Locating the plantations of slave owners, part one

There are basically two kinds of land surveying in the United States: “metes and bounds” for state-land states, and the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) for federal-land states.

The “state land” method of surveying is more commonly called “metes and bounds.” This system uses corner angles and lines, together with geographic landmarks like water courses and trees, to describe the land. This method is in use in the thirteen original states as well as the states that descended directly from those thirteen states, viz. Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. Other exceptions exist, particularly in Florida and lands west of the Mississippi that were originally surveyed under French or Spanish colonial rule.

A typical metes and bounds description would read as follows:

Beginning for the said part at a stone marked LL No. 1 Standing at the end of two hundred and twenty perches in the third line of the said Land as the same was surveyed and bounded by an allowance of two degrees for variation on the lines thereof and running thence South seventy one degrees east one hundred and fifteen perches to a stone marked LL No. 2 standing at the end of sixty four perches in the fourth line of said Land and with said fourth line North thirty four degrees East ninety six perches to the end thereof then North sixty seven degrees East one hundred and twenty six perches to a stone marked LL No. 8 standing at the end of the eighth line of the resurvey on Locust Level then with the outlines thereof the three following Courses and distances North one degree east thirty six perches North seventeen degrees West sixty perches to a Locust post marked X standing near a Hickory saplin marked with ten notches North twenty eight degrees East one hundred and twenty perches to a stone marked LL No. 11 near two marked trees then leaving the outlines and running North eighty six degrees West three hundred perches to a stone standing on the east side of the main road leading from Frederick Town to the Mouth of Monocacy River marked LL No. 12 then by and with the said Road the five following Courses and distances South two degrees West thirty four perches South four and one half degrees West fifty four perches, South four degrees East sixty nine perches South three degrees East sixty three perches South twelve degrees West ninety one to the first beginning containing the exact quantity of four hundred and fifty seven Acres of land.[1]

Most land was originally patented by the colonial governments, but then subsequent deeds could divide the land into multiple parcels. Purchases could combine separate tracts, while sales or probate could divide them in different manners. In order to locate the land, you would have to find the landmarks on a topographical map. In many cases, the description does not provide enough detail on the location to locate the land, without also locating neighboring parcels.

The process for locating “federal” or “public land” is dramatically different. The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) established a rectangular system of land parcels, laid down on a grid. These lands were sold by the federal government directly to private individuals, under the provisions of various public land laws established throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The PLSS will be discussed in more depth in a future article.