Archive for August 2011
Isle of Wight map musings…
I’ve been perusing my IOW map a bit and have fixated on a patent by Francis Hutchins on Indian Creek. A reference says the patent was thought to be in Nansemond County but is found to be in IOW. Around 1674 the boundary line was established and it is surprisingly accurate by modern standards. Then in 1702 this takes place:
Att our men & womens meeting held at our Publick meeting house one 12 of the first m° in year 1702 Itt was ordered that friends of the Branch doe goe on & build them a house to meett in first daies & week daies and to sett itt on the ould feild of Frances Hutchins by the high way side.
Publications of the Southern History Association, Volume 7 By Southern History Association, pg 101
My map is a hodge-podge of conjecture and speculation… however, I cannot move the Hutchins patent purely from common sense. The facts state that it was determined to be in IOW (consider the surrounding speculative patents)… they all have to fit together according to the adjoining landowners. BUT… the surrounding patents just don’t match easily.
Another point of pure common sense is the “roads” which you can Google Map for modern day. I firmly believe that “most” modern roads are based on the “old” Indian Paths, dirt paths that the colonial folks relentlessly cleared and built their homes around. If I am correct, the quote above from the Quaker records shows that the “meeting house” they built in 1702 was an “ould feild of Frances Hutchins by the high way side.”
See my IOW map from 1918 (USGS survey) and then Google map the spot where the modern road passes… the old church may be plowed under now but I’ll bet an archeologist could find it. The “old” road would necessarily lead to the bridge (now gone) leading to Chuckatuack.
TopoQuest
This is a free resource. It is similar to the old TopoZone which went commercial and I don’t have a problem with that. However I am cheap frugal.
http://www.topoquest.com/map.php
Leave all the settings at “default” except scroll down to “map size” and choose “grande”.
Go to “find places” and choose your area to investigate. Google Maps is great but don’t try to find a River or Pocosin… ain’t happening.
These are USGS maps that we paid for with tax dollars so there is no copyright issues… yet.
I have several of these maps sprinkled thru my Pages and you may want to see what is underneath with a clean “base map”. These
maps also show old cemeteries sprinkled around.
When you get really desperate to find info you can use a whole smorgasborg of maps… http://andersonnc.com/george-anderson-b-1756-edgecombe-property/