Shelly, Someday, I hope to issue new editions of my books about the Warnicks, Lees, Wilts, and Fazenbakers. I have lots of new information. When I retire, I will be able to make serious progress with the new editions. Walt Warnick ----------------------. Johnson, Shelly wrote: >Are you doing any more books? > >-----Original Message----- >From: Walt Warnick [mailto:ashlie@erols.com] >Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 8:09 AM >To: MDGARRET-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [MDGARRET] Military Lots and the evolution of boundaries > > >Perhaps we can get a discussion going on this list about the evolution >of property surveys and susbsequent land ownership in Garrett County. > >The 1787 Deakins survey laid out several thousand 50-acre lots, >including land across much of what is now Garrett County. Deakins >surveyed those lands westward of Fort Cumberland that had been owned at >the time of the Revolution by the Maryland government loyal to King >George III and by Loyalists. This land was seized by the new >revolutionary government of Maryland, and Deakins was charged with >surveying it into Lots so that it could be awarded as bounty to American >veterans of trhe Revolutionary War. While this land included much of >today's Garrett County, it did not include all of it. My guess is that >the land that the Deakins survey did not cover was owned by citizens who >had sided with the Americans in the War, and thus their titles were >retained and were recognized. > >Deakins found over 300 settlers already living on the lands he was >charged to survey. Most of these folks lived in what is today Allegany >County, rather than what is today Garrett County. A very informative >list of the heads of households found by the Deakins survey is presented >on the following web site: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdgarret/land/deakin_list.html These >settlers were given a chance to buy the land on which they lived. I am >writing today, however, about the other Lots--those which were not >already occupied. > >Deakins laid out most, but not all, of these other Lots as perfect >rectangles with two edges running due north and south, and two edges >running due east and west. This suggests to me that for the bulk of the >land, Deakins paid no regard to natural boundaries. My guess is that >his survey party never actually set foot on a large number of the Lots. > Really, the task of surveying all these Lots by a small team in the >wilderness over just one year or so was an impossibility from outset. > Rather, my guess is that the survey of the rectangualr Lots amounted to >nothing more than grid lines drawn on a map. My question is, what >became of these rectangular Lots? Did subsequent settlement of this >land honor the boundaries defined by Deakins? > >Walt Warnick > > >==== MDGARRET Mailing List ==== >Looking for your Garrett County ancestors? Make sure to visit us on the web at: >http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdgarret/index.html > > > >==== MDGARRET Mailing List ==== >Looking for your Garrett County ancestors? Make sure to visit us on the web at: >http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdgarret/index.html > > > >