Where Did They Live?

For those of you struggling with legal descriptions found in your ancestors’ old deeds:

In 1802 Col. Mansfield, then surveyor of the Northwest Territory, inaugurated a plan for surveying and recording such portions of land as were offered for sale.  The general features of the plan then adopted and still in use are as follows:

The entire public domain is first divided into parts called land districts, each of which was put in charge of an officer called a surveyor general who controlled all the surveys in the particular district.  In each district a meridian line was run extending North and South through the entire district and from some point of this meridian an East and West line called the base was run which extended through the district.  These lines were determined astronomically and when located served as an axis to which the subdivisions of the district are referred.  Parallel to the axis and on each side of them other lines are run 6 miles apart dividing the whole territory into squares, each containing 36 square miles.  These squares are called congressional townships not to be confused with political Townships.  The townships lying between two consecutive meridians, 6 miles apart, constitute a range and the ranges are numbered from the principal meridians both East and West in each range. The townships are numbered both North and South from the base line.  Thus, if a township lies 12 miles East of the 2nd principal meridian and 18 miles from the base line it is designated as Township No 3 N, Range No 2 E of the 2nd principal meridian. (Shortened this would look like T3N, R2E.) There are 15 congressional whole and partial townships in Lawrence County.

Each township is divided into squares, having a mile on each side.  These squares are known as sections, and each contains 640 acres, more or less.  The sections of the township are numbered boustrophedonically from the Northeast corner running along the northern tier of the sections to No 6, thence backward to No 12, which lies exactly South of No 1 and so on alternately running from right to left and from left to right to the southeasterly corner which is No 36.  The four middle townships are numbered respectively 15, 16, 21, 22.  Previous to 1852, and for a long time, the sale of lots in Section 16 of every township were set apart for the maintenance of public schools and were frequently spoken of as ‘school sections’.   Example: Sec 8 T3N, R2E

One of the reasons for creating sections of 640 acres was that it could be divided into halves and quarters. Land purchased in a 160 -acre segments could be described as the Southwest quarter (SW ¼ Sec 8 T3N, R2E). Sections could be further broken into 40-acre blocks and described by their location within the larger 160-acre quarter.  (SW ¼ of SW ¼ Sec 8 T3N, R2E).

Once you understand the way the system works you can locate the particular piece of property that your ancestor purchased. The Historical Society sells an excellent book, Family Maps of Lawrence County Illinois by Gregory A Boyd, JD that can help you.