But as soon as such land settlements began to fill in, as they predictably
did, boundary issues arose. British settlers didn't hold their property
communally like the Indians (except for the Pilgrims for the first few
years, and their colony didn't begin to take hold until they scrapped it,
and got rid of the inevitable free riders), and then, as now, colonial
settlers could get tetchy about their property, especially the Scotch-Irish,
who were very litigious (not to mention, disposed to violence) right from
the beginning. And as runners of cattle, issues could arise as to the
ownership of strays, and crop damage done by strays where the placement of
fences, or natural boundaries, could be decisive. Unclear boundaries could
also cloud title to the land, and make it harder to sell. All these issues,
and more besides, come into play as the population grows, so I can only
suppose that at the time these sloppy practices were allowed, nobody really
believed much in the future. Steve mentions that most of the early notional
surveys took place in VA before 1640. The VA colony was essentially a
failure until the reforms of the 1640s, and the land policy no doubt was a
significant contributor to that.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Owens" <owensj(a)epix.net>
To: <deed-mapper-users(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 8:05 AM
Subject: Re: [DMU] Term Miles End
John B. Robb wrote:
> It makes you wonder, though, what these
>people were thinking. Did they suppose that no one would ever care about
>the boundaries of that land off in the woods?
>
Actually, no they didn't see the need for boundaries established to
within a hundredth of an inch. The indians never had any surveyors and
they managed to have 'territory' for many hundreds of years longer than
there have been white people on the continent. The use of land was such
that straight lines for boundaries weren't needed. The natives, and the
early setlers weren't immediately engaged in logging, and hunting wasn't
boundary specific because wild game can't see boundaries, and they jump
fences, so the major aspects of holding land had little relationship to
a line on the ground. Then later came fences, and after that arguments
about where fences should be. Then came the TAX MAN. Once property
taxes were established it became encumbent that we keep track more
closely on just what your chunk is, and the quantity you claim so it
could taxed accordingly.
Just my take on the subject,
Jeff Owens
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