Stewarts Creek confirmed to run through Brookberry Farm

I have updated my spreadsheet and there are actually 25 separate deeds I know of (no duplicates) that make up Brookberry Farm, by 1962. I am in the process of sketching out the boundaries and dimensions of all 25. I started with the first 3 tracts last night and already have a pretty clear understanding of where all 25 tracts are now. The first 3 are in the middle, and they tie all the others together, so that was a great exercise last night.

For the first time I now have my arms (and head) around the farm and all the tracts that make it up and who owned them just prior to the Grays.

In my list, track #1 actually (not further down like I had previously thought) is where the manor house is. It was the first tract bought (1946). There are 203 acres on that lot bought from Felix Webster in 1946, and that is the tract that goes all the way back to John Hauser, the northern third of his 600 acre grant.

Furthermore, this tract provides clear proof that Stewarts Branch (aka Run, aka Creek) runs through the middle of this tract which is in the middle of Brookberry Farm. And in looking at the deeds for this tract back through the 1800s and even the 1700s, they refer to it as Stewarts Creek, Branch, etc., and even as Stuarts Creek in one of them.

Proof (evidence) is a powerful motivator.

More later...

Stokes County, NC Online Deeds

http://www.stokescorod.org/II_main.asp

This gets us back to the inception of Stokes county, which was around 1790, but there are 1787 deeds on this site.

Latest on Brookberry Farm Research

For the last several days, or even a week now, I've been emersing myself in Forsyth Co NC deeds. Debbie (McCann) helped me discover that Forsyth County (the county in which I live) has an online site for looking up old deed indexes and the deeds themselves going back to the county's inception (1849). What a huge time-saver and money-saver.

I have found 25 deeds which make up the Brookberry Farm landholdings. All of these deeds initially were to Bowman Gray and/or Gordon Gray, with most of them going to both Bowman and Gordon. These men were brothers, sons of Bowman Gray Sr. It also appears that we can do the same for Stokes Co NC, which prior to 1849 would be the county in which the farm was located. This is great news concerning our ability to track these deeds efficiently.

I have cataloged these deeds in a spreadsheet, and have identified 4 or 5 of the largest tracts I want to tackle first. I'll be tracking these deeds back to the original owner(s), and will hopefully discover that Samuel Stewart was one of said original owners.