Lee Anne, In looking at the documents on line for Orange County at their Genweb site for the years 1811 and 1812, fence viewers are mentioned. It is also mentioned the types of fences - wood and the size they should be and also stone fences. I would agree with Mr. Sloat that it would be a type of surveyor and also possibly a type of inspector who would approve the fences that were used as boundaries and to make sure they were where they should be. From what I get from reading these documents, they had laws governing the types of fences that could be built. Marge Our children are living messages we send to a time and place we will never see.
I've often wondered about the same question. I was thinking that the job responsibilities may also have included an element of "quality control". As a coincidence regarding my assumption, there is a story in this month's edition of New England Ancestors magazine. I offer the following excerpt from page 54: "...If the old court records are any indication, Bacon was known throughout the county for making trouble. His hogs had damaged crops for miles around, but he always denied responsibility, blaming others for failing to keep their fences in repair or claiming that the hogs belonged to someone else. Bacon's name appears repeatedly in land disputes, cases of wandering horses and cattle, slander,and......" This is not the first time that I came across such an account. Kirk Horstman --- Marge Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > Lee Anne, > In looking at the documents on line for Orange > County at their Genweb site > for the years 1811 and 1812, fence viewers are > mentioned. It is also > mentioned the types of fences - wood and the size > they should be and also > stone fences. I would agree with Mr. Sloat that it > would be a type of > surveyor and also possibly a type of inspector who > would approve the fences > that were used as boundaries and to make sure they > were where they should > be. From what I get from reading these documents, > they had laws governing > the types of fences that could be built. > > Marge > > > Our children are living messages we send to a time > and place we will never > see. > >