Divorce Decree of Margaret Curry & William Pryor, 1848 Sumner Co., TN

Margaret Curry was the daughter of John Curry and Margaret Cowan Elliott. After her father's death her mother married Pleasant Taylor in Sumner Co., TN. Pleasant Taylor was the brother of Spicy Taylor Pryor of Overton Co., TN and Massa Taylor Pryor also of Sumner Co. The younger Margaret married William Pryor on May 25, 1843 in Sumner Co. Their three children were named Thomas Jefferson, James M. and Mary Elizabeth. After divorcing William, Margaret married John Calvin Hunter and continued to live in the area of Sumner Co. William Pryor disappeared after their divorce and does not appear as a head of household on any of the census records, therefore making it difficult to determine his year of birth or if he was the son of Massa or Spicy. William Pryor may be the person recorded in one of the histories by Walter Durham - a William Pryor was listed in a Nashville newspaper amongst a party of men from Sumner County who went to California during the Gold Rush.

Margaret Prior and William Prior, Divorce
Be it recommended that this cause came on to be heard today the 8th of October 1849 before the Hon. Broomfield Ridley, Chancellor upon the pleadings and proof in the cause The Court being satisfied that the complainant was a woman of good and unexceptional character and that the defendant was a habitual drunkard and that the defendant had maltreated Compt., his wife by taking down his gun and threatening to shoot Compt. And the court being further of the opinion that defendant had used violence upon the person of Compt. and that defendant had frequented houses of ill-fare is pleased to order, adjudge, and decree that the bonds of matrimony now subsisting between Margaret Prior and William Prior be forever dissolved. The court further being satisfied that there are 3 children the ____ of this marriage is pleased to order, adjudge, and decree that the Compt. Margaret have the exclusive custody and control of said three children and that the privilege of visiting said children be extended as granted to defendant while in the possession of Compt. The Court further decrees and orders that all the money or property coming to Compt in her own right from her guardian Hugh Elliot and that all the property coming to her from William Matthews as administrator or her brother William Curry be paid or delivered over to Compt. by her said guardian Hugh Elliot and by William Matthews the said administrator. It is further adjudged and decreed that William Matthews pay to Compt. the proceeds of a fifty five dollar note executed by the said Matthews to defendant for the loan of Compts money and it is further decreed that Deft. be excluded from taking any of the property or money that is coming to compt. from her mother's estate and that the property which was attached at the residence of the parties at the time of the filing the bill be equally divided between compt. and defendant by the clerk and master. And that Guild Y. McMurry the attorneys for the Compt. be allowed dollars each and that compt. guardian Hugh Elliot pay over said fees $24.00. And that deft. pays the costs of this suit for with executed _____, And it is further ordered that complt. pay one half of the ____. Witnesses George Elliot, Susan Elliot, B. H. Elliott, John Linsey, William ____. John A___t, Hugh Elliot, Pleasant Taylor , Frances _____, Henry _____, John Flease, Frances, Elliott, E. B. Rutledge.