- 3/31/2021 - Holbrook v White
- Wilkes: Traphill, Holbrook, White
In 1883, Charles W. White was a 26-year-old teacher at the Traphill Institute. He had been teaching at the school for five years after graduating with a bachelor's degree from Trinity College near his home in Randolph County....
- 3/23/2021 - Moravian Land in Wilkes County
- Wilkes: Moravian, Cossart, Lenoir
The Morvavians received two Granville Grants totaling almost 9,000 acres in 1754 in what is now Wilkes County....
- 12/26/2020 - Bauguess v. Martin in Wilkes Court
- Wilkes: Bauguess, Bunker, Siamese Twins, Martin
In April of 1868, Mary Bauguess and her daughter Melissa brought a suit before the Wilkes County Court of Equity against James O. Martin. Their claim was that he was unfairly attempting to "eject" them from the 245 acres on which they lived in Traphill. The land had previously been owned by Mary's father and grandfather, and they had most recently bought it from the Siamese Twins, Eng and Chang Bunker....
- 9/17/2020 - Big Rock Spring
- Wilkes: spring, Wagoner, grants
It's exciting when today's discoveries support information that was recorded long ago. There are certain landmarks that are so noteable or unique that even the earliest settlers were inclined to reference them in their documents. The fact that we are able to visit these same landmarks today provides us with a link to the past....
- 9/16/2020 - Wilkes County Grant #1678 - Along The River's Edge
- Wilkes: grants, Yadkin River, airport
Wilkes County Grant #1678 (NC Archives file #1517-1/2) is 640 acres to John Brown who is a trustee for Hugh Montgomery who was deceased. The land was entered (or formally requested from the state) on 12/11/1778. It was surveyed in 1797 and issued to John Brown on 12/5/1798....
- 7/28/2020 - Spotlight on Click Bauguess of Wilkes Co, NC
- Wilkes: Bauguess, WWI
William "Click" Bauguess was employed by Imperial Drop Forge Co in Indianapolis when he filled out his military registration card in June 1917. He was 24 years old and, like all young men at that time, he was required to register for possible military service....
- 9/29/2019 - The Old Elk Spur Road
- Wilkes: Blackburn, Elk Spur, homesite, Stone Mountain
My great uncle told me the story about going to visit his grandparents to get a calf. Nothing was easy back in those days – it was probably the late 1930s. They lived up the mountain in Roaring Gap, and his grandparents were John F. Blackburn and Carrie Harris Blackburn who lived down the mountain in Traphill....
- 9/6/2019 - Running Out Of Creek Names
- Wilkes: land grants, creeks
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....
- 8/23/2019 - At Home On Ditch Creek
- Wilkes: Ditch Creek, John Brooks, Civil War, land grant
You never know where the next interesting history tale might pop up. Today's journey takes us to the banks of Ditch Creek along Oklahoma Rd near the Wilkes and Alleghany border. On page 51 of the book Log Cabin Families of Stone Mountain, NC, a story is recounted by Annice Brooks Royall about her grandfather John Brooks. She said he hid out in a cave on the side of a mountain to keep from going to the Civil War....
- 8/2/2019 - Christopher McCrary vs. Christopher Edinger
- Wilkes: McCrary, Edinger, Edner, DNA, Bauguess, Roaring River
My ancestor Christopher McCrary has always been a mystery to me. Since the mid-1990s when I first saw him listed under a different name in the 1850 census, I've wanted to know more about his story. In 1850 he was listed as Christopher Edner, age 52, a farmer born in Rowan County....
- 7/15/2019 - The Mystery of Stokes and Young Brooks
- Wilkes: Stokes Brooks, Young Brooks, yDNA, Wilkes
The DNA results are in, and the verdict is clear: Stokes Brooks and Young Brooks definitely had different fathers. Stokes H. Brooks was born in 1802, and his brother Young Nathan Brooks was born in 1805. They were both sons of Rebecca Brooks who is believed to have never married....
- 7/14/2019 - Emanuel Rose Homeplace 1790s
- Wilkes: Emanuel Rose, deeds, Stone Mountain, Garden Creek, John Brown
I wonder if Emanuel Rose might be buried at the Brown Cemetery, also known as Garden Creek Cemetery, at Stone Mountain. After looking at land grants and later deeds, I think there’s a good possibility that he is buried there or nearby....
- 10/20/2018 - Rock Creek Meeting House
- Wilkes: Rock Creek, deeds, Joseph Porter
Where was the Rock Creek Meeting House? In 1848, Joseph Porter Sr received a grant for 52 acres on "the new road"....
- 10/18/2018 - Lewis W. Holbrook 1886 Survey
- Wilkes: Lewis W. Holbrook, deeds
I stumbled across a survey made for L. W. Holbrook in 1886 for 141 acres (Wilkes DB 5, p523). His land was at Joines on the north side of Longbottom Rd and east of the entrance to Stone Mountain. I believe he is Lewis W. Holbrook who was born in 1830, son of John Holbrook and Jane Bauguess....
- 10/18/2018 - Thomas Caudill Schoolhouse Grant 1850
- Wilkes: Thomas Caudill, deeds, schoolhouse
In the 1800s, there was a schoolhouse located near what is now 3100 Bethany Ford Rd in Roaring River. It's about 0.9 miles east of the river. The first mention I've found is the 1840 grant to Willis Holloway which has a beginning corner near the schoolhouse. Then in 1850, an 80 acre grant to Thomas Caudill also begins "near the old schoolhouse"....
- 10/9/2018 - The Legend of Tom Dooley 1868
- Wilkes: Tom Dooley, Ann Melton, Laura Foster, court
The Legend of Tom Dooley in Wilkes Co, NC. Lots of people have heard the tale. Maybe you remember Andy Taylor singing the 1958 ballad with The Darlins....
- 10/5/2018 - Eng and Chang Bunker Become U.S. Citizens 1839
- Wilkes: Eng and Chang Bunker, Siamese Twins
Wilkes County Court Minutes Docket A, October 12, 1839. Eng and Chang, the Siamese Twins, are naturalized to become U.S. citizens as residents of NC....
- October 2016 - The 1934 Murder of Lloyd Casey in Wilkes Co, NC
- Wilkes: Casey
The murder of Lloyd Casey, newsletter format, Vol 1, Issue 1 (pdf)....
- March 2013 - Grandchildren of Richard Bauguess (c1753-1822)
- Wilkes: Bauguess
This is an ongoing project to place early Wilkes Co Bauguess's in the proper family. The chart shows the names, birth dates, and census information for members of the family born before 1830....
- January 2007 - Celia Mahaffey (1811-1890) of Wilkes Co
- Wilkes: Casey
Thoughts on the possible parents of Celia Mahaffey including the many Thomas Mahaffeys, written for the Wilkes Genealogical Society Bulletin....
- October 2006 - The Ingool Family of Wilkes Co
- Wilkes: Ingool
How the Ingold family of Guilford Co became the Ingool family of Wilkes Co, written for the Wilkes Genealogical Society Bulletin....
- February 2006 - Alarison E. Myers (1825-1906), Civil War Pensioner from Wilkes Co, NC
