I've been studying land purchases, in addition to locations given in
various references and have a question.
When Indiana began creating counties, and counties creating townships,
the model plan was to number the sections of the township, thus:
| | | | |
6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1
______|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____
| | | | |
7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
______|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____
| | | | |
18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13
______|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____
| | | | |
19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24
______|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____
| | | | |
30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25
______|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____
| | | | |
31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36
______|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____
Of course this only works for a township that is exactly 6 mi. by 6
miles.
Jesse Wright lived in section 29, in Decatur twp. With another
subscriber's help, we located Jesse's property. Using the above design,
section 29 puts him in the southwest corner of Decatur Township, but
that's not where Jesse lived. Actual location shows he lived on the
township line between Decatur and Wayne Twp (more like section #2 if the
model plan was used for numbering).
I know when Decatur twp. was created, it was 6 mi. north to south by 7
miles east to west. That would make a problem for numbering the
sections, but what happened with the section numbering in Decatur Twp?
(or is this too complex to answer by email?)
Do any of the townships in Marion Co. follow the model plan?
Is there a good map of Marion Co on the net; one that shows the sections
numbers for each township? If not, what would be a person's best source
for this information?
Cindy Kimes
P.S. Hope I've presented this so others understand what I'm puzzled
about!