Interim Project - Buncombe Co NC Deeds

As I continue to work on the George Patterson book, I've determined that I really need to finish another project I've worked on sporadically for several years - that being a more fully mapped set of land records for the area north and northwest of Asheville, NC in Buncombe County.

George Patterson was born in 1800 while his parents and grandparents were living along Jenkins Branch on the West side of French Broad River (FBR). However, over the years I've come to realize how many of their relatives and neighbors that lived on the West side FBR, also owned land and in many cases, lived on the East side FBR as well. Some were initially on the East side and later on the West, and vice versa. 

The deeds of Buncombe Co NC begin in the 1790's and are fully online at https://registerofdeeds.buncombecounty.org/External/LandRecords/protected/v4/SrchName.aspx

Knowing that I will be using much of this research in my books - which includes some of what I want to do in George Patterson's book - I am working through hundreds of deeds. 

I am capturing data about the deeds and tracking in Microsoft Excel for future summary purposes. I am saving the deeds (images of the deeds) as PDF files. 

I am then converting the PDF files (some are 1 image, some 2, some more than 2), into PNG image files, which saves each page as its own separate file. 

I am then using Microsoft Edge (browser) and its unique AI tool (Copilot) that will take a PNG image with cursive handwriting and transcribe it to text automatically. Surprisingly, the transcription process works correctly about 70-98% of the time. And most of the time I'd say it's 85-90% correct. That cuts down the manual process of transcribing exponentially!

I then copy these transcriptions into a Microsoft Word document. If there are multiple pages of the deed, I copy the transcription of all of those pages into the single Word doc, preserving the page breaks of course. At the bottom of each Word doc I have a reference line that I add that makes it clear where this deed was acquired, for example:

Buncombe Co, NC Deeds: Book 3: Pages 231-232

I then copy the text from the Word doc into a text file to reformat in the Deedmapper format. However, I still keep the Word doc as I know I will later copy many of these deed transcriptions into future books, which are written in MS Word. The deedmapper text files require only certain pieces of the transcriptions, and they have to be in a specific format. 

I then copy that deedmapper text from the text file into my DeedMapper program, create a new deed, then paste it in the new deed on the Text View tab. I can then switch to the Plot View tab for that new deed, which shows the deed overlaid on my map. I then drag the deed to the correct place on the map, if I know where to place it.

I keep all PDF files, PNG files, Word files, and TXT files. I keep the same naming convention on all of them for easier retrieval as the collection grows. See the following file names for one multi-page deed, for example:

• nc-buncombe-3-231-john-davidson-to-george-black.pdf
• nc-buncombe-3-231-john-davidson-to-george-black_Page1.png
• nc-buncombe-3-231-john-davidson-to-george-black_Page2.png
• nc-buncombe-3-231-john-davidson-to-george-black.docx
• nc-buncombe-3-231-john-davidson-to-george-black.txt

The PDF image file looks something like the following:

The PNG files look as follows:

The Microsoft Edge Copilot tool looks like this:

The Word doc looks as follows:

And the TXT file in DeedMapper format looks as follows:

The final DeedMapper file looks like this:

This is one of dozens or even hundreds of deeds I plan to map on the West side FBR. Here's another view of the DeedMapper image but zoomed further out.

I plan to focus on the West side FBR first, and one major branch or creek at a time, beginning with Jenkins Branch. But I'll also be tracking Lees Mill Creek, Newfound Creek, Turkey Creek, Sandy Mush Creek, and many other branches of those creeks.

Names mapped so far include the following:

1. John Patterson
2. James Patterson
3. Robert Patterson
4. Thomas Patterson
5. George Black
6. Reuben Black
7. John Black
8. Robert Black
9. James Black
10. Joseph Black
11. Daniel Black
12. Matthew Black
13. Daniel Ponder
14. Abram Pence
15. Ezekiel Sandlin
16. Lewis Sandlin
17. James Hughey
18. Joseph Hughey
19. William Hunter
20. Richard Morrow
21. James Beard
22. Thomas Harrison
23. Katie Roberts
24. Aaron Cox
25. John Davidson
26. John Plemons
27. Cornelius Peppenger
28. Joseph Worley
29. Clem Davis

and many, many more coming.

Wes

 

Davis Family of Moore Co NC

This week I spent a few days working on my mother's family, the Davises of Moore Co, NC. I've learned so much over the last year on HOW to use the tools at Ancestry.com and then dove-tail from there into Findagrave.com and Fold3.com and other ancillary sites. 

This go around I have found Last Wills & Testaments for two of my Davis ancestors. Both were named William Coleman Davis (father and son), and both died in Moore Co, NC around Carthage and Ritter.

William Sr's Will helped me nail down the names of all 7 of his children, something I had not been able to do previously.

William Jr's Will helped me learn that he lived longer than I previously realized. And I was able to find that he married a second time, and that his middle initial was also "C", something I did not know previously.

I was also able to fill in so many generations of descendants coming forward in time for the descendants of William Coleman Davis Sr. 

I descend from the following Davises:

1. Robert Davis (1744-1828) m. Nancy Cheek
2. William Coleman Davis Sr (ca. 1793-1870/80) m. Phoebe Phillips (not Bannerman!)
3. William C. Davis Jr (ca. 1820/2-1904/5) m. Clarkey Hilliard
4. John (Wesley) Davis (1844-ca. 1911) m. Ruth Ann Barber
5. Troy Lee Davis (1909-1988) m. Lettie Mae Langley
6. Vanza Davis Patterson (1939-2018) m. Francis Oliver Patterson
7. Wes Patterson m. Ginna Fishburne

I hope to publish a book on this family in the near future.

Wes

Next Book - George Patterson of Ivylog, GA

A few weeks ago I began the early stages of my third volume in the Butterfly Biographies (BB) series. This next book will tackle the family of George Patterson (1800-1860) and his wives, Rebecca Chastain (1799-1845/7) and Sophia Dunagan (1825-1872/81). 

Volume 1 covered John Patterson, the father of George. Volume II covered Elijah Chastain, the father of Rebecca. Both of those fathers were 4X-Great-Grandfathers to me. George and Rebecca were my 3X-great-grandparents.

When I start a new book, the first thing I blaze through is the content in my FamilyTreeMaker database. That will end up being my guide for the rest of the book, so I make sure I have all details on all lineages correct, as much as possible. Volumes I & II covered a lot of the ancestors and cousins for George and Rebecca and was limited to 3 generations of descendants. Volume III for George will be able to focus on more details regarding his descendants. Therefore, I'm having to research and document all generational lines from George at least one generation further - coming forward in time. In fact, I'm taking the lines as far as I can to World War II descendants, and in some limited cases, even to recent decades. 

I always leave identifiable details blank in the book, however, for living persons. I do list their names, but not other details.

There will be 8 chapters on descendants of George Patterson, one for each of his children who had families of their own. My line is the 4th of the 8 lines - William Harden (Billy) Patterson, who lived from 1832 to 1884. Most of the 8 lines had numerous children and grandchildren, so it can take some time to research every single one of them in online resources, but that's the job!

So far, I have all lines for Jim, Mary and Kimsey completed. I'm currently on the 4th line, which is Billy. He had 12 children, and I'm finished with 10 of those 12 lines. So next I will finish Billy's remaining 2 lines, then finish up the last 4 of George's lines, that being Elizer, John A., Elijah M., and Margaret. Once I have those details completed in FamilyTreeMaker, I begin filling in the content in the book in Microsoft Word.

I was hoping that by the second and third volumes of this series I would be hitting my stride. I think that is starting to work out. I took a few months off this summer and didn't do any writing at all, which delayed Volume 2. However, once I picked it back up, I hit it pretty hard, and am happy to be able to say that the Printer/Publisher (Old Buncombe County Gen. Soc.) accepted it and published it without a single edit!!! Wow. 

OK. Back it...

Wes