This article was written for GenealogyBlog by my friend, Thomas Fiske. I’ve invited Tom to contribute to the blog, as I enjoy his articles, and I know my readers will too. Expect to see more from Tom.
He always had my attention. Born about 1802 near Louisville, KY and with surname Pryor, it is natural that Nathaniel Miguel Pryor would have the attention of an amateur genealogist whose mother was born near Louisville in 1902 with the same surname. After all, Pryor is not that usual a name. A Pryor is a job in a Catholic monastery. You would not expect a Pryor to have many legitimate descendants, would you?
Furthermore, there existed a man of the Louisville area who could have been the father of Nathaniel Miguel. He was named Nathaniel Pryor. He was the often-mentioned Pryor of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Records show that this Nat Pryor married a Margaret Patton of Louisville about 1800. There is no mention of any children of that marriage. Since those on the Expedition had to be single, as decreed by President Thomas Jefferson, and the Expedition began in 1803, it has always been assumed by researchers that the former Ms Patton died.
For years an argument has been brewing about the paternity of the younger Nat Pryor. One of the latest strong voices in the discussion was that of Lawrence Reno, who wrote a fine book about Nat Pryor, Senior. Reno held that Junior was not a son of Senior. And he presented a sensible case for his argument. Reno had the good sense to consult with me before he wrote his book. He had seen one or two of my articles on Nat Pryor Senior. But he simply disagreed with my conclusion that Junior was somehow a son of Senior.
Since both Nat senior and Nat junior contributed to American history all their adult lives, I found it important to resolve the issue of their relationship. Reno published his fine book, Life and Times of Nathaniel Pryor about 2006. When I got my copy in 2008 and wrote to Larry to congratulate him on it, I found that I missed him by five months. He died early in 2008. When it comes to the Nat Pryor disagreement, I am the last man standing.
Here are my facts.
Late last year on Rootsweb’s Pryor List, a member claimed that she knew there were pertinent records from a Catholic Mission in Los Angeles for 1836. She said these records were of a baptism of a thirty-year old man named Nathaniel Miguel Pryor of Louisville. The records also said his father’s name was Nathaniel Pryor of Louisville and that his mother’s name was Patton. If only someone would pay the record keepers $30, he could have a copy of the records and the matter would be settled. There are descendants of this Nathaniel Pryor alive today who might be interested.
Another person on the List lived near the site of the old mission in LA and volunteered to see if they really had the records. But she was not interested enough to pay the $30. A few weeks later, she wrote back to the List that the records were no longer kept at the Mission. She included an address where a person could ask about the records,
I wanted to know. I had to know. So I sent a money order to the Mission along with my story. They wrote back that they no longer had the records and said they had been moved to a central location for all Church records in San Fernando, CA, another old mission quite a few miles off. They returned the money order. I called the other location and after chatting with a very nice archivist, found that these old records had been given to the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA. Furthermore, I found that these records had been published on line. I went to work with my computer.
Indeed, I found that nearly everything I had been told was true. The old Spanish priests spelled the Pryor name Praya and had a terrible time with the Louisville name, but it was clear that they had baptized Nathaniel Pryor and had given him the full Spanish Christian name, Luis Nathaniel Miguel Pryor. The records said his father was Nathaniel Pryor of Louisville but that his mother was named Maria (Mary) Davis, not Patton. There were other records. One showed that two years later Nathaniel married Teresa Sepulveda. Her father, Don Sepulveda, owned a huge ranch and must have been quite wealthy. Nat and his new wife had two children. One lived and one died as an infant. Teresa died two years after the marriage. Several years later Nat married again to a Spanish widow. He was imprisoned for spying for Americans and he helped California become part of America before he died in 1850.
Larry Reno knew about most of these records, Still he came to the conclusion that Junior was probably not a son of Senior. One of the reasons was timing. If Junior were actually 30 when baptized, he would have been born in 1806, and his father was on the Expedition in 1806. I just figured that he was probably 29 or even 28 when he was baptized. Everybody on the frontier did not know his exact age.
And then there is the Davis problem. Where did his wife come from? Well, on censuses I found three Davis families in and around Louisville that could have provided a daughter of the right age. Two of them had in their families, a male child of the right age for Nat, Junior. Furthermore, I found associated with Nat Pryor, Sr., a grandmother whose maiden name was Davis. Quite possibly, the eldest Nat Pryor had as a second wife, one of his cousins. This was not an unusual practice. He had to return from the Expedition, marry Mary Davis, get her pregnant, and then begin his other pioneering activities, all in a very short time.
There were other records that mention the senior Nat with a younger Nat while they were both on the trail out west. All in all, It appears that the two were father and son even though there are no other written records.
The two men made their contributions to the growth of America. Senior was in Oklahoma and Junior was in California. Senior had several places named for him and they both raised families, families that probably never knew each other. In fact they probably never saw each other once Junior went to California.
But at least we know who these two pioneers were and how they were related.
How were they related to the last man standing? Oh, maybe seventh cousins.
It is a heck of a way to win an argument.
Hello…
…and thank you for re-publishing this interesting article. My interest is even stronger than Thomas Fiske’s. I am a direct descendant of the Pryors in question. My great grandmother was Teresa Pryor, daughter of Pablo (Paul) Pryor, the son of Nathaniel Miguel Pryor. Please feel free to send Thomas Fiske my email address (california_william@yahoo.com). I have information if he is interested on the other descendants of “the California Pryors”.
Thanks again.
best wishes
William S. Dean
Tom , thank you so much for keeping with our past, your cousin from Missouri via KY and ole Va. Dennis.
Tom, Great article… My latest Pryor research is on the possible descendants of Nathaniel Sr. and his Native American wife. There is so much conjecture and really bad information in books and online. Thanks for putting together one piece of the puzzle. Has any of the Pryor/Sepulveda decendants done the DNA testing to FINALLY solve Nathaniel’s paternity?
Thank you, thank you, thank you Mr. Fiske!!
It was me who told him about the baptismal certificate on that Rootsweb list and for me as the single mother of 3 small children I could not do the necessary legwork to track down this information to prove once and for all that Nathaniel Miguel was the son of Nathaniel Hale. I knew about the baptismal records from dear Jeanne Hennessey who passed away many years ago. She would be so thrilled to be proven right!! My children can now claim unequivocally they are the great grandchildren x 5 of Nathaniel Hale Pryor. Which is so amazing because my 18 year old son Brendan Robert Pryor is studying history in Washington DC and is an Army Rotc Cadet with the HOYA Battalion at Georgetown University. I guess Army blood runs deep, and he will love hearing about this. Please pass along my email address to Mr. Fiske, cmpryor614@aol.com. There are many of us California Pryor who indeed have an awesome American History!
Thanks for your hard work!
Cheryl Pryor
T
I am sure we would be interested in the DNA testing but am afraid I know nothing about it. So if anyone wants to fill me in I am listening. Whose DNA would we test against? Are there known decendants from Nathaniel Sr to compare with?
Cheryl Pryor
Does anyone here have any information on a Thomas Washington Pryor born in 1792 and died nov. 29th 1870. thanks
Hi, I am interested in learning more about Nat Pryor Sr. and his Osage wife, if anyones knows. Thanks
Beautiful stories, I am looking for a much newer branch on that Pryor-Huweiler Family Tree. I am related to Patricia Ann Huweiler Sweet, married to David E. Sweet. I know of several children they have, and cannot find the bridge I need to get to them. Please pass on my name and E-mail, My maiden name is Peters. of Vallejo, CA. Thanks for any help you can send me.
Juanita, I hope you find your relations. You can see that your comments have been included. Thanks for your nice comments.
tom
Looking for information on the Native American Pryor’s from Oklahoma and Missouri. My son’s Great Great Grandmother’s family were Pryor’s and we were told that they were Cherokee or Osage.
Thank you!
Dear Dru,
As you can see there are readers who have left comments on this article about your common relatives. I am glad that I wrote the article just so I can help out those of you who need information.
While I wrote the article and did the research, I cannot prove that those Pryors were actually my cousins. I did the research because Nathaniel Pryor, Sr., was married in Louisville, where I was born. And my mother, Alice Walker Pryor, was from the same area (but 100 years after).
Good luck with your research and with your fellow researchers.
Tom
I have much to share. To begin with, I am touch with most of the Pryor testers at FTDNA and some from Ancestry. I’m also a Davis descendant from KY that intermarried with Pryors in Ohio and Jennings County, Indiana. I’m also in touch with Davis Y-DNA testers from both Ohio and IN. In addition, I have information on the Pryor-Patton line which includes: Nathaniel “Hale” Pryor’s real name; his brother Robert and his father-in-law; and his father’s death record. Currently, all but a few colonial Pryor lines have been tested. We need NJ, and have a candidate in mind. That test is free to the tester. I am in touch with a DE tester as well who’s getting a second tester. We especially need Maryland testers. Genealogy will be provided to those who test. There are currently 56 and counting. Thank you. Lauriemariescott@yahoo.com
Nathaniel Miguel Pryor and my Great-Great-Great Grandmother,Roque Valenzuela produced a male child in 1833.The child was born out of wedlock(called hijo natural) In 1835 Roque Valenzuela married Francisco Marquez,co-owner of Rancho Boca De Santa Monica and my Great-Great-Great grandfather was raised as Manuel Maria Marquez. The scandal was passed on through generations and 3 family elders told me the story-It was treated as a family secret.—–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rancho_Boca_de_Santa_Monica–Marie Northup-Historian wrote 3 books called Spanish/Mexican Families of Early California and Nathaniel Miguel Pryor is mentioned in the first edition.He was quite the Dandy as he produced another child out of wedlock with a woman with the surname Montalvo also!, before he married into a rich Spanish family. Check out the Southern California Historical Society in Burbank,California
I would like to say my grandmother is Mary Pryor, She was osage. I know this cause it is written . My grandfather Charles Louis Hynicks married her they had 4 children.The had to marry around 1870tya he mustard out of the civil war in 1865.. She died earley with Nemonia during the last part, My grandfather took care of the children who were Molly Sam Jeff was the oldest my grandfather and there was Eliabeth she marred a Mason. there was oil discovered on her land. but she was killed early in a car accident. Grandma would not live in a cabin that grandpa built for her but in a Teepee.and Grandpa he would go hunting and the Indians liked him cause he provided for his family and he would not kill a white tail deer. I heard these storys as a child. and I know this true cause my grandmother was Indian. She and my cousins have been trying to find where she is buried at.. cause my grandfather Jeff hendrix changed out names from Hynicks to Hendrix in 1930 Granpa hynicks died in , I wont tell cause of privacy. but I have prove and know where he is buried. MaRY PRYOR WAS A DAUGHTER OF A Indian WOMAN who was a decendant of Nathan Pryor had a sister named Rose..from the beaver clan and strixke ax band.Born in St clair county and moved ot kansa and Arkansas and mo to Oklahoma. My own grandpa still stays in the upper side of Mo close to Kansa and Ark.. Mary pryor was my Great grandma and I know because of the prove we have and the prove of Charles hynicks as her husband………we have been lost till the computer came in then I find all these other names and now seeking to bring in the truth..
Its funny how history never ceases to amaze me. I am the last living descendant of my line of the Pryor family tree in Louisville Ky. My great aunt told me this story that we were from Nathaniel Pryor who was the only one on the expedition who was married and had a child. The family story was and crest was passed to me and the knowledge because out of the generation my fathers father came from there were five children and none of them had children of their own. My father had me and its funny that my mothers family is native American and they are from Pryor Oklahoma. Every time I go to the museum at the falls of the Ohio there is a painting there of Nathaniel and the resemblance is striking that in 200 years every Pryor male still looks the same as he did.
All 13 Colonial lines of Pryor have now been tested.
Dear Miz Scott,
I could swear I had a cousin named Scott in Central KY. Your statement is quite interesting, but I do not know what to make of it. Could you tell us what it means and than allow me to repeat it elsewhere on the Internet, giving you credit?
Thanks,
Tom of the KY red headed Pryors
My great (3x) grandmother was named Rosa Pryor. She is of Osage descent. I can find nothing that gives me definitive proof that she was Nat Pryor Sr’s daughter. On the Beaver band of the Osage rolls she is listed as a full blooded Osage. An obituary I found stated that she was a full blooded Osage. Any way to run my DNA against a 100% direct descendant of Nat Pryor Sr?