Over the River, Through the woods, to Great-Great-

Great-Grandma’s We Go!

Val Swift, GISPGIS AdministratorHamilton County Surveyor’s Office

Treaty of Paris was signed. This gave the United States over 270 million acres of lands East of the Mississippi, not including the original 13 colonies. These lands were to be used as payment for soldiers who had fought in the Revolutionary War.

PUBLIC LANDS HISTORY1783

The Land Ordinance was created to handle the land growth. Public domain lands northwest of the Ohio River were to be surveyed into 36-square mile townships, and sold at no less than $1 per acre in tracts no smaller than 640 acres. The Ordinance also reserved Section 16 of each township for the maintenance of schools; set aside lands for Continental Army bounties (changed in 1796); established the minimum price per acre; and minimum land quantity which could be bought. The Ordinance further established that legal sale and settlement of the public land could not occur until the land had been surveyed and the survey accepted by the Federal Government.

PUBLIC LANDS HISTORY1785

• Sale of first public lands directed by Congress as soon as four of 'The Seven Ranges' in the Northwest Territory had been surveyed. At irregular, but well-advertised periods, at the office of the Board of Treasury in New York City, lands indicated on plats were offered for sale to highest bidders over the minimum price of $1 per acre.

• First patent issued to John Martin on March 4th for 640 acres in what is now Belmont County, Ohio.

PUBLIC LANDS HISTORY1787-1788

1993: CAD Version• Drafted by Planning Department Intern• No GIS• Use Microstation to build square map of

county.• Lots and lots of line segments.• Lots and lots of levels.• Designed as a printed map.• Didn’t line up with the GIS data.

Limited Data Sources

Revisions• Internet gave access to GLO Records

(General Land Office at the Bureau of Land Management).

• Citizen input• Other historical documents bring questions

regarding name spellings.

GLO Records• Not a map• Need knowledge of location or purchaser

name.• Spelling an issue.• There are a few bugs in the GLO database

(typos and problems reading the handwritten Patents) leading to dead end searches and location errors.

Limited Data Sources

Limited Data Sources

• County Recorder• Reading the handwritten pages• Spelling• Dates?• Acreage?

• Build a new base map of sections.• Adjust section map to Section Corners

where possible and best fit when no corner available

• Older aerial photos a “must have” (Back to 1936)

• 1993 map helpful when GLO Record searches come up blank.

Move Project to ArcGIS

Sections from Indiana Map (orange)Locally revised Sections (red)

Locally revised Sections (red)with 1956 Aerial Photography

Locally revised Sections (red)with current parcels

Locally revised Sections (red)with current centerline

• Sometimes a Section isn’t 640….• Sometimes a Quarter Section isn’t 160

acres….• Use the historic photos and the described

acreages.• There are clues in the modern parcels.

Parcel Graphics

Detective Work• Was that the NE1/4 of the NW1/4 of Section 25, 2

or 5?• What was that Range?• Look for other names that come up in that section,

or on a broader search and check for database entry errors.

• 11 ½ Sections with no data in GLO Records.• 119 Properties based on records in County

Recorder’s Office.• Used original research to fill in the blanks.

Val Swift, GISPGIS AdministratorHamilton County Surveyor’s OfficeNoblesville, Indiana