I haven't read through all the e-mails on this discussion yet, so forgive me if I am
being redundant.
Although it takes more work on our part we can do the same thing regarding the original
plat owners, which is helpful if you have an Indiana county where you can't order one
of these family maps. Go to
http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/ . When I want to
see who owned land around my ancestor I first do a search for his name. I then take take
all the information under the "legal land description" EXCEPT the "Alliquot
Parts Sec."and enter them under "Advanced search". This then lists all the
land owners in around him. Note, however, that this just means that they owned land next
to each others present or former land. Depending on the date your ancestor could have
moved on by the time someone bought adjacent land. Secondly since they were likely
farmers the land could just have been farmland and they didn't actually live on that
land. (It's still fun to know though.)
IUPUI generously has supplied digital plat maps of Indiana at
http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu/IndianaPlat/ . I just print out the right
county/township and write in the names using the description of the neighbor's land.
(Just brush up on what the data means, like (I think) the "Alliquot parts
section" which, if it says for instance NESE means the NE section of the Southeast
corner of the block number.
Hope this helps!
Sincerely,
Jonathan