I have another suggestion for trying to discover the true 'shape' of an old
property. If you can find metes and bounds descriptions of the neighbors'
properties, you can sometimes figure out what the bounds 'sorta' should
have been. At least (as I do in my Deedmapper plats) you can enter
estimated (and so noted) distances or directions in order to come up with
an approximate shape, and a better one to work with if you are actually
trying to lay it on top of a map. Sometimes the surveyors or deed recorders
miss a digit (100 for 1000, etc.) or use NE when they meant NW. These kinds
of things are obvious things that can be corrected for using this method of
cross-checking. Also, sometimes later surveys or deeds will note the older
surveying error, so a forward title search can help there sometimes. Keep
in mind also, that streams and roads move over the years, so if you have
one of these as a boundary, you need to try to discover where these were
back in that time. Hope this helps.   -Nancy Upshaw   (My linefeed isn't
working, so I apologize for the long paragraph.)

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