Drawing to Scale

Identifying the geographic location that our ancestors first arrived to this new land can often separate a number of brick walls.  It is helpful to draw maps that are "to scale".  By this I mean tracing a map out of a recognized source to scale. The following is an example of my own family search, where the name "Jones Point" occurs.

My ancestors arrived to stay in Virginia around 1650. [They were thrown out of England after Charles I lost his head.]  Rappahannock River was the major highway to their settlement.  Where this "Jones Point" was located was one task, as well as, trying to determine if these JONES families were connected to my own family tree.

As outline in the last post, landmarks are an important indicator of the families initial location.    Tracing a map from the "mouth" [opening/starting point] using an identifiable scale [mile markers drawn] can be used to carefully locate positions along the coast line.  Following the pathway along the shore line will give the location of other creeks, points, cliffs, etc., while providing a scale in which to mark the "mile markers" that often expressed in land patents.

It is important to recognize that one "shore line" does not always match the same distance on the opposite shore.  Each square above is draw as "mile markers" from the starting points [Stingray Point (south side) and Mosquito Point (north side) ]  Eight miles up river on the south side is only four miles on the north side.  The bends and curves of the river will also change their course moving "east to west" and then "north to south".  Drawing maps to scale will help sort out these descriptors on land patents.

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.