Week 31 #52Ancestors: Brother

Pryor Barnard provided by Randy Layell

Born to Anderson Barnard and Nancy Carpenter in 1838 and brother to my 2^ndgreat-grandmother, Martha Barnard Epperson.  Pryor’s early years of marriage to Mary Winkler were turbulent as the American Civil War was in progress.  He became a Confederate soldier in December 1861 in Company G, 5^th Regiment of the Tennessee Cavalry under Col. McKenzie and Capt. John Graham.  In 1902 his military pension application reveals many health problems such as lumbago, liver disease, stomach trouble, kidney disease, blind in the left eye and weak vision in the right eye.  He also states that he was not discharged from the war and went home as he was not feeling well. The surgeon that attended him was Dr. Day.

When asked what battles he fought in and the injuries he sustained, his reply was, “in the battle at Wallis Cross Roads Tenn and a round Cumberland Gap Tenn and at Knoxville Tenn and at Hopewell Church I think it was in the state of GA.  I was in several battles in KY.”  He also stated, “I never was wounded but my horse was killed from under me at Wallis Cross Roads Tenn.”  Pryor’s said he left the army “in the winter of 1865 while engaged in a skirmish in GA or Ala myself and some other comrades got separated from our command and never was able to return to them got down with rheumatism and never was with my command after that.”  When asked if he had taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, his answer was yes and the circumstances were, “in the Spring of 1865 – the Yankies was threatening me and I was forced to take the oath at Tazwell Tennessee.”

Apparently, Pryor’s pension application had problems because the man to whom he paid, Richard W. Wolfe of Treadway, Tennessee, was a notary and did not communicate with him about its progress.  In fact, Mr. Wolfe charged him much more than the one-dollar fee to be charged to applicants.  In the end, it appears his efforts were denied.

Pryor B. Barnard's pension application

Even church was not a safe harbor as an article published in “The People’s History of Hancock County” mentions a division that occurred in the Providence Church as a result of the aftermath of the Civil War.  Several members of the church decided to leave Providence church in 1892 and created the Chinquepin Missionary Baptist Church.  The members who requested letters of dismission were Sam Davis, T. J. Lovin, Prior Barnard, James Jarnagan, Martha Wolfe (later McCoy), Emmalene Tate, and Cenna Jarnagan.  Then five members of the churches of Big Creek and Cedar Springs also joined: Robert Hensley, Elizabeth Carr, Jane Mayes, Rosa Mayes, and Laverna Hatfield.  William Lovin became the pastor and T. J. Lovin was church clerk.  At another meeting elders William Lovin, Jerry Green, John Elrod and Alexander Jarnagan with McHenry Bray as clerk formed the Presbytery. Isn’t it amazing that church could not be a place of unification for the veterans after the Civil War?  

By the 1910 census Pryor was still living in Tennessee at age 72 and listed as a blind Confederate veteran of the Civil War.  His household consisted of his wife, Mary; son, Wiley; granddaughter, Lizzie; and servant (farm labor), Walter Long.  This is where my research ended with Pryor for a few years. 

Wylie Barnard photo provided by Randy Layell

A woman named Sandy reached out to me on Ancestry who had recently discovered her husband, James, was a descendent of Pryor’s line through his son, Landon Barnard.  Landon had married Clara Trent and moved to Polk County, Oregon by 1910 and he was her husband’s grandfather.  Sandy and Jim were living on the farm.

Landon Barnard photo provided by Randy Layell

Apparently Pryor and Mary moved to Oregon and lived with Landon after 1910.   I was so amazed that they moved there so late in life!  Mary died in 1913 followed by Pryor in 1918. They are buried on the family farm in Dalles, Oregon and new markers (wooden crosses) had been erected to mark their graves.  May they rest in peace and know they have not been forgotten.

Pryor Barnard and Mary Winkler Barnard