Locating My Pittsylvania County Roots

One of the hardest things over the years has been to trace my Trahern family in Pittsylvania county. Primarily because the only way to find records was to go there in person. Yesterday while looking into the Loudon county Trahern's, I found out that records for Pittsylvania probate are online. Included in these records was deed books, which gave me a much better idea of where my family was located.

Nehemiah Trahern first purchased land in February 1779 from Richard Gritton. The land was 237 acres encompassing both sides of Bean Creek (now McGuff Creek). In 1784 he obtained a land grant for 217 acres that began at the corner of Church's (Jonathan Church) and Davis line on Mobley's mountain. So where was Mobley's mountain?

In 1803 Nehemiah and his wife Amelia sell the land on Mobley's mountain, containing all orchards and woods to Peter Wilson. I found also on a website the following deed information.

Pittsylvania Co VA DB 13

p.510 8 Nov 1803 Robert Price & Sarah his wife to Peter Wilson. 100#'s. 180 acres on Mobley's Mountain. Signed: Robert Price, Sally Price. Wit: Robt Mack, Ro. Harrison, Samuel Trahern. Wm & Ro. Harrison obtained Sally's permission on 10 Dec 1803. 19 Dec 1803, proved by witnesses.
p.541 ___ of ____ 1801 Jonathan M. Church Senr to Robert Price. 100#'s.187 acres. Wilsons & Trahern's line, Davis's line. Signed: Jonathan M. Church Wit: Saml. French, Jonathan M. Church Jr, Wm Cobbs, John Guinn. 20 Jul 1801, proved by two witness; 16 Jan 1804 proved by third.

Mobley Creek which is mentioned in other deeds on this page is now called Trotter Creek. Mcguff (Bean) Creek flows into Trotter Creek and are a tributary to the Dan River. The only mountain near Trotter (Mobley) Creek is Judy Byrd Mountain, which I assume was once named Mobley's Mountain. 

Here is a map with the landmarks for the deeds.

The highway is highway 311. Berryhill, Virginia and Buford, Virginia are the two towns about equidistant from the point where Trotter and McGuff creeks y together.

After nearly 20 years of research, and much more for some of my Trahern cousins, we now have an idea where our family resided in Virginia.