Blog Article List Home Contact Me
Wilkes: land grants, creeks September 6, 2019 Running Out Of Creek Names When I first started tracing
my genealogy, I focused mostly on names and dates. I suppose that's typical of most
people. We need to know who our
ancestors were before we start asking questions about what their lives were
like. As I've continued researching over
many years, I've become more interested in exactly where my ancestors lived. If the ancestor is only a
few generations back, it might not be such a difficult question. Maybe their home is still standing or a
family member still owns the land. But
as we trace higher up in the family tree, that questions becomes more
difficult. This is a picture of an old
homesite in Stone Mountain State Park. I don’t know who lived in
this cabin, but I do know that it’s located on a 100 acre tract originally entered
by John Holloway Sr in 1826. He sold the
land to Richard Cross in 1846. This cabin
is probably more recent than that, but knowing the history of the land gives
this old chimney a story and a history of its own to tell to those who
stumble upon it in the woods, far off the trail. Land records are a good
place to start for answers. I've been
digging through the original Wilkes County land grants for over four years,
and I'm starting to become familiar with certain families and certain parts
of the county. Even the way the grants
are written can give subtle clues about whether the new grant recipient had
neighbors or if he was the first to buy a tract in that area. If I'm lucky, the grant will
mention a natural landmark located on the property. Some grants might mention a mountain by
name, but more often a body of water is provided. Most grants say something like "on the
North side of the Yadkin" or "on the waters of Roaring
River". Some go a step farther
and might say "on a branch of Little Sandy Creek on the waters of
Roaring River". That can be a big
help in locating the property. This was the home of John
Bauguess (1855-1936) on the “waters of Sparks Creek, the waters of the East
fork of Roaring River”. He was my great
great grandpa’s brother. But sometimes it's not so
clear. I've been amazed at how many
creek and branch names have been used repeatedly throughout the county. And it's not just the present-day
boundaries of Wilkes that must be searched for identifying the location of
these grants. Wilkes County extended
north to Virginia and west to what is now Tennessee. Also, in the early years both the eastern
and southern boundaries of the county fluctuated. So Wilkes County grants might be in any
county adjoining Wilkes. Take, for instance, Dugger
Creek. If I find a grant that says
"on the waters of Dugger Creek", there are a few options. · Maybe it's the Dugger Creek in the southeast corner
of Wilkes. This creek flows south into
Little Hunting Creek near Somers Rd. · Or maybe it's Dugger Creek or Little Dugger Creek on
the Elk River in the extreme western part of Wilkes. This is near the community of Darby. · It seems like I also found this name on the Watauga
River, but I can’t find it now. How about Osborne Creek? · There's an Osborn Creek that flows into Hunting
Creek near Somers Rd in southeastern Wilkes. · And there's an Osborn Creek on the headwaters of
Reddies River, not far below the Blue Ridge Parkway. Oh, it's gets better! What if the grant mentions property on
Glade Fork? · The first creek that comes to mind is Glade Creek on
Little River in southern Alleghany Co. · There's also a Glade Creek on the Lower Little River
which flows into the Catawba River south of Wilkes. · Or, what if it's a misspelling? Maybe it refers to Glady Fork which is
another creek in Alleghany. · There's a Gladys Fork on the waters of Stony Fork,
north of the Yadkin River. · And there's another Gladys Fork on Elk Creek which
flows south into the Yadkin in western Wilkes. I'm convinced the most popular
creek name is Camp Branch! I've
counted at least 7 creeks by that name in the area, and there are probably
more. Many creeks no longer go by the
names they used 100 or 200 years ago, so some unnamed creeks today might have
been Camp Branches back in the old days and in the old records. If only they could have been more original
in naming these creeks! This is a section of a
report I'm working on to summarize certain information from all 8,012 land
grants for Wilkes County. This shows a summary of
grants that I’ve identified as being on Roaring River. It includes four different branches that
include the word “Camp”. That’s part
of the challenge of putting this large puzzle together. If it wasn’t challenging, it wouldn’t be
fun. Soon I’ll post the full summary
that includes all waters systems mentioned in the Wilkes grants. Comments? jason@webjmd.com |