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PRYOR WIVES 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 book contains sketches of some women who married into the author’s own Pryor family, but it also reaches across the branches of multiple family trees to look at women in a time when women seldom appeared in records. The genealogical sketches of these women show the fortitude of pioneers, and the somewhat easier lives of women in wealthier, more refined, early American society. Pryor Wives includes a woman of color who lived openly with her white Pryor husband before emancipation. Another wife was likely a bigamist. The stories of these women, told with source citations, offer greater insights into the complicated and interesting lives of women in the in our past. The author uses the tenacity of a dogged investigator and the attention to detail from the demanding Boston University course in genealogical research to build stories of women from a time when they were often eclipsed by men.
209 pages
Includes 640+ source citations
Includes surname index – hundreds of surnames and hundreds of Pryors
Vanessa Wood is also the author of Notable Americans of the 1930 Census, and Antique Names.
Pryor Wives: Stories of Family, Fortune, and Fiasco
by Vanessa Wood
published 2023
209 pages
ISBN 978-0-9744281-8-5
Size: 6 in. x 9 in.
Paperback