Imagine If you will, a robot brain…
Or better yet, imagine the Marvel Comics Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) standing in front of that fantastic computer screen in his workshop… and then his brain just short circuits… brizzlikslizziks!! brap!
My brain is fried… I have stared at this deed until my eyes are bleeding. There are mistakes in this mess and I am helpless to find them (plural?).
Your mission (should you accept it) is to FIND the aggravating errors and REPORT them in the comments.
Traci’s transciption attached…
Her professional eye is nothing to sneeze at. And the metes and bounds survey again turns out to look like a plate of spaghetti. So I think the problem is in the actual deed. I have seen minor examples of this but this is on a scale I have not ran across.
Again I find myself at odds with Colonial Bureaucrats! At some point the distinction between the two types of survey remarks may be hopelessly screwed up. The last example above says: North 50 West 100…. it can go either way? I shall set this revolting mess aside until I can clear my head and then renew the attack. Thanks Traci. Alternatively an earlier survey may tell the tale… but what a pain to dig up.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well… Kristen has stepped up and valiantly attacked this horrid excuse for a Colonial Document. And sad to say she has been miserably shot down also. Not that her painfully careful transcription is to blame… NO! Both hers and Traci’s attempts deserve applause or if no applause then, perhaps throw money? OK then, applause it is!
I fear we may have arrived at a problem that GASP!… we may need an actual, breathing SURVEYOR to solve.
update…
Well… Traci has stepped up to the plate and scored a home run. Here is the actual survey. Note in the survey that right off the bat (see the pun?) the survey notes have been corrupted over time. S 55 E 116 has been substituted for the original S 55 WEST 116. I rest my case.
Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina 
If you email me the images I can probably figure it out. I’m a retired paper conservator and got quite good at reading old script. Kris
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Kristin Anderson
December 21, 2020 at 10:14 am
I read it thus…
Forty acres of land in Halifax County Beginning at an Ash Mary
Merrits corner on the first run of Beech swamp running thence
down the said run to a Gum in Pitmans line then along his line
So 55 Et 116 poles to a siprus [cypress] Jas Jones corner on a Branch then
along the Branch his line to a pine his corner then along
his line So 50 Wt 140 poles to a pine his corner thence Wt 40 poles
to a pine thence No 130 poles to a poplar in James Jones line
then along his line South 60 Et 44 poles to the center of a white
Oak hickory and pine his corner thence along his line North 30
Et 160 poles to a Gum his corner Buck swamp then up the
edge of the swamp his Boundary to a gum his and Thomas
Mays corner on the said swamp then up the edge of the
said swamp Mays Boundary North 61 West 205 poles to a pine
on the edge of the said swamp then North 41 East 108 poles
across the said swamp to a live Oak on Benjamin Merritts
line then along his line So 14 poles to a Gum in the said swamp
his corner then along his line East 60 poles to a hickory then
along his line North 54 poles to a live oak then along his line
East 80 poles to a pine in Thos Merritts line then along his line South
124 poles to a Beech his corner then along his line East 140 poles to a pine
then along his line North 200 poles to a Maple his corner then along Benj.
Merrits line East 13 poles to a pine then along his line North 30 poles to a
pine Hurtis Graces and Humphreys corner on a pocoson then along the
said pocoson Graces Boundary to a Gum in May [Mary?] Merrits line thence
her line North 50 West 100 poles to a Gum their corner then along her line
to the first station Dated 12th day of December 1760
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Traci
December 21, 2020 at 2:03 pm
Hmmm…
I shall dissect the pieces and let you .. my mental health is at stake.
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anderson1951
December 21, 2020 at 3:23 pm
Well your noble effort has proved a total and dismal failure . However, I have removed most of the explosives from the house when I realized that there must be a logical happenstance here that can be figured out. I have a theory… theories are what I do… I will get back to you…
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anderson1951
December 21, 2020 at 4:19 pm
Bravo Traci! I shall delete my attempt forthwith! Happy New Year to all.
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kanderson819
January 1, 2021 at 4:16 pm