HISTORIES OF PRYOR FAMILIES IN MISSOURI
Pryors of Iron County, MO
Pryor Family of Iron Co., MO
Ozark Heritage, Volume One, Published by the Dent County Historical Society, Copyright 1978
Submitted by Corb Pryor
JAMES PRYOR was born in 1837 in Jackson County, Tennessee. He married MAY COLLINS in Jackson County, Tennessee, and they had 4 children: William Berry, Alice (wife of Rev. John Asher), Elizabeth (Mrs. Wyatt King), and Belle (Mrs. James Brooks).
James Pryor moved his family to Dent County about 1881 and first worked at the Scotia Iron Furnace. Later the family moved to Meramec Valley and lived on what is now known as the Ed Flett place. In 1887, they moved to the Boss community and homesteaded a tract of land. They spent the rest of their lives in the Boss community, living in a log cabin that Mr. Pryor built in what was named Pryor Hollow near the Big Huzzah Creek. Uncle Jimmie Pryor died about 1914 and Mary Pryor died about 1922, both are buried in Boss Cemetery where most of their descendants still bury.
James Pryor had two brothers, Mounce and Byrd Pryor, who moved to Dent County; also two sisters, Margaret (Mrs. Robert Anderson) and Elizabeth (Mrs. Wesley Anderson).
William B. Pryor, the only son of James and Mary Pryor, was born January 14, 1867 in Jackson County, Tennessee, and died September 12, 1941 at his home at Boss, Missouri. Mr. Pryor married Jane C. Nelson August 25, 1887 at Boss by Rev. Roland C. Williams, and they became the parent of 12 sons and 2 daughters:
Henry, who married Ollie Strictlin and were the parents of 6 daughters,
Marion, who died at the age of two
Alva, who married Birdie Hinson and they had 5 daughters and 6 sons
Fred, who married Nancy Hinson and they had 3 daughters and 4 sons
Edgar, who married Effie Messer and they had 4 sons
James, who married Zola Davis and had 1 daughter an d 2 sons
Etta, who married Rev. Lee Bates and they had 1 son
Otis, who married Dorothy Denton and they had 4 daughters and 2 sons
Earney, who married Fannie Camden, 2 daughters and 1 son
Truman, who married Dessie Brooks and they had 3 daughters and 2 sons
Louie Pryor, who married Edith Barton and Hilda Dotson; (he and Hilda had a daughter and 1 son)
Corb, who married Dona Norris and they had 1 daughter and 1 son
Fannie, who is the wife of Ed Thomas and the mother of 1 daughter
Harley, who married Pearl Major and they were the parents of 3 daughters and 1 son
Jane Nelson Pryor was the daughter of Marion and Martha King Nelson and was born March 8, 1870 in Jackson County, Tennessee and died November 8, 1946 at Salem, Missouri.
Jane moved with her parents to Dent County when she was 4 years of age and spent the rest of her life at Boss. The Pryor and Nelson families lived on neighboring farms in Tennessee and pioneered to Dent County together. Marion Nelson homesteaded a large acreage of land around Boss Where he farmed and operated a gristmill, which was operated by a gasoline motor.
Marion Nelson was well known in the Boss community where he reared a large family. He was the father of ten children, Cinda and Ada Nelson died in childhood; Jane Pryor; Thersey Ellen (Mrs. George Brooks); Minnie (Mrs. Tim Pyatt); Docia (Mrs. Carl Merritt); Jimmie; George; Jess; and Willie Nelson. Marion Nelson donated the land for the original Boss Cemetery and all of his family is buried here, except Willie, who is buried in Salem where he was a merchant.
In 1902, Marion Nelson and his son, Willie, opened a store at Boss. They were going to establish a post office and call it Nelson, Missouri. They made an application for the post office and received a letter from the State saying there was already a Nelson, Missouri. Willie Nelson looked at a box labeled "Boss Gloves" in the store. He thought, "Why not named the post office "Boss"?" And this is what they did; thus, this was the start of Boss, Missouri. W.L. Nelson bought the interest of his father after the first year and operated a store and post office until 1918, when he sold the business to Todd Russell.
Corb Pryor and members of the Pryor family went back to Jackson County, Tennessee in 1965 and found the old Nelson farm where Marion was born. They were able to identify it by a sulphur spring that Marion Nelson had mentioned as a youth.
The Pryor and Nelson families are numerous in Dent County where politically they are Democrats; also, they are members of the Assembly of God Church. They are just good American people.
contributed by Melody Pryor
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