Sue, R stands for range, t stands for township and s for section; the Monroe, Belmont, Washington county areas plus other surrounding counties was the first place in the U. S. to have this type of land description in use. Ohio was "an experimental" state with these system devised by the federal government; It does making for locating property quite easy. After this trial period in Ohio the federal government used it in all the states west of Ohio--so locating where your ancestor's property was/is quite easy. Each township was divided into 36 sections of 640 acres; one section being reserved for what is called "school lands"--sometimes this was sold to raise money for schools. Exception to the 640 acres is if your ancestor purchased land along the Ohio River--the sections were partial sections with less than the 640 acres. If one knows the R T and S of the ancestor's property from a deed record, one can go to the engineer's office in Woodsfield purchase a map of the township and pinpoint who owns that property today. From there it is easy to ask enough questions of the residents to lead you to the property. The maps are very nominal in fee--less than five dollars. These maps also detail the county and township roads, but I don't think that cemeteries are marked. However, there is something called the U.S. Geographical Maps that list streams, and various other things and I think locations of some cemeteries; these are available in Ohio at the Dept. of Natural Resources. Sue, I forget the name of the road, but Natural Resources is located in Columbus fairly close to Northland Mall or Rte 161--not far from Knox county. These maps are probably the basis for the website referred in another posting, but I'm not sure. Sorry to be so long in my answers, but it is my librarian mind at work and the fact that I have been doing genealogy for 20 years--pre computer. Please someone correct me if I am wrong in my explanation of the RTS system. Regards, Janet Conn