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Author: davidb9
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Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties...
Message Board Post:
Dear Ancestor_Hunt
What you are requesting in a "township" name in Vigo County IN. Your ancestors
land is in "Otter Creek Township, Vigo, IN". This is the COUNTY TOWNSHIP NAME.
Your ancestors land lies about a half mile west of US Highway 41, at one mile south of the
Vigo-Vermillion county line. This would be the NE corner of the property. It is about
half way between US Highway 41 and the Wabash River.
The land description you gave is the legal description of land within a CONGRESSIONAL
TOWNSHIP. Congress had almost all of Indiana surveyed into 6 mile squares, which are
divided into 36 one mile square "SECTIONS". (The Section Numbers have a unique
arrangement) Within a Section is 640 acres. Each is further divided into a NE, NW, SE,
SW quarter section containg 160 acres each. Then each of the QUARTER Sections are further
divided into a 4 equal Quarter Sections of 40 acres each again called NE, NW, SE, and SW.
You have to read the description backward to understand it.
The land is in Township 13N, Range 9 (which refers to the distance North of the Equator,
and distance West of a Meridan, which in this case is "2PM". (This is a 36
sqeare mile area in Vigo County IN.) Section 11 is a one mile square area of 640 acres
within the above, NE quarter section tells us it is within the 160 acres in the NE
quarter, and the North Half of the East half tells us it if the NE 40 acres.
I suggest a Book called "Family Maps of Vigo County Indiana", by Gregory A.
Boyd, Aphrax Publishing Co., (
www.arphax.com)
You can contact me via the Indiana County Genealogist (Vigo County) page on the Indiana
Genealogical Society website.
David B
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