her obituary, it confirmed her maiden name as Wingo.

After all my searching for William Thomas Wingo's children, it seems that they were hiding in plain sight all along. In the tax records of Graves County, I eventually learned that William Pryor had been the administrator of his sister-in-law Harriet's estate and the children were all living in close proximity to him in Pryorsburg - about 5 miles from Wingo, Kentucky.


(Photos property of Raymond Wingo, descendant of George Newton and Ellieander Blalock Wingo.)