Stewarts Creek, Tomahawk Creek, Lashes Creek

Judy Cardwell has helped me get a better understanding of where these creeks are today, and why all the confusion in modern maps.

Bottom line... the creek that runs N to S through Brookberry Farm is Stewarts Creek. Further upstream, toward Robinhood Rd, a couple creeks flow into it from the west. The largest tributary, according to Judy, is Lashes Creek. This is important to remember. This is also along the northern part of Brookberry Farm, and even to the north and west of the farm.

As Stewarts Creek runs S and approaches Country Club Rd, another creek flows into it from the west. On some maps that is referred to as Little Tomahawk Creek, and flows from Beauchamp Lake into Stewarts Creek.

Some modern maps refer to Stewarts Creek as Tomahawk Creek or Reynolds Creek, but it's really Stewarts Creek.

Then, as the main branch flows S and under Country Club Rd (formerly Shallow Ford Rd, from Old Salem to Lewisville), yet another large creek flows into it from the west, just before it dumps into Muddy Creek. This westerly creek in the old deeds is THE Tomahawk Branch or Tomahawk Creek. A couple modern maps show the same thing, but most modern maps label this as Reynolds Creek. That could be because just west of Stewarts Creek, this westerly creek flows under Styers Ferry Rd and passes beside the L.A. Reynolds Nursery. Nonetheless, it really is Tomahawk Creek.

Therefore, my past assumptions were incorrect as to the proper location of Tomahawk Creek. I want to thank Judy for helping me with this, as she has done extensive research on the Vest family and others along all of these creeks. There is no question as to the location of Tomahawk Creek.

That said, I have always believed Stewarts Creek (Branch, Run) was where it is. And, it runs a long way, beginning at the lakes along Lake Forest Rd some two miles or so north of Brookberry Farm. Somewhere along this creek, and I now presume it to have been further north from the modern Brookberry Farm, the Stewarts lived during the 1750s - 1770s. David and Abigail Stewart are thought to have lived there first near some "ponds", and then later his parents, Samuel and Lydia Harrison Stewart, also lived there, beginning about 1754, roughly. Other family members most likely lived here also, but for now I'm simply trying to document the Brookberry Farm owners, and then I can work my way up the creek later.

Another important historical tidbit... During the 1750's, the Great Wagon Road traversed this section of the country. Later, a newer part of the Great Wagon Road was laid out along the modern Yadkinville Highway. But during these early years, it snaked across this part of the country on a path lost long ago. That said, it crossed Stewarts Creek SOMEWHERE along the way between the northern end at the ponds and the southern end at the modern day Brookberry Farm. That was the early route from Bethania to Lewisville to the Shallow Ford of the Yadkin River.

Wes

Sharon United Methodist Church

Sharon UMC is located just south of the SW corner of Brookberry Farm. They have a tremendous history chronicled on their website which gives great clues to the history of the community and the families involved in Brookberry Farm. Many of the former owners of BBF tracts are buried at Sharon.

Brookberry Conrad Pedigree

Faye Moran has an excellent history on the genealogy of many families of Stokes and Forsyth counties, and in this case, sheds light on the Conrads of Forsyth County in general, and Rufus and Robert C Conrad in particular. I don't find Vance E Conrad in this pedigree however, so there may not be any connection between him and these other Conrads. Really, the only Conrad who's lands were later in Brookberry was Robert C Conrad, but Rufus appears to be his 1st cousin.

Here are some genealogy details:

Children of Calvin Conrad and Edna Brown
Lucas Isaac Conrad (1866-1913)
Luther Conrad (1868-1878)
Robert Curtis Conrad (1872-1936) m. Della Sheets (1877-1936)
Mary Conrad
Titus Conrad

Then, going back one generation:

Children of Isaac D. Conrad and Sarah Maria Shamel
Selesta Conrad (abt. 1837-?) m. Elisha McKnight (abt. 1834-?), prob. s/o George McKnight and Lydia Elrod
Calvin Conrad (1838-1895) m. Edna Brown (1839-1908)
Gideon Conrad (1844-1886) m. Mary Jane Livengood (1846-1909)
George Dallas Conrad (1847-1917) m. Clementine Rebecca Cornish (1851-1934)
Lewis Conrad (abt. 1850-?)
Augusta Conrad (1852-1937) m. John Livengood
Regina Conrad (1853-1926) m. Julius Sylvester Norman (1851-1943)

Notice above that the McKnights and Elrods start showing up. Let's go one more generation back:

Children of Leonard Conrad and Annie Vest
Joseph G. Conrad (abt. 1808-aft. 1870) m. Nancy Stolz (abt. 1816-aft. 1870). Who were her parents?
Sarah Conrad (1810-1898) m. Nathaniel Ketner (1810-1879)
Isaac D. Conrad (1814-1882) m. Sarah Maria Shamel (1817-1905)
Samuel Conrad; named in his father's will (1865) as deceased, but left heirs
Susan Conrad (1818-1855) m. Nathaniel Hartman (abt. 1812-?)
Fizy or Fisa W. Conrad (1820-1905) m. George H. Flynt (1818-1893)

Children of Leonard Conrad and Rebecca Lash
Delphia Conrad (1827-1877) m. Milton Hartman (1821-1870)
John Leonard Conrad (1832-1862) m. Caroline L. Conrad (1836-1925)
Lucetta Conrad (1833-1873) m. 1) Lewis Hartman (abt. 1825-1865, 2) Joseph Brewer, s/o Henry Brewer and Elizabeth Boeckel
Julia Sybilla Conrad (1835-1902) m. Julius Abraham Transou (1832-1930)
James H. Conrad (abt. 1837-1911) m. Emily L. Gamble (1839-1911), d/o Andrew Gamble
Mary Ann Conrad (abt. 1844-?) m. Jesse Marshall (abt. 1840-?), s/o Tandy Marshall

The above family group shows that Isaac's step mother was Rebecca Lash, presumed niece of Nathaniel Lash, who is buried on Brookberry Farm! Robert C Conrad's land is known to have come from Leonard Conrad, as well. Flynts live just north of Brookberry, and Ketners were on the western edge of, and part of, Brookberry.

Children of Johann Jacob Conrad and Catharina Weybrecht
Johann Conrad
Jacob Conrad (1779-?)
Daniel Conrad (1783-?)
Leonard Conrad (1787-1865) m. 1) Annie Vest, 2) Rebecca Lash, probably d/o George Lash Jr. and Nancy Wall
Elisabeth Conrad (1789-aft. 1850) m. Martin Leinbach (1791-1848)

So, we see that the Conrads were intricately connected with these other Moravian and Brookberry Farm families.