Finding An Ancestor's Land On A Map/ a challenging process

When I visited Virginia and Tennessee this past July and August I wanted to visit the location of my ancestors' land. I had descriptions of the approximate location because creeks were mentioned in their deeds. Since creeks can run for many miles it's difficult to say where, exactly, their land was?

Virginia does have county historical maps that were produced by a cartographer. These maps show approximate locations of early settlers' land. They were produced by H. R. Hildebrand. My ancestor Moses Wray is listed in the Franklin County. Virginia map. I wondered what the source for these locations were? I did some research in the courthouses and didn't see any information there pinpointing land locations? I did find a description of what the sources were at the East Tennessee State University website. "Compiled from old maps, historical records, and traditions by J.R. Hildebrand." The fact some of the locations were based on traditions worried me a little. I had taken these maps more literally. I now felt like I needed to verify the approximate location, also. 

I visited a surveyor's office in Rocky Mount because I thought they might have some tips regarding locating an ancestor's land. The office had some hunting trophies (which reminded me of my grandfather Forgey who liked to keep taxidermy animals).   

The surveyor's suggestion was to trace the land ownership forward using deeds. Once the current owners information is found the exact location of the land can be found using tax records. 

I attempted to trace the land forward using deeds, but quickly lost the ownership trail. Could be later owners didn't file deeds? I wasn't sure why I was having problems? I decided to try to trace the land ownership backward instead. 

So how do you find current land ownership information? The best way is to use a parcel land viewer. There are many of these online and free to use. Franklin County, Virginia's parcel map is located at the ArcGIS Franklin County, Virginia website. 

Moses Wray owned land on Maggodee Creek and White Oak Creek in Boones Mill. White Oak Creek on Google Maps is mismarked Gills Creek. That creek runs east west whereas White Oak creek runs more north south and eventually meets the Blackwater River. 

The most accurate topo maps are on the USGS website. They have maps showing creeks going back to the 19th century right up to the present. I was thinking the name of White Oak creek changed when I didn't find it on Google Maps. That slowed my progress locating the land. 

What I know from the deeds is Moses Wray had land on Maggodee Creek and White Oak Creek. using the USGS map I found the creek. Since White Oak Creek flows into Maggodee creek  I guessed the land is in that area. 

Now I had a general location to search the parcel map at ArcGIS. My hope was actually to find someone with the surname still owning the land in the area, but I was thinking I would likely have to trace the many parcels backward. 

Clicking the first few parcels I didn't see any surnames I recognized.  To my surprise I did click on a parcel owned by someone with the surname Wray! I've decided to contact this current Wray owner and ask if he knows whether Moses Wray owned his land. They'll probably think I'm crazy but the worst that could happen is I don't get a reply. 

If you look at the blue outline of the land currently owned by a Wray it gives us an idea of how much land the family once owned. The current owner owns 86 acres. The Wrays owned hundreds of acres in this area. Their land would have covered a substantial amount of land on White Oak Creek. That creek is shorter than Maggodee Creek. 

Now that I have a better approximation of where the Wray land was, how accurate is the H. R. Hildebrand map? Since there is no scale on this map it's tough to say. Hildebrand did have Moses Wray's name written on the correct side of the highway. Comparing where the current Wray land owner owns land Moses Wray's land would have been about 3 miles east of the highway. The Hildebrand map is generally right but would give some people the false impression Moses Wray's land was closer to the highway and farther north than it likely was. 

The current Wray landowner, on White Oak creek, owns parcel 7. Two of Moses Wray's sons inherited what they called lots 4 and 5. I wonder if two other sons inherited lots 6 and 7? I have no idea whether the numbering is the same? 

Moving on to Tennessee I wasn't so lucky. I'm looking for ancestor Hugh Forgey's land. Unfortunately the Forgey family didn't stay in the Corryton, Knox County, Tennessee area. Since Hugh Forgey's land was described as being at the head of Little Flat Creek I have a general idea of where the land was located. I tried to again trace parcels backward and forward to get the exact location of the land. The Forgey land was probably broken up into smaller parcels, and I haven't been able to establish the exact location of the land. Hugh Forgey owned 300 acres of land. The current owners in the area own much smaller parcels of land. The map outline, below, shows 7 acres. Hugh Forgey's land would have covered a large portion of the Little Flat Creek area. 

The online parcel maps showing current landowners has been helpful when it comes to finding the names of current landowners, and viewing  how the land has been broken up into smaller parcels. Great tool for genealogists!