4-minute video of the story of Humphries Tavern. It was located beside the first Wilkes courthouse and was the site of a dispute between Milley Humphries and James Fletcher in 1787. At the end, we get a glimpse of what the tavern might have looked like at its original location.

Information on the TWO Wilkes County tax books that I've compiled.

1798 Wilkes County Federal Direct Tax - 200 pages
1777 - 1799 Wilkes County Annual Tax - 638 pages

Genealogy books sold by the Wilkes Heritage Museum.

May 2024 - Local Colonial Land Records

Someone mentioned the possible location of an old mill site, and there was a conversation about a possible cemetery hidden in the woods. Contact me to discuss it more!

Someone brought up Cub Creek. It was called Cub Creek in 1778 when the first land grant surveys were made. Earlier, in 1752, the Moravian survey for their lower tract was located on Cub Creek. While the creek is shown on the survey, none of the rivers, creeks, or branches are labeled. I don't know when Cub Creek got its name.

The one-page handout from the presentation.

The first six slides of the presentation (pdf)

The capture of Solomon Sparks:
George Parks' pension papers (page 14 of 102) about the capture of Solomon Sparks.
Transcription of George Parks' pension papers, typed so that you don't have to deal with the old handwriting.

Search all pension records through the National Archives
In the search bar, type the first and last name of the soldier, followed by the phrase 'pension north carolina'. For example: George Parks pension North Carolina

Wilkes Land Grants
This page has a list of all 8,000+ Wilkes grants along with an interactive map.

February 2024 - Wilkes Slave Records

1860 Census Statistics
The first six pages of the presentation show how much of the county's population was made up of slaves.

Wilkes Slave Records file from NC Archives
Digitized from microfilm on familysearch.org. The slave records start at image 340 and continue to the end at image 782. You'll need to create a free login/password to view the records.

Wilkes Cohabitation Records from NC Archives
54-page pdf file of cohabitation papers. Immediately after the Civil War, former slaves applied to the county to be recognized as husband and wife. Many of these documents list how long the couple had been living together. Some of these families continued to live in Wilkes, and others moved away.

Wilkes Land Grants
Since 2014, I've been mapping Wilkes County land grants, and I continue to update my online maps and tables. This is useful to determine where early Wilkes residents lived.

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Top of page Jason Duncan
222 Sundance Cir
Statesville, NC 28625
704-929-2643
jason@webjmd.com

Maintaining a website since April 1995