SPINNERS & WEAVERS: A Textile Clue?

by Vanessa Wood

Most women had no trade recorded on U. S. census records during the mid to late 19th Century. While searching for Pryor families in Middle Tennessee I stumbled on something unique. Rather than recording Pryor women as "housewife" or "keeping house" , they were recorded as weavers. Although their trade was recorded during different census years, in different counties and even in different states; these women all have connections to the counties of Middle Tennessee.

Mrs. Nancy Pryor b. 1800 in TN, resided in Jackson Co. in 1840-1860, died before 1880 in Smith Co., TN.
Mrs. Melvina Wilson b. 1823 in TN, resided in Overton Co. in 1850-1860. Possibly the daughter of James & Nancy Pryor of Overton Co., TN
Cassa Pryor McGee b. 1826 in TN, resided in Jackson Co. in 1850-1880.
Jane Pryor Nelson b. 1829, resided in Overton Co., TN in 1850-1870's. Moved to Iron Co., MO.
Mrs. Tabitha C. Pryor b. 1828 in IL. Resided in Wilson Co., TN in 1850 & 1860. Resided in Franklin Co., IL in 1870 & 1880
Jane Dial b. 1800 NC, mother in law of William H. Pryor of Overton Co., TN. Recorded in 1860 as a weaver.
Mrs. Elizabeth Pryor b. 1825, mother of Clarinda Bell Pryor. Recorded 1860 in Jackson Co., TN as a spinner and weaver. updated

I contacted the Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson and a noted museum. Although they had no textiles in their collection from our Jackson County Pryors, they were able to refer me to Candace J. Andelson, Ph. D. Dr. Andelson is is the Senior Curator of Fashion and Textiles at the Tennessee State Museum. She was kind enough to offer the following reply concerning the subject of Tennessee Pryor women who practiced the art of weaving.

I have checked the materials that I have in hand here for examples of Pryor (and all the variants) weaving or weaving by the other women/families you list, and have come up nearly empty-handed. But that does not surprise me too much, given the period you are researching. We are more likely to have makers' names for later dates. We have mainly anonymous weavings from the earlier periods.

My two main sources are:

1) our own extensive collection of Tennessee-made textiles (there are about 100 overshot coverlets, numerous blankets, nearly 250 quilts, etc., for a total of about 7,000 costume and textile items)

2) a wonderful book on Tennesse coverlet weaving, which was the result of a documentary project begun in the 1970s and encompassing about 1000 items - Sadye Tune Wilson and Doris Finch Kennedy, "Of Coverlets; the Legacies, the Weavers," Nashville, 1983

The only thing I found was that, at the time of the 1970s coverlet survey (p. 302), a Dr. Harold S. Pryor owned an Overton County coverlet from about 1840, that came out of the household of the Silas Carmack family. Is this person a relation to your line?

Then, in our collection, I found a photographer of the 1880s in McMinnville (Warren County), named Dr. C.W. Pryor (the Tennessee State Museum has two "carte-de-visite" type photos by him; 81.56.25; 1997.2.1).

We have no Overton County coverlets or other weavings in the collection. We have two anonymous ones from Wilson County (82.111; 1999.127.4). And we have one by Naomi Jared Simmons, made at Indian Creek, Jackson (later Putnam) County, Tennessee about 2 miles east of Buffalo Valley. She was contemporary or a little older than your ladies, living from 1797 to 1877 (79.167).

I highly recommend the Wilson and Kennedy book. It has a wonderful summary of the history of weaving in Tennessee, and explains quite well how a good number of particularly gifted women supplemented their family income by weaving professionally or semi-professionally, most often using raw materials cultivated on their own land for the threads and for dyeing, though we do know the history of at least one widow who moved to a large town and supported her family by weaving. Weaving and dressmaking were among the few socially acceptable trades that women in this part of the country could take up in the 19th century. There were all levels of activity within these trades, from an occasional piece for a neighbor to a regular cottage industry, as it seems some of your family did. And often, as you are finding, there were family ties among the most gifted weavers---part genes and part growing up with it would facilitate such passing on of making it a trade.

I will keep your information on file here and certainly let you know if any coverlets or blankets come our way that are attributed to any of your family. I should tell you that our quilt and coverlet gallery will reopen, probably this coming September, and then we will be rotating ten or so quilts and coverlets several times a year so that the public can enjoy our extensive collection better. May I also suggest that you contact the Missouri and the Illinois state museums and the local historical societies in the areas where your weavers lived to see if they have any examples of their work."