3rd Great Grandmother - Anne Susan Pryor (Enke family)

I just love it when I get a totally unexpected message from an historian opening up a new venue of information. That's what happened this week - March 25th. Jack, historian for the Mauch Chunk Historical Society wrote to me about my posting concerning Alfred Enke. Jack knew of Alfred's father, Jesse Pryor Enke and of Jesse's mother Anna Pryor. Anna (I have her as Anne Susan Pryor) was the daughter of John Pryor, who was "one of the earliest settlers of Mauch Chunk (Penn)." This John Pryor was "a first cousin of Josiah White, the industrialist who founded both the town of Mauch Chunk and the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. Anna Pryor had a brother named Jesse Pryor as well as a nephew with that name. In many cases, 'Jesse' is the affectionate form of the name 'Josiah' and it would make sense John Pryor would name a son for his benefector cousin." Jack feels that Anna and "Mr. Enke" (that would be John Enke) left Mauch Chunk before 1830.

I just knew tiny bits about Anne Susan Pryor and her husband John Enke. I knew that Anne was born in New Jersey. She and John were married about 1817 in Lancaster, Penn. They had a huge family, about 15 children, including the above Jesse Pryor Enke and my 2nd great grandmother, Lydia, who married William White Wilson.
Here is what Jack wrote to me on April 2, 2010

"In 1954 the towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged to form the town of Jim Thorpe. It was a major shipping point for anthracite coal in the 19th century. The offices of two railroads and several coal companies were here and towards the end of the century it was one of the wealthiest towns - per capita- in the USA. Besides being at the forefront of the industrial reveolution it also became a very popular tourist town. When coal fell out of favor and the railroads nearly all died out, the town almost died, too. But since the 1970s, tourism has returned and Jim Thorpe's gone through quite a revival. If you go to eBay and do a search of 'Mauch Chunk' you'll find a lot of photos of the town and surroundings. It was one of the most photographed places in America durig the Victorian era." I'll continue Jack's wonderful dialogue in the next posting.