Before launching the newest Pryor project on the website, I wanted to give the most dedicate Pryor researchers a chance to try their hand at identifying the Pryors. The latest Pryor project is deciphering the 1840 Census! It can now be viewed online as a Google spreadsheet.
The spreadsheet is divided with columns representing the columns on the 1840 Census. If you need forms that mirror the 1840 Census, Ancestry.com has them online (download census forms).
Each house hold is assigned a number in the first left column. Some households who had many children born within a particular census time column, have more than one line dedicated to their household.
In attempting to identify people I color coded the boxes. Dark blue are the unidentified, or not yet identified. Light blue boxes have names and approximate year of birth in them and these people appear to be identified. Bright green boxes appear on the census for possible children who magically appear on the 1850 Census, but were not counted within a household in 1840.
You will see very quickly… this is a work in progress.
You don’t have to read far down the chart before you start encountering the interesting revelations from the 1840 Census. Who is the Rebecca Pryor who was a head of household in Anderson County in 1830, named as head of household on the 1840 Census, but not counted? Who is the Jonathan Pryor living near Reuben Tripp in Lawrence County. Is he a son of Thompson Pryor and Dicy Tripp? Thompson’s son was believed to be Jonathan born in 1812.
I hope you have fun with this new chart and I hope to hear from you! Sharing our research keeps expanding what we all know about our Pryor families. Enjoy!
Hello Vanessa. I would like to add to your 1840 TN census group sheet that you compiled for the Philip Pryor family of McNairy Co. I believe the two unidentified sons would be Lemuel M., age 10-15 (b. c1826) and William Jackson, age 20-30 (b. 1818). Both of them had gone to east TX late 1840s. They fit in as Philip’s sons and this would explain why these two were not on the 1850 McNairy Co. census.