James, Basically you are correct, and I too have found errors in the descriptions. What you have to remember is that the old surveys were in whole degrees and they are probably magnetic North rather than true North. I do not remember exactly what my surveying instructor taught as a way to "close" when the starting and ending points are off a few feet or a few degrees so I fudge each a little until they "close". I cheat and use my CAD program. Sometimes I am able to match my drawing to an area on a satellite photo so that I can see exactly where the property was. Ron Davis Woodland, CA "J. A. Holifield" wrote: > To all fellow researchers, > I thought I'd share what I've learned about how to interpret and plot ancestor's land from the > descriptions in land grants, and if I am incorrect in my methods, please correct me. > After getting a scanned copy of my ancestor Valentine Holyfield's original land grant from March 1729 of the Virginia's Northern Necks, I became interested if it was possible to plot the > boundaries of his 342 acres to scale and perhaps find where the original land boundaries are > today, since discovering it's location 5.5 miles south of Leesburg,VA. After studying a copy of > a book on early 18th century surveying & plotting, I came up with my best guesstimate of how > to interpret the compass angle if you will of a given line or boundary of a property discription > and it's length. So what I found if I am correct, and I tested my findings on a record of a land > survey of a John Mercer who has drawn to scale his property in Southern Virginia from 1741, > and my drawing matched perfectly with his recoreded drawing. So, first I discovered that > when a given line or boundary of a property discription says basically from point (A) start at > a scrubby oak and thence North 37 degrees,West; 112 poles to (B)......; you interpret first > the compass heading or angle of the line from point (A) to point (B) by calculating North (as > 360 degrees since you are then to plot an angle or heading towards the west direction on > the compass), then 37 degrees-West means you take 360 degrees and subtract 37 degrees > since you are heading towards West which is a heading less than the numerical number for > North,360 degrees,and when you subtract 37degrees from 360 degrees, you come up with > 323 degrees as the actual compass heading or angle for the property boundary that runs from > point (A) to point (B). Now you need to know how far point (B) is from point (A) in order to plot > it accurately. The term "poles" in the 18th century was 16.5 feet in length. You can research > how a pole distance was determined and set as a standard youself. So to calculate the distance > of the property line from point (A) to point (B), you simply multiply the number of poles by > 16.5 feet; so in the above example you have stated a distance of 112 poles. 112 poles mul- > tiplied by 16.5 feet equalls 1,848 feet. So you draw the first property boundary line from point > (A) to point (B) at an angle of 323 degrees and a distance to scale of 1,848 feet and simply > repeat these calculations for the remaining sides of the property discription till you get back to > the beginning which is point (A) and you will have a drawing to scale of your ancestor's land > from the 18th century. > What is ironic for me is when I first plotted John Mercer's land based on his discription and > it matched his drawing to scale in his notes, I then plotted my ancestor's property from 1729 > and it did not work out. Seems that when my ancestor's 1729 property was recorded, it was > recorded wrong. The last side of my ancestor's property heads south instead of north and is > way too short to arrive back at the beginning of point (A). > So any comments would be welcomed and.......by the way, the last time I requested infor- > mation, someone was nice enough to send it to me, but I had trouble with my computer and > didn't get to thank who ever it was......too long ago now. So I appreciate who ever sent me > info when I requested it! > > Blessings, > James A. Holifield