S. W. Pryor

PRYOR, WILLIAMS, GLOSSUP, BARNETT

Posted By: Peggy Elliott Webster (email)
Date: 2/16/2014 at 18:13:34

S. W. Pryor was elected to the office of county surveyor at the election of 1857, and held it for two years. Samuel W. Pryor, son of Matthew and Henrietta (Williams) Pryor, was born in Marion county, Tennessee, September 12, 1820. He lived in Marion county, Tennessee, until March, 1843, when he removed to Washington county, Missouri, where he remained about fourteen years. In the summer of 1856 he emigrated to Adair county, Iowa, arriving on 1st day of August, and settling upon section 34, Harrison township. There were no improvements on the place whatever, and he erected a small shanty in which they lived about a year, when the dwelling was much enlarged and improved, He had it inclosed and ready for occupancy, when a storm almost demolished it. He repaired the same house, in which he lived until 1876, when the fine residence they now occupy was constructed. Mr. Pryor was first married in 1846 to Mary J. Glossup, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Glossup, and five children was the result of this union—Matthew G., William A., Jonathan E., Charles H. and Sarah F. His wife died here in 1857. He was again married in 1860, in Madison county, Iowa to Eliza A. Barnett, daughter of William and Mary Barnett. Five more children were born to them, tow of whom are dead—Millie J., Julia M. and Dayton Elmer. When Mr. Pryor first came to Harrison, the town of Greenfield was then unknown, and he went to Madison county to mill. He has a farm of one hundred and thirty acres, all under cultivation, ten acres of which are on section 35. He has been county assessor and county surveyor since he came tot his county. He brought forty head of cattle with him, and all except six or seven were frozen to death or perished with the cold during the first winter he was here. Four or five were sold in the fall; two survived the winter, or till grass came. He has experienced some hard time since he settled in Harrison, but at present has a comfortable and pleasant home as a reward for what he has gone through. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Source: History of Guthrie and Adair Counties, Iowa; History of Iowa, pg. 822-823