As you have probably discovered, Craig, there are two types of townships referred to in researching around here. One is the township in the Section-Township-Range land description. It's always numerical and never, ever changes. The other is the township which has a name (such as White River or Sugar Loaf or Union etc in MCAR). These are political subdivisions created for equalization of population for voting purposes. The boundaries of these townships change as new townships are created for equalization purposes. These are the ones referred to in census records. The plat map of MCAR at http://www.rootsweb.com/~armarion indicates the first type of township. Best of all, this plat map was printed before the creation of Bull Shoals Lake so that locating specific pieces of land before then can be done even though they're now under water. Also on the Marion Co web page is a brief history of the second type of township with the date of its creation, which townships were created from it and when, and what their various names are. The book "Map Guide To United States Federal Census 1790-1920" by Thorndale and Dollarhyde is an excellent source for determining when a county was created and what counties were created from it. Most libraries have this. It's marvelous with both visual and text explanations. As for changes to Marion County - it was created 3 Nov 1835 from Lawrence Co under the name of Searcy Co. The name was changed to Marion Co Co 29 Sep 1836. Searcy Co was again created 13 Dec 1838 from the lower part of Marion Co. To the east, Baxter Co was created in part from Marion Co 24 March 1873 (taking roughly the portion from White River to Mountain Home). To the west, Boone Co was created in part from Carroll Co 9 April 1869, but for several years there was some confusion over just where the Marion/Boone line was so research along the western MCAR boundary can be quite confusing for a while. Plat books similar to what you describe have been printed in recent years by a company in, I believe, Missouri. The county tax assessor often has a copy as do the local land abstractors. I gather they're rather expensive for what they are so they're not readily available. I can check the name of the company if you'd like. Doubt seriously they go back in time anywhere near the early days - probably only into the middle 1900s would be my guess. Mysty shakerag@mtnhome.com ************************************************* ----- Original Message ----- From: Craig Blyeth <cblyeth@yahoo.com> To: Mysty McPherson <shakerag@mtnhome.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 5:03 PM Subject: Plat Maps > Mysty, the type of map I mean is in the form of a > bound county atlas book, which each township on a > separate page, and the farm acreages outlined with the > name of the farm owner in it (obviously, in more urban > areas like towns, just the streets and buildings/homes > are shown but not the owners' names). > > As I mentioned in my previous post, I'd found them in > southwest MI going back to 1860. I know there > wouldn't be anything that early in AR. These appear > to have been sold to area farmers, who, for an extra > fee I guess, could have an engraving of their house > and/or farm made and a small version included on the > respective page in the atlas. I was able to get a > great drawing of one ancestor's home that way. > > One thing I have done is to go to the BLM website and > pull up all the homestead grants by twp/range for my > ancestors' locations in MCAR. I obtained a fairly > large scale govt. map from a university library and > drew in the various farms based on the locations given > in the grants. It sure showed that they didn't look > far for spouses in the old days! > > Unfortunately, my oldest ancestors in the region seem > to have settled in a location that was a couple other > counties before it was Marion, then changed to Carroll > and Boone (or maybe it's the other way around - I > can't keep track!) so that makes it even trickier for > looking things up. > > I am gratefully aware of the 'blue Bible' you helped > put together. My distant cousin-in-law, Jackie > Nielson, submitted information on our common Blyeth > ancestors and I had a good chance to look through it > for information when I visited her in Utah last Dec. > It's a great book and one that I sure wish other > groups would adopt for a no nonsense look at regional > family histories! > > If you do find out anything about the exsistence of > these old atlas maps, please do let me and everyone > know. They seem to have been somewhat common in > northern midwestern states; I even ran across them > from the 1960s, so I guess they have remained popular > for farmers to check on how much land their neighbors > own or whatever. > > Thanks again! > > Craig Blyeth > --- Mysty McPherson <shakerag@mtnhome.com> wrote: > > I'm not quite sure exactly what you mean by a plat > > map, Craig, so I'm not > > real sure how to answer your question. > > > > At http://www.rootsweb.com/~armarion under Land > > Records there is a plat map > > of Marion Co AR. There is also an excellent > > explanation of how these maps > > work. These are used in public domain states such > > as Arkansas. This means > > the Section-Township-Range system is used for land > > descriptions rather than > > the metes and bounds system used in eastern states. > > When Arkansas Territory > > became the State of Arkansas in 1836, all the land > > was surveyed and the > > original survey is still in existence, including all > > the notes the surveyors > > made. > > > > If the type of plat map you're looking for is the > > one that indicates exactly > > where your ancestors' land was, I'm pretty sure > > there aren't any all in one > > book for Arkansas. Sometimes these can be found on > > the county level and > > sometimes the abstractors in a county will have > > them. However, as land > > ownership changes, these maps are replaced by more > > up to date ones and, > > unfortunately, the out of date ones are usually > > discarded. (Those > > interested in gathering taxes aren't necessarily > > interested in nor concerned > > about historical value <drat>). Even if they had > > once existed, I doubt > > you'd ever find a plat map indicating land ownership > > as early as 1860 for > > Arkansas. So far as I know, even the AR History > > Commission doesn't have > > them. The earliest one anyone has found for Marion > > Co, for example, has no > > date but is estimated to be approximately 1916 - and > > it's about 3' x 5' and > > hangs on the wall. Mostly they burned in court > > house fires, were trashed, > > the mice munched them to shreds, or someone just > > took them home. > > > > If you'll tell me exactly what you're looking for, > > I'll check with the > > county and the abstractors to see what they can tell > > me. > > > > As for researching Newton, Blythe, Wood, Williams > > and allied families, in > > 1997 the Historic Genealogical Society of Marion Co > > published "Genealogies > > of Marion County Families 1811-1900." This covers > > roughly 400 families that > > settled here before 1900, is indexed, hard bound, > > Smythe sewn, 8.5 x 11, > > over 650 pages, cross-references to spouse families, > > and sources where data > > was found. It is *not* your typical "history" book > > - it contains no > > pictures, no family stories and legends. It's > > strictly genealogical. All > > four of the families you mentioned are quite > > thoroughly covered are in it. > > > > Mysty shakerag@mtnhome.com > > ************************************************* > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Linda Haas Davenport <lhaasdav@mindspring.com> > > To: <ARMARION-L@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 5:45 AM > > Subject: Question for the list > > > > > > > If any one can help Craig please remember to > > respond to him directly > > > cblyeth@yahoo.com. However, this is a good > > question that a lot of people > > > will probably be interested in so please also > > answer on the list. > > > > > > Thanks a million > > > > > > Linda > > > homepage: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~haas > > > MarionCoAR: http://www.rootsweb.com/~armarion/ > > > SurnameLists: H.A.A.S/H.A.S.S. L.E.W.A.L.L.E.N > > > > > > > > > ---- Original Message ----- > > > From: "Craig Blyeth" <cblyeth@yahoo.com> > > > To: <lhaasdav@mindspring.com> > > > Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2001 11:36 AM > > > Subject: QExpress for Marion County, Arkansas ( > > BLYETH WOODS NEWTON > > > WILLIAMS ) > > > > > > I'd like to know if any county atlas plat maps for > > Marion Co., AR exist or > > > were ever printed? I've recently discovered these > > indredible sources of > > > information while doing onsite genealogical > > research in MI and am hoping > > > that similar atlases were printed in AR as well. > > I realize MCAR was (and > > > is) more rural than the MI counties I am > > researching, but I'm hoping to > > find > > > such an atlas. The oldest I've seen in MI is from > > 1860 - obviously I > > > wouldn't expect one from that era down south. > > > > > > > > If anyone can post this for me on the MCAR email > > ring, I'd greatly > > > appreciate it. I've submitted several queries to > > it but they never show > > > up - maybe it has something to do with emailing > > them from yahoo...who > > knows. > > > > > > > > I'm also continuing (mostly in vain, it seems!) > > for my BLYETH, NEWTON, > > > WOODS, WILLIAMS and allied ancestors from MCAR, in > > case anyone out ther is > > > seeking or has info on these families. > > > > > > > > Thanks for any info! > > > > > > > > Craig Blyeth > > > > San Francisco, CA > > > > > > > > > ============================== > > > Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! > > > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals > http://personals.yahoo.com