1764-1771- John Henry Pryor and the Regulators

John Henry Pryor was the son of Robert Pryor (b 1663 England d 29 Oct 1757 Gloucester, Va) and Elizabeth Virginia Greene (b 1667 Gloucester Va d 1761 Gloucester Va) It is thought that Robert Pryor was in Virginia by 1674.

In 1775, John Henry Pryor was 60 years old and living in Orange County, NC.
His wife was Margaret Gaines. In 1777 they were in Caswell County NC.

We know a great deal about John Pryor from the will he wrote in  September 1771 in Orange County, NC.  He was a wealthy man. Besides lands beyond his plantation, totaling over 1,000 acres,  he leaves at least 26 slaves to his children and grandchildren. He lists furniture including numerous feather beds, and extensive livestock including horses and cows. To his wife Margaret he leaves the plantation, 12 slaves, two stills, and his stock. David Womack and William Stone (his son in laws) were named executors of his will.

The Womacks and Pryors lived in the frontier of western NC. There was friction between these frontiersmen and the eastern colonial government in NC led by Gov. Wm. Tryon. The western settlers felt they were excessively taxed and ruled by dishonest officials. They rebelled against the taxes and fees. Tryon, who had built himself an exhorbitant palace, and was seen as corrupt by the settlers, sent out over 1000 men in 1768 to meet a force of Regulators numbering nearly 4,000. Several leaders of the Regulators were arrested but released without bloodshed.

Herman Husbands (who was considered the chief agitator of the Regulators)  and John Pryor both represented Orange County in the NC House of Burgesses.https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr08-0068
http://www.sonsofdewittcolony.org/mckstmerreg2.htm


In 1769, John Pryor was a county representative in the colonial assembly in NC as well as a prominent Regulator. In September 1770, the court met at Hillsborough, and was disrupted by the Regulators which drove the crown's attorney, Edmund Fanning, out of town. Governor Tryon sent out a military expedition with 1000 men and met the Regulators at Alamance, where they fought. 15 Regulators were taken prisoner and 7 of these were executed at Hillsborough.

 Many of the frontiersmen fled from NC after this battle and would become patriots in the American Revolution several years later.
Herman Husbands and John Pryor were leaders of the movement, but Herman Husbands was expelled from the House of Burgesses in 1770 while John Pryor was allowed to remain.
John Pryor died while serving in the House of Burgesses in New Bern in 1771.




His daughter, Mildred, was married to David Womack, son of Richard Womack III. In 1777 and 1780 they were living in Caswell County, NC. where David's name was on a petition to the House of Burgesses in 1779., In 1800 they were living in Hillsborough, NC.

David migrated to Burke County Georgia, where in 1792 he had 100 acres and in 1793 he added an additional 200 acres of land. He and his brother John were chain carriers (surveyors.)

Mildred may have died in Beaufort, SC in 1804.

By 1804 the family had moved to Greensburg in St. Helena Parish, La., where David died.

Their children, born between 1764 and 1785 were Richard Mansel, Dorothy Pryor, David II, Abner, Abraham, Jacob Green and William Washington Womack. The children of David Womack II would migrate to Trinity County Texas.