PRYOR, Nathaniel, American soldier, trader and explorer: b. (provably) Amherst County, Va., about 1785; d. Los Angeles, Cal., 1850. He was a great grandson of Nicketti, daughter of Powhatan and sister of Poca hontas. Left an orphan in infancy, he was taken to Kentucky by the family of his maternal uncle, Charles Floyd. In 1803, he enlisted as a private soldier in the army for the purpose of accompanying Lewis and Clark on the ex pedition across the continent to the mouth of the Columbia. Returning in 1806 with the rank of a sergeant, he was commissioned an ensign and assigned to the command of the detach ment sent to escort Shahaka, the Mandan chief to his home on the Upper Missouri in 1807, but failed because of the hostility of the Arikara Indians. He was promoted to a lieu tenancy in 1808 and resigned from the service in 1810, engaging in trading and lead mining. During the War of 1812, he re-entered the military service and was discharged at its conclusion with the rank of captain. He then
became a trader among the Osage Indians, in Oklahoma, operating a trading post near the mouth of the Verdigris River part of the time. In 1821 he joined Fowler and Glenn on their trading expedition to the Rocky Mountains. In 1824 he joined the Pattie's on their trading expedition to the Rocky Mountains and fol lowed all of their wanderings until they ar rived in southern California, where the entire party was imprisoned. After his liberation he settled at Los Angeles where he remained until his death. Pryor Creek and the town of Pryor, county-seat of Mayes County, Okla., were named for him. Consult Nuttall's Journal; Long. Stephen N., 'An Expedition from Pitts burgh to the Rocky Mountains, Performed in the Years 1819 and 1820'; Coues, Elliott, 'The Journal of Jacob Fowler' ; Flint, Timothy, 'Pattie's Narrative,' and James, Thomas, 'Three Years among the Indians and Mexi cans.'