The main 200 acre tract in the center of the farm (includes the Gray mansion, and the southern half of the developed area, and everything south from there), can definitively be traced back to an original land grant from the state of NC to John Hauser. I confirmed this conclusively on 22 Jan 2010.
John Hauser's grant (still need more details on it, but this much I do know) contained about 600 acres. After his death in the late 1700's his land was devised to his heirs, who in turn sold the 3 tracts of 200 acres each to various parties. The northern most 200 acre tract was sold to Matthew Brooks (possibly "Jr") in 1799 (Stokes Deed Book 3 Page 227). This includes the land from Hundley Rd at the back side of Meadowlark Downs, running north behind Meadowlark Downs to Brookberry Farm Rd. From there it runs west all the way to the Gray mansion and just a little west of that (but not all the way to Ketner Rd, however). Then it runs south to a point even with Hundley Rd and then back east to the backside of Meadowlark Downs.
The above tract contained 200 (actually about 204.75) acres.
Also in 1799, another 200 acre tract on the SOUTH side of Brooks' tract was sold to Samuel Vest (Stokes Deed Book 3 Page 202). Beauchamp Rd runs into the heart of that tract. The southern line of this tract, however, ran a little north of Country Club Rd.
Ten years prior to this, in 1789, the other 200 acre tract was sold to Christian Hauser (Stokes Deed Book 1 Page 52). This tract is south of Vest's tract and crossed over Country Club Rd and encompassed Lewisville Motor Company, etc.
As for Matthew Brooks, he sold his 200 acres to Nathaniel Lash (probably his brother-in-law) on 19 Feb 1802 (Stokes Deed Book 4 Page 149). The cemetery where Nathaniel Lash, and his wife Aggie Brooks Lash, are buried is located in the NW section of this very same tract of land, originally owned by John Hauser.
Debbie... you live on this tract of land, by the way.
Wes
