Pryor Ancestor Thomas Thomson

There were multiple Thomson/Thompson/Thomasson families in Louisa County, Virginia circa 1750 and much confusion on the internet about these families. Mourning Thomson Pryor, mother of James & Jonathan Pryor of Graves County, was the daughter of Thomas Thomson of Louisa County, Virginia. She is named in the 1774 will of Thomas Thomson along with all of her siblings in addition to Thomas' wife Hannah.

Virginia Northern Counties 1775

The internet is full of misinformation regarding the parentage of Thomas Thomson.  Countless trees incorrectly identify his father as Samuel Thomson. Samuel Thomson's 1753 will (Louisa Co., VA WB 1, p. 29) named a son Thomas who was a completely different individual from Thomas Thomson who died in 1774. Our Thomas Thomson's parents are unknown and were probably living in Hanover County. 

Thomas Thomson or Thompson the son of Samuel Thomson was a completely different individual. It was he who lived in Fredericksville Parish of Louisa County. There were definitely two different Thomas Thomsons, the one with the slave Frank (left in Samuel's will to his son Thomas) being enumerated near Samuel Thomson's other sons and the one who left the slaves York and Sibba in his 1774 will being enumerated in Trinity Parish where Moses Clack, who married this Thomas’ daughter, was working as an overseer. 

By 1770 the Thomas who owned Frank and lived near Samuel's other sons and the Thomas who owned York and Sibbe were on two separate tithable lists. Thomas with the slave Frank was still being enumerated near Samuel Sr.'s other sons after this Thomas died in 1774. Samuel Sr. deeded 400 acres on Tomahawk Branch of Christopher's Run to his son Thomas. in 1752. In April, 1753 Thomas sold 50 acres of it. The Thomas who owned the slave Frank, left to him by his father and who was enumerated near Samuel's other sons in the tithable lists, had 350 acres. In 1777, after this Thomas Thomson was dead, Thomas Thomson and his wife Ann sold 350 acres between Duckinghole and Christopher's Run at the head of a branch called Tomahawk (DB B, p.2). 

Excerpt from 1774 Will of
 Thomas Thomson

The internet is also filled with pedigrees recording Thomas' wife as Hannah McAllister. It was Thomas Thomasson who married Ann (Hannah) McAllister. Thomas Thomasson was born February 25, 1737, in Hanover County, Virginia, the son of George and Mary (Pollard) Thomasson. Thomas grew up on the Louisa plantation and married a neighbor's daughter, Anne Mackalester (McAllister), daughter of William Mackalester and his wife, Elizabeth Garland. They moved to Granville County, North Carolina with their extended family before 1800. Thomas Thomasson died in Granville County, North Carolina in 1818.

One of the other questionable entries found at various sites on the internet gives the name of Mourning's mother as Hannah Glass. Until recently, there seemed to be no primary source documenting that maiden name. Countess serious Thomson researchers were as mystified as I about Hannah's name and origins. Very recently another Thomson descendant and researcher discovered a Louisa County deed which referenced a tract of land in Hanover County. The 1765 deed (Louisa County VA, Deed Book C-1/2, pgs 123-125) is from Thomas and Hannah Thomson to James Tait. This deed for land was stated as being initially conveyed to Thomas & Hannah Thomson by an Indefeasible Estate of Inheritance from Thomas Glass of Hanover County.

This discovery does not prove that Thomas Thomson's wife Hannah was Hannah Glass, but it appears to be the first documentation of a connection with the Glass family of Hanover where Thomas Thomson is believed to have originated.  Research by several Thomson descendants after this deed was found has identified a community in the area of Totopottomoy's Creek in Hanover County where Glass, Thomson, Moorman, Anderson, Tait, Waddy and several other families with connections to our Thomson family were neighbors.  In the course of this search, I even discovered Pryors in New Kent County from which Hanover was created.

Sadly, Hanover and it's parent county, New Kent, are burned counties and have few extant records.  However, over the last few weeks we've learned enough to tell us that our Thomsons, Pryors and perhaps Glass ancestors all came from this community.  

Mourning Pryor in Calloway County

Kentucky's Jackson Purchase

For as long as I have been working with Pryor genealogy, the date and place of death of Mourning Thomson Pryor White, Jonathan and James Pryor's mother, has been a mystery. There was much speculation and many theories, the most commonly accepted one was that she had died sometime before 1820 probably in Logan County. There are even unsubstantiated reports that Mourning, along with Jobe family relatives, attended the Old Mulkey Meeting House (Baptist) near Tompkinsville, Kentucky in Monroe County and that she lived to be past 100 years. The fact that no historical records for Mourning Pryor White had been located after 1817 resulted in any number of unfounded claims.

Since Family Search has been adding more documents to their online catalog in recent months, I began to search the Calloway County records based upon having been told many years ago that Jonathan Pryor and extended family had lived for a time in Calloway County before settling in Graves County. The first year of tax lists for Calloway County was 1823 and to my delight, in the tax lists for that year were both Jonathan Pryor and Mourning White!

1823 Tax List of Calloway County, Kentucky

After locating Mourning in Calloway County, I began searching all of the counties adjacent to Logan, where Mourning, Jonathan and James Pryor were last recorded and Calloway where they appear in 1823. Mourning White along with James and Jonathan Pryor were last recorded in tax records of Logan County in 1817 after which they could not be found. A search of all the counties west of Logan toward the Jackson Purchase was fruitless. My next plan was to start searching the Tennessee counties just below the Kentucky state line, but I decided to search one last county in Kentucky first. Simpson County, Kentucky is adjacent to Logan to the southeast and it's western boundary is only a few miles from the area along the Red River where the Pryors' land is recorded. The 1819 tax list of Simpson County shows James and Jonathan Pryor along with Mourning White. In 1821 Mourning is still listed there but James and Jonathan had left, presumably preparing for the family's move to Calloway County.

James and Jonathan Pryor are both found in Graves County tax records beginning in 1824 and in all subsequent years thereafter, but there is no further record of Mourning. I believe we can assume that she either died in Calloway County circa 1823 or moved into Graves County with her sons where she later died. After so many years of not knowing what became of Mourning Thomson Pryor White when our Pryor ancestors moved to the Jackson Purchase, I have been extremely pleased to find that she came to the Jackson Purchase along with them.

DNA Matches Among My JP Families

This week the results of my recent DNA test have begun to show in Ancestry. There is currently no new information and nothing that will solve any lingering mysteries, but there have already been many matches to Jackson Purchase families where valid historical documentation already exists.

Numerous matches to Clapp descendants have already been identified including this match between William and Mary Clapp, children of John Isaac Clapp and Sarah Loy ~

Also a match to the previous generation George Loy and Mary Catherine Tillman, the parents of Sarah "Sally" Loy ~

A Wingo family match links Thomas and Sarah Wingo of Amelia County, Virginia to their sons Thomas Wingo and his brother Obediah who migrated to Spartanburg County, South Carolina after the Revolution. Thomas Wingo was the father of Jerman Jeduthan Wingo of Graves County ~

Marilla Pryor, wife of James Rodgers Cargill, of Graves County has always been considered a daughter of Jonathan Pryor and Elizabeth White although there are no historical records to confirm that relationship because of the courthouse fire that destroyed Graves County's earliest records. Now a DNA match to Eustacia "Stacy" Pryor for whom there is historical documentation, confirms that Marilla was descended from Jonathan Pryor ~

And finally, a match to Susannah Mary Pryor Newby confirms the long held belief that Jonathan Pryor and his brother James of Graves County were the children of Richard Pryor and Mourning Thomson of Virginia who migrated first to Tennessee and lastly to Logan County, Kentucky. In the past there has been much debate, discussion and some disbelief that Jonathan and James were truly the children of Richard and Mourning Pryor. Susannah Mary Pryor's husband, Henry Newby, was named among the heirs of Richard Pryor in a Logan County deed of 29 Nov 1811 wherein Richard Pryor's heirs were selling a tract of land to Jonathan Pryor whose relationship was unstated. (Logan County KY DB C:467-469)

I'm looking forward to many more interesting matches and hopefully a few new revelations as the matches continue to arrive.

Pryor Ancestor - Mourning Thomson

James and Jonathan Pryor who settled in Graves County, Kentucky shortly after the area was opened for settlement were the children of Richard Pryor and Mourning Thomson originally from Virginia. Mourning Pryor was named as a daughter in the will of Thomas Thomson of Trinity Parish, Louisa County, Virginia written on 24 April 1774. Thomas Thomson died sometime before the 10th of October 1774 when the will was recorded.



Fanny Pryor,
daughter of Richard Pryor
grandson of Mourning

There has been much confusion regarding the identity of Mourning's mother who was previously listed in numerous online sources as Hannah McAllister. Based upon Thomas Thomson's will her name was Hannah but it appears that it was a Thomas Thomasson of Louisa County who was married to Hannah McAllister daughter of William McAllister (Mackalester) and Elizabeth Garland. Thomas Thomasson was the son of George Thomasson of Hanover County, Virginia. Thomas and several of his brothers moved to Granville County, North Carolina around 1777 where he died testate in 1818.

The identity of Mourning's grandfather, father of Thomas Thomson, previously believed to be Samuel Thomson who died in Louisa County in 1753 has recently also come into question based upon the name of slaves distributed to legatees of that will. This is an area that needs much research into the records of Louisa County to resolve.

Soon after the Revolutionary War ended, the Pryor family settled in the Greene/Cocke County, Tennessee area where Mourning Prier is recorded as being one fo the charter members of the Big Pigeon Primitive Baptist Church when it was constituted on the 6th of December 1787. In February of 1794, Mourning Prier made application for a letter of dismissal which was apparently in preparation for the family's move to Logan County, Kentucky.

Grave of Capt. A. J. Pryor

After their arrival in Logan County, Richard Pryor died in 1797 and Mourning is recorded as the administratrix of his estate. In Logan County on the 19th of June 1800, Mourning Pryor married widower Thomas White whose daughter Elizabeth was the future wife of Jonathan Pryor. When Thomas White died in 1806, Mourning was the executrix of his will.

As Mourning White, she was recorded in the census and tax records of Logan County, Kentucky until after 1810. There are unsubstantiated reports that Mourning, along with Jobe family relatives, attended the Old Mulkey Meeting House (Baptist) near Tompkinsville, Kentucky in Monroe County and that she lived to be past 100 years. There are no historical records that confirm these assertions. I have made several trips to Logan County searching the records as well as local cemeteries there, but was unable to find any further record of Mourning Thomson Pryor White. It seems far more likely that she died sometime before 1820 when her youngest children, James, Jonathan and Jeremiah left Logan County.

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Update on Mourning Pryor Thomson White - Mourning Pryor in Callaway County

Picture of Fannie Pryor from the Pryor-Hogue Family Album courtesy of Don Howell of West Kentucky Genealogy.

The Pryors - Jonathan & James

There has been much debate and discussion as to whether Jonathan and James Pryor were children of Richard Pryor and Mourning Thomson formerly of Albemarle, Virginia. The fact that Richard left no will when he died in Logan County in 1797 has contributed to the uncertainty. The only document recording his heirs is an 1811 Logan County deed wherein ten heirs sold their portion of a tract of 250 acres in Logan County to Jonathan Pryor. The deed specifically states that the sellers are the heirs of Richard “Prior”. It was common practice for legatees to sell their portions of an estate to one sibling but the problem with this deed is that it does not make an assertion that Jonathan was also an heir of Richard Prior.

Although there is no absolute proof of the parentage of James and Jonathan Pryor, there is an abundance of documentation of their connection to Richard and Mourning indicating that they were members of that family. Both James and Jonathan state that they were born in Tennessee on the 1850 census. Richard and Mourning Pryor are known to have been residents of Tennessee before December 1787 when Mourning was recorded as one of the charter members of the Big Pigeon Primitive Baptist Church in Cocke County. When James Pryor died in Graves County in 1856, Richard Pryor was listed as his father on his death record although the name of his mother appears to be something closer to Miriam. By the time Jonathan died around 1862, Graves County had suspended the practice of filing death reports so there is no similar record for him. In Graves County where both Jonathan and James lived the rest of their lives and raised their families, it is generally accepted that they were brothers and local histories identify them as such.

On the 19th of June 1800, Mourning Pryor married Thomas White in Logan County, Kentucky and the following Smith County, Tennessee deed confirms that she was Richard Pryor's widow:

10 May 1802 - Smith Co., TN Deed Book 1801-17 p. 94
Between Thomas White and Mourning White, formerly Prior (Pryor) admx. of Richard Pryor, decd of Logan Co., KY and James Ewing of Smith Co., TN...During the lifetime of said Richard Pryor, he bound himself in the penal sum of 200 pounds to execute a deed to William Pryor for 400 acres of land, his choice of 1280 acres part of 3000 acres lying on the Caneyford of Cumberland River, Mourning White (formerly Pryor) widow of Richard obtained letters of Administration of said decedent and said William Pryor has sold to James Ewing his rights to 200 of the 400 acres of land etc.

Five years after Mourning married Thomas White, on September 28, 1805, Jonathan Pryor married his youngest daughter Elizabeth. When Thomas died in 1806, he named Mourning as the executrix of his estate in his will dated 18 Mar 1805. She is recorded, as Mourning White, in Logan County tax records after Thomas’ death and in the 1810 census. Presumably she died sometime before 1820. Trips to Logan County to search extensively for more information have failed to produce any further record of Mourning or a gravesite.


Jonathan and James Pryor with their young families left Logan County around 1820 moving further west into the newly opened Jackson Purchase. They reportedly first settled in Callaway County for a short time but by the 1830 census they were located in Graves County. Jonathan’s daughter Eustacia's marriage to Burrell Williams on April 15, 1824 is said to be the first marriage recorded in Graves County. The first grants west of the Tennessee River to Jonathan and James Pryor are both dated July 7, 1825. Over the next 10 years, there are additional grants totaling more than 3,000 acres to each of them.