When the system of metes and bounds and govenment land surveying was first
adopted by Congress on the 7th day of May, 1785, a division of a county that
contained, 36 sections arranged in a 6 by 6 array, measuring 6 miles by 6
miles was called a town. The town of.....Brookfield, Lannon, Granville, etc.
Sections were numbered beginning with the northeast-most section,
proceeding west to 6, then south along the west edge of the parcel and to
the east.
As time evolved, and the population grew, villages were incorporated from
those areas that became more populated. Village of Lannon, Village of West
Granville.
After time, villages that were large enough called themselves cities.
City of Brookfield.
The rural areas that were not quite villages and definately were not large
enough to be cities needed to have a name.
As the United States became populated the term "town" evolved into the word
township in order to distinguish between the full 36 section area (now
township) and the area that is smaller than a village but still populated
(Town).
Town was the given name of an area established within an area (most often a
county). Towns may or may not have the same boundary lines as a township.
A town can cross over into several townships. The word town and township
are often interchanged.
Not all townships are exactly square. Every few rows of townships there is
a "jog" in the meridian because of the curve of the earth. Also due to
geological formations, some townships are smaller.
http://linkstothepast.com/waukesha/lndterm.html#township
I hope I properly confused everyone now.
Now off to work.
One more day before I go on vacation next week. Yippeee!
Ellen-
Waukesha Wisconsin
I am not a lawyer, do not read WI Law Books, nor wish
to get into any debates on semantics.
Having been born and raised in Wisconsin, I was taught
about towns and townships in my History Classes...
Plat maps (which refer to land or sections) have the
county divided into Townships (Towns if you prefer).
They are still refered to as the Town of ________ but
when talking about the geographically boundries they
are called Townships... Perhaps we are all
semantically wrong, but that is how we do it...
See the book Wisconsin: Its Counties, Townships, and
Villages...
I am mailing this to the other county coordinators -
perhaps they have some more insight ....
R/S MAK
+++++++++++++++++++++++
--- "Klingforth, Karl G."
<Karl.Klingforth(a)landsend.com> wrote:
> You refer to townships in error. According to
> Wisconsin law a township is a measurement of land.
> Years ago Wisconsin called the small governmental
> units Towns. Take a look at the Wisconsin Law books
> and you will have a hard time finding the term
> township.
>
> Thank you,
> Karl Klingforth
> --_/) --
>
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