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Property boundaries!

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I’d be looking at walking the plot and “finding” ;) those old piles of stones or rusty old marker posts on the corners of the plot that shows the marker points then clean them off and white wash them so that they are visible in the future.

These will be found in roughly the right place as the deeds plans will show. ………..
 
Good idea - but you'd be surprised at how stone piles and marker posts can disappear after over 200 years!

Here's a map of my area around 1850:

1856 map.jpg


I'm near Capt Zenas Bugbee and J. R. Stoddard.
 
NutmegCT said:
Good idea - but you'd be surprised at how stone piles and marker posts can disappear after over 200 years!
Click to expand...
you miss my creative intentions

When I say “you find” them I mean

Make them in the (near enough) right place for your purposes.
Clean and whitewash to loose the actual age evidence. But it’s a practical action on your part to be able to find them again.

Let someone else prove you wrong.

I’m guessing it’s a rural plot that just needs formalising
Rather than building a tower block up against a neighbour !! ?
 
On a related tangent took this pic of the map at our local museum a few months ago. Our house is the little square on the land owned by James W Anderson. The lot isn't that large any more. :D

1732455588883.png
 
NutmegCT said:
Good idea - but you'd be surprised at how stone piles and marker posts can disappear after over 200 years!

Here's a map of my area around 1850:

View attachment 100781

I'm near Capt Zenas Bugbee and J. R. Stoddard.
Click to expand...
Still, someone between then and now improved the road - which needed surveyors to establish who owned the land. If a school or a church or a store has been built same thing. With satellite imagery it should be even easier. I feel like someone is giving you 'go away' answers.
 
Yep - road has been improved many times - but no need to establish ownership on a road that the town has owned since around 1760.

Not sure how a school, a church, or a store would show legal boundaries. The deeds show things like "a parcel of land north of the Snyder farm, east of the river".

Satellite imagery only shows the last two decades. How would that establish property lines?

Please explain!
 
Our part of Pacifica was established in 1952 so boundaries were more exact than back in the bronze age.
 
Tom, u used to live in St Louis County in MO. The real estate assessors office is where all the legal lot descriptions were maintained. Property could be traced back to pre Louisiana purchase days.
I would think somewhere in some government office there are maps that would show a starting point that could be used for your property, even if it wasn't on your property.
 
Thanks Bob. We can trace ownership back to British colonization in the 1600s. But that doesn't mean we know the legal boundaries of the properties.

We can find legal boundaries for sales of parcels of existing properties - but that doesn't give the boundaries for the property the parcel is sold from.

There are dozens (hundreds?) of British, federal, and US maps of large tracts - but the maps only show lines for the boundaries - not the geographic coordinates of boundary lines or points (other than "rock", "lake", etc.)

I'm hoping JP will give details on using roads, buildings, and/or satellite images to determine boundaries!

Thanks.
Tom M.
 
equiprx said:
Our part of Pacifica was established in 1952 so boundaries were more exact than back in the bronze age.
Click to expand...
We also live within walking distance of the San Andreas Fault, so what is here now wasn't there then.
 
Tom, somewhere there has to be a survey which describes your property. You may have to trace the deed of property back generations all the way to 1730, but somewhere it exists. And yes, if you do find it it may not be all that helpful because the landmark may be something long gone. In which case, you'll need to look at adjacent properties till you find something with an existing land mark.
 
Thanks Walter. Tracing back to the 1840s, there are no surveys - just deeds of title transfer and land subdivision. The subdivisions only describe north and south parcels, including survey info - but there's no survey info on the remainder of the property (i.e what I have now).
There probably were surveys done in the 1700s, but there have been many subdivisions and sales off the property (which was originally about 600 acres).

I'm still hoping JP will clue me in on the use of maps showing roads and buildings, and satellite images, to determine property lines.

Thanks.
 
Tom,
In doing some family tree research, I found that one of my relatives on my Mom's paternal side lived in Simsbury in the 1700s. My wife and I lived in Simsbury in the late 1970s, and wanted to see if, by chance, I had lived on my ancestor's property. The property description of what he owned at the time as something like, "5 acres on the west side of the Farmington River." Not very helpful!
 
Earth calling JP! Earth calling JP!

Could you shed some light on how roads, buildings, satellite images could help me find boundary lines?

Thanks!
Tom M.
 
ckeithjordan said:
Tom,
In doing some family tree research, I found that one of my relatives on my Mom's paternal side lived in Simsbury in the 1700s. My wife and I lived in Simsbury in the late 1970s, and wanted to see if, by chance, I had lived on my ancestor's property. The property description of what he owned at the time as something like, "5 acres on the west side of the Farmington River." Not very helpful!
Click to expand...
Not that it matters to anyone or anything in particular of this thread, but I want to correct a couple of items in my statement above: It was on my Mom’s maternal side, not paternal and it was Simsbury in the 1600s, not 1700s. The particular ancestor was William Alderman, eight generations back.
 
JP - your suggestions are the best I've heard on my boundary issue.

Please give me some details on using roads, buildings, and satellite images to determine boundary locations.

Thanks!
Tom M
 
NutmegCT said:
JP - your suggestions are the best I've heard on my boundary issue.

Please give me some details on using roads, buildings, and satellite images to determine boundary locations.

Thanks!
Tom M
Click to expand...
Sorry Tom I was away. Basically any of those things will need to interact with property owners. If the roads have been widened or roundabouts added somones land was expropriated. All roads have easements - if building are being built or parking lots those easements must be considered. Someone (the township? the county?) has to keep track of that. They can't just start building anywhere. Likewise you can't just start building anywhere. Building regulations include distance from water or boundaries or roads - again, someone has to keep track of that. I would suggest you go to the county - find someone in the land office and ask them what surveyor would be best to stake out the property.

Most of this I am sure has been verified by satellite per Google earth

did a quick google

 
Thank you JP!

I'll keep plugging along with all these, but it seems all the references take me to maps and views, but none have actual physical points and measurements. If you know at least two points you can probably find all the points. But you have to know the points first!

For example, in post #24, you show the old lot boundaries. But those don't tell you how to actually find the boundaries when you're walking the land.

Onward through the fog!
TM
 
Thanks Mezy. Some of those I've been using - but so far they all depend on digital maps of boundary lines that are based on other digital maps of boundary lines. None actually have geographic locations which are what I need. You can overlay a "map" on satellite imagery, but you're only guessing when you get down to actually finding a specific point (GPS location, latitude/longitude in degrees, minutes, seconds, etc.).

Also, I'd bet that most people these days assume fences mark boundaries. They're usually close in cities, but many people discover the fences are put in where people *think* the boundaries are, without having a legal survey made. In the UK, boundaries have been "legally standardized" for centuries. Here in North America, boundaries have been standardized only for 50-100 years in many places.

Will keep trying!
Tom M.
 
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