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December 4, 2022

Granville Grants in Wilkes County

The earliest land that was formally sold to individuals in the area that is now Wilkes County were Granville Grants. These were land grants that were sold by the British Earl Granville beginning in 1748. The program ended when the Earl Granville died in 1763, and for the following fifteen years, there was no process for purchasing land from the crown. New settlers could live on unclaimed land, but there was no way to officially own it. After the Declaration of Independence was signed and North Carolina formed its own government, the state began issuing state land grants in 1779. In that first year, there were 104 state grants issued for land in Wilkes County.

This is the top portion of a Granville Grant issued to Morgan Bryant in 1752. Two copies were made, with one kept on file and the other given to the new landowner. Both were cut together across the top in a unique pattern as a security measure. Later, if the landowner’s copy matched the one on file, it was verified to be authentic.

I’m not aware of any land being owned by individuals in Wilkes County before the Granville Grants. At that time, there wasn’t any permanent settlement this far west. For perspective, construction began in 1755 on Fort Dobbs, located just north of Statesville, and at that time it was on the frontier of European settlement.

In 1752, the Moravian scouting party arrived in North Carolina from Pennsylvania to search for the location of their future settlement. According to their diaries, they met very few Europeans while they traveled through extreme weather and terrain in the western part of the colony which included present-day Wilkes County. This region was Anson County until 1753 when Rowan County was created. It became Surry County in 1772, and finally Wilkes County in 1777.

I’ve identified only six Granville Grants for land in present-day Wilkes County. They’re labeled below as A through F. Two other possibilities are labled Y and Z. If anyone knows of others, please let me know.

The six Granville Grants issued in present-day Wilkes County are labeled A through F. Two other possibilities are labeled Y and Z. All are along the Yadkin River between Kerr Scott Reservoir and the town of Ronda.

(Click to see a larger version.)

“A” - Upper Moravian Tract

On 11/12/1754, Henry Cosart was issued grant #109 in Anson County for 3,840 acres. Cosart was the representative for the Moravians who had recently purchased nearly 100,000 acres for their new Wachovia settlement at what became Bethania, Bethabara, and Salem. Because some of that land wasn’t as good as they had hoped, Lord Granville gifted them two smaller tracts along the Yadkin River. This upper tract covered most of Kerr Scott Reservoir.

“B” – The Bent Tract

On 10/28/1752, Morgan Bryant was issued grant #99 in Anson County for 150.5 acres at the bend on the north side of the Yadkin River. This is the tract where Governor Montford Stokes lived after moving from Salisbury. He built his home mansion Mourne Rouge here in 1830.

“C” – Lower Moravian Tract

On 11/12/1754, Henry Cosart was issued grant #110 in Anson County for 4,933 acres. This lower Moravian tract was located about a mile downstream from the upper tract. It was described as being against the Mulberry Fields. It is mostly on the south side of the Yadkin River and includes much of the town of Wilkesboro.

“D” – The Mulberry Fields Tract

On 10/27/1752, Morgan Bryant was issued grant #96 in Anson County for 354 acres. It was described as including the mouth of Elk River on the north side of the Yadkin River. This tract was sold to Joseph Bryant in 1756, then to Marmaduke Kimbrough in 1765, then to John Payne of Goochland Co, VA, in 1767. This last transaction was recorded in Rowan County deed book 6, p502. It specifies that “the Elk” was also known as “Reddeys River”. This is interesting because it shows us that the name Reddies River was adopted soon before this 1767 deed. Today, this includes much of the town of North Wilkesboro.

“E” – The Bryant Tract

On 10/27/1752, Morgan Bryant was issued grant #101 in Anson County for 313 acres. This tract was on the north side of the Yadkin River at the mouth of Mulberry Creek. This was one of several tracts purchased by Morgan Bryant. These were most likely bought as investments, and he likely didn’t live on any of these tracts.

“F” – The Hughes Bottom Tract

On 10/27/1752, Edward Hughes was issued grant #91 in Anson County for 314 acres. This tract was on the north side of the Yadkin River on the east side of Roundabout. When it was first surveyed, the tract was known by the name “Fairfield”, but that name didn’t stick around. A branch that flows south into the Yadkin River is today called Hughes Branch as a callback to the name of the original landowner. This tract was sold at least three times before being purchased in 1792 by Richard Gwyn.

Other Possible Granville Grants

There are at least two other tracts that might have been Granville Grants, and they are labeled as “Y” and “Z” on the map.

“Y” – The Whites Bottom Tract

This tract was located on both sides of the Yadkin River, just east of Mulberry Creek. The earliest Wilkes deed I have found for this land is dated 1/12/1799 when Arthur Payne and Smith Payne sold 320 acres to the Rousseau family. Separately, the estate papers for John Payne show that Arthur and Smith were John Payne's heirs who lived in Virginia. An earlier deed in Rowan County is dated April 12, 1765. On that date, William Todd Livingston bought this tract from John Holder, an inn holder. No deed has yet been found for when John Holder originally purchased the land, but for this time period, it would have been a Granville Grant for about 500 acres.

“Z” – The Roundabout Tract

The Roundabout tract was famously the home of Col. Benjamin Cleveland in the 1770s and 1780s. Earlier this year, I wrote about the dispute between him and William Terrel Lewis over ownership of the land. Lewis eventually won the court battle in about 1786 by producing two older documents. One was a deed where he had previously purchased the land from Hugh Dobbins, and the other was a Granville Grant issued to Hugh Dobbins. I haven’t been able to find these records in Anson, Rowan, Surry, or Wilkes records. It’s possible that they were lost during the following 240 years. Or perhaps, as Cleveland claimed before the court, Lewis presented forgeries in court to win his case.

It's interesting that the six known Granville Grants were issued to just three different people: Henry Cosart, Morgan Bryant, and Edward Hughes. It’s no surprise that all of the tracts were on the banks of the Yadkin River where the soil was fertile and the land was flat. They were all issued between 1752 and 1754, when the only European inhabitants in this part of the state were the occasional explorers, traders, or hunters. These adventurous pioneers often didn’t stay in one place very long. The first permanent settlements in the county seem to have been in the 1760s before growing quickly in the 1770s and 1780s.

These grants are shown on the maps I’ve made as part of my ongoing project to map all Wilkes County land grants.

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