> Sally wrote:
> >Can I expose my ignorance and ask for an explanation of how these deeds are
> plotted?  If a deed says the land is along a river or a road, how do you
> know where along the river or road it is?  I can see how one can plot the
> shape of a tract, but how do you locate the tract?

-One thing I'd like to mention is that sometimes the measurements of the
original
survey were shortened considerably (up to several hundred feet off) either due
to
transcription error, poor surveying, or deliberate fraudulent action.  If the
measurements
are written down shorter than the actual property lines then the acreage is less
and the
owner of the property would pay less land taxes.

In the 1800s the state passed a law that tried to correct this by giving a
reward to persons
who turned in someone else who was paying less in land taxes because of a
'short' survey.
I've also seen surveys where the measurements were longer than the actual
property lines
but the majority of the errors I've come across are short measurements.

Other problems I've encountered is when a property line has been left out
entirely.  It helps
if there is a drawing of the shape of the land grant filed with the legal
description.  Usually
this is in the local courthouse, not the grant filed in Richmond.  The bearings
(directions)
sometimes are wrong such as a NW bearing actually being SW.  Lastly, there are
surveys
that ovelap older surveys by a considerable amount.

When one tries to locate such an original land grant on a modern map you may
have to
do some fudging to get it to fit.

John Garrett

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