The Price/Pryse Connection in the Tann Family History

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Jemima [Possibly Price] Tann

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The ancestry of Jemima, wife of Jacob Tann of Surry County, Virginia, requires careful interpretation of the surviving records.

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Earlier versions of the Tann family history identified her as Jemima Pryse and connected her directly to Howell Pryse, a prominent seventeenth-century resident of Charles City County, Virginia. Further examination of the available evidence shows that this relationship has not yet been established through a continuous chain of primary-source records.

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For this reason, she should presently be identified as:

Jemima [possibly Price] Tann

rather than Jemima Pryse.

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What the Records Establish

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Jemima was the wife of Jacob Tann of Surry County, Virginia.

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Jacob Tann made his will on December 1, 1780. His will provided for his wife and his underage children and divided land between his sons Thomas Tann and Jacob Tann Jr.

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After Jacob's death, his widow appears in Surry County records as Jemima Tann. She was associated with the property formerly belonging to Jacob during the late eighteenth century.

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One of the most important records concerning the family involves their son Thomas Tann, born about 1774.

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When Thomas registered as a free person in Surry County on December 3, 1801, the record identified his mother Jemima as a white woman.

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An additional clue appears when Thomas married Selah Cofer on March 27, 1804.

Thomas was recorded as:

Thomas Tann, alias Thomas Price

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The appearance of the surname Price is important. Genealogist Paul Heinegg suggested that Price may have been Jemima's maiden surname.

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However, the surviving record does not explicitly state:

“Jemima Price married Jacob Tann.”

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Therefore, Price should presently be regarded as a possible or probable maiden surname, rather than an established fact.

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Pryse and Price

The surnames Pryse and Price are historically related spellings, and both forms occur in colonial Virginia records.

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A prominent seventeenth-century Virginia resident named Howell Pryse, sometimes appearing in records as Hoel Pryse or variants of Price, lived in Charles City County during the 1650s and 1660s.

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Howell Pryse was an important figure in the county. Surviving records identify him as a landholder, lieutenant, sheriff, and clerk of the Charles City County court.

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His activities placed him within the same broad colonial community in which individuals associated with the early Kikotan/Tann history appear.

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However, the existence of the surname Price in the later Tann family does not by itself establish descent from Howell Pryse.

The Proposed Howell Pryse Connection

Earlier family research proposed a lineage resembling:

Howell Pryse
↓
John Price
↓
later Price descendants
↓
Jemima Price
↓
married Jacob Tann

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At present, this lineage should be considered a research hypothesis.

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A complete series of wills, deeds, probate records, parish records, court records or other contemporary documents connecting each generation has not yet been located.

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In particular, the proposed parent-child relationship between Howell Pryse and John Price requires additional documentation.

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Without evidence connecting each generation, Howell Pryse should not presently be identified as a proven ancestor of Jemima.

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The Documented Tann Line

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The genealogy that can presently be stated with greater confidence is:

Jacob Tann

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married

Jemima [possibly Price]

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Their known children included:

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Thomas Tann, born about 1774
and
Jacob Tann Jr.

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Thomas Tann was later recorded as “Thomas Price” or “Thomas Tann alias Thomas Price,” providing an important clue that the Price surname was associated with him and possibly with his maternal family.

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Why the Price Name Matters

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The Price surname should not be dismissed simply because the exact relationship has not yet been established.

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Thomas's documented use of the surname gives researchers an important avenue for further investigation.

Future research should concentrate on Price families living in Surry County and surrounding Virginia counties between approximately 1740 and 1780, particularly families living near or interacting with Jacob and Jemima Tann.

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Records that may help establish Jemima's ancestry include:

• wills and probate records;

• deeds and land transactions;

• personal-property and land-tax records;

• marriage bonds;

• guardianship records;

• church and parish records;

• court orders;

• estate inventories;

• witnesses to Tann family transactions;

• and records involving Price families living near the Tanns.

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The Howell Pryse Connection Remains an Open Research Question

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Howell Pryse remains important to the broader history being investigated.

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He lived in Charles City County approximately a century before Jemima and appears in records involving the same general colonial Virginia region from which portions of the later Tann family history developed.

There are therefore legitimate reasons to continue investigating whether the later Price family of Surry County descended from the earlier Pryse/Price families of Charles City County.

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But genealogy requires more than matching surnames, geographic proximity or a plausible chronology.

Each generation must be supported by evidence.

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Until such evidence is located, the relationship between Howell Pryse and Jemima [possibly Price] Tann should be described as unproven.

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Corrected Genealogical Presentation

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The Tann Family History should presently show the family as:

JEMIMA [POSSIBLY PRICE]
White woman of Surry County, Virginia
Parentage presently unknown
↓
married
JACOB TANN
died about 1780, Surry County, Virginia
↓
THOMAS TANN
born about 1774
also recorded as “Thomas Price” / “Thomas Tann alias Thomas Price”
↓
married March 27, 1804
SELAH COFER

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A separate research note may state:

Possible ancestral connection under investigation: Howell Pryse/Price of seventeenth-century Charles City County, Virginia. No continuous documentary lineage from Howell Pryse to Jemima has yet been established.

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Genealogical Research Note

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Family history is strengthened when documented facts are distinguished from family tradition and research hypotheses.

 

Earlier research identifying Jemima as “Jemima Pryse” represented an effort to explain the Price surname associated with her son Thomas.

 

Current evidence supports a more cautious identification of her as Jemima [possibly Price] Tann.

Research into her ancestry continues.

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The goal is not to discard the possible Pryse connection, but to determine whether the surviving records can prove it.

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Documented history tells us what we know. Careful research helps us discover what may come next.