evernone one this list and in search of genelogy should take time out to visit and learn about plats... http://landplats.ilsos.net/Flash/FTP_Illinois.html on these images for the townships we can see what the surveryors saw... we know that the land records were destroyed in the chicago fire, so this map is one of the few things that we have that will actually show what was cultivated in 1853 before land records as we know them were actually created... it was with the 1853 survey that the legal expression that we see in all of our deeds was created and thereafter used...when we here that people were in the area before 1850 it is very hard to support in terms of legal documents... these plat maps (one for each township) could be of help to the earliest of our families in terms of being able to see cultivate fields ON THE SECTION LINES... remember, surveyors walked lines and triangulated to have squared intersects... .... on average, it took a week for one township to be surveyer for internal section lines... i dont know about the time to create the outline of the township, as i do not think that illinois has these available to us... wisconsin does and each are on line with their bureau of commissioners... inilinois however, we have this info from cyberdrive illinois on line or on microfilm at the archives... so, you ask how does this help me... they will help you to see what existed when the earliest settlers were in our areas of interest... marshed, lakes, creeks and timbered areas which are NOT the same as there are today, may give you an idea as to what your people SAW.. andhad to deal with in terms of transportation... and if you are an early early early settler, and you know that you were in SECTION 10, when you see on section 10 in the proper quarter that it was a cultivated field, then you have created a very educated guess that YOUR people were there already farming before the surveyors ever arrived....... you have heard me ask for copies of abstracts for the library before .... that is because ... abstracts are a record for each property back to the beginning records of that PLACE ie 1853... and if there were some transactions earlier than that time, they would have been entered as affidavits.... this informatiion is an excerpt of the official grantor and grantee records in cook county that were burned in the fire.... and abstracts were held by the PERSON not by the government... and many people had abstracts created after the fire for a high price to guarantee that they had proper papers in hand to use if they wanted to sell their land to prove it WAS their land... they had attorneys prepare these using the records that different groups and other attorneys had available at the time (cause those other records were burned...) and as time has gone, these pieces of info have slowly disappeared.... the abstracts the remaining 'proofs'... so and so again, we would be interested in good copies of this information as it will help not only you but others who share properties NEAR to your elder property just because of the way that these records are recorded - covering an area bigger thanjust your elders specific property... so if you do have an abstract, then a copy would be a treasure for many people... and i would appreciate a copy of it... you can send it to rozek-valentine via the www.stdl.org address....next to photos, these are the next best treasure you could ever share with others of our area! truly, the next best treasure! i hope that this helps some of you on list..... hope that you will help us and get us some copies.... there are other bits of info in the archives about townships, including a transcription of the surveyors notes for schaumburg... did not do palatine or elk grove... and info about the surveyor who actually did schaumburg's work....