Hi Deborah What a lovely Christmas present you've got there! <ha ha> Could I suggest that once some other member of the list gives you the scientific definitions of all the terms and converts them all to Metric for you (and I'm quite sure one or ten may), you set them in a table and put said table in an easily accessible footnote in your transcription. That way "budding or current land surveyor experts" and just plain genealogical researchers of the future may be less confused. I think you might just be right about Mr Hewson. Have you found his qualifications for his job? /cheers & Merry Christmas & good luck Pat Jeffs who recalls reading a survey made in 1840 that referred to a post placed at one corner of the land in question. The land had been obtained originally as a settler's grant circa 1805. Now, what were the odds of the post being there in 1840? Or at the next sale? -----Original Message----- From: can-ont-simcoe-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:can-ont-simcoe-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Deborah Crawford Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 11:07 AM To: can-ont-simcoe@rootsweb.com Subject: [CAN-ONT-SIMCOE] Measures & chains & acres - oh my Good morning one & all. A question to any budding or current land surveyor experts......... I'm in the midst of transcribing conveyancing instructions from a ledger housed in the archives at the Penetanguishene Centennial Museum. This ledger of mortgages, lease agreements, chattel loans, wills, etc commences in 1905 to ? (I haven't cheated and peeked at the end of the book yet!). One oddity I am encountering has me curious and I thought I'd see if any of our listers can explain this - the land descriptions are very detailed, but - in land descriptions I see the terms, which I have heard before, of - chains, measures, links, feet, yards, rods and acres - all in the same paragraph or on the same page. It's not a matter of it being entered by a different author - these reports were all entered by W.H. HEWSON. I was just curious to know if there was any sort of standard which determined when various terms were used, i.e. chains, links, etc. Or was it merely a matter of Mr. Hewson writing down descriptions perhaps based on previous descriptions, or just writing whatever his little heart desired. Any opinions? Methinks Mr. Hewson just did this, knowing that 100 years hence I'd be puzzled over the same...........No? ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CAN-ONT-SIMCOE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message