Land Grant Analysis

Early land grants and patents become an important part of tree climbing. Understanding how to use the acreage involved will often make a difference in getting out the right branch. Also, placing various land grants together by associated surnames will help break down many brick walls.

The following pages show how this can be done using graph paper. [By now you should have bunches of this stuff!] Making a scale that can be used to give a general outline of a land amounts can be useful. The upper page is taken from an article written 1997 outlining the use of maps. It ends with the outline shown giving one square mile to every 640 acres of land. A line is then drawn showing that at 2 square mile = 1280 acres, 3 square mile = 1920 acres, 4 square mile = 2560 acres, etc., etc... If you have an ancestor who takes up a land patent of 4,000 acres, he would have a land area of six miles long and one mile deep, or any short of other combinations. If his initial grant was along one of the water courses marked by "mile markers", this would directly apply. [This was true of the first land grants in Virginia along the water highways!]


The figure to the right tries to show an enlargement of the graph which can be scaled to plot the grants as recorded. A beginning way to think about land grants!

Taken from: The Jones Genealogist, Vol. IX, No. 2, July/August, 1997, p. 4.

BWP(16): Working Example

Michelle Goodrum asked a good question regarding how to use the graph paper small squares. I thought it might be helpful to show a working sheet that demonstrates how I used the process.

The year is 1682. Months are listed on the left side with numbers. From top to bottom, each 5 squares represent the month numbered giving space to write your information. I placed names, dates, references, and all sorts of things to help me outline the year 1682. I have also written in the margin to the right. Hope this is helpful.

You will need to develop your own style and process, but it is important to keep the "process" the same for each page.

BWP(10): Time Analysis

A detailed chronology is often the key to busting through your brick wall. This section of the protocol starts you on your way. Please remember that it is best to start at the beginning of the protocol and complete Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Get those pencils going!












The type of graph paper will vary depending on the number of small squares per inch. You will need to adjust your yearly entry depending on the type of graph paper.






















At this point, the most important aspect is the documentation that you have obtained doing your own tree climbing. Start with the most secure fact! This becomes your starting point in the notebook.












You will need to make your own scale of months, days, years. Use the back of each page for the additional information you will be obtaining.

BWP(8): Step 4 The Notebook

Graph paper becomes the working pages of your brick wall demolition. When this protocol was first written, there was available the "Neatbook" notebook by Mead. This notebook has been discontinued and there has been multiple types of graph paper replacements. You will need to recognize this change in the protocol since I wrote it when the "Neatbook" was available.

The methods would basically be the same, depending on the type of graph paper you are able to purchase. Wal-Mart has changed their selections three times! At least 80 sheets are needed. Some come in 100 sheets. At any rate, you will need to make some changes in the "nitty-gritty" as you work through the methods section.

At this point you will need to get some graph paper.